An exciting opportunity exists for an emerging artist with strong connection to Croydon, for a paid residency creating a work engaging with immersive arts and the topic of system change.
Eligibility: We will prioritise artists either identifying as Black or Global Majority (BAME), or of financially disadvantaged background, and those who have a strong connection to Croydon.
No VR experience is necessary! The ideal applicant will have some experience with either digital arts creation, semi immersive, or virtual reality. However, will provide some training in the technologies, and it is more important to us to find an artist with strong creative vision, flexibility, and who has passion for communicating the potential for positive change in Croydon. An artist who is motivated to help a range of community views and visions come together, while being able to come up with a creative approach for how to weave the threads together using immersive arts.
The results, and ideas arising from this engagement on positive transformations for Croydon will be housed and curated within the immersive environment that the artist will build, as an interactive display at Museum of Croydon late 2023 during Borough of Culture.
The total fee available for this work and position is £3,500. The selected artist will be required to work on site in residence at Turf Projects in Croydon for approximately one day per week (booked as Thursdays – but we might be able to change the day if necessary) for approximately 4 months duration from late March until late July 2023, and will be responsible for creating the artistic creation under guidance and technical support from 2 senior artist mentors. The artist will also be expected to participate and work live during some of the 5 x half day workshops with local action groups during the same period (where possible this will count as residency hours). The artist will receive some training in immersive digital arts, and professional exposure opportunities. The residency will be co-hosted by Turf Projects, providing the physical space and local community, and Swarm Dynamics providing artist mentorship, some technology support, an introduction to system change ideas and advice on meeting the brief.
This project is funded by Arts Council England.
HOW TO APPLY:
Eligibility: We will prioritise artists either identifying as Black or Global Majority (BAME), or of financially disadvantaged background, and those who have a strong connection to Croydon.
Applicants should submit a letter of motivation, explaining why you consider you meet the eligibility criteria and your passion for the topic of system change, and for the future of Croydon, as well as any relevant experience in digital or immersive arts, together with a folio of work to: swarmdynamics@gmail.com
Please note: large files should be sent as website links or drop box links or WeTransfer to avoid our inbox overflowing.
Deadline for applications: 9 am, 13th February.
Feel free to explore the websites of the 2 host organisations, below, or to contact
swarmdynamics@gmail.com for any questions.
Turf Projects: https://turf-projects.com/
Swarm Dynamics: https://swarmdynamics.org/
FURTHER INFORMATION/FAQs:
What does ‘based in Croydon’ mean? To be eligible you will need to have a connection to Croydon through a lived experience. This can be past or present, living, working or studying in Croydon. Please make your connection known in the application.
Am I too old to be an ‘emerging’ artist? No! There is no age limit, we will be looking for applications that demonstrate a strong artistic track record, and for artists are in the process of fully establishing themselves or ‘breaking through’ as professional artists. If you are already truly famous, then don’t apply 😉 otherwise all artists are welcome.
What technologies will be used for the art creation? Given budget and time constraints the creation is likely to be done via ‘semi immersive’ open source technologies such as Mozilla hubs or similar, rather than using full virtual reality software. However, we have technologists lined up that will help you make the creation VR headset compatible – meaning the final creation and all the information within it, will be explorable by audiences either through a flat screen in 360, or with a VR headset.
What does system change mean? We will define this in more detail together with our community organisation participants in the workshops, but in a sentence, think: rapid transformation to zero carbon, socially just and inclusive futures!
Do I need to have my own high performing laptop? No, if necessary, Swarm Dynamics can provide you temporary loan of a high specs laptop for use during your physical time at the premises of Turf Projects. This is the device we will likely use to run the experience during the exposure phase. However your own laptop, if you have one, may well be sufficient. We will provide a VR headset when the time comes to test what you create in VR mode.
PLEASE SHARE WIDELY!
