Artist – 2024 SkyWorks Commission

The Brief

Urban Wilderness CIC will commission an Artist to create a new artwork for our Sky Works canopy installation space in the Longton Exchange Shopping Centre.

Public artworks are often contentious and can cause controversy both on the street and on social media. The commissioned work will support culture-led regeneration in Longton Town, Stoke on Trent and will work with existing community groups to create it.

The Artist will design a canopy installation that meets the physical parameters of the installation space, with particular attention to light weight, weather resistant materials and bright, colourful, bold visual impact. It will be sympathetic to local aesthetics, values and cultures.

The artworks will be created by the Artist and include crafted elements that can be made with our team of Community Makers who meet on Wednesdays. We are looking for an Artist who has participatory art experience and enjoys working with learning and physically disabled adults.

Urban Wilderness CIC will support the Artist by ordering and storing materials, facilitating the creative makers group and undertaking the installation process, including risk assessments.

We will invite all eligible applicants who are under-represented in the public arts sector to interview. This includes but is not limited to artists who are: d/Deaf or disabled; Black or brown, working class, under 25, identify as women, LGBTQ+

The Offer

• £2,000 artist fee (approx £200 a day) to include participatory workshops, planning and making time
• Mentor support to co-create the installation design, work with communities and on-site health and safety
• Press release and professional photography