Calling all creatives aged 14-18 in Cardiff! Please read this guidance before completing an application.
Background
Cardiff is the first City in Wales to be part of UNICEF’s Child Friendly Cities Initiative. As part of this scheme, Child Friendly Cardiff’s ambition is for Cardiff to be recognised as a Child Friendly City (CFC): a city with children and young people at its heart, where the rights of children and young people are respected by all, and is a great place to grow up.
Child Friendly Cardiff has recognised that the period of time during the pandemic has been particularly hard for children and young people. With restrictions loosening, they have taken the opportunity to create a summer-long festival celebrating young people called Summer of Smiles.
Summer of Smiles will take place between 25th June – 29th August in Cardiff. As part of the festival, there will be a festival site pitched on the lawn of City Hall for 3 weeks from 20th July – 8th August.
As part of the festival, TheSprout are looking to commission 10 young creatives aged 14-18 to create artwork. Artists will be required to create and display their art during these 3 weeks.
Creative brief
TheSprout are calling for Cardiff creatives aged 14-18 to submit an art concept that tells us what it means to be a young person living in Cardiff.
We are welcoming concepts from all creative disciplines eg. painting, song, sculpture, ceramics, film, poetry, sketch, dance, spoken word – you name it! Anything that can tell a story whether that’s physically or digitally.
Commission budget
Each successful commission will receive £300 to create, display, and document the process of their work with help from staff.
There will be help available to cover the cost of purchasing any new materials and resources, seperate to this grant. Please do not purchase any materials in advance without confirmation of being successful, and speaking to a member of staff.
Panel
A specialist panel will judge the submitted art concepts and choose 10 of them to commission.
If you are successful, we will ask to meet you via video call to help develop ideas and see how we are able to assist you in the creative process. From this point, you’ll have between 2-3 weeks to submit your final artwork on Saturday 31st July 2021.
Inclusion & Diversity
We’d really like to showcase the diversity within Cardiff and are committed to supporting submissions and creatives whose identity and/or background is underrepresented. This includes but is not limited to artists:
- From Black, Asian, and other ethnic minority backgrounds
- With LGBTQ+ identities
- With long-term health difficulties
- With disabilities
We are also welcoming concepts in both English and Welsh.
Timeline
- Application submissions open: Tuesday 29th June 2021
- Deadline for submissions: 9am Thursday 8th July 2021
- Successful applicants announced: Friday 9th July 2021
- Final artwork deadline for commissioned artists: Saturday 31st July 2021.
- Exhibition Week: Monday 2nd August – Sunday 8th August 2021
The application process
To apply, you need to be aged between 14-18, currently live in Cardiff, Wales, and be available in Cardiff for 3 weeks from 20th July – 8th August 2021.
The deadline for applications is 9am (BST) on Thursday 8th July. Any submissions after this point will not be brought to the panel of judges. To avoid disappointment, please submit your art concepts as soon as possible.
We hope to let you know whether you are successful or not by Friday 9th July.
If successful, you will be required to sign a contract outlining what is expected from you as part of the commission.
After this, we will organise a video call to discuss next steps, and help you along the creative process of your commission for the Summer of Smiles.
How to apply
To apply, please complete the below application form. It will require you to answer a few questions about your thoughts, feelings, and experiences about living in Cardiff. The form also asks for your medium(s) of choice, a description of what you’d hope to create in line with the brief, and previous examples of your work.
To fill out the application form, please click here:
You’ll need to log into a google account to submit an application.
If you need any help completing the form or do not have a google account but wish to apply, please contact: info@promo.cymru
Who is organising this?
This project is being funded through the Summer of Smiles but is being run and organised by ProMo-Cymru.
FAQ
Can I submit a commission as part of a group?
Groups of artists, creatives, and performers are able to submit a commission application. Please bear in mind that the grant of £300 is per commission, not per person.
Do I have to buy the materials/resources myself?
We have some budget to help you buy new materials and resources for your art concept and bring it to life. If you are successful, we can discuss how to do this and how much these resources will cost in our video calls. Please do not buy anything before it has been confirmed.
I’m 13, but I turn 14 during the festival. Can I still submit an application?
You won’t be able to submit an art concept unless you are 14 before the submission deadline of Thursday 8th July.
I’m 18, but I turn 19 during the festival. Can I still submit an application?
If you’re 18 before the deadline for submissions on Thursday 8th July, you can still submit an application.
I’m available for some of the festival, but not all of it. Is this a problem?
You are not expected to attend the festival all day, every day for the 3 weeks. Once applications are in, we will try to find good times where all commissioned artists are able to meet and do their art on the festival site, where possible. If successful, please let us know as soon as possible via email (info@promo.cymru) any days you already know you won’t be able to attend.