We are delighted to announce that we have four artist opportunities as part of our Arts Council England Emergency Fund programme.  These will form part of the six-month Festival Echoes programme from June to November 2020.

PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE FULL COMMISSION BRIEF OF WHICH THIS IS AN EXTRACT:

Festival Echoes is a series of one-month artist commissions from May – October 2020
Four open commissions are available: July, August, September, October
Artist Fee: £1,250 (includes up to £250 for materials and expenses) 
​Theme: Creating art in a different landscape
For each commission an artist will create work, of any art-form, in response to the theme.
The artwork must be available to view by members of the public online and/or in public space and then broadcast online as video, photographs or audio content.
The artist may prepare something specifically for online presentation or, alternatively, something that can be photographed or filmed in situ and thereby seen online.
Each commission to run for one month between July and October
The work must be completed by the end of the calendar month for presentation at the start of the following month.
The artist may present their work online as a developing project during the month of creating.
Following completion, the artist will prepare a short evaluation of their experience in written and visual format, this will hopefully help with self-reflection and feed into the development of Festival Stoke.
We are looking for proposals that:

• Provide people across the communities of North Staffordshire with more opportunities to enjoy culture
• Experiment in creating art in new contexts
• Can be shared online using social media, YouTube, etc.
• Propose working in a new and experimental way, for the artist 
• Provide an opportunity to develop creative practice
• Respond to current global situations and issues, which may be general or from the perspective of a particular locality or group of people 
• Are ‘family-friendly’

We are particularly, but not exclusively, interested in receiving proposals: 

• That include an outdoor/nature element 
• From people with a wider cultural heritage
• From artists, we have not worked with before

Proposals must comply with any Coronavirus (Covid-19) UK Government guidance current at the time of the commission
Commissions are open to artists and creative practitioners irrespective of geographical location who are resident in the UK.

We thought you'd like to know a bit more about the stunning banners that have appeared in Stoke town centre. 
SURFACES is a series of six large, bright and bold, fabric banners created to hang along the main street of Stoke-upon-Trent.  The banners are designed and hand-stitched by Rhiannon and the designs use abstract imagery inspired by two of the most striking buildings in the town centre:

• The recently renovated Sutherland building on Church Street
• The old Stoke Library opposite Sainsbury’s

"I propose to create a series of vibrant outdoor fabric banners with bold designs that are directly inspired by the architectural forms of Stoke’s buildings. The designs respond to the environment of Stoke’s streets, abstracting shapes, colours and forms to create layered compositions that trigger associations with the locality and invite people to look at the surroundings anew."  Rhiannon Hunter

Sadly someone has pulled down and stolen one of the Twelve Essence heads. The one pictured is a sculpture of Christine Thorley and was sited outside Wetherspoons. 😔. It must have taken some effort to remove and then carry off.  The Police have been notified and we hope to get it replaced if possible.
If anyone saw anything or might know something please do get in touch. Please also keep a look out in case it’s been ‘dumped’ somewhere.
One of the good things is some of the lovely comments that people have put on hearing the news:

• Love all this artwork in Stoke.
• Hope it's found. The artwork is awesome 👍 I'd ❤️ to see more in the future 💯
• The masks make stoke a brighter, more interesting place to live. let alone the effort put in. What the frock is wrong with people?
  
• I wish people would see how such a thing can make brighten up peoples lives but devastate them when it's been taken away. No more said.
  
• I saw that on my way to work and wondered where it had gone 🙄 why would someone do something so pointless in the middle of a pandemic?
  

We are pleased to announce that we have been awarded funding by Arts Council England as part of their Covid-19 Emergency Response Package.
The funding will ensure that we can continue with our festival programme and strengthen the organisation for the future. 
Keep an eye out for our Festival Echoes artist commission opportunities, which we will be publishing in June and look out for more art coming your way over the summer months.