Dudley High Street Residencies - Open call opportunity

Dudley Creates is looking to commission creatives to work with communities across the Borough of Dudley in the town centres of Lye, Stourbridge, Coseley, Sedgley and Halesowen.

Our local High Streets have been really important to people during the pandemic but as shops close and spaces change we're looking to work with artists that will embed themselves in the area, talk to people who use the towns and work in them, and build a visual documentation of life in Dudley during 2021.

As lockdown begins to ease how are people feeling about the future of their towns? What do they have to say? We want to record people's voices and faces to paint a picture of each town centre across the Borough. How are they different and what can this tell us?

We’ll be asking you to embed yourself as a creative instigator; someone who people can bounce ideas off, get inspiration from, think through ideas.

We'd like people to work in pairs or small collectives - e.g. someone recording sound alongside someone taking portraits, or a filmmaker alongside a poet, or an illustrator and a podcaster. We’re open to creative outputs.

There will be important things to consider, for example;

How might we build confidence in people so they will share their story?

How might we shape a project with community and for community?

We are not prescriptive as to what a ‘creative’ project might be, but the idea MUST be shaped with the people taking part.

We must also be mindful of COVID restrictions - while we are cautiously optimistic about the relaxing of lockdown we have learnt from the past year that things can change, so we need to keep this in mind when planning. It is important to us that you and anyone you work with keeps safe. 

HOW MUCH WE ARE OFFERING

There are 3 residencies available with a total budget of up to £8000 per residency.

How to apply

Please send a proposal of no more than 2 pages that includes:

• An idea of the how you might work e.g. How you would go about capturing people / How will you gain people's trust and get talking to/engage with communities

• Which area of the Borough you’d like to work in and why? 

• The art form will you work with

• What you would like to achieve as an end result (e.g. an outdoor exhibition / a 10 minute video)

• Are there any specific groups you would like to work with or might be working with already - tell us who they are

• Over what period of time would you like to work (e.g. 1 day a week over several months or intensively over several weeks)

• Information about you and your work (previous work / commissions / websites)

• An estimated timeline

Deadline for applications

6th August, 2021.

After the deadline we’ll be in touch to let you know if we will be inviting you to the next stage of the process which will include a meeting to find out more about your idea.

Please email your proposal to kerry@creativeblackcountry.co.uk with Dudley High Street Residency in the subject box.