In 2023 and 2024, Hull Maritime is supporting and working with children aged 11-16 at eight local secondary schools to create artworks inspired by Hull’s maritime heritage as part of our Young Maritime Creatives Project. As a culmination of this project, we are looking for a freelance curator with experience of community engagement, co-curation and educational work to support in the creation of a temporary exhibition celebrating and showcasing the artworks created by our local school children, bringing Hull’s maritime heritage to a new generation. The exhibition is due to take place in Gallery 4 at the prestigious Ferens Art Gallery from November 2024 until March 2025.

With over 1000 local children taking part in the project, we are looking for someone to work closely with our partner schools’ staff and students, Hull Maritime and Ferens Art Gallery to create a museum-standard exhibition that seamlessly links our amazing school’s individual projects into one engaging visitor experience.

With wide-ranging proposals from our schools, including the creation of large silk textiles inspired by the Headscarf Revolutionaries, maritime soundscapes and landscapes created by young people with physical and learning disabilities, murals, ship sculptures, creative writing, videos of drama/music pieces, merchandise design, public information board design and more, how these projects are exhibited is up to you but will also incorporate an evaluative video and could also utilise Ferens own important maritime art collection. The space in Gallery 4 is approx. 14.1 m x 13.2 m.

Key Responsibilities:

• You will be the main point of contact between Hull Maritime, partner schools and Ferens during the development of the exhibition.

• Work with individual schools to help them select artworks that meaningfully represent their students’ work and the themes they have covered.

• Work with Hull Maritime, partner schools, and Ferens Art Gallery to create museum-standard exhibition design and interpretation that showcases the students work and Hull’s maritime heritage.

• Advise on the use or purchase of equipment needed for the delivery of the exhibition including AV. There is some AV stock already available for use in the exhibition.

• Liaise with technical staff to arrange display and hanging of artworks for installation and de-installation.

• Ensure that the exhibition is fully accessible and inclusive for all visitors.

• Work with Hull Maritime and Ferens to plan and deliver a launch and preview event.

• Coordinate evaluation of the exhibition to measure its impact on our visitors. Key Experience / Requirements.

• Flexible working hours and to be available for meetings with schools, Hull Maritime, and Ferens staff. An estimate is availability of approximately 40 days total including 1-week full time during the installation of the exhibition.

• Ability to effectively communicate and engage with a variety of stakeholders including school staff and young people.

• A good knowledge of or ties to Hull.

• A proven track record of designing, developing, and delivering high-quality exhibitions for a range of audiences.

• Experienced in capturing evidence to evaluate exhibitions to demonstrate their impact on the audience.

Outputs:

1 x Young Maritime Creatives Exhibition

1 x Exhibition launch event

1 x Evaluation report

Target Audiences

• Local communities

• Young people aged 11-16

• Those interested in maritime history and art

Project Timeline

This project exhibition will need to be ready to be installed at the Ferens the week commencing Monday 18th November 2024 during operational hours (8.45am - 4.30pm). The Ferens' team or freelance technicians will be available to support installation and move and install artworks from the collection if required. The launch event will take place on Saturday the 23rd of November 2024. A more detailed schedule will be developed by the successful applicant in collaboration with the Hull Maritime team and Ferens following appointment. An evaluation report will be completed following the end of the exhibition in April 2025.