Dorset Council would like to commission an artist or artist collaboration to create and deliver a programme of activities and events to promote and engage people in a newly installed public art trail in Weymouth, Dorset.

The Weymouth Public Art Trail is a series of six individual sculptural installations created by six different artists, commissioned by Dorset Council. The artworks will be installed over the next few months, from May - September 2021. The artworks are located in different parts of the town and inspired by different aspects of Weymouth’s relationship with water. The stories range from climate change/sea level rise, rare corals found in Weymouth Bay to stories of nautical navigation and the history of Weymouth’s harbour and brewery industries. The artworks also demonstrate a range of mediums through carved wood and stone, cast resin and concrete and the latest augmented reality technology. Along the route there are water refill units that have been installed by Wessex Water.

b-side is working with Dorset Council on this project and promoting this opportunity for an artist/artist collaboration to develop and deliver a programme of community workshops/activities inspired by these artworks and the stories behind them. These activities will take place across the artwork installation phase May – Sept 2021. The artist/artist collaboration will also create their own artist led or performative tours or events to engage the public in the trail when it is fully installed and launched in October 2021.

The project is supported by Arts Council England, Weymouth Town Council and Dorset Council.

Further Details:

• Participant groups include residents who took part in initial consultation phase, Weymouth Civic Society www.weymouthcivicsociety.org and groups such as the Dorset Abilities Group www.dorsetabilitiesgroup.co.uk, People First Dorset www.peoplefirstdorset.org.uk and local children from the Artz+ Programme.
• Weymouth Civic Society are especially interested in contributing their knowledge of the history of the town.
• Activities/workshops should be inspired by the artworks being produced for the trail but can include a variety of forms i.e. storytelling, performance, making, mapping etc.
• It is expected that some activities will include exploring routes through the town, including accessible routes and will help inform the navigational and promotional material being produced for the trail.
• The artists producing the public artworks for the trail will be available to contribute to the activity programme i.e. workshops, events, artist talks etc.
• The artist /collaboration may also engage additional artists to deliver different activities.
• Weymouth Museum & Libraries will host displays of creative outputs from the workshops/activities and stories relevant to the public art trail.
• The libraries can offer activity space but we encourage outdoor activities where feasible.
• The programme of activities can take place at different times across the artwork installation period of May - September.
• The artists/collaboration's own creative work will be timed to promote the launch of the Weymouth Public Art trail, expected to be early October 2021..
• The programme will be promoted by Dorset Council
• The £4000 fee covers all the artist/collaboration costs for delivering the programme and their own artwork for the launch event/s.
• An additional budget is available to cover workshop activity costs i.e. materials, venue hire.
• An additional budget is available to cover any input to the programme by the Weymouth Public Art Trail artists. Any other additional artists fees would need to be covered by the commission budget.
• An allowance of up to £500 is available towards travel.
• Applicants must be able to demonstrate experience of working with diverse community groups /age ranges.
• Applications need only include an indication of the activity programme and artwork you propose. A detailed programme plan and proposal would be developed by the successful candidate/s once appointed.
•  Applicants must be available to start work on the project as soon as appointed in May 
• Applicants are asked to complete b-side's Equal Opportunities monitoring form, this is not obligatory but it really helps us report to our funders who we are reaching with our opportunities and make plans to reach those we are not. The form takes 1 minute and is a series of tick boxes. Please click this link to fill in b-side equal opportunities monitoring survey

 
Background

The story of Weymouth can be told by its relationship to water. Weymouth is best known as a classic British seaside holiday town with its sandy beach, Georgian and Victorian seafront with seaside amusements and guest houses. However, it was once two entirely separate towns located either side of a tidal river, Weymouth on the south side and Melcombe Regis on the north.  These rival harbours competed for trade, eventually becoming amalgamated as one, following the building of the first town bridge in 1593. The oldest parts of the town are the harbourside areas either side of this bridge and, at one time, all the buildings were orientated in this direction.

The growing popularity of ‘taking the waters’ and sea bathing in the 18th Century, highlighted by the patronage of King George 3rd, shifted the orientation and development of the town in the direction of the beach and this has remained the main focus of the town ever since.

Alongside the well-known sandy beach and esplanade, Weymouth offers other wonderful contrasting waterside environments that welcome visitors. The main part of the present town has developed on a spur of low-lying land, much of it reclaimed, and is surrounded by water on three sides – the sandy beach with promenade, the older harbour area, and the backwater developed in part as a yacht marina, and part nature reserve. The reserve has wetland habitats, hedgerow scrub, reedbeds and saline lagoons and is managed by the RSPB.

Whilst the seaside holiday aspects of Weymouth are well known, its harbour and the wetland wildlife areas are less so. This project aims to link and raise the profile of these environments and what they offer the visitor and residents. The artworks are deliberately located to encourage exploration and help tell the lesser-known aspects of Weymouth’s story.

The  Weymouth Public Trail Artists and Artwork Locations

Raphael Daden’s work using steel and resin raises awareness of climate change and rising sea levels, and will make use of an existing, but redundant, stone plinth near the clocktower. Ben Russell’s stone-carved corals will nestle in a raised flower bed on the seafront promenade. Denman & Gould’s coloured cast-concrete seating arrangement inspired by nautical charts is useful as well as beautiful, and will enliven a paved area of Bond Street. Across the town bridge and to the older harbourside area of Hope Square will be Alex Evans’s sculptural stone bench depicting crabs climbing over barrels, reflecting on the brewery history and making reference to the infamous Crabchurch conspiracy, and childhood pastimes of crabbing. A huge carved oak bench by Nigel Ross is sited on the stone pier, creating a place to sit and contemplate both the calm and stormy power of the ocean. Back over the bridge and along the backwater marina, along the path under Swannery bridge, Steve Geliot’s augmented reality work creates a playful attraction to an otherwise unassuming place, that leads you to explore the wetland RSPB nature reserve beyond.

Further information on the Weymouth Public Art Trail artists

Raphael Daden http://www.raphaeldaden.co.uk/

Ben Russell https://www.benrussell.co.uk/

Denman & Gould https://www.denmangould.com/

Alex Evans https://www.stoneformdesign.co.uk/

Nigel Ross http://www.nigelross-sculpture.com/

Alex Evans https://www.stoneformdesign.co.uk/

Steve Geliot https://www.stevegeliot.com/