Leeds City Council together with the developer of the former Debenhams building, Orchard Street and other partners wish to commission an artist/s to design art work to be installed by vinyl onto Debenhams empty windows along Briggate, King Edward Street and Kirkgate.

Background

The pandemic has had a major impact on Leeds’ retail area which has led to a number of retail and hospitality businesses closing and in turn an increase in empty shop units across Leeds. Unfortunately, the large site in the centre of Leeds formally occupied by Debenhams is now empty before new development work begins later this year.

The  Council together with its partners are working hard to ensure the city centre feels welcoming and safe so visitors can have the best experience in the city centre.  We want to encourage people into the city centre by adding colourful art work onto the exterior of the empty shop units such as Debenhams, and have already done so to great success.

We are looking for an artist/s that will be able to produce art work before 9th June for 11 sets of windows at the Debenhams site. Timescales set out below.

The project

• In the first instance please submit your ideas/designs via CuratorSpace for one of the Briggate-facing windows of the former Debenhams unit, photos attached.
• A panel will then shortlist one artist for the commission
• £2000 will be paid to the successful artist/s for all the windows of the site that are being considered.
• Artwork will be printed onto vinyl and be installed to the exterior of empty shop units, the printing and install of the art work will be carried out by a local company and the cost of this is not included in the £2000 budget, the install cost will be covered by us.
• There are currently 4 sets of empty windows along Briggate belonging to the site, 3 on Kirkgate and 6 on King Edward St. The shape and sizes of the windows varies, and artist/s need to ensure their artwork style is flexible to suit different sets of windows.

Project Brief and Theme

• We would like the art work to be as one coordinated campaign / linking theme throughout each set of windows
• The art work should be ‘Instagrammable’ and bring real joy and interest to the heart of Leeds!
• The artwork should be of a high quality, unique, clear, visually striking and should add colour and interest to the street scape
• The theme for the artwork is the natural world with plant-life. This should complement the dinosaur trail that will be coming to Leeds City Centre in the summer. However, we do not want dinosaurs included in the artwork, given the temporary nature of the trail.
• The final art work should include various advertising strap lines and messages regarding the new development of the property, these will be discussed in more detail with the successful artist, but for the first draft please include the message “something new is happening here, watch this space”.
• The art work should be able to be transferred digitally onto vinyl (Jpeg/pdf)

Key audiences

The key audiences for the new public art are:

• Shoppers and wider visitors, residents and shopper of Leeds
• Retailers, businesses and organisations who will benefit from the colourful art work and interest in Briggate
• Local artists who will be able to display their work in the city centre
• Owners/agents of the empty units Orchard Street who are looking to promote their new development which will include a mix of commercial and residential uses for the building

 
Your submission:

Please submit your initial ideas and design for the Debenhams window frontage on CuratorSpace no later than 5pm Thursday 27th May.

Your design should include:

a) a mock-up of an example art work for the Debenhams window, please super impose the concept design onto the Debenhams front photo provided.

b) Your CV (including your contact details)

c) Images of your portfolio

Timescales

Task

Date

Competition open: Monday 17th May 2021

Submission deadline: 5pm on Thursday 27th May 2021

Panel assessment and evaluation: Wednesday 2nd June 2021

Notification of outcome of successful artist/s: Thurday 3rd June 2021

Final date for design work: Wednesday 9th June 2021

Install from: Wednesday 9th June 2021

*We understand timescales are tight however you will be working with a talented team that can help to turn things around quickly!

Evaluation

Submissions will be assessed by a panel representing the council and partners mentioned previously with expertise in public art, retail and place management. The evaluation table below details how your application will be assessed:

Visual impact, quality and uniqueness of design:

Artwork is of a high quality, coordinated campaign

Artwork is unique, visually striking and colourful

Artwork is instagrammable’

Sketch designs, if submitted, will be evaluated here

Weighting: 50

Place making

Artwork meets the theme of the natural world

Artwork contributes to the overall animation of the area

Artwork celebrates plant-life

Artwork is transferable to vinyl and suitable for empty shop units

Weighting: 25

Previous experience

Examples of working on other, similar projects

Good examples of previous work shared through images of previous work / portfolio

Weighting: 25

Total

100

The following score guide will be proportionally used:

Score

Assessment

10 Outstanding: The response covers all elements of the criterion, and associated specified contract requirements and standards; and with a high level of relevant and detailed information, backed up with clear evidence; and demonstrates a robust and coherent understanding of the council’s requirements; and with no issues, weaknesses or omissions.

9 Excellent: The response covers all elements of the criterion, and associated specified contract requirements and standards; and with relevant and detailed information, backed up with clear evidence; but with limited minor issues, weaknesses or omissions in the information/evidence only.

8 Very good: The response covers all key elements and almost all of the other elements of the criterion, and associated specified contract requirements and standards; and with relevant and detailed information, backed up with clear evidence; with a few minor issues, weaknesses, or omissions in the information/evidence.

7 Good: The response covers all key elements and the majority of the other elements of the criterion, and associated specified contract requirements and standards; and with relevant information, backed up with evidence, but lacks detail in some areas; some minor issues, weaknesses, or omissions in some areas of information/evidence.

6 Better than satisfactory: The response addressees all key elements of the criterion, and associated specified contract requirements and standards; but is not fully detailed or fully backed up with clear evidence in some areas; a number of minor and/or one or two more significant issues, weaknesses, or omissions in some areas.

5 Satisfactory: The response addresses all key elements of the criterion, and associated specified contract requirements and standards; but is not fully detailed or fully backed up with clear evidence in some areas; with a large number of minor, and/or a number of significant weaknesses, issues or omissions in the detail/evidence.

4 Less than satisfactory:  The response has some weaknesses, issues or omissions, lacking detail, clarity and/or evidence with regard to at least one key element of the criterion, and associated specified contract requirements and standards with respect to this criterion.

3 Weak:  The response has some weaknesses, issues or omissions, lacking detail, clarity and/or evidence with regard to several key elements of the criterion, and associated specified contract requirements and standards.

2 Poor:   The response has material weaknesses, issues or omissions, lacking detail, clarity and/or evidence with regard to many key elements of the criterion, and associated specified contract requirements and standards.

1 Very poor:  The response does not meet the criterion, or does not include sufficient information or clarity or evidence or information in support, to determine whether the solution meets the council’s requirements or standards.

0 Unacceptable: Failed to provide a response, or the response provided is wholly inconsistent with the council’s specified contract requirements and standards with respect to this criterion.