Make It York is looking for artists to create designs inspired by Yorkshire authors and stories onto our tribe of Snooks with Books for a family friendly, city wide trail across the city in 2024.

Sculpture Trail Background

To download the submission character template please visit our sculpture page here. Please note that your application should be made on Curatorspace, so return here to submit your application.

The Snooks with Books trail is a brand-new sculpture trail for York, set to guide people through York’s cobbled streets and hidden gardens in 2024, organised by Make It York with charity partner St Leonard's Hospice.  

The trail will see up to 30 Snooks with Books around the city. Each sculpture will be sponsored by local businesses, who will be paired with an artist to create a bespoke design for each sculpture. 

We’re looking to attract residents and visitors to explore the streets of York, through winding streets before coming face to face with one of our Snooks.  

The trail will conclude in April 2024 with a final gathering of all the Snooks and highly anticipated auction event that will see proceeds supporting our project charity partner, St Leonards Hospice.  

Having commissioned the Snooks we’re now searching for artists across the country to put their stamp on and bring them to life with creative designs. 

About the Artist Commission

Artists and illustrators across the country are being invited to take our Yorkshire bookish theme and submit designs which will be presented to our sponsors in July for the final selections. 

Our blank Snooks then undergo an artistic makeover before being strategically placed throughout the city of York from late February 2024 for an eight-week period.  

As the trail comes to a close, an auction event will see the Snooks sold and proceeds going toward charity partner, St Leonards Hospice and The York Creates Art Fund to support further events and attractions within the city. 

How to get involved  

Submit up to three designs to us, inspired by our trail theme by the closing date.  

From the designs received we will hold a dedicated sponsor selection event where your design may be selected as submitted or alternatively a sponsor may want to work with you directly on a more bespoke design.  

If your design is selected, Make It York will pay you an artistic fee of £1000 excluding VAT (30% on selection and remainder on completion).

Each artist will receive acknowledgment on the plaques attached to the bases of our Snooks and in our physical and digital resources produced for the trail.  

We’re also looking to create a programme of activities with our selected artists and there’s an opportunity to be further involved during the 8 week trail period. 

Design Commission Criteria

• Designs will only be accepted for submission upon signing of the application and acceptance of the terms and conditions of entry.  
• All artists over the age of sixteen may submit a maximum of three entries. 
• The Snooks with Books trail is family friendly and submitted designs should reflect that. There should be no trademarks, corporate logos or advertising within the designs.  
• Designs should be inspired by the trail theme (Yorkshire Authors) but not directly copy illustrations from books unless the correct permissions are in place to do so.  
• If your design is selected, Make It York will pay you an all-inclusive artistic fee of £1000 excluding VAT (30% on selection and remainder on completion) 
• We anticipate visitors will interactive with the sculptures and repeatedly touch them. Therefore any items attached to the sculpture must be done so in a secure manor or these will likely be removed.  
• Artists may submit a design that alters the original sculpture shape however, if this is the case the finished sculpture must remain structurally intact and no modifications made to the base of the snooks. On that basis, we encourage only artists who have experience working with fibreglass to submit designs that require shape modification to the Snooks.  
• Make It York will provide public painting spaces in York for artists to come and create their Snooks. Should an artist wish to transport their sculpture to their own studio they will be responsible for collecting and returning it to the designated painting space.  
• The recommended paint type for the Snooks is acrylic or alternatively artificial resin paint. Make It York will provide a waterproof varnish to finish the designs and each artist will be responsible for applying the varnish to their sculpture.   
• Selected artists will be required to integrate a letter or symbol into their artwork as an additional extra to the trail experience for our audience.  
• Artists will not be responsible for siting their sculpture in the city or collection post trail. We may ask if required that artists may be able to perform any touch ups during the trail where appropriate and to leave a box of emergency colours for touch ups in house. 

To download the submission character template please visit our sculpture page here. Please note that your application should be made on Curatorspace, so return here to submit your application.