Make It York is inviting artists from across the UK to get involved in a new city-wide sculpture trail running from 29 June to 31 August 2026. Developed in collaboration with York Minster and launching alongside the legendary York Mystery Plays, this carefully curated summer trail offers a unique opportunity in one of the UK’s most historic cities.

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.

Stone carvings have been silently watching over York Minster for centuries. These stone guardians are full of character, humour, and mystery. Now, one of them is stepping offthe stonework and making mischief across York.

Coming in summer 2026, this brand new, city-wide sculpture trail of 10 sculptures is collaborating with York Minster and launching alongside the legendary York Mystery Plays (29th June - 31st August 2026)

This is a sculpture trail, rooted in heritage, brought to life by artists, groups and creative young people.

The trail itself sets to take visitors across the city uncovering the stone guardians, each symbolic of the location in which it stands. You may meet the likes of, ‘The Timekeeper, The Archivist, The Gardener of the Walls, The Merchant, The River Watcher’.

At the close of the trail, the sculptures will be gathered for a special event at York Minster.

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

About the Artist Commission

Artists and illustrators across the country are being invited to take inspiration from a pre determined list of city guardians (or develop their own concept) and submit designs. 

Our blank sculptures then undergo an artistic makeover before being strategically placed throughout the city of York from late June to the end of August.

The sculpture will stand at approximately 4ft tall on railway sleeper plinths and are made from robust fibreglass.

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 make our selection to create a line up of fitting guardians across the city. 

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 the sculpture and in our physical and digital resources produced for the trail. 

Theme Information

We eluded to it earlier but the theme for our stone carving inspired sculptures will be city guardians, dictated by location and representing the area in which they reside.

To help guide you through this we’re looking at the following guardians based on the strategic city locations we will place them. Designs should be derived from one of the below but we’re open to ideas for new guardians of the city if you have something specific in mind:

• The River Watcher - Guardian of the Ouse and Foss
• The Merchant Keeper - Overseer of Shambles Market
• The Garden Guardian- Protector of growing things and ancient stone
• The Guardian of the Guilds - Represents York’s medieval guilds
• The Watcher of the Night - Watching over York’s streets when darkness falls
• The Gatekeeper – Guardian of York’s ancient gates, watching the city’s boundaries
• The Voyage Guardian – Protector of York’s trade routes and merchant journeys

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 Eighteen may submit a maximum of three entries. 
• The Watchers of York 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 city guardianships, designs must 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 sculptures. On that basis, we encourage only artists who have experience working with fibreglass to submit designs that require shape modification to the sculpture.  
• Make It York will provide public painting spaces in York for artists to come and create their sculpture. 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 sculpture 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.   
• 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.