Wakefield Museums & Castles is inviting artists working in all disciplines to submit proposals to develop a new co-produced installation at the South Elmsall Library museum hub. This is an exciting opportunity to collaborate with local people to discover and interpret their stories in an innovative and visually exciting way.

Our museum hubs are bitesize changing exhibitions located at the heart of communities. These vibrant displays aim to gain the trust of a new audience by demonstrating our commitment to preserving and sharing their heritage.

The hubs consist of a display case to hold museum objects, items lent by the community, or new artworks; graphic panels explaining the displays and their contents; a screen for audio visual content e.g. films, image slideshows; and interactive content e.g. comment cards, hands-on activities.

The South Elmsall Library museum hub was installed in 2017 as part of our ambition to engage with people from every Wakefield district postcode. The hub represents the south east of the Wakefield district, an area which has traditionally seen low levels of cultural engagement.

The successful artist will:

• Identify and recruit community participants from South Elmsall and the south east of the Wakefield district.
• Facilitate participants to develop content for the display that tells an engaging story about South Elmsall’s history and/or contemporary identity.
• Work with participants to create and install an innovative installation in the hub showcase, with accompanying interpretation, including audio/visual and interactive content where appropriate.
• Use environmentally friendly, sustainable materials and methods wherever possible.

We are open to artists using a wide range of art forms and media, who have experience of working successfully with community groups. We are keen to ensure the brief is not prescriptive and that the response from artists is imaginative and broad, drawing upon the strengths of the individual artists themselves and the interests of the community participants. 

It is vital that the project is firmly rooted in the people and stories of South Elmsall, shining a new light and perspective on this area of the district. It should provide a platform for the communities of South Elmsall to share what makes their town unique. 

There is an available budget of up to £4000 for this project. This budget is inclusive of the artist’s time and expenses and all materials, with the exception of the production of the graphic panels and any marketing material, which will be organised and paid for by Wakefield Museums & Castles.