Our Big Move Residencies
Leicester Print Workshop is excited to announce its new project, Our Big Move Residencies, a call for
proposals to create new work to mark Our Big Move from the Highfields area of Leicester into the
city’s Cultural Quarter. LPW invites artists to propose an idea that relates to print but in the widest
of senses. The idea can be as traditional, extreme, alternative, innovative or as conceptual as
desired. The call is for artist to explore notions of print, incorporating and/or subverting the wide
range of print techniques and presentations. Artists are free to work in any medium, working either
individually or collaboratively with the studio users, LPW staff, the architects, and the contractors.
Our aims for the project are to:
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promote and celebrate our move to new premises and tell the story of LPW and printmaking
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promote LPW as a provider of artist development opportunities
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animate the building/relocation process for the public
Three commissions will be awarded. Each selected artist will be given a fee of £500, plus twelve
months of studio time during open access hours1 (valued at £480), which can be used in the
Highfields studio, the new City Centre studio or both studio spaces. A total materials budget of £900
will be distributed amongst the selected artists dependent on requirements of each of the successful
proposals. A total CPD (continuing professional development) budget of £550 will be distributed
amongst the selected artists, allowing for an average of 6 hours with an LPW tutor including any
materials for that purpose.
The selected commissions will be ideas-led. The timescale for the creation and the final delivery will
be individually determined, with all commissions complete by September 2016. If at the time of the
new Studio opening in late 2015 some or all of the commissioned work is not complete an exhibition
of work in progress will be displayed as part of the opening event. It is envisioned however that
some of the proposals will be integral to the new workshop itself so will be installed before the
opening.
The closing date for this opportunity is 31 March 2015. Applications should be marked ‘Our Big
Move Residencies’ and sent to info@leicesterprintworkshop.com.
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Studio use is available to competent and confident printmakers. Artists with no printmaking experience who
wish to use printmaking techniques within their project and who thus want to use the studio must arrange for
tuition or attend courses at a cost to them
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How to apply
To apply for one of our 3 commissions please send us your proposal using the application form
template, making reference to the project aims, the budget and timescale, and the other
requirements outlined above, and up to 6 examples of recent work (either in jpeg/png format or via
web-link). Your application should be sent to info@leicesterprintworkshop.com with ‘Our Big
Move Residencies’ as the subject heading by 31st March. (Please don’t send us your CV)
There will be opportunities to visit the building on St Georges Street on Thursday 19th February at
11am and Thursday 19th March at 5.30pm; please contact us to register your attendance at
info@leicesterprintworkshop.com.
Requirements
LPW expects that the selected artists will:
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be independent practitioners and able to work within the resources available (fee, materials,
limited teaching, membership/studio use)
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produce a finished piece of work
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engage with the workshop team and have a presence in the workshop and in our
communications
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produce original and new pieces of work (which do not have to be permanent)
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contribute to our archives, recording their work in progress, experiences of making in the studio
and responses to the project

be willing to be part of any publicity and be good ambassadors for LPW as they will be part of
the PR about Our Big Move
Participating artists do not have to be LPW members.
Budget
Artist fee
Studio time
Materials
CPD
£500 fee per artist x 3
12 months studio time per artist x 3
To be divided between the selected artists according to their
project proposals
Tutorial time in specific print medium, to be divided between
3 as per artists’ requirements
Total
£1,500
£1,440
£900
£550
£4,390
Selection & recruitment
Artists will be selected at interview by a panel comprising:
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Takero Shimazaki: New Premises Architect (Toh Shimazaki Architecture)
Lucy Phillips: Director, Leicester Print Workshop
Ruth Sumner: Senior Lecturer, Fine Art, De Montfort University
Alison Cox: Head of Programming, Compton Verney
Timescale
The deadline for applications is 5pm, 31 March 2015
Shortlisted artists will be notified by the end of April 2015
Interviews will be held in Leicester in May
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Leicester Print Workshop: A History
Founded in 1986 in Knighton Lane, Leicester Print Workshop has become home to local artists
working in fine art print. We moved to St Stephens Road in Highfields in the late 1990s. Our studio in
Highfields has served us well since we moved, but it does present some significant challenges, not
least: poor access, parking problems, lack of space and therefore no opportunities to achieve
economies of scale, no rooms for classes of students, no exhibition space, no room for visitors,
nowhere to eat or come together, amongst others. So we did some research and asked our artist
members and friends what they thought and in April 2012 the LPW trustee board decided that we
should start looking for new premises.
Our Big Move
We invested time in drawing up the criteria for the perfect studio space and then we began our
search. It took until October 2013 to find a site that would suit our very particular needs and then it
got busy:
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October 2013 first viewing of 50 St George Street, a 1970s warehouse in the cultural quarter,
well situated near the station and bus station, on street parking nearby and close to the Phoenix,
Curve and the LCB Depot.
November 2013 recruited an architect and engineers, cost consultants and other professionals
and drew up and costed plans to change the single storey warehouse into a two storey, well
insulated, well ventilated, well lit, well serviced, exemplary printmaking studio with education
and exhibition space and room for members and visitors to come together, with private hire
studios spaces on the upper floor and a couple of offices for the LPW staff and volunteer team.
December 2013 submitted an application to Arts Council England to their Small Capital Grants
fund to part finance the purchase of the lease, the building work, the fees, new equipment and
the move costs. We also received confirmation from Leicester City Council that subject to us
finding the funds to buy the long leasehold, it would provide the freehold.
May 2014 we received planning permission for the building work.
July 2014 we received confirmation from Arts Council England that our application for a capital
grant was successful (we also found out our application for ongoing revenue funding for 2015 –
2018 was also successful)
May – September 2014 applications to other funders reaped rewards and contributed to our
funding target.
31 Oct/1 Nov 2014 the Bazaar saw the launch of Our Big Move, the public fundraising campaign
to raise the final 10% of our finance target, £75,000.
Today – the architects and engineers are scrutinizing every cost to take out anything that is not
imperative to the design in preparation to go to tender in December/January. Our Big Move, the
public fundraising campaign has been launched and LPW is looking to friends, volunteers, artists
and audiences to help raise the remaining target. We hope we will be on site in February to start
building and we plan to move in the Autumn.
Leicester Print Workshop has a great opportunity to create a new arts flagship, a thriving centre for
printmaking, in the heart of Leicester. Providing facilities for artists, the local community and visitors
to our city, to learn and practice lithography, letterpress, wood and linocut, etching, engraving,
silkscreen and much more; our new home at 50 St George Street will give us a fully accessible studio
with education and exhibition spaces. We are working with our friends, artists, volunteers, trustees
& staff to raise the final 10% of the £750,000 we need to relocate and we plan to make the big move
in Autumn/Winter 2015.
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Our Big Move Residencies
Application form
Before completing the proposal form, please read the guidance document carefully.
Date:
Name:
Address:
Email:
Telephone:
Please provide a short statement about the work that you propose to make (please give us an
indication of how it will be made, how you intend for it to be presented/installed/performed)
and how people might engage with it. (250 words maximum)
Please explain how the proposed work will celebrate or mark Our Big Move, making reference to
our aims for the project, which are to: promote and celebrate our move to new premises and tell
the story of LPW and printmaking; promote LPW as a provider of artist development
opportunities; animate the building/relocation process for the public. (250 words maximum)
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Please outline what support you might need in order to realise your project. Artists with no
printmaking experience who wish to use printmaking techniques and therefore the studio, must
arrange for tuition or attend courses at a cost to them. (150 words maximum)
Please outline the timescale and production details for realising the work that you propose to
make. (150 words maximum)
Please provide an indicative budget and outline the expenditure for your project.
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Image list
Please send up to 6 examples of work you have made in the last 2 years to support your proposal
(in jpeg/png format or via web-links). Complete the form beneath detailing for each work the title,
the medium and the year it was created:
No Title
1
Medium
Year
2
3
4
5
6
Please send us your proposal and up to 6 examples of recent work (either in jpeg/png format or via
web-link) to info@leicesterprintworkshop.com with ‘Our Big Move Residencies’ as the subject
heading by 31st March. (Please don’t send us your CV)
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