Brief for artist:
Cambridgeshire’s Memories in the Community: stories of my life project.
Background
The Memories in the Community: stories of my life project aims to capture the memories and personal histories of older people in Cambridgeshire weaving together a rich tapestry showing the social history of a generation - acknowledging and valuing their lives and contribution to society. These memories would be honoured and shared in a variety of ways including:
1. The creation of personalised memory boxes valuing the person’s heritage and containing such things as objects, photographs and documents. This project is unique in that t he contents are based on a person’s story and will become their property rather than being a generic box used on loan from a museum. The boxes will be used as a communication tool by families, organisations and volunteers supporting the participants. The boxes will be created using the expertise of staff/volunteers from the Museums in Cambridgeshire and may reference objects or photographs that are already contained within the museums’ collections.
2. A travelling exhibition of photographs and art work reflecting the memories and histories of the participants.
3. The production of a booklet showing extracts from the exhibition as a way to share this social heritage more widely with the general public.
4. Oral history recordings from some participants. Extracts will be added to the
Cambridgeshire Community Archive Network and will be lodged with Cambridgeshire
Records Office.
Who we are
The project is led by Museums in Cambridgeshire (MiC) and is funded by the Heritage
Lottery Fund (HLF), with management and overheads contributed by Cambridgeshire
County Council. The project is managed by Gordon Chancellor, Museums Partnership
Officer, on behalf of MiC and a project steering group with colleagues from Adult Social
Care, Care Network Cambridgeshire and museum partners. On a day-to-day basis the project is managed by a Project Officer, one day per week.
Artist’s brief:
We are recruiting an artist who will work with a small group of older people with a sensory impairment (group will be sourced through the project).
This activity will empower the group by working with them to depict their memories in a creative format thus honouring their life histories, and will also reduce social isolation by bringing a group of older people together to share this experience.
It is essential that the artist has relevant experience of working with older people and / or people with sensory impairments.
Artwork created will form part of the travelling exhibition, may be used in the project booklet, and will be retained by the participants.
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The role of the artist:

Plan and deliver the workshops.

Work closely with the project team to edit and produce the art pieces for the touring exhibition.

Support evaluation activity.
Person Specification
Experience
You will have experience of:

Working with diverse community groups and be able to recognise their needs.

Working on arts / heritage projects as a creative practitioner.

Collaborating with others to produce a piece of art.
Knowledge
You will have a good working knowledge of:

Delivering creative workshops with diverse community groups.

Museums, heritage and exhibitions (desirable).
General skills

Proven organisation skills to successfully plan, prepare and deliver accessible, creative workshops.

Effective partnership skills working with a diverse range of people and groups/organisations.

Ability to ensure participants remain co-authors within a project.

Be enthusiastic and able to inspire and motivate project participants.

Be creative in communicating ideas to different groups, ages and abilities.

Be an advocate for the project.
Communication and interpersonal skills

Have excellent communication and diplomacy skills and the ability to liaise effectively with project partners and participants.

Be well organised and have good time management.

Be able to solve problems along the way.

Listen and respect colleagues and participants input.

Be approachable and personable.
Management
The artist will be supervised by the Project Officer, Emma Cook.
Timescale
The successful candidate will be contracted on a temporary freelance contract through Museums in
Cambridgeshire.
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Budget
The maximum budget available is £1,325 including travel, expenses and materials.
Intellectual Property Rights
The name, logo, designs, works of creative or intellectual effort associated with the
Memories in the Community: stories of my life project will be the property of Cambridgeshire
County Council and all intellectual property rights relating to such items shall vest in
Cambridgeshire County Council unless specifically agreed otherwise.
How to apply
Applications should include a proposal outlining how you would approach this project and deliver according to the timescale and budget. Please cite examples of existing or previous similar work.
Please send applications to emmajvcook@gmail.com
by 9.00am on Friday 26 th June 2015.
Potential contractors may be invited to present their proposals on Wednesday 8 th July 2015 at a venue in Cambridgeshire.
For further enquires please contact Emma Cook on emmajvcook@gmail.com
or 07913
880307.
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