£1,500 FEE TO DESIGN FOR THE ICONIC LEEDS CORN EXCHANGE

Rushbond Plc invites artists, designers and illustrators to submit proposals to design the graphics for two internal staircases at Leeds Corn Exchange.

This initial open call seeks examples of your work and a rough visual to demonstrate your proposed idea for the four staircase panels. These may be the same design applied to all four panels or four different designs.

If selected, you will be asked to refine your idea into print-ready artwork. This will be printed onto adhesive vinyl and installed onto the panels on the side of the internal staircases, please see the images attached that show the current design and also the rough dimensions of the four panels. 

There is also scope to have some of your preparatory work included in the Leeds Art Gallery Collection as part of the Leeds Picture Library.

The Leeds Corn Exchange is a landmark of immense historical and cultural significance, not just for Leeds but nationally.

The Grade I listed building is a cherished jewel of the city, offering a unique space for independent retailers and serving as a dynamic cultural hub.

Rushbond, proud custodians of the Corn Exchange, are committed advocates of the arts and value its vital role in creating engaging spaces for communities to live, work, visit, and make memories.

This commission offers a distinctive opportunity to engage with the rich history and exciting future of the Corn Exchange. The goal is to animate and enhance the building’s interior, elevating the visitor experience through thoughtful and impactful design.

ARTIST FEE

A fee of £1,500 will be paid to the selected artist/designer, which equates to six days at £250 per day.

This must include all expenses such as travel and subsistence, and VAT if applicable.

The fee will be paid on completion of the print-ready artwork being submitted.

The successful applicant/s will be responsible for their tax and national insurance, and Rushbond cannot accept any liability in relation to these.

TIMESCALES

•  Deadline for submissions: 9AM on Monday, 10 June
• Notification to successful applicant/s: Friday, 14 June
• Refine design: 8 July
• Deadline for print-ready design files: 15 July
• Installation: By 31 July

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

We want to make it easy for you to submit your ideas without spending too much unpaid time working on a proposal.

We are asking for examples of your work, a rough visual mock-up of your idea demonstrating how you envisage it would look on the staircases and a brief write-up about how the design relates to the Corn Exchange.

Please note that this could be one design repeated on all four panels or four different designs on each of the four panels.

The commission is for print-ready design work that will be printed onto adhesive vinyl and applied to the four boards on the two staircases. Rushbond will oversee the printing and installation.

If selected, you will be paid a fee of £1,500 to produce four print-ready files using a template that the printers will provide.

Please note that the vinyl will be installed in 1250mm vertical drops, with a 20mm overlap, so some tolerance is required within the design.

If selected, the final artwork will need to be:

• PDF or SVG File
• Vectored File or 300dpi for 100% scale files or 600dpi for 50% scale files
• CMYK Colour Profile
• Fonts embedded
• 50mm bleed on all sides

PROCESS AND COPYRIGHT

This commission is offered on an open submission basis, and all creatives at any stage of their career, including artists and designers working either individually or collectively, are eligible to apply.

Preference will be given to ideas that inspire, enhance the visitor experience, are family-friendly and impactful, while giving confidence that the proposed solution is practical and can be executed on time.

The visual proposal must be accompanied by text of up to 100 words, providing context as to how the design relates to the Corn Exchange.

A site visit is strongly recommended before submitting a proposal to appreciate the uniqueness of the Corn Exchange’s interior architecture.

Submissions must be made online through CuratorSpace. Please use CuratorSpace to make any enquiries.

All those making submissions will be notified of the outcome of their application by 14 June when the selection panel has met.

Rushbond reserves the right not to award the commission if no viable proposals are made.

Rushbond will retain ownership of the commissioned work, but the copyright will remain with the artist/s. The selected artist/s agree to the use of their names and information about and images of the commissioned works in marketing and PR activity.

THE CORN EXCHANGE

The Corn Exchange (built in 1861-3) is one of several buildings in Leeds designed by Cuthbert Brodrick, including the Town Hall and City Mechanics’ Institute.

It is a fine example of Victorian architecture and one of just three Corn Exchanges in the country that still function as a centre for trade. The building was given Grade I listed status in 1951.

Leeds grew during the Industrial Revolution primarily through the production and sale of cotton, flax, and wool. The Corn Exchange is located very near to the First White Cloth Hall, Leeds’ oldest commercial building, on Kirkgate, where textiles were once traded.

Also nearby is Kirkgate Market, the largest covered market in Europe, which opened in 1822. The site lies within Leeds’ Central Conservation Area.

The Corn Exchange once functioned as a centre for trading corn, wheat, barley, hops, peas, beans, seeds, oil cake, and flour. However, due to a decline in the agricultural industry, the building deteriorated and eventually closed in 1985, before its relaunch as a retail destination and reopening in 1990.

The building’s final corn sellers ceased trading in 1994. Under changing ownership through the 2000s, the building was refurbished, and the lower ground floor opened up, initially housing a restaurant and specialist food outlets.

In 2017, Rushbond, working with Seven Architecture, reanimated the building and enhanced its use for small independent businesses and a new generation of visitors.

RUSHBOND

Rushbond is a Yorkshire-based property development company founded in Leeds in 1986. It aims to create unique spaces where design, quality, and creativity are at the fore, by elevating key aspects such as community, culture, and heritage and drawing these to the surface to enrich our experience of places today and into the future.

The company embeds creativity into its work in the built environment as a core tenet of its ethos.

Rushbond has a track record of working with artists through projects such as a recent collaboration with The Art Court that saw First White Cloth Hall used as a temporary art gallery for three months in 2024, Rhian Kempadoo-Millar’s mural Reflections of a Carnival (2023) in Chapeltown, Chris Knight’s permanent sculpture Embrace (2023) at Stonebridge Beck in Farsley, Michael Shaw’s temporary inflatable sculpture U (2021) at Majestic, Mike Winnard’s mural Common Ground (2019) at New York House, and Ian Randall’s Steeped Vessels (2006) at Brewery Wharf. Rushbond has made a major contribution to creating high-quality art in the public realm in Leeds.

SELECTION PANEL

Kirsty Young - Assistant Curator of Fine Art at Leeds Museums and Galleries.

Her work focuses on the works on paper collection at Leeds Art Gallery.

She is passionate about making collections inclusive in both their content and accessibility.

As part of her role, she looks after the Leeds Picture Library, a membership scheme where individuals and businesses can borrow from a designated collection of over 1,000 works of art.

Simon Rix - Bassist for the Kaiser Chiefs, an Amnesty International Ambassador, co-founder of Hyde Park Art Club, podcaster on Leeds United for the BBC, and mentor and manager for younger musicians.

He is a huge supporter of culture across a wide range of forms and sees the role it plays in bringing people together.

Courtney Spencer – Australian artist, curator, and collaborator. She founded The Art Court and works in the North of England to sell, source, and commission art for public and private settings.

She curates the annual Leeds Summer Group Show, was the Director of Left Bank Leeds, and works with clients and collaborators including National Trust, The Mercer, Leeds Playhouse, Eye Room, and Rushbond.

Georgina Maud - Head of Arts and Creative Development for Rushbond. She has a background in landscape management, art history, and business, and coordinates the delivery of site-specific artistic commissions as part of development projects.

She sees art as playing a pivotal role in bringing spaces to life and creating meaningful places for people and communities to enjoy.

Please read the Q&A section prior to submitting.