Bradford City Council is working with Bradford BID, Ilkley BID, Keighley BID & Bradford 2025 and Bradford Producing Hub to fund the creation of seven incredible light art and installations to take place across the District this Winter (December 20 – Feb 21).

We are looking for artists who have worked with light or who are keen to explore the way light can feature in their work It is intended that the installations will have a budget of around £10k-£15k each, with 3 of the projects taking place in Bradford city centre. We are open to proposals for a larger commission in the City Centre that could have a longer duration and scale

Winter is drawing closer, darker evenings are upon us and 2020 has been a challenging time for many people across the district.  We are in complex times with many restrictions in place but this does not mean we can’t have moments of surprise, joy and pride in Bradford. During Lockdown we initiated a Cultural Recovery group bringing together culture, leisure, hospitality, tourism and economy to consider what we can do differently, how do we pool ideas and resources.

An outcome of this group was to develop a district wide programme of light and surprise throughout the district featuring anywhere from front gardens , shopping centre’s to the roof of an empty mill.

Bradford City Council is working with Bradford BID, Ilkley BID, Keighley BID, Bradford 2025, Bradford Producing Hub, Shipley and Bingley Town Councils and The Leap  to fund and support  the creation of seven incredible light art and installations and  smaller arts and community installations  to take place across the District this Winter (December 20 – Feb 21).

Proposals can be for

1.       a single installation

2.       a series of smaller installations in multiple sites

3.       a touring / moving project

It can be interactive (with appropriate Covid-19 considerations) or something beautiful just made to be viewed.

Location: The installations can take place in Keighley, Bingley, Ilkley, Shipley and Bradford city centre. Contact Adam Long [ TGevents] for information on the chosen sites and discuss options. Adam will also be able happy to offer advice on the delivery of your project.

Ideas: We are interested in the broadest range of exciting and creative ideas that will help light up our District in the dark nights, and we want to encourage artists to present us with ideas we may never have thought of. Your idea has to involve light and should be available to general audiences for a reasonable duration, within the funds available. Ideas could be (but not limited to):

-          indoor installation within a public space

-          projection from internal to external, e.g. using empty retail or business window displays

-          outdoor installations (with appropriate safety measures and durability), e.g. laser, led, projection

-          manned / artist led (with appropriate safety measures and timescales)

-          a single fixed location

-          tour-able / able to be moved / installed / shown in multiple locations

Duration: The installation / project should take place for a period of up  to 28 days and a minimum of 7 days  between 5th December 2020 – 27th February 2021. Your installation must be visible and effective as a light installation which is active at night, but please also consider what the installation looks like during the daytime.

Covid-19:  Your project must be Covid-19 safe, following social distancing Government guidelines in the process of making and delivery. You will need to consider audience safety for the area your installation will take place in, and whether any restrictions will be needed to discourage large groups to gather.

Safety and delivery: All successful applications will be asked to provide suitable risk assessments and other documentation relevant to their project, including a Covid- 19 Risk Assessment and other Health and Safety laws. You will need to ensure you have all necessary insurances, licenses, audience and technical plans in place as relevant to your project to ensure it is delivered safely. Fixed Installations must be weatherproof and be secure unmanned / able to be safely left, with any necessary ballasting, maintenance or other infrastructure factored into the installation and your budget.  You will be contacted by our  Safety Manager who will:

·         Check Risk Assessments and other safety documentation produced for the project and instruct should corrective action need to be taken.

·         Advise the successful project on safety issues and the activation of contingency plans.

·          Advise the successful project on correct procedures

Successful projects will meet with our Production Manager, and work together to agree the timetable of works including any install and de-install elements. Adam will be able to advise you on the delivery and production of your project  and be the link with  chosen locations, negotiating with other local teams as necessary.

Budget: There is a budget of £10,000 - £15,000 including VAT available for each installation/project.

All submissions must be achievable within the budget submitted, as well as time constraints and artist ability and experience.

The budget should be inclusive of all artist time, materials, travel costs, construction, installation, de-install, etc. The installation must also have adequate health and safety and infrastructure factored into the installation and its budget.

We support fair pay principles will consider scalable ideas or requests for reasonable additional support for equipment or artist fees. There is an additional contingency fund available for all sites.

We are open to applications for larger scale projects in the City Centre that are judged to be exceptional, and retain the right to reduce the overall number of funds available accordingly, if a larger proposal is selected.

Please only put forward submissions you are confident can be achieved.