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Saltaire Arts Trail OPEN VILLAGE 30 Apr-2 May 2022

Deadline: 09/01/2022

City: Saltaire, Bradford  |  Region: West Yorkshire  |  Country: United Kingdom  |  Saltaire Inspired Team

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*EXTENDED DEADLINE: 9th January 2022* Call for visual artists working in a wide variety of art forms to exhibit work as part of Saltaire Arts Trail Open Village 30 April - 2 May 2022. The annual Saltaire Arts Trail opens up the UNESCO World Heritage Site to visitors by presenting great contemporary art within its public and private spaces, and the Open Houses and Windows make use of the Grade II listed mill cottages at the invitation of the owners, turning them into mini-galleries and giving artists a unique exhibiting opportunity. *Please note, this opportunity is one of three strands open for applications within the Saltaire Arts Trail programme of events.*

Event dates: Saturday 30 April - Monday 2 May 2022 (May Day Bank Holiday)

The Open Village Trail (Houses and Windows)

Saltaire Inspired's premier event, the Saltaire Arts Trail, takes place annually, and in 2022 will take place during the early May bank holiday weekend, 30 April - 2 May. Over three days, Saltaire becomes a magnet for visitors, with an estimated 6000-8000 attending each year since 2006. There are commissioned exhibitions and installations, a high-end contemporary craft designer/makers fair, free creative family workshops, and of course the famous Open Village Trail - a village wide gallery of contemporary art in the Grade II listed homes and small businesses of Saltaire residents. 

Kindly offered by the local residents and small business owners of Saltaire, the Open Village trail will encourage visitors to explore the parts of the village not traditionally on the tourist map.  Artists selected through this open-call will exhibit their work within the domestic settings of homes and businesses of Saltaire residents. Expanding on the annual Open Houses opportunity, for the first time in 2021 Saltaire Inspired introduced art to window spaces as a response to the pandemic, and this year will combine a window trail alongside the usual interior houses 'galleries', creating the Open Village galleries trail. 

Previous Open Houses and Windows events have been hugely popular, with many visitors taking the opportunity to see inside the small industrial cottages (average floor space 12ft x 12ft), or to peer into windows and to see the wide variety of art on offer. Visitors do come prepared to take an interest in the art on show around the village, and each year are looking for exciting and innovative projects which really set apart our Arts Trail from others in the UK. The houses and windows are without doubt one of the unique selling points of the Saltaire Arts Trail, providing a village-wide gallery space, a truly unique venue in which visitors can appreciate contemporary art in an informal domestic setting, within the UNESCO world heritage site of Saltaire.

PLEASE NOTE - We have made some improvements on how we run our Open Houses opportunities for 2022, and would encourage previous exhibiting artists to read the 'Opportunity FAQs' section for full details - artists will no longer pay commission on sales, instead a one-off participation fee will be applicable for all artists selected to take part in the Open Village trail (£75 per artist for a House space, or £60 per artist for a Window space).

What we are looking for?

As in all strands of the Saltaire Arts Trail, we are looking for work that is of gallery standard, contemporary and interesting, and that will make our events stand out as exceptional in quality and interest. 

  • Within the Open Village we aim to present a diverse exhibition of contemporary visual art across the village. The domestic settings of the mill cottages are particularly suitable for showing wall-hung contemporary Fine Art work in a wide variety of media, and small scale sculptural works to be displayed on shelves, small tables and floor standing. Window spaces will also be filled with art for audiences to enjoy from the street, and gardens may be offered to show larger sculptural objects suitable for outdoor display.

  • Art forms accepted include painting, photography, printmaking, digital art, drawing, collage, illustration, textile art, & small scale sculpture or contemporary objects, but this is not an exhaustive list and we are very interested to see original works in other mediums. 

  • We are keen to welcome submissions from both recent graduates/artists in the early stage of their careers as well as from established artists. Returning exhibitors will be expected to exhibit new work. If you have exhibited with us before, please make sure you include details of proposed new work in your application.

  • We are encouraging applications from artists from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds.

  • Space in the houses and windows are limited and this should be considered when submitting your application. We also do not have sufficient volunteers to invigilate each house throughout the event, therfore you'll need to be prepared for, and be excited about, showing your work in a domestic setting, alongside other artists, and being present to welcome visitors. Artists must be available to install and take down their own work, as well as helping to invigilate and welcome visitors during the weekend.

  • 2022 SHOWCASE - A new opportunity is being offered this year, for artists wishing to submit proposals for projects or artworks not intended for sale - this could include performance art, live art, small scale installations, film/video, sound art, interactive audience engagement, curated projects, etc. If you are interested in this opportunity, please do not apply for the OPEN VILLAGE strand, please apply through the SHOWCASE strand instead (separate Curatorspace opportunity).

Saltaire Inspired is committed to inclusion and diversity and particularly encourages applications from artists whose backgrounds and lived experience are underrepresented in the visual arts, contemporary craft and design sectors. If you would value a pre application conversation or have questions about showing your work within the Saltaire Arts Trail, please contact us.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to read our 'Opportunity FAQs' for more information about the event before applying. Artists who have exhibited with us previously should also note the change in participation fees.

How to apply

Make your submission via Curatorspace, uploading between 4 - 10 good quality images. Please ensure that you upload and attach each image individually.

A non-refundable administration fee of £6 will be required for all submissions. As a volunteer-led charitable organisation, this helps us to cover the administrational costs of carrying out a fair and unbiased selection process with an independent panel of industry professional judges.

The administration fee should be paid no later than the closing date of Sunday 9th January 2022, in order for your application to be considered. The £6 administration fee does not guarentee you a place within the Open Village, all applications are subject to a selection process.

Before you submit your application, you will be directed to Curatorspace's secure payment portal in order to make payment of the application fee and to complete your submission.

Who are Saltaire Inspired?

Largely volunteer-led, Saltaire Inspired creates exhibitions and projects within the World Heritage Site of Saltaire village, responding to Bradford’s cultural heritage and strengths. We promote and develop artists and their practice, showcase and sell high-quality contemporary craft and design, engage and inspire the local community and aim to make visual arts accessible and engaging through the use of private and public buildings. Saltaire Inspired is a registered charity.

Visit the Saltaire Inspired website to find out more.

IMPORTANT NOTE - Before submitting your application, please read the 'Opportunity FAQs' section for full details and requirements for this event. This can be found towards the top of the page, below the event title, by clicking the tab in green text. 

*Please note, this opportunity is one of three strands open for applications within the Saltaire Arts Trail programme of events.

 

Submission fees

The following submission fees apply to this opportunity.

  • Open Village at SAT22 Application Fee - 6.00 GBP

The appropriate fee will be payable using a debit or credit card after the first submission has been completed. If the submission fee allows you to submit more than once, you will be able to make further submissions after the first. Contact the curator if you have any questions about the opportunity or the submission fee, or email help@curatorspace.com if you have any questions about the payment process.

Contact the curator
Who is eligible for this opportunity?
Visual artists resident in the UK and working in a variety of media. Applications to show jewellery will not be considered for this opportunity, and should instead consider the SALTAIRE MAKERS FAIR opportunity.
When is the deadline?
DEADLINE EXTENDED to Sunday 9th January 2022.
What kind of work are you looking for?
With the Open Houses and Windows, we want to create a diverse "Open Exhibition" across the village. Due to the nature of the domestic settings being used, these venues will be most suitable for showing wall-hung Fine Art work in a wide variety of media, and small scale sculptural works to be displayed on shelves, small tables and floor standing.

Window spaces will also be filled with art for audiences to enjoy from the street, and gardens may be offered to show larger sculptural objects suitable for outdoor display.

Art forms accepted include painting, photography, printmaking, digital art, drawing, collage, illustration, & small scale sculpture or contemporary objects, but this is not an exhaustive list and we are very interested to see original works in other mediums.

We would also be very interested to receive exciting applications to show less conventional work and would do our best to accommodate it within our spaces.

2022 SHOWCASE - A new opportunity is being offered this year, for artists wishing to submit proposals for projects or artworks not intended for sale - this could include performance art, live art, small scale installations, film/video, sound art, interactive audience engagement, curated projects, etc. If you are interested in this opportunity, please do not apply for the OPEN VILLAGE strand, please apply through the SHOWCASE strand (separate Curatorspace opportunity).
Will my work be displayed in a house or a window space?
For 2022, Saltaire Inspired will invite residents and small business owners to offer their interior living spaces AND/OR window spaces to selected artists in which to exhibit their work. In response to the pandemic, in 2021 we hosted our first Window Gallery trail with great success, to allow visitors to view the artwork from the street. This year will see the popular Open Houses combined with Open Windows, to form a larger Open Village trail, meaning more space for more artists than ever before.

If your application is selected, Saltaire Inspired will allocate you with a space within either the interior living space of a house, or within a window space, dependant on the work being proposed and the display requirements. If you feel that your work is only suitable for one type of space, please provide your preference in your application. Please note that the more flexible you can be, the more likely we will be to find a suitable space for you to exhibit.

A fixed one-off participation fee will be applicable for each artist selected to take part in the Open Village trail at Saltaire Arts Trail 2022.
For artists allocated an Open House space the fee will be £75 per artist.
For artists allocated an Open Window space the fee will be £60 per artist.
No commission will be taken on any sales made during the event.
Is there a fee to apply?
There is a non-refundable administration fee of £6 required for all submissions. As a volunteer-led charitable organisation, this helps us to cover the administrational costs of carrying out a fair and unbiased selection process with an independent panel of industry professional judges.

Before you submit your application, you will be directed to Curatorspace's secure payment portal in order to make payment of the application fee and to complete your submission.
The administration fee should be paid before the closing date for entries, of Sunday 9th January 2022. If the £6 fee is not paid by the closing date, your application will not be considered.

Please note that this £6 administrational fee does not guarantee you a place within the Open Village, all applications are subject to a selection process.
What other fees / commission are there?
Following artist feedback from previous Arts Trail events, we have reviewed the way that we charge fees for the 2022 Saltaire Arts Trail Open Village trail.

To make the system more manageable for everyone, we have moved to a fixed fee for participation and so no commission will be taken on sales this year. Artists will have control over their own sales and will take home the whole amount earned through these sales. We believe that this will be of financial benefit to most artists offering work for sale over the Arts Trail weekend. Artists will be responsible for taking their own card and cash sales, and may consider bringing their own 3G card reader.

A fixed one-off participation fee will be applicable for each artist selected to take part in the Open Village trail at Saltaire Arts Trail 2022.
For artists allocated an Open House space the fee will be £75 per artist.
For artists allocated an Open Window space the fee will be £60 per artist.
No commission will be taken on any sales made during the event.

As Saltaire Inspired is a not-for-profit arts organisation, the fixed fee will contribute towards the effective and professional organisation and delivery of the Saltaire Arts Trail, to a high standard and to the benefit of the artists involved in this year's event.

Artists wishing to exhibit work not for sale are also welcome to apply, but may wish to consider applying for the SHOWCASE opportunity instead, if the work is of a experimental natural or a proposal for a unique project or installation (please search for the separate Curatorspace opportunity 'Saltaire Arts Trail SHOWCASE 30 April-2 May 2022').
How many/what kind of images should I submit?
You can attach up to 10 images as part of your application. To help us with selection, please upload a minimum of 4. It is vital to the selection process that the images you submit are of a good quality and give a true idea of the work you wish to exhibit.

Please upload JPG images, no larger than 1MB. If you are selected, the images will be used initially as part of an online gallery, so we only need them to be web-size at this stage.

Please note: You will need to upload each image separately to ensure that they successfully attach to your application, please check your completed application to make sure all images appear.
What is the decision making process for the applications?
An independent committee of arts professionals will assess all applications and make the selection at a date to be agreed in January 2022. You will be informed as to whether your application was successful as early as possible after selection. The panel will be given the task of putting together a well-balanced show, considering new and returning exhibitors, emerging and established artists and an interesting mix of genres.

It is important that the images you submit are representative of the quality of the work you wish to show. The panel will be able to research your website, but time is always tight and first impressions from the submitted images are crucial. The decision of the selection panel is final and unfortunately no discussion can be entered into once the selection has been made, though we will be happy to give general feedback.
I'm an artist living in Saltaire, and I want to open up my own house. Do I still have to apply?
No, you do not need to apply through this Curatorspace opportunity. We have a strand of the Arts Trail specifically for Saltaire Artists. You will not need to apply if you want to show work in your own home in the village. However, if you want your house or studio to be promoted as part of the Saltaire Arts Trail in the Trail Guide and Map, your artwork to feature in our online gallery on the website and to appear in all our associated publicity and marketing, you will need to register.

There is a participation fee which varies depending on whether you're inviting other artists to share your space. Please contact us directly through the 'contact the curator' section of this page, or email artists@saltaireinspired.org.uk if you are interested in this option.
What happens if my proposal is chosen?
You will be contacted shortly after selection in January 2022. All artists who have submitted work will be contacted even if unsuccessful on this occasion. If selected, you won't know the location of your Open House or Window until a little while after selection, as we need to match work selected to venues available. Once this is done, we will put you in touch with your host so that you can plan your exhibition together.

If your application is successful, you must be able to install your own work in the week running up to the event and be available to deinstall afterwards, you also will ideally be able to share invigilation duties with the other artists exhibiting in your allocated house, and will be asked to agree to our terms of participation. Payment of the participation fee must be paid by Friday 4th March 2022 in order to secure your place within the Open Village trail.
How much/what type of work can be shown?
It will depend on the venues available, which vary from year to year. The Open Houses and Windows are small domestic spaces which come to us through the kindness of their owners, so we take a lot of care in curating them.

For an Open Houses space, you'll be looking at approximately 4 to 8 ft of wall space for 2D work, or roughly a couple of coffee tables and a shelf or two for 3D work. For an Open Windows space, the average Saltaire house window measures 160cm high x 100cm wide, and work should be installed in the interior side of the window facing outwards, so that visitors can view the work form the street.

In terms of displaying work, we aim for a gallery appearance, not a shop look, and do NOT intend to salon hang floor-to-ceiling or to allow large numbers of browsers or racks, for aesthetic as well as safety reasons, so do please think 'less is more'. If your work is of a larger scale, you should expect to show fewer pieces, and if your work is of a much smaller scale, you could expect to show more pieces (within reason).
When can work be installed? When does the work need to be taken away?
The event opens to the public on Saturday 30th April 2022, and houses must be ready for visitors by 10am. Work can be installed in the week up to this date, following close liaison with your allocated Open Village host and the Saltaire Inspired team.

Work should be removed at the close of the Arts Trail weekend, 5pm on Monday 2nd May, or as soon as possible after this by arrangement with your host.
What are the exhibition opening hours?
Saturday 30th April - Monday 2nd May 2022, 10am - 5pm each day.
Does the location have disabled access?
Due to the peculiarities of the domestic settings, most houses are not accessible to those with mobility needs. If you require particular access needs and are selected to exhibit, Saltaire Inspired will work hard to find a suitable location, however please note that this cannot be guaranteed as we are often limited by the spaces that we are offered by residents.
What publicity will be provided as part of the opportunity?
Saltaire Inspired will market and promote the Open Village trail as one of the highlights of Saltaire Arts Trail 2022, through the production and distribution of printed matter, an online social media campaign and by generating press releases and distributing them to appropriate media. Exhibiting artists will be featured on the Saltaire Inspired website in an online gallery and on a printed programme brochure and map.
How are sales handled?
Following feedback from previous Saltaire Arts Trail events, we have reviewed the way that sales are handled for the 2022 Arts Trail Open Houses.

Work exhibited in the Open Village locations may be priced for sale, though it need not be. Sales will now be handled entirely by the artists, no commission will be taken on any sales.
Work sold during the weekend may be taken away immediately by buyers so, space permitting and in consultation with your host, you can bring spare work for replacement of sales.
Artists will be responsible for taking their own card and cash sales, and may wish to consider bringing their own 3G card reader.
I'm not sure whether to go for this or the Makers Fair opportunity. Can I apply for both?
No, do please try to choose one or the other, as you will not be able to take part in both and are quite different offers - please read the 'What kind of work are you looking for?' FAQ, further advice can be found on the Saltaire Inspired website to help you decide which opportunity is best suited to your work. If you want to show a large selection of work for sale, including small items, then the Makers Fair may be more appropriate than the Open Village, where space is at a premium (please read the Artistic Policy for the Makers Fair opportunity to see if your work is suitable, as the Makers Fair is for contemporary craft applications only).

If you are still really torn, you can add a note in the 'Additional Requirements' box to say you'd be interested in the Makers Fair if not selected for the Open Village - please note that your application will be judged primarily for the opportunity you apply for, and will only be considered for your 2nd choice opportunity if time allows on the selection day.

2022 SHOWCASE - this year, artists will also have a third opportunity to consider, as a part of the Saltaire Arts Trail program. A new opportunity is being offered for artists wishing to submit proposals for projects or artworks not intended for sale - this could include performance art, live art, small scale installations, film/video, sound art, interactive audience engagement, curated projects, etc. If you are interested in this opportunity, please do not apply for the OPEN VILLAGE strand, please apply through the SHOWCASE strand (separate Curatorspace opportunity).

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