The Horniman Museum and Gardens is looking to commission artists or companies across a range of art forms and cultures to create work for a series of large scale events happening in July and August 2015. These performances will be part of the Horniman summer festival, which will celebrate Africa with a programme of music, dance, theatre, street arts and more.
The Horniman will celebrate Africa with a vibrant summer programme taking place from 5 July to 30 August. We are looking for exciting artists and companies across a diverse range of art forms to express their interest in creating original artistic responses to our African collections. These new commissions would complement the programming of the summer festival and be presented at a series of large-scale events over the summer:
- Opening event: Sunday 5 July: 12-6pm: a day of site-specific dance, music, street arts, interactive performances and pop up activities across the Horniman Gardens for a family audience
- Summer Late: Thursday 6 August: 6.30-9.30pm: a cross arts after-hours event for an adult audience celebrating contemporary African culture with a mix of music, dance, installations, fashion and films.
- Big Wednesdays: 29 July, 12, 19 and 26 August: 12-4pm: a series of daytime events for families and large groups of children including dance, theatre, storytelling, workshops and other activities across the museum and gardens which encourage participation.
Submission Guidelines:
- Commissioned artists will need to present their work at a minimum of two of these events. These activities are likely to attract over 1,000 visitors each, so original work with visual impact amongst a crowd of people is required – (available performance spaces in the Horniman Gardens have a capacity ranging from 100 to 500 people at a time).
- All projects must draw inspiration from the Horniman’s African collections or have a strong connection with Africa. Commissioned artists will receive a two hours training in object-based learning and develop their projects with the Horniman curators and/or learning staff. It is strongly encouraged that artists from Africa and African diaspora communities to apply for these bursaries.
- Applications must be for completely new work or to evidence how the bursaries will significantly develop and advance an existing idea or work in early stages. Applications may include (amongst others): Dance, theatre, street arts, circus or cross-arts performances in the Horniman Gardens / Site-specific interventions or promenade performances / Interactive activities across art and craft forms and more…
- This call out is for professional artists and companies only
- The majority of the events take place outside, including grassy or paved/tarmacked areas
- All work should be suitable for a family audience
There are two types of bursaries on offer:
- Three commissions of £2,000 each: these are to create free large-scale performances in the Horniman Gardens and presented on minimum two dates during the course of the summer festival. These commissions should also include an element of public engagement that can take place on the same or a different date (e.g. artist’s talk, art workshop or dance workshops)
- Up to three micro-commissions between £300 and £1,000: these are to create smaller interventions or projects presented at one or more events of the summer festival.
For more information / To apply go to : www.horniman.ac.uk