In 2023, Liverpool will host the Eurovision Song Contest.The event should be taking place in Ukraine, but due to the ongoing invasion the UK will instead host the competition on their behalf.
The Eurovision Festival will land in Liverpool on 1st May and run until the 14th May. The Eurovision Grand Final is being producehope
- mental health & wellbeing
- voice of the child (Child friendly cities (CFC))
- and celebration of Eurovision.
The Opportunity
As part of our education and community programmes, our visual arts strand will focus on the Ukrainian and Eastern European tradition of egg painting. Called pysanka, these painted eggs are a central part of Ukrainian culture around by the BBC and will be broadcast live on 13 May to 160 million viewers across the world.
To support this, as host city Liverpool will be delivering a cultural festival in the lead up to the main event with a series of commissions, events and installations which will act as a platform for modern Ukraine – telling a story of an ambitious, progressive country. Sitting alongside these will be an education and community programme to ensure that our young people and wider communities can engage in the event also.
The overall theme of both the community and education programmes is ‘United by Music’, with sub-themes of:
- welcome
- home
- sanctuary
- belonging
- loneliness
- togetherness
d Easter.
Schools across the region will be able to access an online resource providing cultural references, ‘how to’ guides and ideas and inspiration for the decoration of their individual eggs in their school settings. These include but are not restricted to use of the national symbols of the Ukraine, the nightingale and sunflower. The resource pack will be shared with the commissioned artists.
To complement this programme we are working with Liverpool ONE to provide a unique opportunity to commission 7 visual artists to work with schools and the Ukrainian community across the Liverpool City Region to design and decorate a largescale painted egg for inclusion in a public art trail. There are 7 large-scale eggs in total, each measuring 1000mm high x 700mm diameter, 1 for each Liverpool City Region Local Authority and 1 for the Ukrainian Community in Liverpool.
Each Local Authority area will decide which schools will be involved, this might be one school or a primary, secondary and Early Years/SEND school working together. The commissioned artists will work with the chosen schools to design the decoration for a giant egg to be displayed in a public location within Liverpool ONE during the Easter Holidays and in the run-up to Eurovision.
The designs should reflect the above themes, Ukrainian culture and traditions, those of the other competing Eurovision countries and our wider Liverpool City Region communities. The eggs can be decorated using paints, decoupage, and collage and must be varnished for outdoor display prior to being collected and returned to Liverpool ONE.
There will potentially be opportunities for the commissioned artists to collaborate with artists working on other aspects of the wider Eurovision programme.
Who are they looking for?
We are looking for artists who:
- Have a proven track record of high-quality co-creation with schools and/or communities
- Can work to the brief provided by Culture Liverpool and within the timescales
- With a history of delivering work to a tight deadline
- Proven track record of developing and delivering high quality work suitable for the public realm
- Have own Public Liability Insurance of at least £5,000,000
- We will endeavour to secure a space within the school to decorate the egg but please let us know if you have access to own studio or space to decorate egg if needed
Guidelines:
- There are 7 eggs in total
- Hollow fibreglass egg
- 1000mm high x 700mm diameter
- The egg has a small fibreglass plate attached to the bottom which enables it to stand upright. This has bolt holes and sits within a frame on a large round wooden base to which it is attached for display on site (see images below)
- The base to which the egg is attached for display is 500mm high and 1500mm
- The egg will be supplied WITHOUT the large base, the egg stands upright on its small base plate
- The artist is not required to paint/design the large display base, only the egg
- Each egg has different fibreglass scenery on the small base plate such as sand, grass, gravel, rock effect. The artist can paint over this if preferred
- The eggs have a smooth surface and will be painted with an outdoor base coat, onto which artists can apply their media – paint, decoupage/collage etc. Please provide details of the media to be used with your application
- The artist should varnish over the design with a varnish suitable for outdoors or use materials that will be suitable for display outdoors without varnishing
- The eggs may be repurposed in future so nothing should be attached onto the original structure
Considerations
- The eggs will be on display outdoors for over 2 months
- The media used must be waterproof or finished with a waterproof varnish
- Liverpool ONE must be able to wash the eggs, for example to remove bird droppings. food and drink spillages
- Do not attach anything to the egg that makes it easier to climb or sit/stand on
- The eggs will be on display and accessible to the public 24 hours a day so should not be designed in a way that would attract antisocial behaviour. They will not be locked away at night
- The design must not involve anything being screwed/bolted into the egg or other methods of attachment that penetrate the structure
- Do not cut holes in the egg or remove any parts of it
- People sit on the bases and lean on the eggs so there shouldn’t be anything on the sides that can be damaged/squashed or that would injure people
- No part of the design should protrude significantly from the egg
- Keep in mind public will be interacting with /touching the eggs so all materials must be safe
- The egg will be viewed from all sides including above so please design to be viewed from all angles
- Repairs may be required during the display period so please retain spare materials/media should any need to be carried out
- The egg will be transported to the school by a courier company who will need to take it to the exact location it will be painted. Teachers/artists should not attempt to move it around the school due to the weight. Under no circumstances should pupils move the egg. Ideally the courier company will put it on the floor where it is to be designed/painted and that is where it is left until collection by them
- The egg must be completely finished including any weatherproofing/varnishing done before it is collected from the school and brought back to Liverpool ONE.
- The wooden display bases will be painted and have vinyl branding, with details about the artist and school, egg design and logos. This will be done by Liverpool ONE.
- Use of corporate logos in designs or design with political, sexual and religious connotations will not be accepted
- The artwork must withstand the rigours of outdoor living. Artwork that is fragile or deemed to present a public safety hazard will not be approved
Timeline
12.2.23 Deadline for applications
16.2.23 Commissioned artist informed
17.2.23 – 26.2.23 Research & development, preparation
WC 27.02.23 Eggs delivered to schools. Begin work with schools to develop designs
WC 20.3.23 Eggs will be collected from schools
31.3.23 Installation of egg trail (to be managed by Liverpool ONE)
Exact dates and times to be agreed. The egg will be at the school for approximately 3 weeks (unless an earlier collection is arranged).
The duration at the school cannot be extended beyond 24 March.
Fee
There is a fee of £2000 per artist/egg to include all research and design, school engagement, workshops, design development, materials, install of designs onto the egg and artist expenses.
Transport of the eggs from Liverpool ONE to the school and return will be arranged separately.
The artist would need to do any repairs to the artwork if damaged during the public display period. A call-out fee of £250 would be paid to the artist for any repairs needed. Repairs need to be done outside store opening hours and in agreement with Liverpool ONE.
Requirements for application
Provide CV, examples of previous work and one page cover letter outlining experience, your ideas, how you would manage the project, workshops and if you have a chosen Liverpool City Region local authority area you would like to work with and why.
Deadline for Application
5.00pm (17:00hrs) Sunday 12th February, 2023
Send to – harriet.warnock@liverpool.gov.uk