Community Post Type: Callouts

Liverpool based social enterprise dot-art want to help more schools engage with their award-winning schools programme, now entering its 12^th year. The inter-school art competition, open to all educational settings across the Liverpool City Region, can this year offer a number of FREE places on the programme through its Champions scheme. 

Carolyn Murray, dot-art Schools Project Manager, explains:

“We’re delighted to have secured funding from The Medicash Foundation and the Duchy of Lancaster Benevolent Fund, alongside support from our partners Edge Hill University and a range of local businesses and ward councillors to Champion schools to take part. Their invaluable support means we can offer FREE access to the programme for even more schools across the Liverpool City Region.”

Following the success of the exhibition in June 2023, dot-art Schools are also over the moon to announce a new three year partnership with the Walker Art Gallery that will see works by the winning young artists from each participating school proudly displayed in the gallery from June 2024 onwards.

Lucy Johnson, Head of Art Gallery Exhibitions at National Museums Liverpool, said: “We’re thrilled to be continuing our work with dot-art Schools to highlight the creativity of local students and motivate them to follow their passion for art.” 

Last year, it was fantastic to see such a wide variety of artwork from the entrants and the enthusiasm from the young people who exhibited. I look forward to another fantastic exhibition in 2024.” 

dot-art Schools, in partnership with Edge Hill University, has been inspiring, celebrating and championing creativity since 2012. With creativity now recognised as one of the most vital skills for young people’s future employment, the importance of programmes like this continues to grow.

Year 5 and year 9 students who participate in the dot-art Schools competition report increased self-esteem, creative confidence and raised aspirations. For some pupils it can also act as a catalyst to pursue a creative career path.

Primary, secondary and SEND settings across Liverpool City Region are invited to join dot-art Schools 2024. Schools can enquire now about taking a free Championed place.

Hurry though, these free places will get snapped up by Christmas!

To find out more and sign your school up for the competition, email schools@dot-art.com, call 0345 0176660 or visit schools.dot-art.com. 

Support to grow through training, mentorship or other learning opportunities

They can provide up to £1,500 to help you enhance your skills or artistic practice. Whatever your circumstances and ambitions — you can apply for support that is specific to your career needs.

This can be anything from a conference to learn more about the industry, to a course to enhance your skills; from one-on-one coaching to some time with a mentor.

Learn more & APPLY HERE

The Ulrike Michal Foundation for the Arts exists “to promote, encourage and extend the love, appreciation, enjoyment, understanding and practice of fine, decorative and applied arts among people of all ages.

They do this through experiences at museums, art galleries, historic properties and in the community at large, both as individuals and communally, as participants and spectators,” across north Wales, Merseyside and the border counties of Cheshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire.

To apply and learn more about the foundation and its grants programme, please see their website: https://www.umffta.org/

Closing date: 22 December

Liverpool Architecture Festival 2024
(June 1st – 30th) would like to invite you to suggest event ideas for LAF24 Festival.

The theme for LAF24 is ‘NEIGHBOURHOOD’ in a bid to recognise the local impact architecture has on our everyday lives. The Foundation’s values of Community, Inclusivity and Climate will be at the forefront of the festival.

We are inviting ideas for events, seminars, walking and building tours, and socials that you may have. These may be of projects that will be on site or complete, or on subjects that are close to your heart.

We are encouraging events take place through the 6 Liverpool City Region Boroughs of Sefton, St. Helens, Knowsley, Halton, Wirral and Liverpool.

We have set a provisional deadline of Friday 15th December 2023 for the initial expression of interest so we can begin working on formalising the calendar, and applying for funding.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to email.

Please send your proposals to: hello@laf-uk.com

Deadline: Friday, 15th December

Follow LAF on Instagram for updates.

Liverpool, 16^th November 2023 – ArtsGroupie CIC is thrilled to announce the launch of the “Ghost Stories for Christmas” contest, a spine-chilling celebration of creativity and community spirit. This contest invites writers aged 16 and over to craft original, Christmas ghost-themed stories for a chance to win exciting prizes and have their work featured on ArtsGroupie’s website.

The winning entry will have their work performed at Shakespeare North Playhouse on Saturday, 16^th November.

About the Contest:

The “Ghost Stories for Christmas” contest is part of ArtsGroupie CIC’s larger project aimed at fostering community unity, combating isolation, and inspiring creativity through the art of storytelling. With 14 community workshops, 10 live performances, and a community-focused approach, this project aims to revive the tradition of winter ghost tales. Performances will include readings from two celebrated British writers, award-winning horror writer, Ramsey Campbell, and comics writer, John Reppion.

Contest Details: 

Theme: Christmas ghost stories 

Eligibility: Open to individuals aged 16 and over 

Word Limit: Entries must not exceed 500 words 

Submission Deadline: Midnight on 12th December 2023 

Prizes: 1st Place (Prize worth £150), 2nd Place (Prize worth £75), 3rd Place (Prize worth £25)

Winners Announcement: Wednesday, 13th December 2023

Publication: Top three entries will be featured on ArtsGroupie’s website (www.ArtsGroupie.org)

How to Enter:

Participants can submit their entries by the deadline via our website at https://www.artsgroupie.org/artsgroupies-christmas-ghost-story-contest/, or by email at artgroupie@outlook.com Full contest details and submission guidelines can be found on the ArtsGroupie website.

Community Engagement:

The project includes 14 workshops covering oral storytelling, shadow puppetry, and shared reading to ensure accessibility for participants with varying literacy levels.

Get Involved:

Join ArtsGroupie CIC in reviving the tradition of Christmas ghost stories. Submit your spine-tingling tale, embrace the festive spirit, and become part of a community united by the art of storytelling.

Closing date: 12 December

Volunteering plays a vital role in supporting the work of community, charity and voluntary sector organisations in Liverpool.

By giving your time you can help your community thrive. So, if you’re looking to give a few hours, or days, you can find what opportunities are available through the LCVS volunteering portal.  And if you are an organisation looking for volunteers this portal can help you throughout the process.

Simply click through to the portal here and either register your organisation and post your volunteering opportunities or search for opportunities near you.

John Moores Students’ Union provides students with volunteering opportunities to help them build employability skills, connect with the city of Liverpool, and feel good! They partner with over 80 local organisations to provide students with fantastic and varied volunteering roles.

Some of the benefits of partnering with JMSU – free of charge – to recruit student volunteers are:

• Access to their volunteering portal – all LJMU students (over 27,000) can access this and view opportunities
• Recruit fantastic student volunteers from all backgrounds, courses and experience levels
• The chance for your organisation to attend our volunteer recruitment events throughout the year, free of charge (Freshers Fair, Student Volunteering Fair and Volunteering Pop-up events).

If you are interested in becoming one of their voluntary partners, click here to register on their website.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact their Volunteer and Community Coordinator on jmsuvolunteering@ljmu.ac.uk.

 

Building on NOVUM Festival’s resounding success they are excited to invite artists to join them next summer to be part of the programme for 2024 (9-11 August) by responding to their open call for expressions of interest with details of your art, music, poetry, prose, performance, dance or creative work.

Following the pilot year, 2024 marks the full launch of what aims to become a new destination event for the North East celebrating original home-grown talent alongside the long-standing international connections – both historic and contemporary.

You could be based in the North East, across the UK, or across the world – NOVUM is a place where they want artists to come together sparking new relationships and new ideas. Their aim once again is to bring an experimental and diverse creative reflection of the city’s people to the iconic Civic Centre – opening the amazing modernist architectural icon to the public in an entirely new way.

Read the brief and respond to their Open Call for expressions of interest by Friday 17 December.

https://www.curatedplace.com/opportunities

This unique programme is dedicated to exploring the interplay of art and data to address pressing social justice issues. We want to enable creative collaborations between academics and artists to enhance the understanding, interpretations and applications of data and artistic practice.

Lancaster Arts wishes to support a contemporary artist based in England who is willing to make open-ended enquiries and explore new territory in collaboration with others. We welcome applications from artists who have extensive experience in working in this area and also from those who are curious but have not explored this previously.

This residency will enable a phase of exploration, for mutual benefit, with Lancaster University academics who use data in their work every day, such as data scientists, and those researching social justice in law, cyber security, health or the world’s environmental challenges. This exploration will take the form of mini residencies within an academic department and/or field trips with one or more researcher/s within the residency period, as well as time to reflect and develop ideas with the support of the Lancaster Arts team. We hope it will also include meetings with activists who use data to inform their work.

To apply, see here

Closing date: 27 November

VOLA is launching Round 3 of its UKSPF Digital Connectivity for Community Facilities Grants programme w/c 20 November 2023.  Grants of up to £10k will be awarded to successful applicants in February 2024.

Over the first two funding rounds, a total of £212k has been awarded to 32 Liverpool-based VCFSE sector organisations, with a further £78k available in this round.

Session 1

Friday 17 November 2023, 12 – 1 PM on Zoom

Prior to the application launch, LCVS, in partnership with VOLA, is running an online briefing session for local VCFSE sector organisations to explain the fund’s purpose, eligibility criteria and key requirements, the application process and what can/ cannot be funded.

You will be able to access the Zoom link when you register.

If you find all of the tickets have gone when you try to register, please email stuart.mcgrory@volamerseyside.org.uk and he will send you the Zoom link.

To register, please click here.

Session 2

Monday 20 November 2023 from 2 – 3 PM on Zoom

Following the session above, an additional online briefing will be held for interested organisations that might not have a great deal of experience in this field, focusing on technical considerations when developing-public access computer facilities, with plenty of helpful hints and tips on what you need to do, things you need to purchase, etc.

If you would like to attend, please email jack.shields@volamerseyside.org.uk and he will send you the link.

If you are interested in applying for a grant, it is strongly recommended that you attend both sessions.

Each session will take no more than 1 hour of your time, will greatly increase your chances of success, ensure that the facilities you set up are fit-for-purpose, and will ultimately help you to avoid lots of potential pitfalls, saving you time/money in the long-run!

For further information on the fund, please click here to visit VOLA’s website.