Community Post Type: Callouts

With just over three months until one of the biggest music competitions in the world takes over Liverpool – the Eurovision host city team wants YOU to get involved.

The volunteering programme has officially opened, giving people the chance to be at the heart of this iconic event.

Around 500 roles have been created to support the delivery of this exciting global event, with volunteers being required for various periods of time starting from Monday 1 until Sunday 14 May 2023.

Guaranteed to be an exciting experience combining hard work and fun, volunteers will have the chance to mix with people from different backgrounds, as well as the opportunity to gain skills along the way.

To apply, volunteers must be at least 18 years of age, be friendly and approachable and have good local knowledge. It’s also a bonus if candidates can speak a language other than English due to the international nature of the event.

Volunteers will be located across the city centre, at the Tourist Information Centre in Liverpool ONE, at the Eurovision Village on the Pier Head and at key transport hubs. Duties will include scanning event tickets, meeting and greeting visitors, or welcoming artists to backstage areas in the Eurovision Village.

The ambition is to create a diverse and inclusive volunteering team, with a blend of local volunteers and volunteers with knowledge of the Ukrainian language and culture. Please note, for those outside the UK, volunteers will need a work visa to take part.

To register your interest in becoming a Eurovision Song Contest 2023 volunteer and to find out more about the roles available, visit the Culture Liverpool website.

The closing date for applications is midnight, Tuesday 14 February.

Please note, volunteers will not be required to work on site at M&S Bank Arena where the Eurovision Song Contest is taking place.

 

This commission is part of a wider Visible and Safe initiative, a partnership, cross-service approach tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (see additional information below).

Culture Liverpool are seeking proposals from arts and cultural organisations to create an intervention and resource responding to the issues around the language of misogyny* in the workplace. It is anticipated that this campaign via the media of film, spoken word, theatre with strong visuals and be suitable for social media highlighting and questioning the language of misogyny.

This should be suitable to be shown on social media as for example a short film, impactful stills/words as part of the City Council’s Safer Streets initiative. The piece/ product should be suitable for all audiences but directed at those people who may think misogynistic language is acceptable. The piece will utilise words deemed as misogynistic by responders to a survey undertaken by LCC across major employers in the city to ascertain what words or sayings women and girls find offensive or intimidating that are used often in everyday life and ‘accepted’ within society.

The piece should be hard-hitting, and challenging but also family friendly, (or a version of), to be suitable for adults to discuss with children and young people. Thought should be given to whether the piece can work both on socials and as stills, in print etc and also as to length of the piece to make most impact, especially with young men. 

The commission should include working with focus groups with major city employers to workshop ideas around language and visuals to develop the concept for creative alongside commissioned artist/arts organisations.

Completed campaign to be launched end of June/July 2023 with further training in workplaces continuing until March 2024.

Budget: £40,000 tbc/ subject to approval from external sources

To submit an expression of interest, please send the following:

• Proposal outline
• Indicative budget inc. any contributions/in-kind.
• Examples or illustrations of work if applicable
• Timescale
• Brief information and experience of your organisation and any collaborative partners you’d be working with.

Please send this to sarah.vasey@liverpool.gov.uk by 9am, Friday 10th February 2023. They will then shortlist and ask for further information and/or discussions.

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

 

 

 

Share your passion for Eurovision – Call for speakers/performers for TEDx/Stand Up event with a focus on Eurovision.

Ignite Liverpool who have been producing these unique events for years, have announced that they are looking for speakers/performers for their next event in May to celebrate the joys of Eurovision.

Talks could be on anything Europe/Ukraine or Eurovision. From the history and culture of the contest, to the music and performances, to the politics and controversies – each speaker will have just 5 minutes to share their perspective and passion.

Dressing to impress is a must

Whether you’re a Eurovision fanatic or simply curious about the contest, this event is for you. Sign up now and you too could be a star for 5 minutes. https://igniteliverpool.com/2022/12/open-call-for-speakers-euroversion/

Organised by https://igniteliverpool.com/

The Grassroots Movements Fund is a new area of work at the grantmaking organisation The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

It is a pilot fund, to resource movements on the frontlines of social and environmental injustice, and who are striving for transformative change – a vision in which the systems of discrimination and domination of the present no longer exist.

The Grassroots Movements Fund has around £1 million which it will aim to redistribute over two funding rounds in 2023.

The fund will make grants of between £10k and £70k to every successful application. Grants can cover up to a two-year period.

To apply for the Fund groups must meet these five criteria:

1. Be based in the UK with work primarily focused in the UK
2. Be a not-for-profit organisation
3. Have systems for making decisions and managing money
4. Be able to demonstrate they are part of a grassroots movement
5. Be able to demonstrate they are working towards transformative change.

For full information and to apply, please click here.

First Funding Round closing date: 19 February 2023.

 

Comics Youth CIC’s ‘Turn the Page’ Comics project aims to provide a person-centred package of proactive and reactive support for young people aged 16-25 who have symptoms and/or experiences of anxiety/depression within the Merseyside area.

The project will provide an array of creative comic book and zine-based opportunities for young adults to experience the narrative benefits of comics and art via:

1. 1-2-1 Comics based autobiographical narrative sessions (delivered over 6-8 weeks face-to-face or virtual via Microsoft Teams
2. x2 Zinester Cohorts, 8 week issue based and zine making workshops within community venues.

Catchment area: Open to referrals across the Liverpool City Region from 15 January to 30 November 2023.

To learn more and access the referral forms, see here.

 

Turtle Song is a a free singing and song writing project. It has been held regularly since 2008, bringing music, song writing, movement and singing to people living with dementia and their companions and carers.

They are returning to Liverpool this year and are hoping to start their project on 30 January 2023. They are now looking for participants to join their project.

This joyful project has been running in different areas around the country for 15 years and is a collaboration between Turtle Key Arts, English Touring Opera and Royal College of Music. Young musicians join the project to create a truly intergenerational experience of high quality music and a real Turtle family experience.

For 2023, the participants will meet once a week for nine weeks, and with the help of professional musicians and music students, write the lyrics and compose the music for their own song cycle, ending in a live performance for friends and family which is recorded as a DVD.

To apply for the project, please click here for the Application Form.

To learn more, please click here.

For further information, please call 020 8964 5060 or email charlotte@turtlekeyarts.org.uk.

An age 16-25 Culture Knowsley’s Young Producers volunteer team ‘Throwback Collective’ will be starting in February 2023 and will run till May/June 2023.

Being part of the collective provides the opportunity for young creatives to co-produce their own arts and heritage event/exhibition and gain valuable experience in the cultural sector. This will be part of the Knowsley Borough of Culture legacy programme.

They have their first welcome/introductory session coming up online on Tue Jan 24th at 6 pm for people to find out more and then we will look to schedule planning workshops in Huyton Library every 2 weeks. Huyton Library is easily accessible via bus and train from Liverpool City Centre and other areas across the region.

Follow this link to the online welcome/introductory session.