A south Cumbria community group has announced a series of community-led projects and is urging artists to take part.
The Barra Culture programme, backed by Arts Council England, is on the lookout for creatives to collaborate with on four new commissions.
Each of the projects gets underway this summer, and applications for the paid-for commissions are open now.
They are:
- Barrow’s Green Spaces – a collaboration with local residents, reimagining disused green spaces across the town. An inspirational environmental or outdoor artist is needed to help deliver a transformation of the space that will highlight the importance of outdoor cultural activities, with a focus on health and wellbeing. The project will culminate with a community celebration in early September.
- Digital Map of Barrow – Barra Culture is teaming up with Love Barrow Together to create an online digital map of Barrow. They are searching for a digital designer to build an interactive online space that will
be populated with pictures, audio and video, featuring and created by the people of Barrow, sharing their
stories, poems, memories, artwork, music and more. This project can be undertaken remotely, so applications are welcomed from anywhere in the world. - Ormsgill Now and Then – produced in partnership with Ormsgill Stronger Together – will incorporate photographs from residents’ lives into a creative process resulting in a new piece of art, which would eventually find a permanent home at Ormsgill Community Centre.
- Barra Palettes – will require the artist to explore the entire borough of Barrow and its 13 wards, consulting with the community and capturing colours to create a palette for each ward that will influence future Barra Culture works.
Barra Culture is part of Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places programme.
Daniel Tyler-McTighe, director of Barra Culture said: “The Creative People and Places programme is about more people taking the lead in choosing, creating, and taking part in arts and culture experiences in the places where they live.
“We were keen to bring this to Barrow and give local people the chance to be involved in some culturally significant projects and engage in the art and culture taking place in their local communities.”
The application deadline for each of the commissions is noon on May 19 – more details and fees can be found online: www.barraculture.org.uk