The Riverfront Theatre and Arts Centre with support from Newport City Council is excited to announce a series of creative opportunities for artists to engage with our community, including exhibitions and workshops in schools and community settings. We invite artists with a strong interest in Lunar New Year celebrations and International Women’s Day to apply.
Opportunities for Artists
Lunar New Year Workshops & Parade Preparations
To celebrate Lunar New Year on February 1, 2025, we are looking for artists to lead workshops in schools and community settings, focused on creating artwork—including traditional red lanterns—for a parade to take place within Newport City centre.
Artists should have experience of working with young people and community groups and be able to design workshops that encourage creative expression and celebrate Lunar New Year traditions. Workshops will take place in January (with some opportunity for preparations in December), culminating in the procession on Feb 1st in the City centre.
The fee for this will be in accordance with the Arts Council of Wales recommended daily rates of pay.
Artists must be available for January 2025, including some weekend work.
Exhibitions at The Riverfront Theatre and Arts Centre
We are also offering two exhibition opportunities at The Riverfront Theatre and Arts Centre to showcase works throughout the Lunar New Year celebrations. We encourage proposals that reflect Lunar New Year’s themes of renewal, unity, and hope, as well as interpretations inspired by pieces from the National Contemporary Art Collection.
The exhibitions will open in late January and run through February. (dates TBC)
The commission for both exhibitions is £2,000 and includes some community/ schools engagement.
International Women’s Day Exhibition Opportunity
The Riverfront is offering an artist or collective the opportunity to exhibit in March 2025 for International Women’s Day.
We are seeking works that celebrate the strength, diversity, and creativity of women, drawing on themes that resonate with an image or series from the National Contemporary Art Collection. Artists are invited to explore aspects of women’s experiences and identities.
Application Details
Interested artists can apply for one or more of these opportunities.
Please include a brief proposal (no more than 2 sides of A4), or a short video, your CV, and examples of your work.
Please include- How you plan to engage with the national collection and ideas of how you expect to work within a community context (details below). Your contact details. Please contact sally-anne.evans@newportive.co.uk if you would like to discuss.
Please send your submissions before 12pm on 13th December 2024 to sally-anne.evans@newportive.co.uk
Larger files can be transferred using WeTransfer or shared through YouTube or Vimeo.
Please ensure relevant links reach us by the same time and date on the above e-mail address. Proposals will be considered and shortlisted artists will be informed by 16th December 2024.
The Background: Open Call CELF: National contemporary art gallery for Wales commission.
We are looking for artists to begin to explore what CELF could mean for them and their communities. CELF is a partnership between Amgueddfa Cymru, National Library of Wales, the Arts Council of Wales, Oriel Myrddin in Carmarthen, Aberystwyth Arts Centre Gallery, Oriel Davies in Newtown, Storiel in Bangor, Plas Glyn y Weddw in Llanbedrog, Ruthin Craft Centre, Mostyn in Llandudno, Newport Museum and Art Gallery and the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea.
The national collections, cared for by Amgueddfa Cymru and the National Library of Wales, are central to the model. Contemporary artworks from the collections will be prioritised for loan to partner venues, for inclusion in exhibition and outreach programmes. Hand in hand with this, is the aim to develop commissioning, engagement and exhibition opportunities that both draw on and support Wales’ contemporary artists. As a national initiative, the National contemporary art gallery for Wales aspires to advocate for contemporary creative practice and to grow audiences and interaction, locally and internationally. This dispersed model is an ambitious approach that looks to respond to communities’ interests. Being realised through partnership, there is great potential for building cohesive support and promotion of contemporary art in and of Wales. The initiative is funded by the Welsh Government. Artist brief We are looking for creatives and makers, working either solo or in collaboration, to explore what CELF: National contemporary art gallery for Wales could be for them and their local community. It is flexible in how this is approached and through what medium although some limitations are outlined below. We ask that your proposal is stimulated by either an artwork or artist represented in the national collection. This could be an artist or artwork of specific interest to your practice, for example, or of relevance to your community, your landscape or your cultural heritage. You may already be familiar with contemporary artworks in the national collection.
Alternatively, you can explore the collection through Celf ar y Cyd, a new online resource that is being developed and populated as part of the national contemporary art gallery Wales. www.celfarycyd.wales
