A development opportunity for practitioners of all art-forms
Tees Valley Arts and the Festival of Thrift present
Thrifty Foundations – a wonderful opportunity for artists wanting to learn new skills and to work with amazing people!!!
A development opportunity for practitioners of all artforms
TVA and Festival of Thrift are delighted to invite artists, makers, writers and performers to apply to work with and learn from Dead Good Guides, aka the legendary John Fox and Sue Gill, formerly of Welfare State International. Practitioners of all artforms and with all levels of experience are welcome to apply to take part in this new professional development experience.
8 arts practitioners – with interest and some experience in facilitating others in creative activities – will have the opportunity to work with Dead Good Guides plus their three assisting artists, to learn from them how they work with people to create individual, celebratory and memorable ceremonies for life’s rites of passage: such as birth, death and a few significant occurrences in between. In the context of Festival of Thrift, we will focus on how to create meaningful and celebratory Welcoming and Naming Ceremonies. The participant artists will learn about working with families (or their equivalents), styling and dressing the ceremonies, writing the words, and choosing/creating the music.
Practitioners of all artforms are welcome, not just visual arts, but there will be some elements of designing and making for all, even for the singers/writers/photographers/dancers… Do you have qualities of tact, patience and listening? Then this might be for you.
DGGs offer ‘a new role for the artist as catalyst, hands-on facilitator and celebrant, who recognises the artist in us all and liberates the innate creativity of every age through participation and collaboration. Where re-generation is of the soul and not of economics’.
Participant Artists will
- Work with Dead Good Guides, exploring and sharing hands-on skills
- Develop new thinking, new excitement, new approaches, and possibly new potential income streams for your practice
- Get to be part of the wonderful Festival of Thrift 2017
- Get a supporting bursary of £300 towards expenses
- You will even get 5 free lunches
The Programme
- Selected artists must commit to the FULL Thrifty Foundations programme
- Workshops 10am – 4pm at Kirkleatham Museum Education Space with lunch provided: Monday 18th Sept; Tues 19th Sept; Weds 20th Sept; Thurs 21st Sept, Friday 22nd Sept
- Friday 22nd Sept includes the creation of the Thrifty Foundations space/bower/area within the Festival of Thrift site
- Festival of Thrift weekend 23/24th Sept: participant artists will engage with the public at the Thrifty Foundations site, talking about ceremonies and rites of passage, and encouraging people to consider designing their own bespoke ceremonies in the future; hours of attendance to be agreed
- Sunday 24th Sept will also include helping to de-rig the Thrifty Foundations site
Further details
- Some basic tools and all other materials will be provided, but please bring along any tools that you rely on in your practice, including musical instruments. You will be responsible for them throughout the project.
- You will be responsible for your own transport to and from Kirkleatham.
- From Monday to Friday you will be able to park for free at Kirkleatham Museum, but during the actual Festival of Thrift weekend you are likely to have to pay for parking, due to pressure of space.
- TVA will require feedback and a brief written evaluation from participants.
- DGGs will have Public Liability Insurance to cover your involvement in their workshops and will be providing a risk assessment prior to delivery, which can be made available to you on request, and the Festival of Thrift will have health and safety guidelines. Naturally, you are advised to act sensibly around all tools and activities.
Download Brief
To Apply
Please send a CV and a letter of application (both no longer than 2 sides A4), outlining why you want to take part in the Thrifty Foundations programme to:
by midnight Sunday 27th August 2017
Please attach, or provide links to, up to 4 examples of work.
We will endeavour to balance the group selected for skills, artforms and diversity, and we will prioritise applicants from the Tees Valley, although applications from further afield are also welcome.
For any further information call TVA 01642 264651