Tracy Simpson- Commissions and Artist in Residence Opportunities

Tracy Simpson is the co-director of ADDO which translates to give, bring, place, add, inspire, cause, join' in Latin and 'to promise' in Welsh.

Tracy is based at the art school, her and her colleagues Curate and manage art projects.

She began giving us some background information about her career.

Tracy joined a studio group, immediately after finishing her Fine Art degree, which she strongly recommends we do. She began freelancing in education, starting off as a practitioner and then to work in workshops doing printmaking. Tracy then became an education officer at an arts centre, then the director of Wrexham art centre, and started getting involved in programming public arts. She left Wrexham to join SAVLA, but in 2008 they cut funding to SAVLA and made everyone redundant.

What ADDO do;

Curatorial, Project Management and Consultancy Services Strategy and Policy Development Advocacy, Critical Dialogue, Training & Development

Basically they look at possibilities within a space, artists approach them to help manage their project, and they act as the agent between the developer and the artist. Many consult them for planning conditions. Whenever there’s a development to mitigate against the fact that they are causing disruption artists either have to create a piece of environmental work or a piece of art that benefits people in some way.

She gave us an example of two residencies to show us what they do. One rural residency they did in South Wales called Corwen Air, they aimed to build an artwork for the entrance of Corwen, but they decided it was a bad idea to have it on the motorway where people can’t stop to look at things. They wanted to extend the public railway to Corwen but the problem is there’s going to be 100 000 extra people on the train and Corwen’s population is under 3000. Another problem is the railway station is ugly, next to the back of some buildings, a muddy field and a sewage plant.

They wrote a brief to solve their issues, and appointed Camp Little Hope, a group of five artists, four of them American and one based in Norwich. This isn’t a typical case of an artist’s residency. It’s usually about what the artist gets out of it, rather than how the work benefits the community.

They researched Corwen, talking to people in the community and working on 3 different strands;

Wayfinding was a problem as the signs across Corwen didn’t have the same styles. Camp Little Hope liked the round green signs, so they used it as a mini project, as part of a walking festival they gave the signs out to local businesses for them to put in their shop window to advertise what was happening in their businesses; this was also a good way to get feedback and opinions on Corwen. They also got members of the public to write or draw what they like about Corwen, and asked their opinions on what they would like to be done with the field.

People in Corwen wanted a museum, but that wasn’t achievable, so they decided to rebrand the notice board as a museum and did tours of the museum every Saturday in their red overalls, and talked to members of the public to talk about the exhibition and the plans for the field.

Another major issue was the old, ugly, vandalised toilets which is one of the first things you see when you come into Corwen. So they decided to refurbish the toilets, and create an artist’s studio at the front of the toilets, so you’d have to walk through the space to get to the toilets. They also parked a van in front of the toilets to start conversations with people, doing different activities to attract people and start a dialogue.

In the field there was a community orchard which was neglected, so they did work on it, and make pies out of the fruit and sold them to start a conversation with the public. The trees were moved eventually which turned out to be beneficial. They also did a project with school to find out what was growing there, then designed places to rest for the elderly/disabled and climate change.

They are still working on the project. This is their plan for what they will do

They are currently working on Other Residencies too;

Glandwr Cymru - Canal & River Trust in Wales Cadw – Segontium St.Asaph Cathedral Residencies as part of commissions

Commissions are different from residencies because residencies are about spending a distinct amount of time with a set of people or space and extending practice, commissions are about a piece of work for a fixed fee.

In Newtown in Cardiff bay, has been subject to renovation, they worked in tiger bay which has the largest population of Somalian people. On one side is the renovated modern part, the other side is the social housing part which is neglected and apparently fourth most deprived area in Wales.

They started working with the group looking at the building, doing an audit etc.

They did 3 public art projects, two of which were with Anna H Anna Heinrich and Leon Palmer.

On the proposal for the building already there was a glass cube and they wanted to make this more of a feature, particularly at night because it was in the city centre and they wanted to give people a perception of safety, the shape is based on old camera bellows.

Another project was of a massive panoramic photograph from two tower blocks. This developed into another project with the residents called ‘Different Stories’, where they took photographs from the views from their flats.

The third piece of work was with an artist Janet Hodgeson, she asked people who lived in the area who they would nominate to have a statue of them, and whether they had a photograph of that person. She uploaded these photographs onto the internet to look for these people, then she cast those people or people who looked like them. She then filmed casted people in the same pose and clothing as the photographs.

There was also a group called best who offered employment opportunities and they did a Tiger bay mini film festival which was successful.

Tracy reccommends we do a residency before we do a commissioned artwork for a community.

Where to look;

An - info blogs, if you subscribe theryll give you public liability insurance. Axis – Fee to join, have to be approved ACW – Arts council Wales, they have info on job, opportunities etc IXIA – publicartonline Sell2Wales – e-tendering. Arts jobs – England opportunities. Re-title Artquest

What to look for;

Advert – Look for further info, be weary if no brief available, you need to know conditions. Artists Brief –

Where; When; How much; Studio; Sometimes a studio is provided, sometimes not. Accommodation; Materials; whether they are included in price. Research the background; past projects, aims

Site; The project aims; Partners; Management; Outcomes; The artist; Applicants info; deadline; format;

Make sure the site suits you and your aims, it’s good to have a third party as relationships can turn sour especially if there is no clear brief. Look at what they want from you and follow instructions.

What to look out for

ASSUMPTIONS

No fee No travel No accommodation

If something is not on there you want to know, ask. Never make assumptions.

EXPECTATIONS

Production of work – A brief should specify the body of work. Look out for small print Education sessions -

Applying

CV Powerpoint/images/showreel Referees/Letters of support, do it in plenty of time. Letter of application – use this to say why you meet the brief, sell yourself. You are scored on

suitability. Proposal – Don’t be too specific, you should have room for dialogue.

Interview

Presentation – based on a question similar to ‘Describe how your practice makes you an ideal candidate for this role’ Usually a presentation if youre a visual artist.

Series of questions based on the brief. Say why you’re suitable. Ask for feedback if they reject you.

Contact information;

North Office

School of Art & Design

Regent Street

Wrexham

LL11 1PF

M: 07890203218

E: tracy@addocreative.com

W: addocreative.com

T: addo_creative