What: Public Art Selection Process for RSPB Frampton Marsh Commission

When:

What Date
Brief sent out 03.02.2014
Open Day no.1 weekday 25.02.2014
Open Day no.2 weekend 15.03.2014
Deadline for expression of interest Part 1 5pm 04.04.2014
Shortlisting day 05.04.2014
Shortlisted applicants notified by 5pm 09.04.2014
Site visits and individual meeting Part 2 30.04.2014 and 01.05.2014
Deadline for 300 word submission 5pm 23.05.2014
Interview and present proposal 05.06.2014

Where: Commission to take place at the RSPB at Frampton Marsh, Boston.

Who: Partnership between Transported and RSPB at Frampton Marsh. John Badley representative of RSPB and Nick Jones, Richard Erwin-Jones and Natalie Duffield-Moore for Transported. Peter Fender from Lincolnshire County Council Planning department and Gill Williamson from the management group to support at interview.

Description: Shortlisting Process as below;

• Brief asking artists to respond to space
• Deadline set for artist expression of interest- Expression of interest to include examples previous work, response to six questions included in the brief specific to this commission and total of 6 images
• Open Days for artists to visit site and meet the RSPB and Transported team
• Natalie to collate expression of interests and share with John Badley, Nick Jones and Richard Erwin-Jones via email and one drive
• Shortlisting at NCCD using matrix- natalie to notify successful applicants
• Contracts sent out for initial fee of £500 per artist
• Individual site visits for artists to bring initial ideas to site and engage in conversation with RSPB and Transported prior to interview. Agenda created based on presentation at interview
• Breakdown of presentation given to artists to show transparency of process and how they will be marked
• Interviews including a 10 minute presentation and Marqutte- Natalie to contact successful and non-successful artists
• Marquette tour of 6 shortlisted designs as well as final design starting at Frampton Marsh for important people of south Holland and Boston Borough
• Marquette to appear at RSPB 30th Anniversary 03.08.2014 for the general public to see on site

What worked: Working in partnership with John Badley from RSPB as he is honest, open and flexible in his approach

Dialogue used and being clear about what both Transported and Frampton Marsh want from this commission including aims and objectives but leaving it open for artists to respond in their own way;

‘The feature(s) must enhance the experience for existing and new visitors, bird watchers and local people (including families) of South Holland and Boston Borough enabling them to appreciate this special landscape (including The Wash if possible) and beyond, or they may be designed interventions for the landscape.

We are open minded about the approach and are keen not to be over prescriptive in determining the nature of the intervention(s) preferring to invite artists and architects to come up the dynamic and innovative suggestions inspired by the place, landscape, the wider area and the Transported ethos.’

Also, working closely with John Badley to create a Pintrest Board on Transported website to visually show best practice, high quality and innovative work; https://transportedart.com/public-art/

http://www.pinterest.com/duffieldmoore/public-art-research-start-date-december-2013/

Lastly, learning from the Transported Live shortlisting process where artists questioned that we were unclear about what we were looking for and how we were scoring artists, we applied percentages to each of the presentation questions given sent to artists prior to interview to allow the process to be as transparent as possible. We also used the presentation as an agenda for the individual site visits to ensure that our conversations reflected what we plan to score artists on during interview.

What would I change: On reflection, there was some confusion from artists about what they needed to submit as an ‘Expression of Interest’. Admittedly, the terminology at the start of this process was new to me and coming from a performing arts background I used the words ‘application form’ however I did not attach an application form to the brief. In the future I would make it compulsory that artists complete an application form in order to express and interest and make the question about previous work and their process really clear. This would make the process of shortlisting easier and allow the panel to have a clearer understanding of what they were scoring against (with it all being in the same format).

The deadline for expressions of interest was on 5pm 4 April and the shortlisting day moved at this last minute to 5 April. I therefore had a mad rush of applications coming in at 5pm to be collated for the next morning. I did not allow myself enough time to share and collate application forms with the shortlisting team and was in the office late the night before. Having learnt from this, I would allow at least 2 days between the deadline set and shortlisting date. I also had several expressions of interest come in after the deadline where artists questioned why their proposals were not submitted therefore I would make it very clear in the brief that ‘All expressions of interest received after the deadline cannot be submitted for any reason including technical difficulties’. I will apply this in the On Your Doorstep brief and selection process that I am currently working on.

Therefore while writing the On Your Doorstep for Long Sutton Common Pit brief I have made ‘how to Apply’ and ‘commissioning Process’ very clear by ensuring the terminology is correct, stages to apply are clear and formatted according to dates, language is precise, straight to the point as well as pre- empting any questions that may occur. Please see below;

‘How to Apply’

To apply for this commission, please complete the application at the bottom of this document (also available from www.transportedart.com/jobs-and-commissions), along with a maximum of 5 images or videos that reflect your artistic quality and provide evidence of previous work. Please share them with us on OneDrive* to the email address provided using the title ‘On Your Doorstep long Sutton’ followed by your name and date.

Applications are expected to show evidence of high quality, professional work that shows a strong creative approach. It should also state any technical or logistical requirements and a budget plan.

‘Commissioning Process’

Applicants will be shortlisted for interview based on their response to the application questions and images/ videos provided. The deadline for applications is 9am on Tuesday 15 July 2014. Applications received after will not be accepted, however may be kept on file for future reference.

Successful applicants will be notified for interview by Saturday 20 July 2014, we regret that we do not have the capacity the give feedback to unsuccessful applicants.

Interviews will take place on Wednesday 20 August 2014 at The Ship, 89 London Road, Long Sutton, PE12 9EE. Further information will be provided nearer to the time.

Sustainability: Temporary or potentially a permanent intervention at the RSPB at Frampton Marsh. John Badley heavily involved in process therefore able to talk to future visitors and the Transported and the work.