Call for Applications: Contemporary Craftsperson

Oriel Myrddin Gallery are delighted to be working with Amgueddfa Cymru’s National Wool Museum as part of Amgueddfa Cymru and Arts Council Wales, Perspective(s) collaboration.

Oriel Myrddin and Amgueddfa Cymru’s National Wool Museum are inviting you to respond to our call-out. We’re looking for an inspirational, Wales based maker to create new work that reflects Wales’s cultural and ethnic diversity and to examine museum collections through a decolonial lens.

About You

You are a Wales based contemporary maker who is working within the fields that might include: textiles, ceramics, blacksmithing, woodworking, basketry, thatching, upholstery, and surface pattern and you are excited by the prospect of challenging the boundaries of your practice.  

You have a good understanding of learning through making. 

We are looking for someone who is socially and politically engaged who can work with both Oriel Myrddin and National Wool Museum to; challenge and disrupt colonial legacies and/or engage in anti-racism through potential exhibitions, displays, events, or performance. 

You can demonstrate previous experience or understanding of public engagement work and an interest in social issues or working with communities. Our audience comprises diverse community groups so you will need to be able to demonstrate socially inclusive approaches within your proposal.  

You identify as culturally and ethnically diverse.  

*We define ‘culturally and ethnically diverse’ as:

•  Anyone from the African, Asian, Caribbean, Hispanic, Latino, Eastern European or Middle Eastern diaspora in Wales  

•  Anyone who identifies as being from an ethnic group that is not exclusively White.  

•  Anyone from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities

What we offer

Fee – £25,000 for 100 days of work (split between OM and AC) to be concluded by March 2025 

Care – we are committed to working with inspirational makers and engaging with diverse communities, we will support you to enable community engagement, development, production, and presentation of your work.  

Artistic / Professional Development opportunity – the chance to create new work alongside OM and AC to realise your vision.  

This project is part of a larger programme (Perspective(s) and offers the exciting opportunity to meet and network with other likeminded creatives and professionals from AC.  

AC and OM wish to see the heritage and arts sector more representative of the people who make up our surrounding communities. It is through offering your voice and vision that will help make this happen. 

Involvement in the planning and evaluation of the programme* 

*To assess the impact of the Perspective(s) programme the following six building blocks will be used in the evaluation process. Creative Professionals will be required to contribute to the planning and evaluation process throughout the course of the programme. 

Space - To decolonise public spaces, such as museum and galleries. 

Community - Facilitate deeper and wider community engagement. 

Learning - To use collections, displays and exhibitions as catalysts for learning, especially in relation to colonialism, slavery, and Empire. 

Creative Practitioner Development - To facilitate the development of Creative Professionals from culturally and ethnically diverse backgrounds. 

Sector Development - To develop visual arts organisations and a heritage sector in Wales that is actively anti-racist and more intersectional. 

Democratise and Decolonise - To develop processes and new ways of working that are democratic and intersectional working towards an anti-racist arts and heritage sector.