MAKING SPACE 2024. Round 4
Two artist residency opportunities in Paignton town centre in November & December 2024.
We have two themed artist residencies available:
November: ‘Light Source’ – Focused on work that explores or plays with light in its materials or themes.
December: ‘People Need People’ – Celebrating creativity, community, and connection during the darker winter months.
The residencies offer artists dedicated time and space to develop their creative practice, with producer and mentoring support from Wide Open Paignton. Please see the attached call out for more details.
MAKING SPACE, is a rolling, monthly residency programme in Torbay, South Devon providing space and time for artists to develop their creative practice with tailored producer and mentoring support from Wide Open Paignton. The programme is for artists, or art collectives, at any stage of their career that supports artistic practice across diverse art forms including and not limited to: live performance/arts, film / photography, digital media, literature, dance, visual arts and combined arts. Applications are invited from local, national and international artists, or arts collectives, who will be given space-based creation time to develop their work or new ways of working alongside producer and mentoring support. There are no fees or monetary payments with this residency offer. A bursary can be applied for to assist with access costs where the residency would not be possible without it.
Producer and mentoring support
MAKING SPACE can offer tailored producer and mentoring support during the residency from within our network of local artists, producers, cultural, community and enterprise organisations. This could be to develop your practice, for guidance with funding or producer support to try out public facing activities such as workshops, developing networks or public events and sharings as part of our high-profile Community Development funded programme.
Paignton
Paignton town sits in the middle of the beautiful, UNESCO-protected coastline of Torbay, alongside the famous seaside resort of Torquay and fishing port of Brixham. Popular in the high seasons, especially with holidaying families drawn to its red sandy beaches and gentle tides, the town has however been subject to the same economic decline seen in coastal towns across the UK in recent years. Despite the challenges, Paignton retains a vibrant community-led creative scene, and looks forward to the reopening of a new cultural hub, the Paignton Picture House, in 2025.
The Residency Space
Artists in residence have access to The Projection Room, a newly converted, white-boxed shop space in central Paignton. The Projection Room is an on street hub for Paignton Picture House whilst it undergoes restoration ahead of reopening as a cinema. Street view of the Projection Room, here shown with the number 21 on the windows.
The Projection Room is a multi-use space with adjoining zones, and you would have majority use of the larger area - see floor plan below. There will be times when the other zone is in use by the Picture House volunteers - open to the public, and times when you have sole use. Additional making spaces and platforms in Paignton can potentially be identified for each unique residency, with opportunities to share culminating work.
The Projection Room is at ground floor level and has two entrances. The shop entrance has one step, the residency entrance goes directly into the space and is wheelchair accessible with no steps. There is an accessible toilet at the venue, it’s close to cafes, shops and the train and bus station. Parking is available in nearby paying car parks or limited on street parking.
You can see the floor plan of the Projection Room on the final page of the Residency application pdf here.
The space could work well for artists exploring work within a town centre setting, reaching communities or place based work in Paignton, or similar coastal and rural towns. Paignton Picture House is one of the most remarkable buildings in Torbay and one of the most important historic cinemas in the UK.
Contact us if you would like further details on the space and surrounding area.
How long is the residency?
The total residency period is for up to 8 days within 1 month in a pattern to be agreed with the artist(s).
Themes
The MAKING SPACE residency programme follows a monthly theme. We are seeking artists whose work can creatively connect with our themes for November and December. We host one residency per month as part of a rolling programme and will ask you which month and theme you are applying for.
November: Light Source. This could be work that plays with light in its making or materials. Work whose content is an exploration of light. Work that echoes the film story of the Paignton Picture House.
December: People Need People. The dark time is a time for people to get together; to express themselves, to be together, have fun, share food and play. How can the arts support people to get together and why does it matter?
What you get
Up to 8 days use of the space
Up to 2 days tailored producer support
Up to 4 hours mentoring
Publicity through our Wide Open Paignton social media channels
The residency offers an opportunity to develop funding applications, or form part of an application. Wide Open can offer guidance to develop an application and in kind support where appropriate.
There are no fees or monetary payments with this residency offer. A modest bursary can be applied for to assist with access costs where the residency would not be possible without it.
What you give
A minimum of 1 public facing activity: a workshop, work-in-progress sharing, an exhibition, talk or social event for example. This could be a light touch try out, a ‘meet the artist’ or artist talk if the work does not directly involve the public, or the culmination of more developed work.
Professional standard reflective documentation that Wide Open can share, eg: a written blog, photo journal or film.
Artists will be responsible for their own travel, food, and accommodation. We can help with recommendations.
Artists cover any fees for their time or that of their collaborators.
Artists provide their own materials and equipment.
Artists follow guidelines from the Wide Open communications team ahead of any public sharing of the residency to ensure correct crediting and information.
Filament Works CIC is commissioning the residency and working with the Paignton Picture House Trust to animate the Projection Room as part of Wide Open Paignton. Filament is a creative producing house that grew out of Torbay’s Great Place Scheme. At the heart of what they do is supporting the process of producers and artists, giving them the opportunity and time and space to grow. The artists they work with have gone on to make and share exceptional work that opens up perspectives about people and place.
Filament is leading on the Creative & Cultural Programme strand of Torbay’s Community Development Funded (CDF) restoration of the Paignton Picture House 2023-25 (funded by the department for culture, media and sport, administered by Arts Council England).This is an ambitious programme working with diverse partners across culture, community and enterprise to animate and grow pride of place in Paignton town centre. The Making Space residency programme will support the objectives of the CDF fund through providing opportunities for artists to develop skills and encouraging engagement with local communities through meaningful creative and cultural experiences accessible on our high streets and in the public realm.
What we’re looking for
We want to give artists at any stage of their career the opportunity to develop their practice and know that time, space and support can go a long way to doing that. The residency is suitable for any art form, and artists will need to demonstrate the benefit of taking a residency in the Projection Room, Paignton and identify the development opportunities within this residency offer. We are keen to address local issues of access, diversity and inclusion and will prioritise applications from underrepresented artists in our region.
How to apply
HERE is the link to the application form. Complete the google form. If you would like to, you can email up to 3 examples of work that demonstrate your practice up to 5MB. This is not expected, but we recognise that you may wish to.
OR:
Send a film max 3 minutes via wetransfer or private link
Send a PDF with text answering the questions on the form with up to 3 examples of your work on no more than 5 x A4 pages
Please send any application content or questions to Sara Hurley at sara@filament.org.uk
There is no interview process. The deadline for applications is midnight on Tuesday 24th September 2024. Successful candidates will be notified by Friday 11th October 2024.