Expression of Interest call for creatives to carry out work in Waterford Cultural Quarter.
Waterford Cultural Quarter (WCQ), an initiative of Waterford City and County Council, is currently seeking expressions of interest from the creative community in the South East for two projects.
Waterford Cultural Quarter Strategic Plan 2021-2025 has recently been published (www.waterfordculturalquarter.ie). One of the actions in the plan is to “put an annual / regular WCQ placemaking expression of interest in place to provide for animation and ownership of public spaces with collaboration and public engagement at its centre”
Waterford Cultural Quarter (WCQ) invites Waterford creatives to submit their credentials, examples of prior experience and basic concepts responding to the concept of a vibrant and animated O’Connell Street 2021. We require creatives to design, create / fabricate, install, maintain and remove installations that will be showcased along O’Connell St, Hanover St and Great Georges St.
Project 1; An installation suspended from catenery wires over a section of O’Connell Street from the bottom of Thomas Hill to the bottom of Thomas Street, and from the bottom of Thomas Street to the junction with Penrose Lane (see Appendix 1) .
Project 2; Temporary moveable / removable installations that support the animation of pedestrianised areas of Waterford Cultural Quarter (part of O’Connell Street, Hanover Street and Great Georges St). (Appendix 2 for examples)
Project 1- In the Air
WCQ wishes to fund a creative temporary installation, located on catenary wires over two section of O’Connell Street from the bottom of Thomas Hill to the bottom of Thomas Street and from the bottom of Thomas Street to the junction with Penrose Lane (see Appendix 1).
This is the first installation on these catenary wires. The length of the installation on the wires should be approx 8 meters per strand, 4 strands per section, 8 in total. The installation should be creative and should reflect the vibrancy of the creative community of Waterford using bright, eye catching colours and materials that can withstand Irish weather conditions for 9 months at a minimum. The installation should be visible to people living in or visiting the city from up close and from a distance. It should have the possibility of having lighting incorporated into the work for the winter months.
Creative installations have to ensure health and safety is paramount in all aspects of the work, and it needs to be capable of staying in place safely until Spring 2022 at a minimum.
Creatives interested in submitting an expression of interest must include costs of installation including height machinery and any considerations regarding traffic management for installation and removal and must consider how lighting can be incorporated into the design.
Please provide the adjudication team with concepts and outline costings ex VAT including fees, installation costs, materials and all costs associated with the project. Maximum project budget is €6,000 including all costs of installation and removal.
Project 2 – Pedestrian zones
We are seeking to animate the pedestrianised area of O’Connell St (from 5 p.m. on Fridays to 12 midnight on Sundays to support the hospitality industry), Hanover St and Great Georges St.
A number of hospitality businesses will spill out onto O’Connell Street (Thomas Hill to Sergeant’s Lane) during the pedestrianised times under the brand of Lets Meet at O’Connell Street.
The installations should be fabricated with the knowledge that they may need to be stored each week from Monday to Friday (particularly installations on O’Connell Street), and therefore items for that section must be lightweight, robust and easy to handle and store or are entirely removable each weekend.
They should include items of interest for all sectors of society and if possible representative of the variety of people using O’Connell Street; including children, older people, people from new communities, the night time economy etc. Temporary removable materials can be considered such as temporary removable chalks and paints. We encourage creatives to engage with the business and residential community in the area to consider their interests and ideas.
Creative installations have to ensure health and safety is paramount in all aspects of the work, and it needs to be capable of staying in place safely until November 2021 at a minimum.
Please provide the adjudication team with concepts and outline costings ex VAT including fees, installation costs, materials and all costs associated with the project.
Points to note for Project 1 & 2:
Installations should be fabricated from environmentally friendly materials (e.g. felt, wool, timber, natural materials etc) and / or found & recycled objects as far as is practical.
Applications can be made for both projects and can be made by an individual or group.
Applicants should take into account that the installations will not be monitored in situ and should therefore consider issues such as security, vandalism or weather events. Installations cannot post a health and safety risk and all measures should be taken into account to ensure that there are no hazards relating to the work. Current Covid-19 restrictions must be adhered to and applicants must ensure that social gathering at an installation site is not encouraged.
Applicants must confirm that they hold public liability insurance in their application, and if successful must provide evidence of same.
Budget:
Project 1; The maximum budget for this project €6000 to include time and materials for design, fabrication, installation, removal and environmentally friendly disposal of materials and all costs associated with the project. Installations must be capable of being maintained from July 2021 to Spring 2022 if required
Project 2; The maximum budget for this project €5000 to include time and materials for design, fabrication, installation, removal and environmentally friendly disposal of materials and all costs associated with the project. Installations must be capable of being maintained from July to November if required
Publicity:
All applications should include an outline publicity plan including how they will promote their installation on social media platforms. All successful applicants must provide images of creating their installations and the final work in place to WCCC for social media and website.
Submissions Guidelines:
Expressions of Interest must be submitted via email to culturalquarter@waterfordcouncil.ie
In the Subject line put WCQ Summer 2021 EOI followed by your surname (e.g. WCQ Summer 2021 EOI Murphy).
You will be asked to include the following:
- Expression of Interest/Project Description (2 pages max)
- Bio (250 words max)
- Current CV (1 pages max)
- Visual Support Material with Support Material List (5 images max) Please select all support material that reveals your experience and expertise as related to your proposal.
- Budget breakdown listing costs and artist fee (overall and per hour).
Specific WCQ locations should be identified and given a representation of how you intend to work it up.
Description should clearly illustrate the applicant’s intentions and conceptual approach.
Applications that do not adhere to these criteria or are incomplete may be disqualified. The selection committee may request further information from individual’s applicants and / or arrange a site or online meeting as part of the adjudication process.
Timeline
June 30th 2021: Final date for clarifications on EOI/
July 5th 2021: Deadline for submissions
July 19th 2021: Notification to successful applications
July 26th 2021 onwards: Installation
For further information contact culturalquarter@waterfordcouncil.ie
Applications deadline: July 5th 2021 culturalquarter@waterfordcouncil.ie.
Any clarifications request on the contents of the EOI have to be submitted via email to culturalquarter@waterfordcouncil.ie by June 30th 2021
SEE Appendix 1 & 2
Appendix 1; Map of Catenary Wires locations © Ordnance Survey
Appendix 2:
Examples of urban installations:
