Open call for artists to work on Changing Stories: Connecting and Collecting with Exeter’s Communities

Added: 02 April 2025

Open call for artists to work on Changing Stories: Connecting and Collecting with Exeter’s Communities (project 2)

Working with diverse communities to create textile artworks exploring stories of place

Brief

RAMM are looking to commission a Devon or Cornwall-based artist to run a series of 7 workshops with a selection of community groups. Groups will include older people, young people, people from minority ethnic backgrounds and families.

The work produced through the project is intended to bring new readings and stories to the museum, created by people with a diverse range of abilities, backgrounds and experiences. Through the workshops the artist will guide participants through making a creative outcome (e.g textile piece/pieces) and also collect stories from participants about places that are important in their lives, for example natural or man-made environments, geological elements, or landmarks. The artist will use objects from the museum as inspiration for the workshops.

We are looking to commission an experienced socially engaged practitioner for this project who will work directly with groups and will build on the relationships that RAMM has begun to develop with local community organisations.

The work produced by the participants will reflect the theme stories of place, which ties in with the aims of RAMM’s National Lottery Heritage Fund-funded project Changing Stories: Connecting and Collecting with Exeter’s communities. This project positions RAMM as a place-shaper, using its collection to ground people in their locality and history.

This is the second community project as part of this overarching programme. The details of the first community project can be found here:

Community engagement workshops creating RAMM pottery pieces

The artist should be aware that:

The workshops should have a strong link to process, with the opportunity for participants to learn new skills.

The workshop activities should focus on the participants’ connection to significant places, landmarks and/or the natural world

There should be an emphasis on creating a safe, shared space for participants in which they feel comfortable to share their thoughts and stories. The artist should encourage the feeling of a connection to others through the process.

The creative activity should involve textiles in some way this can be printmaking, embroidery, sculpture, collage etc.

The creative activity should be adaptable to suit a variety of participants from different backgrounds and skills levels and be accessible to people whose first language is not English.

The work should be inspired by objects from RAMM’s natural history and geology collections, and objects from RAMM’s Making History (local history) gallery. The artist will facilitate discussion and sharing within the groups through an exploration of these objects. RAMM’s curatorial staff will be able to provide information on selected objects.

The final work created by the participants and the stories collected will be made available for museum visitors to view through RAMM’s digital collections and new digital labels in RAMM’s Making History gallery. The project process such as video footage of workshops, will feature in a film which will be permanently added to RAMM’s Making History gallery (produced by Preston Street Films).

The outcomes of the workshops should be:

An artwork/series of artworks, produced by participants, which reflect conversations that have happened through the exploration of the theme.

Recording/documentation of the making process. RAMM staff will support with the documentation of the project.

Comments, stories and conversations from the sessions, either recorded (and transcribed) or written. These should be collated by the artist.

Fee/Budget

Freelance Fee: £5000 (inclusive of travel expenses)

7 workshop sessions at RAMM May-Nov 2025

Materials budget – we have additional budget (approx. £80 per session) to cover materials for the workshops

Start: May 2025

Finish: Nov 2025

Location: Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, Exeter

Artist Role

– Consider the brief and themes
– Liaise with Ellie Coleman (Engagement Officer, RAMM) to develop a co-creative working process for the project.
– Define steps/ stages and how content is to be gathered
– Work with Ellie Coleman to select objects from the museum
– Design and deliver 6 engagement sessions with community groups using selected objects and themes as stimulus.
– Design and deliver 1 workshop with RAMM’s 2025 Future Skills cohort (young people)
– Guide participants through creative and making processes
– Capture and collate stories and comments from participants
– Support the capture of feedback for project evaluation purposes
– Bring content together to create final presentation of work. Format and presentation to be confirmed in consultation with the Collections team
– Work with Ellie Coleman on presentation of work and digital content

How to apply

Put together a maximum two-page expression of interest including an artist statement explaining why you are interested in this opportunity. This should include a demonstrable track record of delivering creative activities with the public

Compile a portfolio of previous work with relevant links – include handles to social media pages. Please ensure your portfolio is shared as a PDF document and is no more than 5MB in size
Complete the anonymous diversity monitoring form (see below)

Submit your expression of interest and portfolio by email to eleanor.coleman@exeter.gov.uk no later than 5pm 22^nd April 2025

A fee of £300 will be paid to each of three shortlisted artists to produce and present a proposal for the selection panel. More information about how the commission fee has been calculated and what it is expected to cover, including a suggested breakdown of daily rates, can be provided on request.

Interviews will take place online on Mon 28^th and Tue 29^th April with Ellie Coleman (Engagement Officer) and Lara Goodband (Contemporary Art Curator & Programmer).

We welcome applicants with lived experience of disability and people from groups that are currently under-represented in the arts sector. For further information or support with access requirements for your application, please contact eleanor.coleman@exeter.gov.uk

Diversity monitoring

RAMM is committed to working with creative practitioners from all backgrounds.

Please complete the anonymous diversity monitoring survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/W7S57KR

The results of this survey are for monitoring purposes, are anonymous and not linked to your name or personal details in any way. We aggregate your responses and report numbers to Arts Council England on a yearly basis. We will not share your personal data with anyone, without your consent.

Please confirm in writing in your application that you have completed the survey.

Thank you. We appreciate your time and effort.

Further information on the project

Dynamic Collections – Changing Stories: Connecting and Collecting with Exeter’s Communities

The Dynamic Collections project is about embedding lasting change in the way local voices are consulted, recorded, catalogued and shared by RAMM.

The Dynamic Collections project sets out a plan for RAMM to:

Meet the changing needs of the communities it serves

Reflect back and embed more local peoples’ histories and experiences

Create a lasting legacy from collaborative work

Over recent years, RAMM has evolved into a more democratic space, adopting a multi-layered approach to the collection. Increasingly, we have engaged with community groups, using the collections as a starting point for discussion on sometimes divisive and emotive issues. While recent projects have been successful in opening a dialogue, we have also learnt the importance that participants place on creating a ‘lasting legacy’, weaving community-generated content into the collection in a more visible way. Through this project local voices, stories and comments will be collected to add to the interpretation of objects from RAMM’s collection; trialling museum interpretation that incorporates multiple voices and viewpoints.

We hope to achieve the following through the wider/ overarching project:

A wider range of people from the local community will engage with RAMM’s collections, gaining access to local heritage.

By opening up the collection to plural perspectives more people see themselves represented in the museum, becoming advocates for RAMM and encouraging others to contribute their ideas.

Local people, including those recently moved to Exeter, will have a stronger sense of belonging to the area and gain better understanding of Exeter’s diversity.

The project will empower collaborators to become more experienced, skilful and confident in sharing and producing diverse and inclusive narratives at RAMM.

Using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK’s heritage. RAMM’s project Changing Stories: Connecting and Collecting with Exeter’s Communities is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players.