A group of young people are offering a £5,000 fee for an artist (or artists) to help create a place-based artwork for Newport this Autumn.
The Newport Youth Panel has joined The Island Collection and the Isle of Wight CEP’s Supporting Young Minds project to create an artwork for the area in which they live or go to school. The Newport project is the second of up to four planned for the Island, all of which aim to support young people’s mental wellbeing by increasing physical activity and engagement with the Isle of Wight Biosphere through creativity.
The Newport Youth Panel, a diverse group of young people aged 13-17 years who have created the brief, and will select the artist and work closely with them to co-produce the artwork. They say:
“We would like an artist to help us: make a positive impact on some of the negative spaces in Newport i.e. empty shops, the Bus Station; make people feel happier; educate us about the Island’s Biosphere – particularly Biosphere Birds; and create a public work that is eye-catching and high impact.”
Artists working in any medium are invited to apply, but the Panel is particularly interested in trails, murals, sculpture, botanical living material, glass and light, and they are interested in works that invite public participation and collaboration.
The deadline for applications is 12pm on Monday 26th September, with delivery of the project throughout October and November 2022.
A copy of the brief can be downloaded here, and artists interested in this commission are welcome to email [email protected] for more information.
Supporting Young Minds is managed by Isle of Wight arts for wellbeing charity Independent Arts, on behalf of The Island Collection and the Isle of Wight Cultural Education Partnership, in collaboration with Artswork (Southampton). It is part of a larger region-wide programme supporting young people’s mental health through creativity.
