Cardiff

Introduction
Cardiff County Council wish to appoint an artist to paint a series of hoardings for Upper Shops, Beechley Drive. The artist will facilitate a number of workshops at three primary schools and Waterhall Youth Centre in order to design and paint the hoardings.

Background
Upper Shops, Beechley Drive is one of two local shopping centres serving the Pentrebane estate. Built in the 1970s the local shopping centre sits adjacent to three local primary schools and the Pentrebane Community Centre and forms a focal point in the southern part of the estate.

The shopping centre is in a state of decline and the Council has been working with the local community to consider its future. The Local Shopping Centres Survey (June 2007) ranks Upper Shops and Lower Shops in the top ten of Cardiff local centres most in need of regeneration.

At Upper Shops, four of the seven retail units in the parade are vacant and this is a source of complaint from the local community. Residents also feel that the appearance of the shopping centre stigmatises the area. When discussing the shops with local children in the area, we found that the children liked some of the existing artwork on the shops but did not appreciate the incidental graffiti. Whilst the Council is investigating opportunities for redevelopment, it will be at least two to three years before any works commence on site.

The four vacant shop units are in poor condition and are unattractive. As part of several interim measures to the parade, the intention is to create a mural along the front of the empty shop units. The mural will be designed with young people and children living in the area.

Neighbourhood Regeneration, in conjunction with the local youth centre, will produce promotional materials and distribute them to promote the project to local people.

The Site
The four vacant units are dispersed in between occupied units. Three of the four units have individual frontages each measuring 6m. The fourth unit is a corner unit and has frontage measuring approximately 29m. Each shop frontage is approximately 2.1m high. The potential art space is therefore 47m long and has an area of 73.5m². All the units are setback behind an overhang that runs the full length of the parade. It is anticipated that each school will be given one of the three smaller frontages and the youth centre will work on the largest shop front. However, it will be up to the Artist to structure the workshops and guide the design process, therefore a different approach is possible.

The Commission
The Artist will be responsible for purchasing the hoarding material and all paint and equipment necessary in order to carry out this project. However, delivery of the hoardings to site and installing them in front of the shops will be carried out by a Council approved contractor.

Strong community involvement is an essential element of this scheme and the artist will be expected to engage with local young people and school children. There are three local primary schools and we envisage two half day workshops per school (the equivalent of 3 days workshops over a two week period). The youth club is based at Waterhall Youth Centre and meets on Thursday evenings 7pm – 9pm. We envisage that 4 workshops over 4 weeks would take place with the youth club prior to 5 full days of workshops during half term.

The primary school workshops are likely to be design only workshops, with the Artist developing a final design incorporating the children’s designs to be painted by the Artist onto the hoardings. (There are about 25 pupils per class). There are three schools within the vicinity of the shops; they are Pentrebane Primary School, Ysgol Coed Y Gof and Holy Family RC School.

The evening workshops with the youth club could be design workshops followed by the half term week for painting the actual hoardings with young people. (We expect about 7 young people will be involved in the project). The Artist will need to deliver the hoarding panels to Waterhall Youth Centre and prime the panels with the youth club. The design should be completed with two coats of exterior paint and a top layer of anti-graffiti sealant.

Although it is an important part of the project to develop the skills of workshop attendees, given the scale and timetable of the project, it may be necessary for the Artist to paint a portion of the hoardings him/herself.

The Artist, project manager and Neighbourhood Renewal team will liaise closely during the design workshops to ensure that the design is promptly approved so that the process of painting the hoardings is not delayed. The completed designs should be presented on A3 paper so that they can be used by Neighbourhood Regeneration for consultation with stakeholders. Consultation with residents and local stakeholders is required before we can proceed with implementing the design.

The selected artist will be expected to demonstrate previous experience of managing and implementing a project of a comparable scale and an awareness of any technical issues likely to arise.

Provisional Programme
The deadline for completion of the whole project is late November 2010; there is a proposed programme, however, the primary school workshop dates can be agreed once the Artist is appointed but the youth club workshops are not negotiable. Please see attachment below for the schedule.

Selection Procedure
A shortlist of artists will be drawn up by the art consultant for interview. Artists will be provided with plans and photos of the site in advance and expected to give a short presentation at the interview. During the interview the artists will provide a brief overview of their work and a description of their approach to the commission. This will be followed by a question and answer session. The interview panel will consist of representatives from the art consultancy, Cardiff County Council and local stakeholders.

Selection criteria will include: experience of working on schemes of a comparable size and complexity; experience of consultation with young people; creativity in past projects and ideas presented at interview. A standard CRB check.
To apply for the project please send images of your previous work on CD as a powerpoint or pdf document with an image list, a brief CV, and a letter outlining your interest in this project.

Three to four artists will be short-listed for interview. At interview stage we will expect the artists to have considered how they would approach the project. (Artists may include this information in their initial application, but are not required to do so.) Interview travel expenses will be re-imbursed.

Send applications to: Celfwaith, 7 Pontfaen, Cardiff CF23 7DU

Cardiff County Council would like to appoint an artist to work with pupils of Ysgol Mynydd Bychan to design an artwork or series of artworks for Canada Road in Cardiff. This project is part of the Council’s Neighbourhood Renewal Scheme for Canada Road which aims to reorganise and enhance the area to make it safer for pedestrians and more attractive for the local community.

Background
The issues relating to this site were initially identified by parents of pupils of Ysgol Mynydd Bychan via the head teacher Sian Evans. A site meeting with Councillor Bridges and the head teacher helped define the existing problems affecting the area which can be summarised as follows:

• Quality and appearance of paving – varied, uneven and damaged paving surfaces.
• Graffiti
• Pedestrian safety - high levels of pedestrian, cycle and vehicular movement, busiest at the start and end of the schools day and rush hours.
• Rear Lane - common use of the lane as a rat-run, despite the lane’s access-only status.

Important aims of the environmental improvement scheme will be the promotion of pedestrian safety providing an area that promotes social interaction. A copy of the plans for the physical scheme to the area is attached as appendix 1. Consultation took place on the scheme at the beginning of 2010. Residents were asked for feedback and they highlighted the importance of artwork within the scheme. In particular, it was felt that the local school should play an instrumental part in developing ideas for the artwork in conjunction with the artist.

The Site
Canada Road is a north-south route in the Gabalfa ward of Cardiff and is predominantly residential. It runs from the junction with North Road (at its southern end) to Whitchurch Road (at its northern end). The site for this project is located at the northern end, which is a no-through route to traffic. The south-east boundary of the site is defined by Ysgol Mynydd Bychan.

Several mature trees feature within the site boundary as a continuation of the boulevard extending all the way along Canada Road. These trees are an integral part of the character of the street. Steel railings run along the pavement edge adjoining Whitchurch Road and also outside the entrances to the school. Several street lights, a BT phone box, litter bin and utility boxes across the paved area reflect a number of services running under the site. The site is approximately 0.9 ha in size. The carriageway and pavements are all adopted highway.

The Project
The selected artist will need to work in collaboration with Neighbourhood Regeneration and Ysgol Mynydd Bychan. Due to the school’s proximity to the site and their involvement to date with the project, the artist will be expected to engage with the school through facilitating 4 half days of workshops. The weeks commencing 13th and 20th September have been identified as possible times to hold the workshops. Dates tbc with the selected artist. Input from the school should be reflected in the final artwork/s.

The physical improvement scheme will take place during the summer holidays, to minimise disruption to the school. Therefore the public artworks for the space will be expected to fit in with the existing plans for the area and to be installed after the main works of the scheme have been completed.

The commission is for an artwork within the defined site area of the Canada Road public realm improvement scheme. The commission could be for one piece or a series of smaller two dimensional works in the paving. It is anticipated that the work at Canada Road will be based, in part, on the history of the area. The artworks should help to enhance the area, improve its legibility and engender a sense of local pride, particularly for the school pupils and their parents.

Once the workshops are completed the artist will need to create detailed and costed designs to present to Neighbourhood Regeneration. The artist will also need to provide a schedule of work and an installation methodology. The artist will be required to work primarily with the Neighbourhood Regeneration Group, but will need to consult with other service areas including Highways and Transportation within the Council before completing detailed designs. Regular meetings to discuss designs will be required between the Neighbourhood Regeneration Group and the artist.

The selected artist will be expected to have experience of creating and installing a project of a comparable scale/complexity, have an awareness of the technical issues likely to arise and experience of cost control on a project of similar value.

Maintenance
• The artworks should not have any costly ongoing maintenance requirements
• The artworks should be accessible for maintenance / replacement of component parts
• A comprehensive maintenance schedule must be approved by Cardiff County Council

Other issues to take into consideration will include street cleansing, underground services, health and safety and compliance with DDA regulations.

Professional Practice: The Artist will need to provide evidence of appropriate Public and Product Liability insurance. The observation of CDM regulations is required where appropriate.

Timetable:
We hope to interview and appoint an artist at the beginning of September. The school workshops are proposed for late September leading to detailed design by early November. The design should be approved by late November and the finished work/s installed in February/March 2011. Funding is tied to the financial year therefore all works must be completed and paid for by the end of March 2011.

Procedure:
This brief has been widely advertised and up to 4 artists will be short-listed for interview. The interview panel will consist of the public art consultant, staff from the Council’s Neighbourhood Regeneration team, and, subject to their availability to attend, Local Councillors for the Gabalfa ward and representatives from the primary school. Reasonable travel expenses to interview will be re-imbursed.

To Apply:
Please send examples of previous work as a pdf or powerpoint document on a CD. We also require a printed up to date CV and letter of application outlining your interest in the project. Send applications to: Celfwaith, 7 Pontfaen, Cardiff, CF23 7DU.