Mural Art commission — Camberwell Arts

Public Art Opportunity

ARTIST BRIEF for Masterman House mural

1. Introduction

Masterman House has a long wall on New Church Road, opposite Burgess Park. A proposal to paint a mural on this wall was made by a young resident of Masterman House, to have Kye Whyte, the Tokyo Olympic silver medalist for BMX cycling as the primary theme of the mural. Kye Whyte used to be a resident of Masterman House, and the BMX club where he trained is nearby across Burgess Park.

Masterman House is part of Poets Estate, and the TRA (tenants and residents association) in collaboration with Camberwell Arts and the Camberwell Identity Group along with other local stakeholders, are seeking to commission an artist to create a new public artwork for the wall.

Working collaboratively with the project steering group, as well as service users and local residents, the selected artist(s) will be responsible for the design and production of the commissioned artwork.

As the work is public-facing, the aim is to commission a public artwork with wide audience appeal that encourages pride in a local hero, inspiration to be active, aspiration to achieve great things from your own efforts/from local resources, and awareness of the natural environment that is in close proximity. The mural will be owned and maintained by Poets TRA (supported by Camberwell Identity Group) and will remain in place for potentially 10 years.

This opportunity is open to everyone, including early career artists who are looking for a platform to realise their work in the public realm. Artists who live, work, or study in Camberwell are particularly welcome to apply.

A map and a photo of the designated wall for the public artwork is provided in Appendix A.

2. Aims of the commission

The overall aims of this commission are to:

Engage our local residents and passers-by with public art
Brighten up the street environment
Raise the profile of a local hero and a world class sport in our neighbourhood
Create a local landmark

3. Commissioning themes

We are looking for a public artwork that takes its primary theme of Kye Whyte – a local hero, and his sport of BMX cycling which he has taken to Olympic medal heights.

There is potential for subsidiary themes to be incorporated along the lines of celebration, inspiration, aspiration, achievement, and drawing on nature from the nearby Burgess Park (see Appendix C with suggestions from public consultation events in 2023). However the celebration of Kye Whyte is at the heart of this commission.

We would like the mural to be bold, exciting, dramatic and a pleasure for all to see and experience.

Branding The mural must include the Camberwell C (branding icon), and many (even if not exclusively) of the branding colour palette. See Appendix B.

A plaque will identify all the key players, funders and stakeholders.

4. Partner organisations

Poets Estate TRA are the committee that work together with the local residents of Poets Estate to improve their built environment and their community. They may organise children’s activities and outings. They are the voice of local residents to their local councilors and housing department for improvements.

Camberwell Arts: set up to celebrate the arts in Camberwell, and Camberwell through the arts – this local charity runs the annual Camberwell Arts Festival. This is the longest-running visual arts festival in the UK and takes place every June. www.camberwellarts.org.uk

Camberwell Identity Group are a collaboration between Camberwell Arts, The Camberwell Society and SE5 Forum for Camberwell – all of which are volunteer-led groups. It was set up to raise the profile of Camberwell as a neighbourhood, so as not to be overshadowed by Peckham, East Dulwich and Brixton. In a relatively short period of collaboration it has achieved a recognizable brand for Camberwell, along with street banners, wall murals, Denmark Hill Station sculpture, and support to local businesses to improve footfall and street appeal.

5. Project scope for the commissioned artist

To undertake a minimum of 2 site meetings with the project steering group
To design and deliver a minimum of 3 creative consultation / activity sessions to engage local residents, community groups and interested parties with the project. These will be developed and agreed with the project steering group (who will be responsible for promoting them to local residents, schools and the wider community).
To develop a concept for a final public artwork in conversation and collaboration with all stakeholders, including local community groups
To create and install a semi-permanent public artwork, co-produced with the appointed project steering group and approved by the project selection panel and Southwark officers in the Public Art and the Housing Dept, to be installed on the wall in front of Masterman House.
To support promotion and publicity of the installed artwork
To feed into project monitoring and evaluation, and archive document where requested

6. Milestones

Final delivery of the artwork is due by 13 September 2024. Commitment to this finish date is an essential part of the contract, with an indicative outline timeline as follows:

w/c 1 July 2024: open call-out process announced
27 July 2024: (11.59pm): deadline for submissions
w/c 5 August 2024: shortlisted artists notified
10/11 or 17/18 August 2024: weekend exhibition of shortlisted artists for public feedback
w/c 19 August 2024: interviews with shortlisted artists (via Zoom) on 1 day from 2pm
w/c 24 August 2024: selection process finalised and selected artist notified
w/c 2 September 2024: artist’s contract agreed and signed
Between 9 - 25 September: project research, steering group engagement and creative community engagement to inform ideas and designs for final artwork
Between 9 – 25 September 2024: community art workshop (potentially with residents / out of school clubs, etc )
Weekend 28/29 September 2024 exhibition to local residents of updated mural proposal (no further changes by artist expected). Invite Housing, Councillors, and all stakeholders to attend
w/c 30 September 2024: final design signed off by Steering Group, Selection Panel and Housing Officer
October 2024: artist to install artwork
w/c 23 October 2024: snags completed and installed artwork
Mural launch party date dependent upon mural completion date

7. Fees and project budget

The fee for this project is £7,000 (inclusive of the artist's time, all materials, maintenance for a period of 2 years and VAT). A compulsory part of the budget is a graffiti-resistant paint cover for the mural. Please identify if there are other maintenance requirements for your artwork, and the associated costs, in your application.

Please note that the commissioning organisation holds an additional budget of up to £500 to cover materials used in the associated community engagement programme (reimbursed on submission of receipts).

25% of the artist’s fee will be paid on signing the contract, followed by 50% once the final design has been signed off and the final 25% when the snags and associated artist evaluation is completed.

The artist’s contract and associated payments will be managed by Poets Estate TRA, who will be responsible for maintaining the installed artwork.

8. Application process

We invite creative and innovative proposals that give a clear indication of the proposed approach to the project. Proposals should include:

CV and a brief artist statement, summarising your creative practice
A brief outline of your proposed approach to the project, including the thinking behind it, how it meets the commissioning theme, the materials you propose to use and how these will be maintained
Evidence and examples of similar work undertaken previously, including examples of working with community groups and, if appropriate, the design of public artwork Up to 10 high quality images and / or links in support of your proposal (combined attachments should not exceed 10 MB)
Project budget (including a detailed cost of materials, breakdown of the number and costs of days attributed for the different elements of work and inclusive of VAT and public liability insurance)
Detailed timeline, indicating how you will meet the milestones identified above, including allowance for lead time for material purchase
Names and contact details for two referees (references will only be requested for the selected artist(s)

Please send completed applications to Debbie Allen at camberwellmurals@gmail.com and cc. Kelly O’Reilly at camberwellartsfestival@gmail.com with Masterman House mural application in the subject heading.

The deadline for proposals is 11.59pm on 27 July 2024.

9. Selection process

Proposals will be shortlisted by the selection committee. The shortlisted artists will be asked to display their proposals visually (printed images and captions) to the residents of Poets Estate for community feedback. After which up to 4 shortlisted artists may be invited for a face to face and/or zoom interview before a final appointment is made.

Applications will be scored against the following criteria for selection:

Creative proposal and examples of previous work (40%)
Response to the commissioning theme (30%)
Previous public art experience and / or working in public / community spaces (10%)
Previous experience of creative community engagement and / or consultation (10%) Strength of project budget (5%)
Strength of project timeline and commitment to meeting the completion date (5%)

At all times the opinion of the selection committee is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Artists who are shortlisted but eventually unsuccessful will receive feedback.

10. Selection committee

The Selection Panel consists of representatives from the following organisations:

Poets Estate TRA

Camberwell Arts

Local artist and resident

Local designer and resident

BMX club member

The selection committee is chaired by Debbie Allen. New members may join at the discretion of existing group representatives. The decision on the final artwork will be made by this sub-group. Their decision will be final.

11. Intellectual property

The intellectual property rights will remain with the artist(s). However, as a condition of the contract the appointed artist(s) will be required to sign off a set of images that may be used for project promotion and publicity purposes in perpetuity by the stakeholder groups named in this brief and / or in the commissioning contract.

APPENDIX A – SITE MAP AND IMAGE