The Flow Country: Opportunities for Artists

13th October 2016

RSPB Scotland

Deadline: 24 October 2016 at 09:00

The Flow Country is a rolling expanse of blanket bog in the far north of Scotland, of importance for the biodiversity it supports and of huge value as a carbon store. The Flows to the Future Project is a five year project that is restoring large areas of blanket bog that are currently afforested and also raising awareness and understanding of this special landscape.

The project has been set up by the Peatlands Partnership, with RSPB as the lead partner and is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and other partners.

As part of the project we wish to appoint a visual artist and a community engagement artist (visual arts or crafts) to undertake residencies/ projects in the Flow Country in Spring 2017.
Selected artists will spend at least two weeks in the area and develop new work in response to the context of the Flow Country.

We aim to encourage approaches that investigate the unique nature of the Flow Country, or that focus on particular aspects or details of the landscape or ecology, revealing different readings and understandings of the environment. The residencies present opportunities for artists to develop exploratory projects - that will raise awareness of the Flow Country, engage with communities and audiences, and contribute to widening understanding of the fragility and importance of the Flow Country.

The project is keen to encourage and support commissioned artists where appropriate to engage not only with project partners, but also with the wider resources of arts/heritage partners in the region including Timespan, Caithness Horizons and Strathnaver Museum. There will also be support from independent producer Jane Connarty. The commissioned artists will also take part in a 2 day interdisciplinary creative workshop in April 2017.

There will be an artist's fee of £3k and a production budget of up to £5k, plus agreed travel and accommodation expenses.

Further details can be found on http://www.theflowcountry.org.uk/news

Interviews will be on 8/9 November
Location: Highland

For further information, please contact caroline.eccles@rspb.org.uk (caroline.eccles@rspb.org.uk), or visit http://www.theflowcountry.org.uk/news

The deadline is Monday 24 October 2016 at 09:00.