[spectre] (fwd) Call for Proposals - AVISON LIVE: audio-visual commission

[Andreas Broeckmann]

From: "Rebecca" <rebecca at avfestival.co.uk>
Subject: Call for Proposals - AVISON LIVE: audio-visual commission
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2009 17:57:56 -0000



CALL FOR PROPOSALS

AVISON LIVE: audio-visual artwork commission

Avison Ensemble and AV Festival, in partnership with culture10, seek 
to commission a major new audio visual artwork by a leading 
contemporary artist that celebrates 18th Century North East composer 
Charles Avison and his musical heritage by reinterpreting his 
traditional music for 21st Century audiences.

The commission forms a central part of the Avison tercentenary 
celebrations in 2009 and will be featured as part of a large scale 
public event in Newcastle City Centre, including live music by the 
renowned Avison Ensemble in September 2009 and a potential tour 
beyond.

Experienced and established artists or artist groups are invited to 
submit proposals to develop a new audio visual work that responds to 
the music of Charles Avison, the unique environment of Newcastle City 
Centre and attracts new audiences for classical music and 
contemporary electronic art.

KEY OBJECTIVES OF THE COMMISSION
- Deliver a large scale audio visual event of outstanding artistic 
quality which will attract significant numbers in terms of audiences 
and profile regionally, nationally and internationally.
- Raise public awareness of both electronic arts and classical music.
- Bring the music of Charles Avison to a new, younger audience in a 
way that is vital to the current times and in keeping with Avison's 
own attitude to culture and participation.
- Provide a major new commission opportunity for a leading 
contemporary artist, showing how contemporary audio visual artists 
can work with historical music.

DEADLINES
- The proposal deadline is 12pm on 9 March 2009. No late submissions 
will be accepted.
- Shortlisted candidates will be notified on 20 March 2009.
- Interviews will be held on 27 March 2009.
- The commission will be awarded on 3 April 2009.
- The work is to be completed by 24 August 2009.

BUDGET
The artist fee is GBP 12,000 and there is a production budget of 
approximately GBP 20,000 to stage the work.

FOR FURTHER DETAILS AND FULL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES PLEASE DOWNLOAD 
THE PROJECT BRIEF AT: 
<http://WWW.AVFESTIVAL.CO.UK>WWW.AVFESTIVAL.CO.UK

OVERVIEW OF AVISON LIVE
Avison Live will be a major public event, taking place in Newcastle 
City Centre in September 2009. At the heart of the event will be the 
premiere of a new audio visual commission by a leading contemporary 
artist and a series of live concerts by the world famous Avison 
Ensemble. The design of the event is open to interpretation, however 
key venues for the event may include historic sites related to 
Avison's performances, including churches, The Old Assembly Rooms and 
the Bigg Market in Newcastle, an area that is still known for its 
many pubs, clubs and raucous revellers.  The event must have the 
potential to engage large numbers.

The new commission will respond to Avison's music, his groundbreaking 
music criticism and the rich historical context in which his music 
was performed three hundred years ago. In the 1700's Charles Avison 
started the Bigg Market's reputation as a centre of entertainment. 
His fortnightly concerts held in the Groat Market Assembly Rooms were 
the peaks of Newcastle's social calendar; raucous affairs held in 
rooms above drinking dens, which started at 6pm and finished at 2am. 
At the peak of the Industrial Revolution, with entrepreneurs, factory 
owners and engineers in the city hungry for culture and 
entertainment, Avison made Newcastle into England's greatest 
provincial music centre of the day outside of London.

THE PARTNERS
THE AVISON ENSEMBLE 
<http://www.avisonensemble.com>www.avisonensemble.com The Avison 
Ensemble is Newcastle's outstanding period instrument orchestra, 
which plays and popularises the works of Charles Avison and other 
classical composers. Despite having written over eighty string 
concertos and being hailed by the New Grove Dictionary of Music and 
Musicians as, "the most important English concerto composer of the 
18th century", Charles Avison's music has been rarely performed on 
either modern or period instruments.

AV FESTIVAL <http://www.avfestival.co.uk>www.avfestival.co.uk
The AV Festival is an international festival of electronic arts 
featuring visual art, music and moving image. A biennial event, the 
festival takes place in Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland and 
Middlesbrough in the North East of England. The festival consists of 
public commissions, exhibitions, performances, film screenings, 
workshops and debate at many of the region's outstanding cultural 
venues and sites. This is the first major public event that AV 
Festival has developed outside of a festival year. The next AV 
Festival will take place in March 2010 and will be based around the 
central theme of Energy. It will explore energy as a force through 
which all of life is connected, transformed, renewed and destroyed.

CULTURE 10   <http://www.newcastlegateshead.com>www.newcastlegateshead.com
culture10 is an annual curated programme of exceptional cultural 
events and festivals across NewcastleGateshead and North East England.
Established in 2004, it is managed by the culture10 team, working in 
partnership with NewcastleGateshead Initiative, and is funded by 
Newcastle City Council, Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council, One 
North East, Northern Rock Foundation and Arts Council England, North 
East. The culture10 team actively engage in the events programmed, 
adding their expertise to those involved in the programme as creative 
partners.

ENQUIRIES
Michelle Hirschhorn, Avison Live Project Manager: 
<mailto:michelle at avfestival.co.uk>michelle at avfestival.co.uk




Rebecca Shatwell
Director, AV Festival / Audio Visual Arts North East
Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, UK
Tel: 44 (0)191 227 5523
Email: rebecca at avfestival.co.uk
URL: www.avfestival.co.uk

AV Festival is run by Audio Visual Arts North East. Limited by 
Guarantee. Registered in England No 06141603. Registered Charity 
Number 1120368. Registered Office: c/o Tyneside Cinema, 10 Pilgrim 
Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 6QG, UK.