The whole project will involve 6 museums. In September / October 2006, we will begin working with three of them: Preston Hall Museum, Stockton on Tees (Victorian social history and local history), Captain Cook Museums (the voyages and life of Captain Cook), Middlesbrough, Museum of Antiquities (the museum of Hadrian’s Wall), Newcastle. The project in each museum will take place in two stages:

Stage 1 September – November 06: A writer and museum professional will encourage two community groups (identified by the museums) to engage with museum collections by writing creatively in response to them.

Stage 2 November 06 – February 07: The community groups will be encouraged to explore their own individual heritages by curating their own ‘museums of their lives’. At this stage the visual artist will join the professional writer and museum staff who facilitated Stage 1 to help deliver phase 2. The artist will encourage the groups to interpret their own histories visually and help curate an exhibition in each museum which will be promoted to the public. The museum professional will also help the group to curate their exhibition and the writer will encourage them to write in response to it. The nature of the exhibition will be informed by the group, the artist, and the museum professional; examples of ideas include assemblages of objects, photography, film based work or a combination of media, but this is flexible. The idea of the exhibition is that it reflects the personal histories of everyday people living in contemporary North East, as identified by them.

Stage 2 will culminate in an exhibition in each museum. The whole project will culminate in an anthology of written work, featuring a selection from each of the six museums. This will be distributed through libraries and museums throughout the north-east.

The Community Groups
The nature of the groups in each museum is to be confirmed. In Stockton on Tees, the groups are likely to made up of a cross section of people who live in one community: Ingleby Barwick, just outside Stockton. In Middlesbrough the groups will be a primary school group and an older people’s group, and in Newcastle the groups will be made up of older people.

Timescale
The project will take place in two phases. Phase 1 will involve 3 of the museums starting the project in September 2006. Phase 2 will involve the other 3 museums starting in February 2007.

The first phase of the project is focussed on creative writing, so actual project delivery for the visual artist will not begin until November. However, we would like the visual artist to be involved in devising the project with the other two creative professionals (writer and museum professional) from the beginning.

The plan is that each community group will have 9 sessions with the writer and museum professional in stage 1 of the project. Stage 2 will consist of at least 9 sessions, with the visual artist, writer and museum professional. They will work with two community groups and, where possible, the community groups will meet on the same day. This is flexible, and may change in each museum.

Participating museums are:
Phase 1: Preston Hall Museum, Stockton on Tees (Victorian social history and local history); Captain Cook Museums (the voyages and life of Captain Cook), Middlesbrough; Museum of Antiquities (the museum of Hadrian’s Wall), Newcastle

Phase 2: Baillifgate Museum, Alnwick; Monkwearmouth Museum Sunderland; Durham Cathedral

The fee for visual artist on this project is £2,200 (equivalent of 11 days planning and project delivery; this will be reviewed if more work is required on curating the exhibition)

Requirements
The visual artist will be expected:

· To work with the museum professional and the writer to devise a programme of work which encourages groups to identify the ‘museums of their lives’
· To work with the group and other creative professionals to identify a way of helping the group to communicate their heritages to the public through an exhibition
· To encourage people to create work that is of quality
· To be aware of each member of the group’s specific needs
· To work with the other creative professionals to plan and put together an exhibition that the wider public will want to see
· To attend the launch of the exhibition in the allocated museum
· To attend the book launch at the end of the project
· To contribute to evaluation about this project
· To attend steering group meetings and other management meetings when necessary

Person specification
· Experience of working with a number of different types of community groups – from disenfranchised young people to older community groups.
· Confidence and ability to encourage people from a variety of backgrounds to be creative
· High expectations and the ability to encourage people to create work that is of quality
· A flexible approach and the ability to work using different media
· To be able to work independently and self manage projects.
· Experience of working on long term projects
· Experience of and an interest in working collaboratively with other creative professionals
· An interest in working in museums

If you are interested in working on this project please submit your CV and a covering letter, stating why you are interested and if possible, images of your own work to Anna Disley at New Writing North, 2 School Lane, Whickham, NE16 4SL or anna@newwritingnorth.com by Tuesday 15 August.

For an informal conversation about the project please call 0191 488 8580.

This project is supported by The Heritage Lottery Fund, The Foyle Foundation, Museums Libraries and Archives North East and The North East Regional Museum’s Hub