‘Lockdown Tales: What Matters in the Margins?’ – Design Brief and Guidance

Bristol’s City Fellows are looking for a local artist to design a postcard representing Bristol’s diversity for the first stage of a community project in response to Covid-19.

The aim of the project is to capture ‘what matters’ to people in marginalised communities during lockdown – big or small, positive or challenging. People will be invited to share their thoughts on the postcard, physically or electronically, through words or pictures, to create a snapshot of Bristol at this time.

The theme for the postcard is ‘Bristol’s Diversity.‘ The City Fellows work with a variety of communities, including the LGBTQ+ community, the disabled community, and people living in East and South Bristol. We would like them to feel reflected and represented in the design. 

A wide range of people will receive the postcards, including those with visual and learning impairments. The design needs to be attractive, eye catching, and accessible. Examples of making the design accessible could include using minimal wording, not using small lettering, using bright colours, and creating a simple design. A simple, bright and cheerful design would be preferred. 

There will be a £100 prize for the winning design and your work will be credited, unless you wish to remain anonymous. 

We hope to include the postcards in an exhibition in Bristol at a later date, both physically and online.

Please email submissions to: city-fellowships-uob@bristol.ac.uk

Deadline for Submissions: May 12th

 

A winter photo of the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, UK

Bristol City Fellows: call for a Creative City Fellow

This call is now closed. Thank you to all who applied.

The Bristol City Fellowships programme is looking for a creative to work alongside the City Fellows

Call closes: 5pm 27th March 2020

See PDF version of this call for circulation: Call for Creative City Fellow.pdf

Background

Bristol City Fellowships is an innovative new programme of fellowship opportunities for practitioners and academics working alongside communities at the margins. The overarching aim of the programme is to contribute to changing cultures of collaboration in city governance and to work towards a radical rethinking of the inclusion of the expertise of communities at the margins in city decision making. The Bristol City Fellowships are a collaboration between the University of Bristol, Bristol City Office and the Social Justice Project.

Aims of the City Fellowship programme

  • To influence systems and process change at city level in order to include the expertise of communities at the margins in city decision making;
  • To facilitate and support actions to develop as a result of our collaborative work;
  • To understand and develop inclusive processes of governance at city scale.

The Creative City Fellow

Funding is available from the Brigstow Institute to enable a Creative City Fellow to work on the programme (for the equivalent of one day per week for 12 months) to develop and implement work that connects with the aims of the City Fellowship programme as outlined above. In particular to consider creative processes and methods that might support communities at the margins to be involved in city decision making.

We are particularly interested in creatives/artists with existing connections, experiences and methodologies that might enhance the work of the other city fellows. The Creative City Fellow would be expected to attend regular monthly meetings with the other fellows, becoming a member of the City Fellows cohort.

We would hope the creative would be able to work alongside the City Fellows and communities to:

  • Introduce the Fellows to new creative methodologies, and possibly processes of documentation that might support the fellows work with communities at the margins;
  • use the opportunity to learn and develop their own practice within the context of coproduced research, and work alongside the other fellows
  • Some additional funding will be available to cover costs related to the production of creative work alongside the fellows and the communities involved.

Why apply?

The City Fellows programme encourages applications from creatives interested in collaborative working, shifting cultures of decision making in the city and finding ways of thinking and doing beyond current practices.

The programme will provide:

  • A collaborative working environment with civil society practitioner/activists, organisations in the public and private sector and academics;
  • An opportunity to bring to the fore expertise and knowledge embedded in communities at the margins in the city;
  • Space and time for collaborative thinking, doing and reflection, involving experimentation and taking risks;
  • Funding of £10,000 p.a. to enable the Fellow to spend the equivalent of one day per week on the programme, for a period of 12 months;
  • Access to University of Bristol resources – desk space, IT resources, library access and access to other academic databases;
  • Access to City Office and Social Justice project hot desking space;
  • Links with academic and professional services staff at University of Bristol

Submissions

Please send the following to city-fellowships-uob@bristol.ac.uk by 5pm, 27th  March 2020

  • An expression of interest in no more than 2 pages of A4 outlining: Existing connections, experiences and methodologies that you would bring to the City Fellowships programme;
  • A relevant CV of no more than 2 pages;
  • An example of work that demonstrates relevant experience, presented in an appropriate form.

Contact city-fellowships-uob@bristol.ac.uk for questions and informal conversations about the creative city fellowship.

Selection

The submissions will be shortlisted by the cohort of existing City Fellows. Shortlisting will be based on:

  • Demonstration of an understanding of methods of working that enable listening to and critically engaging with communities at the margins;
  • Demonstration of a commitment to and engagement with participatory/socially engaged arts practice;
  • Demonstration of engagement with the aims of the City Fellowship programme;
  • Clarity of the specific contribution the artist would provide to the City Fellows cohort;
  • Creative ability to undertake the work.

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to interview with a panel made up of City Fellows and the director of the Brigstow Institute, Tim Cole.

We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals regardless of their gender, age, ethnicity, sexuality, race or disability status.

The Bristol City Fellowships Programme: Call for applications

Thank you for all the applications. This call is now closed. More news to follow soon.

 

What is it?

Applications are open for City Fellows projects. The primary aim of City Fellow programme is to craft a series of projects that can ensure that communities at the margins are considered to be critical knowledge producers in decision making around city futures.

Bristol City Fellowships is an innovative new programme of fellowship opportunities for academics and practitioners working alongside communities at the margins, which aims to build inclusive cultures of collaboration in the city. It is a joint programme between the University of Bristol, Bristol City Office and the Social Justice Project.

The City Fellows programme will craft a number of projects collectively with the diverse communities of Bristol, to develop principles and practices of collaborative working. We use the concept of ‘craft’ to refer to the desire to do things well, to work long and hard on perfecting something beautiful and useful. The City Fellows programme will demonstrate that the expertise and practice developed when practitioner and community knowledge works alongside academic research can play a key role in shaping city governance. It will enable us to contribute to changing cultures of collaboration in the city, alongside the Bristol City Office and aligned with the One City Approach, working towards a radical rethinking of the inclusion of marginalised voices in decision making. The programme will develop a new, inclusive approach to city governance and policy making, a ‘Bristol City Approach to collaboration’ that other cities could learn from. City Fellows will work as a team to design and influence structures of city scale decision-making to tackle systemic inequalities.

Funding for City Fellows

Funding is available to enable each City Fellow to work on the programme for one day per week for 18-24 months to develop and implement a project that connects with one of the themes of Bristol’s One City Plan (Health and Wellbeing, Economy, Homes and Communities, Environment, Learning and Skills and Connectivity) or identifies a cross cutting theme that should be considered (e.g. gender equality, disability and inclusion).

Applicants should have a direct link into communities at the margins of decision-making in the city of Bristol; this could be through employment in an organisation that works with/in Bristol’s diverse communities, or through other connections (e.g. through gifted time, or working in a consultancy role).

This call is looking for 4 more city fellows:

  • 3 x city practitioner/activists who will be hosted by and work with the University of Bristol.
  • 1 x early career academic (normally within 8 years of completing a PhD) at the University of Bristol who will work with key city institutions/actors.

As the first two Bristol City Fellows, Morag McDermont and Helen Manchester will co-ordinate and support the first cohort of fellows. They will support the cohort in collectively developing impacts, outputs and outcomes that are embedded in the city and disseminated nationally and internationally.

 

Why apply?

The City Fellows programme encourages applications from those interested in collaborative working, shifting cultures of decision making in the city and finding ways of thinking and doing beyond current practices. The programme will provide:

  • A collaborative working environment with other civil society practitioner/activists, organisations in the public and private sector and academics
  • An opportunity to bring to the fore expertise and knowledge embedded in the communities that they (will) work within
  • Space and time for collaborative thinking, doing and reflection, between researchers and communities at the margins, involving experimentation and taking risks
  • Funding of £10,000 p.a. to enable the Fellow to spend at least one day per week on the programme, for a period of 18-24 months. This funding will either be to the employing organisation to allow the person to be released from other duties 1 day per week, or will be paid directly to the Fellow. In the case of the ECR this will enable teaching buy out, equivalent to one day per week for 18-24
  • For city to university fellows, access to University of Bristol resources – desk space, IT resources, library access and access to other academic
  • For University to City Fellows access to City Office and Social Justice project hot desking space
  • The potential for modest support on the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data
  • Support from Helen and Morag and links with academic and professional services staff at UoB who can support the Fellow’s project

What kinds of applications will be considered?

Applicants will be required to develop and implement a collaborative, city-scale project that involves working alongside a community/ies at the margins to tackle systemic inequalities in the city. You may have an idea for an innovative project or you may want to work on an existing problem (eg access to employment) but are looking to develop an innovative approach which can be shaped through discussion and collaboration with the other Fellows.

The proposed projects should:

  • Enable city-scale collaboration between key organisations, including (but not limited to) the universities, communities organisations, charities, Bristol City Office and Council, other organisations and local businesses
  • Work explicitly on ensuring that communities at the margins are considered to be critical knowledge producers in decision making around city futures
  • Enable and lead to the creation of an in-depth case study, exploring the processes, practices and methods needed to enable city scale collaboration around key city concerns
  • Connect with one of the themes of Bristol’s One City Plan (Health and Wellbeing, Economy, Homes and Communities, Environment, Learning and Skills and Connectivity) or identify a cross cutting theme that should be considered (e.g. gender equality, disability and inclusion).

City Fellows must be committed to working as a cohort to regularly engage in collaborative thinking, doing and reflection and experimentation which encourages unconventional, risky research and practice.

City Fellows will be expected to find innovative ways of disseminating the outcomes of the projects including learning and practices/methodologies developed, supported by the other City Fellows, the City Office and others working in the University of Bristol. One key mechanism for dissemination in the City will be through the Bristol Forum.

How to apply

Each application should propose a project that engages with one or more of the themes in the One City Plan using an approach that is not ‘business-as-usual’. Applications do not have to present a fully worked-out project. However, it is important for applicants to demonstrate:

  1. A proven commitment to working collaboratively with others in the city
  2. Existing working relations with community/ies at the margins in the City and evidence of practices that engage these communities as key knowledge producers;
  3. The potential scope of city-scale collaboration: who else will you be looking to develop collaboration with during the course of the fellowship in order to enable cross sectoral working on the issue identified?
  4. The skills and resources that you bring to the programme, e.g. fields of expertise developed so far; networks with community groups, organisations, charities; potential for other sources of funding (or other resources) to support the project
  5. Awareness of the other skills and resources that would be required to enable the project to be undertaken
  6. An understanding of how the project could contribute to developing principles and practices of collaborative working in the City

Applications should clearly address points 1-6 above, and can be submitted:

  • as a written document of no more than 1000 words, or
  • a ten minute audio or video file, or
  • a combination of the two e.g. 5 minute video plus 500 word

To ensure fairness between applications and to enable the panel to assess applications equally, any applications that exceed these limits may be rejected.

The decision panel will include Morag and Helen, representatives from the City Office, The Social Justice Project and the University of Bristol.

There will be opportunities to meet and discuss potential projects with Helen and Morag at several clinics, running during October 2019. More details can be found here.

Please send all completed applications to: city-fellowships-uob@bristol.ac.uk

Closing date: Friday 1st  November 2019, 12 noon

Awards announced: December 2020. We envisage the fellowships will run between January 2020 and December 2022

This programme has been made possible with the support of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Acceleration Account.

Eligibility criteria

  1. Practitioners/activists from community organisations or other civil society organisations in the City of Bristol, or a motivated individual/activist (this could include community or employee owned businesses). NB it will not be possible to support individuals currently in statutory paid roles financially (we may be able to provide some support for teachers). However, you are welcome to apply if you have agreement from your employee to support your release to work with us on this
  2. Early Career Academics, with an interest in collaborative and interdisciplinary research, on any Pathway at the University of Bristol from across disciplines are welcome to apply. An ECR here is understood as being within 8 years of PhD completion (or more than this if you have had periods away from academia- if this is the case please explain in your application). You will need the permission of your line

For both categories, you must demonstrate that you have an established city network that you can draw on/engage.

Useful Guides

These are useful guides for collaborative projects: