hi all,

this could be a fantastic opportunity for the right artist, so i would  
be grateful if you could please help us spread the word!

cheers,

michelle


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/opportunities

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  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 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   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: [log in to unmask]