Artist Call Out: Cleator Moor 2026

Cumberland Council is initiating a partnership arts project in spring 2026 centred around communities and spaces in Cleator Moor.

We will be offering several commissions and are keen to hear from artists and makers in the surrounding area interested in working on the project.

The commissions will involve:

  • delivering vibrant, accessible arts workshops

  • co-creating physical or digital artwork with community groups

  • leading public drop-in sessions

  • supporting an exhibition and launch event

Themes for the project are likely to involve community storytelling, wellbeing, identity, heritage and nature.  The project is currently at the design stage, offering an opportunity to scope the workshops around the skills and experience of the commissioned artists, as well as the wants and needs of the local community.

Artists will be paid in line with Artists Union guidance. Travel and materials will be covered.

The project is funded by the Sellafield Social Impact Fund.

Timescales

November/December 2025: Artists commissioned

January/February 2026: Workshop delivery

March 2026: Consolidation of co-created work

April 2026: Exhibition and celebratory event

Who are we looking for?

We invite applicants who live or have a studio in the following postcodes:

CA7, CA13-15, CA18-28

Applicants should have demonstrable recent experience of:

  • Delivering creative workshops to groups of varied ages and backgrounds

  • Collaborative or partnership working with other artists and organisations

  • A vibrant, high quality, well developed creative practice

We recognise that creative practitioners come via a range of different pathways, so we do not require an arts degree or qualification. We are interested to hear from artists at all stages of practice who have the relevant experience.

We are open to a variety of processes, including 2D and 3D visual artists and makers, writing, design, digital and immersive arts, hybrid and cross-disciplinary practices.

Applicants must have Public Indemnity (PI) and Public & Products Liability (PPL) Insurance and have, or be willing to obtain, a current Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) certificate.

How to apply

Please apply using the form below.

Deadline: 17th November 12:00 noon

In the spirit of artist-centred commissioning, we appreciate that lengthy application processes take a lot of unpaid time and labour. We are therefore inviting brief expressions of interest initially.

We will then shortlist artists and undertake a more detailed phase two commissioning process with a smaller number of selected artists. This second phase will involve token payments as compensation for some of the time taken to develop a more comprehensive proposal.

The expression of interest questions are short, and we do not require CVs, images or videos at this stage. We expect our commissioned artists to have an online presence and will look to your website and social media for further information and examples of your work.

We recommend you write your responses to the three final questions in a separate app like MS Word or a notes app, then paste them into the form when you are ready.