The Arts Council invites tenders from interested parties to project manage Wintering Out, a national programme to support the reintroduction and reimagining of live arts events as we move through the current pandemic.
“If we winter this one out, we can summer anywhere”. —Seamus Heaney
The Survive, Adapt, Renew report of the Expert Advisory Group to the Arts Council which was adopted in June 2020 sets out a recommendation that the Arts Council facilitate a new initiative in live arts events before the end of 2020.
Wintering Out is intended to be a sector-led programme, drawing from organisations who had work at an advanced stage of preparation before the onset of Covid-19. The project manager will work with organisations and individuals to come forward with proposals to devise and present events in a nationwide week-long celebration of the performing arts in Spring 2021 (subject to public health guidelines). This will be located in flexible places and spaces and will be delivered within socially distanced guidelines. The intention is that organisations and individuals will work together to imagine a festival programme with national reach and to explore its practical application for the future environment.
The action research programme will seek to explore new venues for the performing arts, new methods of delivery, flexible methods of staging, digital recording and dissemination, and it will provide first-class arts experiences for audiences hungry for live performance.
Director of the Arts Council, Maureen Kennelly said, “The Wintering Out programme will provide much-needed employment for artists and arts workers — stage managers, production managers, technical and other support staff—without whom no arts activity is possible; we hope it will be a light at the end of the tunnel, and provide a marker for what will be possible in the future. We hope that it will encourage the public to engage with artistic events in person, in a safe and enjoyable atmosphere.”
Subject to COVID-19 protocols, it is intended to present a one-day initiative in December 2020 under the banner Wintering Out to serve as a signpost for the Spring programme. The timing of the programme is conditional on the practicality of meeting public health measures and recognises the need for flexibility and for an agile approach.
Applicants who wish to tender to project manage Wintering Out are advised to read the report Survive Adapt Renew, available here in full.
The budget for the project management and the value of this tender is set at range between €100,000 and €110,000, inclusive of all expenses and exclusive of VAT.
A budget of €1m is allocated for delivery of the nationwide programme.
Full details of the tender can be access on etenders here.
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