As the city starts to emerge from the pandemic, we all have a new appreciation for the things that have been taken away from us. The opportunity to congregate and celebrate, to discover new places and to meet new people.

This project aims to recognise this and subvert it, by creating four extraordinary art murals across three unique, diverse and tourist led parts of the city. Each piece is a platform for local communities and creatives to tell the story of people and place to the rest of the city.

This is not a pandemic project. It is a celebration of the creativity, diversity and inclusiveness of Liverpool.

Part art trail and part celebration, these commissions will all feel very different – inspired by the places that they are based and the people who have helped create them – but will all form part of a wider story about the future of Liverpool.

This commission is available for use for projects funded externally from the Council including Reopening High Streets Safely Fund and Welcome Back Fund, which is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) Growth.

We are looking for organisations, individual artists or collectives to lead on these installations. The lead organisation must be based in Liverpool, however collaborators can be from a variety of local, national and international partners.

Each proposal must identify an ideal location from one of the areas, a community from within the city who would be involved in this collaboration and a short outline of the proposed idea.

Conscious of speed, these initial Expressions of Interest need to be provided by Friday 21 January 2022. We will then confirm which of these ideas we would like to develop by Monday 31 January 2022.

A series of development milestones will be agreed upon appointment. These commissions are focused on developing ambitious, high-quality work, created for outdoor spaces that can grab the attention and imaginations of audiences.

We are looking for three responses to three unique places located within the city, all extraordinary in scale and ambition. We are looking for responses that are art mural led and that can be in situ for a minimum of 9 months.

The installations should engage across a wide audience base, be engaging, shareable and emotive. Thematically, we are looking for artistic proposals that focus on one of the areas and its local community.

Areas:

  • Cavern Quarter
  • Pride Quarter
  • Waterfront / The Strand
  • Baltic Triangle

Proposals should be: 

  • Site specific, outdoor and conceived to be a permanent installation.
  • Born out of the history, architecture, identity and ambitions of the place and communities associated with it
  • Visually striking and engaging

We’re interested in hearing from makers/organisations who:

  • Have an established practice and are able to demonstrate their ability to create work of high quality, with a track record large scale work.
  • Are interested in how outdoor work can inspire diverse audiences from the broadest range of backgrounds.
  • Consider the environmental impact when making and delivering their work.
  • Are based within the Liverpool City Region area

Project ideas can come in a variety of scales, but the maximum commissioning for an individual piece would be c£24.5k.

Upon reading your proposal, we must feel confident that your ideas are achievable within the timeframe and within budget that is committed.

If you have any questions please send them to leanne.mcanespie@liverpoolbidcompany.com and we will aim to get back to you within 48 hours.