The Victoria and Albert Museum and the Crafts Council are collaborating on a series of three six month residencies in the Sackler Centre for arts education at the V&A. We are inviting applications from mid-career and established artists and makers working in Contemporary Basketry, or with an interest in working with this discipline.

The residency will take place from July – December 2009. Applicants should demonstrate an established practice with a high quality track record of development of new work, commissions and exhibiting at a national and international level.

The opportunity is open to UK-based artists and craftspeople. It will provide a monthly payment (taxable) to contribute to living expenses, accommodation, travel and some materials. A team, drawn from the V&A and Crafts Council staff will provide support throughout the project. We are particularly interested in practitioners who wish to work with the two organisations’ collections, use the resources of these organisations and who will welcome the opportunity to work on participatory projects with the public.

The new Sackler Centre for arts education at the V&A has two studios for museum residencies to be occupied by artists/ craftspeople/ designers/ writers/ performers/ architects/ film and video makers etc. There will be 4 residencies of 6 months (26 weeks) each year. This programme is integral to the philosophy of the Sackler Centre, helping to make it a dynamic, creative space.

Purpose of the Residency
This exciting opportunity offers practitioners access to the collections of the world’s greatest museum of art and design for use as creative inspiration to make new work; support to learn new skills and develop creative practice and drawing upon specialist expertise; opportunities to meet practitioners, curators, and also to work alongside specialist educators to promote greater understanding of art and design research and practice for the public.

The aims of the residency are to:

• Enable the selected practitioner to draw upon the V&A’s and the Crafts Council’s collections to carry out research, learn new skills and create new work
• Inspire public interest in creative practice
• Offer professional development to the selected practitioner in public engagement and educating
• Create links between the collections and contemporary craft, art and design.
• Undertake an imaginative project to engage the public (this could include workshops, open studios, talks, presentations, master classes etc.)
• Raise the profile of contemporary craft
• Provide opportunities to meet practitioners and curators

Expectations
We would like to achieve a balance of benefits for the artist, the public and the V &A and the Crafts Council.

Residents will be expected to:

• be based at the V&A for a minimum of three days per week
• open their studio at the V&A to the public for six half days per month (most Fridays and one weekend each month)
• display work in progress in their studio
• undertake projects with the public
• contribute to the process of dissemination on the V&A website
• be involved in professional development activities for makers run by the Crafts Council
• provide feedback for the purposes of evaluation

Selection Criteria
Applications should be dynamic, ambitious and inspiring – pushing forward boundaries of perception about creative practice. We are looking for an applicant who can adopt a range of different roles and who is keen to draw upon the resources of the V&A and the Crafts Council and to enter into a dialogue with the public.

Candidates must demonstrate:
• creative originality and professionalism in their work
• dynamic and inspiring ideas about how they would use this opportunity to develop their practice and how they intend to meet the aims of the Residency
• ideas for innovative ways to respond to opportunities to work with the V&A’s collections
• an interest in working in educational / community settings
• an ability to work with the internal systems within the organisations including email, Microsoft Office programmes and the web.
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Eligibility*
Applicants must be based in the UK and been practising for a minimum of seven years

Note: Work created during the residency remains the property of the V&A and the Crafts Council for the duration of the residency. At the end of the residency ownership will be transferred to the resident. Any work made during a public workshop remains the property of the V&A.

Payment
The artist will be paid approximately £7180 during their 6 month residency in monthly instalments. This fee will be subject to income tax and National Insurance. This fee is inclusive of travel costs within the UK and living expenses. There will be an additional budget for studio equipment and materials to be agreed with the V&A Residency Co-ordinator.

Studio
The Residency Studios are on the main site of the V&A in South Kensington, situated within the Sackler Centre for arts education

To apply
Applicants should apply online at the V&A’s website at www.vam.ac.uk/jobs where they will be asked to submit a current CV and complete an application form on line.

In addition to submitting the application on-line, you are requested to upload 8 images of recent work with the application. Images must be file size 70 dpi and no larger than 9 × 12cm (portrait or landscape), 340 × 255 pixels. These files should be saved as the name of the Image (see below)
Within the folder, each image should be labelled with the applicants name and number from 1 to 8
Digital images must be saved as JPEG files and should have the suffix . jpg . Please provide a description of each image following the outline below:
• Image 1 (name of image – please save the file under this name)
• Title
• Materials used
• Dimensions
• Year Made
• Description

Applicants must be available for the full residency period, 1st July to 19th December 2009. The selection process will be carried out by a panel of representatives from the V&A and the Crafts Council. Applicants will be short-listed from the images and supporting information and those selected will be invited for interview. Interviews will take place on the 15th January 2009. Candidates must be available for interview on this date.

For any queries regarding the recruitment process, please email the V&A – hr@vam.ac.uk.

Closing date for receipt of applications is 5 December 2008