Artist Open Call: Our Place on Earth (Wonderseekers)

Wonderseekers (the Charity behind Winchester Science Centre) is embarking on an exciting adventure with an ambitious strategy to help children aged 3-12 feel more connected to nature and empowered to play their part in protecting and caring for their local environment. As part of a long-term plan, we are developing a project which includes a new exhibition and programme of activity called Our Place on Earth.

The aim of the project is to take children on a participatory journey to discover and feel inspired by our local landscape. Using the unique landscape surrounding our science centre as inspiration, we will help children explore site-specific themes such as light pollution, soil health and local species, with the hope that their environmental journey will continue in their own little piece of Earth, wherever that may be.

To ensure that children’s voice is captured and represented throughout this project and embedded within the exhibition, we will be conducting a 9-month development phase working in collaboration with artists, scientists, exhibition designers, and children from underrepresented local communities. At the end of this project stage, we will have a concept design for a new accessible exhibition and lots of creative ideas to design a programme of accompanying activities to run at the centre, in schools and in communities.

Wonderseekers value the importance of art within science communication, especially for young children. It helps to create a powerful, sensory experience for children to explore, observe, communicate, and understand the world around them. We are looking for a visual artist and/or artists to advocate for creativity within the project using art to help Wonderseekers achieve a collaborative vision for Our Place on Earth exhibition.

The opportunity is open to individual artists and/or artist collective/groups. They will work with the Wonderseekers team to design, plan and facilitate a series of creative workshops to guide children, including our Young Design Panel through this process over the 9-month development phase. They will encourage children to express themselves through art, capturing their creative and imaginative response to local environmental themes.

The work created with the children will then be used to design the new Our Place on Earth exhibition with the support of professional exhibition designers. The Young Design Panel will be assembled from a diverse group of children aged 7-11 from local underrepresented communities. They will be invited to attend workshops with the artists and other collaborators approximately twice a month outside of school hours.

The successful candidate will also be expected to deliver a series of workshops with community groups, schools and families visiting Winchester Science Centre. It is vital that the successful candidate be passionate about working with young children, and have the flexibility to allow the children’s voice, thoughts and feelings to be represented through the creative process.

Wonderseekers strives for all our activities to be fully accessible. The successful applicant must be an active advocate for accessibility. They will work closely with the Wonderseekers team to ensure that what we are delivering is inclusive and representative of those involved in the project.