Outer space is next frontier for Barnaby artists

ARTISTS are invited to go to infinity and beyond to produce some mind blowing artwork for the next Barnaby Festival.

The bi-annual event, which will next take place in June 2016, has been awarded a £90k grant from Arts Council England and £30k from Cheshire East Council.

Now the Barnaby Art team is working on the visual arts programme for the festival, which will include commissions by national and international artists.

They are also inviting submissions from artists and curators based in Macclesfield and the surrounding villages.

They want artists to come up with some site specific artwork which will be displayed in and among the town’s heritage buildings, retail and disused spaces throughout the event.

The work must be based around the festival’s 2016 theme of ‘space and place’, which is influenced by the Lovell Telescope as well as the lack of formal art space in the town centre.

Elizabeth Cookson, visual arts director, said: “We look forward to receiving a rich variety of art proposals from Macclesfield- based artists which will not only engage with the Festival’s ‘space’ theme, but also challenge and delight visitors.”

A small number of awards between £300 and £1,000 will go towards the successful proposals, plus support from the Barnaby Art team.

The panel of selectors will include Kwong Lee, director of Manchester’s Castlefield Gallery, and the Barnaby Festival director

To apply, send a written proposal, including details of the proposed site, budget, and details of any other commissions under- taken, together with a statement of the artist’s practice, a recent CV and up to five labelled artwork images.

Proposals should be emailed to art@barnaby festival.org.uk by 5pm on Friday, July 17.

The Barnaby Festival is a family festival of arts and culture held in the town centre over a period of two weeks.

The not-for-profit event was first held in 2010 and includes a mix of live events, street shows ,comedy performance, workshops walks and talks.

It also includes the art trail, a Big Weekend and carnival parade.

Last year the event attracted 13,000 people to the town, with more than 1,000 people taking part in the carnival parade.