Reader in Residence – Radical Reading Room
Metal is delighted to announce a call-out for its Readers in Residence programme, in response to the Radical Reading Room.
Quick overview:
- Six Readers in Residence for local and national artists, activists, academics, writers, collectives and collaborators at any stage of their career.
- Each Reader will be awarded £1,000 fee, and a £1,000 programming pot. A further stipend for travel and accommodation will be made available for those living outside of the local area.
- A minimum of two live events to be programmed around the themes or topics of the books
- Spend a minimum of 7 days in the Reading Room (this can be consecutively or spread across a month)
About The Radical Reading Room Project
The Radical Reading Room (RRR) is a new collaborative project opening up local public spaces and providing a wealth of educational tools which will be a catalyst for creative thinkers and critical minds. Starting with boxes of new, boundary-pushing books, organisations from Leeds, Sheffield, Cardiff, Peterborough and Newcastle/Gateshead have come together to create and generate spaces of positive dissent, backed up by the independent publisher Pluto Press and the Left Book Club.
There is access not just to books, but also the authors, who, through community-led conversations focussing on local issues, will share and build understanding on a variety of topics. Taking the lead from our communities, these topics include inequality, the environment, precarious employment, LGBTQ+ issues, structural racism and much more. As the project grows, RRR hope to expand to other areas of the UK, as well as develop new books by emerging radical voices.
At its core, the Radical Reading Room will help people find space to read, discuss and organise a better future. A better world is possible!
From bell hooks and Lola Olufemi, to Mario Mieli and Noam Chomsky, the books cover subjects of identity politics, theories of economics, environmentalism, arts production and more.
Click here to see the full range of books
About Peterborough’s Reading Room
The Peterborough Radical Reading Room will be hosted by arts organisation Metal in their research space at Chauffeurs Cottage, where they will programme a range of public events and residencies in response to the Reading Room books. Metal hopes to connect with a new range of audiences and engage different community groups to become creative thinkers and critical minds. You can find out more about the Reading Room at Metal here
About Metal
Metal is a Research and Development space for artists working in all disciplines – providing time, space and resources for artists to explore their practice, take risks and pursue bold ideas through residencies and Labs. We bring these artists and their work into a relationship with the communities in the cities where we work through workshops, discussion, publications, small scale events and large-scale festivals. Metal is funded as a National Portfolio Organisation by Arts Council England. See www.metalculture.com
What is the Residency?
The Reader in Residence offer is an opportunity for applicants to engage in a short time of focused research that explores their relationship to the themes and topics of the books. This could be through a project they are currently working on, or through a new line of exploration. A key outcome of the residency is for the readers to programme at least 2 in-person events to engage with the local public, through using both Metal’s existing networks and forging new relations with different community groups. Programmed events could be, but not limited to, hosting a dinner that is held with members of the public and/or community groups, an ‘in conversation’ interview with an author whose work is featured in the Reading Room, a participatory workshop, film screenings, scratch pieces, and more. Be creative! A key question to consider when crafting ideas for events is how can we engage new audiences with complex concepts and challenging ideas?
The offer is open to artists, activists, academics, writers, collectives and collaborators at any stage of their career. Three of our Readers in Residence are allocated to people who work and/or live in Peterborough and the surrounding villages, with a further three being allocated to applicants from across the wider UK.
Expectations of the Readers in Residence:
- To programme at least 2 live, public events during your residency, with help and support from the Metal team and network of Radical Reading Rooms. These audiences can be through Metal’s existing networks and through new relations with new audiences.
- To engage and connect with the other Radical Reading Rooms and to attend any collaborative online events.
- During the residency, we invite you to sit with, read, annotate and absorb the books in the collection to inform your thinking about the world and its possible futures.
- Recommend new books / themes to be added to The Radical Reading Room via Pluto Press’s and / or The Left Book Club catalogue.
- To share what you’re reading via Metal’s blog and social media channels, supported by the Metal team.
- Spend a minimum of 7 days undertaking research in the Reading Room in Peterborough. This could be consecutively or across a month. You are also welcome to borrow the books to continue any research at home.
- Be prepared to interact with members of the public who have come to explore the books.
- We also ask that you truly use this residency to take time, to read, recover, recuperate, consider, engage, disagree, change your mind, keep a journal, doodle, drink tea, bring a blanket, or do whatever you need to do, to really take the time to consider a different world and ways both small and large in which we can get there.
Fee:
Each Reader in Residence will be awarded a £1,000 fee, and a £1,000 programming pot. Applicants from outside of Peterborough and the surrounding villages will receive an extra stipend for travel and accommodation. You will be responsible for sorting your own arrangements.
How do I apply?
Please complete the following online application form, in which we will ask you to share with us:
- What subject areas held by the Reading Room interest you and why? You can see Pluto Press’s full book catalogue here: https://www.plutobooks.com/books/ (300 words)
- What do you hope to get out of the residency experience? (300 words)
- How might you engage with the public about these subjects? (300 words)
We’ll ask you to share your biography with links to your previous work (300-500 words), as well as the option of attaching a CV. We would also like to see up to 5 examples of your recent work (images, text, published works and articles, audio or film clips) to get an understanding about you and your practice / areas of interest.
We welcome video or audio files as an alternative to filling out the written application form. Please answer the above questions, structured in the same way you would on a written form, allowing 3-5 minutes each and provide up to 5 examples of your work by email.
If you have any questions or another way you would like to suggest to make this process accessible to you, please get in touch with us at chaufferuscottage@metalculture.com
The deadline for applications is Wednesday 29th September 2021 at 5pm.
All applicants will be notified of outcome by Friday 15th October.
Residency period: All Residencies will take place between November 2021 and August 2022
Questions?
If you have any questions about the Reader in Residence call out then please contact: chauffeurscottage@metalculture.com