Deadline: Friday 26 February 2016.
BACKGROUND
Manchester Mega Mela (MMM) is an annual two day celebration of South
Asian culture which takes place in Platt Fields Park South Manchester.
MMM comprises of several different elements:
• A main stage featuring national/international South Asian Artists
• The Chai Serai marquee – a showcase stage for local & community performers
• The Arts & Crafts marquee
• The Mela market – over 70 food and non food stalls
• Mela sports including Kabbadi, stone lifting and tug of war
• A funfair
• The 2016 Mela will take place on 30 – 31 July, 12.00h – 21.00h each day.
• MMM normally attracts an audience of around 60,000 over the two days.
• MMM audience is 80% South Asian, family and 80% based in Greater Manchester.
• Most MMM activities take place on the Platt Fields Park showfield which is approximately 150m x 150m in size.
“Mela is a noisy, vibrant, colourful, diverse and sometimes hectic gathering of family, friends, youth and older people, predominantly but by no means exclusively from the South Asian population”.
THE BRIEF
MMM are looking for proposals to create/build an installation with a strong element of
interactivity or street theatre for this year’s event which will provide a visual focal point
of interest in the main field alongside other mela activities.
THE INSTALLATION WILL NEED TO
• Be visually stunning and of a certain scale – large enough to create an impact from any part of the Showfield.
• Be highly accessible and engaging, preferably containing a strong element of interactivity / street theatre taking into account the MMM audience profile and the nature of MMM as an event.
• Make reference to South Asian culture.
• Be robust enough to work outdoors and have the potential to appear at other events as well as future Manchester Melas.
Note: there is a fantastic array of flags and banners at Mela so this commission would probably but not necessarily require
something different.
FURTHER INFORMATION
• Area available is flexible but approximately as indicated on attached photos and plan – roughly 20m x 20m.
• Any power requirements will need to be supplied by a silent diesel generator or battery.
BUDGET
• The budget is £10k.
• Proposals must include all costs including VAT – artists fees, materials, transport, power etc
• For further information on MMM please go to www.manchestermela.co.uk
TIMESCALES
1. Expression of Interest
You may submit more than one idea for consideration.
Please respond by 26/2/16 including an outline and sketch of your proposed work(s) accompanied by an itemised budget and a short
CV outlining your experience to: The Chair, Manchester Mega Mela at admin@manchestermela.co.uk or megamela@btconnect.com
2. Interview
Please ensure that you are available for a short interview with MMM organisers on Tuesday 08/03/16 in Manchester.
Please note this commission is subject to funding. Funding will be confirmed by end March 2016.
For full details, visit the website.