Down to Earth is the Creative People and Places Programme working across the Borough of Wigan. We aim to connect more people with the borough’s abundance of high-quality green space through creative activities & engage local communities as audiences, advocates & leaders to create new work together.
Down to Earth’s core community panel have created the concept of a festival of public art to take place across the borough of Wigan in September 2025. The Festival is imagined as a celebration of the abundance of excellent public art already in situ and an opportunity to support local communities to commission, co-create and install their own original artworks ready to be revealed for the festival.
The Project Budget:
Project Management: £20,000
Commissioning Budget: £50,000 (Held by Down to Earth paid directly to commissioned artists and contractors)
Festival Weekend Budget: £10,000 (Held by Down to Earth and led by the internal delivery team)
Down to Earth holds additional budgets for Access, Marketing, and publicity. As well as a small contingency.
Job Requirements
Down to Earth is seeking an experienced project manager with considerable public art experience to lead on the logistics of:
- Support the Down to Earth core community panel to make informed and meaningful decisions about the creation of the festival.
- Manage the commissioning budget in consultation with the Down to Earth project director.
- Create a commissioning process for 4-6 community-led original public artworks
- Work with the local authority on planning and permissions when required
- Work with community partners and the delivery team on excellent consultation of local people.
- Ensuring commissions are delivered in time and under budget
- Liaising with the Down to Earth delivery team on festival planning and activity
- Support DtE with evaluating impact of activity
Job Responsibilities
Proposed Project timeline
Applications for Project Management Lead close – April 14th
Project Management lead meets with Local Authority Culture Team – Late April
Inspirational Trip to Yorkshire Sculpture Park for core panel and community – 29th April
Applications for Community lead partners close – May 12th
Commission Briefs developed with lead community partners – Mid May
Commissioned Artists chosen – Mid June
Contracting, permissions – Mid June – August
Co-creation sessions – July, August & September
Installation week commencing – 22nd September
Public Art Unveiling and festival activity -29th September
Evaluation Activity with all partners – October
How to Apply
Submit a CV and short covering letter no later than 9am on Monday 14st April.
We would particularly like to understand your:
• Previous experience of delivering a wide range of public a
rt including in public spaces and green space.
• Previous experience of working with communities led and co-created arts processes
These can be submitted in any format that feels most appropriate to you but should not consist of more than 2000 words in written form or 5 minutes of audio/video.
We are committed to supporting a broad range of lived experience within the Down to Earth team, if we can make any adjustments to this process to better support you to make you’re application please do not hesitate to get in contact downtoearth@groundwork.org.uk or 07483 327544.
If you would like an informal conversation about this opportunity please contact downtoearth@groundwork.org.uk to arrange a conversation.