V&A DesignLab Nation, freelance designer/artist/maker - United Kingdom - Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums

Description

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V&A DesignLab Nation, freelance designer/artist/maker

1. Background

TWAM are collaborating with designers and local schools as part of DesignLab Nation, a national schools programme led by the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum, London.

DesignLab Nation - aims to inspire the next generation of designers, makers and innovators across the country, and to help young people develop the 21st century skills for the workplace of the future including critical thinking, creativity and collaboration. This programme uses regional partnerships with museums and designers to support and deliver in-depth design projects to secondary schools, support teachers and raise the profile of creative education through developing local Design & Technology (D&T) networks.

2. Objectives

We are looking to recruit an innovative designer/artist/maker to lead exciting design projects with secondary school students and teachers based in the Newcastle/Gateshead area between September 2023 and August 2024.

3. Brief

The recruited designer will work with up to three Newcastle/Gateshead based secondary schools on exciting in-depth design projects using the Shipley Art Gallery's Sowerby Glass Collection as a springboard and focussing on themes of traditional materials combined with new technologies, innovation in design/function and repurposing of traditional materials. The selected designer will set a design challenge for students, which they will then work towards solving through four creative full day sessions. With support from museum teams from Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums and V&A, the designer will plan a series of focussed workshops, highlighting key stages of a designer's journey including finding inspiration, writing a brief, experimentation, prototyping, and presentation.

Sessions should involve creative thinking, critical thinking, and collaborative activities, as well as interactive talks, demonstrations, and supportive feedback. The selected designer will also be asked to support with several Teacher CPD and celebration events throughout the academic year, as well as participate in planning meetings and contribute to evaluation. Students and teachers will be encouraged to take inspiration from objects and collections at V&A and TWAM.

• Works as a practicing designer/artist/maker who is passionate about design and Newcastle/Gateshead's glass production/ creative industry. We are particularly interested in hearing from designers with an interest in combining new technologies with traditional materials, and repurposing traditional materials.
• Able to inspire the next generation of designers, makers, and innovators, ready to encourage them to learn about and engage with contemporary design and industrial heritage.
• Experience in leading creative workshops with schools, young people, or similar groups.
• Able to make links between their own design practice and the Sowerby Glass collection at TWAM. This may be through materials, technical processes, or design mentality. We are keen to work with designers from different areas of the design industry. Add links to your design collections if you have one.
• Organised, and able to project plan and schedule accordingly.
• Prepared to support evaluation, documentation, and reporting as required.
• Willing to undertake a satisfactory Enhanced DBS Disclosure will be required prior to taking up appointment of this role. Comply with Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, and V&A guidelines for safeguarding, health and safety and undertake training
• Must be able to provide a copy of their valid Public Liability Insurance certificate in a sum of not less than £5 million prior to commencement of the contract.
• Ideally works, lives, or has links to the Newcastle/Gateshead area. Where possible the selected designer must be willing to travel regularly to and around the area over the course of the project.
• Has an up-to-date knowledge of the current D&T syllabus.
• Experience in working with teachers/educators, and able to work with teachers to share skills and develop new approaches to teaching design.
• Awareness of differentiating teaching styles to communicate with a variety of students.

5. Indicative timeline

August - September 2023: Recruitment of designer

September - October 2023: Planning and preparation

October 2023: Teacher development strand (CPD). This will involve 2 x full day sessions (1 day at V&A on 4 October 2023, 1 day at Shipley Art Gallery on 25 October PLEASE NOTE: these dates are set, and the designer will need to be able to attend both sessions.

November July 2024: Project delivery. Three school projects, with each project consisting of 4 sessions (1 day at V&A, 3 in Newcastle/Gateshead).

July 2024: Wider teacher CPD delivery, end of project celebration, and student display.

July - August 2024: Designer contributes to dissemination and evaluation

6. Budget and Fees

Overall fee: £6,840

Fee breakdown:

Teachers development strand (early Autumn term 2023)

Lead 2 x creative sessions @ £240 each= £480

Planning and preparation 2 x days @ £240 each= £480

School projects (Autumn 2023, Spring 2024 and Summer term 2024)

The fees for each school project are:

Planning and preparation 3 x days @ £240 each= £720

If you were to deliver all three school projects the total fee would be £5,040

Regional CPD and celebration (Summer term 2024)

2 x £240 for the Lead Designer to lead a workshop at the Teachers Regional CPD, including 1 day planning= £480 (please note this event is tbc).

1.5 x £240 for the Lead Designer to lead a workshop at the Celebration event and contribute to the student display= £360

Other Budget

• There is an approx. £200 material budget for each school project and £50 per Teachers CPD/workshop.
• The designer will also be consulted on the budget for Teacher's Development Strand, Teacher's Regional CPD and Celebration Event/Student Display.
• For trips to the V&A, London participating designers will have travel paid for them to support the visit. We are happy to review reimbursing for designers visiting schools or partner museums and creative organisations where necessary.

In recent years, we have witnessed a dramatic decline in uptake of creative subjects by students at GCSE level, with D&T suffering a staggering drop of 67% since 2010. As creative education deteriorates among young people, who are being encouraged to narrow their focus on subjects included in the English Baccalaureate ( EBacc ), so too does the provision of D&T teacher training, with the number of design- specialist teachers in the country down 32% since 2010. Combined, these issues are leading to a drastic skills shortage, which is already being felt by the UK's creative industries. As the world's greatest museum of art, design, and performance – a ' schoolroom for everyone ' , as described by its founding Director, Henry Cole – the V&A has an essential role to play in the nation's creative education.

DesignLab Nation, part of the V&A national schools programme is forging new partnerships between regional museums, their local secondary schools, and creative industries. Targeting regions of the country where creative industries have historically thrived yet the current need to improve D&T provision is particularly acute, our expert learning practitioners work closely with regional organisations to deliver in-depth design projects inspired by their nearby industries and industrial heritage. The programme is currently taking place in Stoke-on-Trent, Plymouth, Bradford, and Newcastle/Gateshead.

School Projects

In each participating region, the V&A partners with a museum and a professional designer. Together, we deliver in-depth design projects to local secondary school groups. Projects consist of 4 full day creative sessions led by a designer and museum experts at V&A and regional museums. Students are asked to respond to a design challenge and work through all stages of a design journey (including finding inspiration, writing a brief, experimentation, prototyping, and presentation). Sessions involve creative thinking, critical thinking, and collaborative activities, as well as interactive talks, demonstrations, and supportive feedback crits .

Regional museums are asked to recruit schools that they have not recently engaged with, and which are based in areas with above average levels of income deprivation or/and have low levels of cultural engagement. We ask schools to select one D&T group from their school with students (KS3 or KS4, approx students) who would most benefit from this experience, in particular those on the Pupil Premium scheme. This programme is fully funded for all schools who take part. This programme supports the teaching of the new Design and Technology (D&T) GCSE, which launched in September 2017.

Teachers Development Strand

For DLN Year 7 in Newcastle/Gateshead we are planning to run a Teachers Development Strand, working with local teachers to co-design project plans and resources. This will consist of a 2 CPD workshops with museum staff from Tyne and Wear Archives & Museums , V& A and the Lead designer. These workshops will include exciting research trips to Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums and V&A, London. We aim for these workshops to support teachers with continued professional development including gaining critical thinking, creative thinking, and collaboration skills ahead of delivering projects with students in the Autumn 2023, Spring 2024, and Summer 2024 term.

Teachers regional CPD

In each region each academic year we plan to host a continuing professional development (CPD) session for regional networks of teachers to expand the reach of the programme.

Celebration Event/Student Display

In each region each academic year we plan to host a celebration event with all participating schools to highlight achievements. The focus of this will be a Student Display of work.

8. Contact

Please email a recent CV and covering letter (250 words max) outlining your suitability for the role to: . All proposals must be received by midnight on Monday 21 August 2023 .

Successful candidates will be invited to an online interview on Wednesday 13 September

Contact