Take Part
New Art Commission
Our Beautiful Oldham Exhibition
Gallery Oldham is currently working in partnership with Early Years audiences and design company The Creative Core to reimagine our current display of permanent collections. Our Beautiful Oldham gallery will be a hands-on experience that will open in June 2026 within Gallery One and is supported by a Reimagine Grant from Art Fund.
This new permanent exhibition rallies to the call of social reformer Mary Higgs. In 1902 she laid down the challenge ‘Beautiful Oldham: Why not?’, initiating a movement to create a greener, healthier Oldham. Working with Family Hubs and Northern Roots we will transform our gallery space, develop our Early Years offer and embed creative approaches to exhibition co-curation.
This new exhibition will raise awareness of the natural world and encourage people to explore the outdoors whilst providing better access to our significant Natural History collection.
Our Beautiful Oldham will explore Oldham’s diverse habitats and landscapes as well as what they mean to different people. Investigating the different ways that Oldhamers have connected with nature in the past and present and raise questions about the future. This exhibition will prompt people to notice the habitats around them and help them to think differently about the animals and plants amongst which they live their lives. It will also encourage them to go outdoors, explore habitats and investigate landscapes and geology right on their doorstep.
The exhibition comprises of five inter-linked thematic spaces:
- Urban (Gardens/Parks/Northern Roots) and Beautiful Oldham
- Woodland
- Water
- Meadows
- Moorland
Through this exhibition, we will support visitors to consider how wildlife and habitats may be protected and how they may want to take or support action as a result. The space will be exploratory, colourful and fun, integrating interactive and multi-sensory activities with museum collections.
Our priority is to make provision for our youngest audiences and their families in a secure and engaging environment. However, the space also needs to appeal to older audiences, including families with older children, schools and adults.
Key Messages of the exhibition
- Oldham has a wide range of diverse habitats.
- We have a shared ownership of our natural world.
- Oldhamers have always had an interest in, and continue to have connection with, nature.
- Taking time to be in nature and explore the outdoors is inspiring and good for our health and wellbeing.
- Our actions, no matter how small, can have positive and negative effects on our environment.
The Commission
This is an open call for a creative practitioner or artist to respond to our natural history collection and habitat themes within the Our Beautiful exhibition. We expect the commission to create something collaboratively with our Early Year families that tells the story about the diversity of Oldham’s landscapes. We invite you to bring an imaginative and sensory approach to the work.
The timescale is tight with site visits and 8 creative workshops to take place in Autumn/Winter 2025. The final end product must be ready for installation in late May 2026. You will need a flexible approach with an understanding of the requirements of working with Early Year audiences and exhibition designers.
All creative practitioners involved in the project must have up to date DBS check and Public Liability insurance in place. If selected, the creative practitioner will need to contribute to a risk assessment for the workshops and will be asked to report on data and feedback from each workshop.
We are seeking a creative practitioner who…
- Is based in the North West.
- Is skilled and experienced in inspiring participants and engage them in creative experiences to develop ideas, build confidence, and skills.
- Has experience in co-developing ambitious work for spaces, alongside communities.
- Is experienced in ensuring all engagement methods and outputs are accessible and inclusive.
- Is excited to work closely with Gallery Oldham, our partners Oldham Family Hubs, Early Years audiences and The Creative Core to create an end output which will work within this space.
We are open to creative ideas and are not prescriptive of what the end product is. It could be a trail, sculpture, mural, artwork, soundscape or any number of other outputs however proposals should consider the following:
a) Space limitations within the gallery. We are still within the development stage of the design and some alterations to layout can be made, content will also include interactives and display cases. We do want to encourage the use of all the space including our high ceilings and items at floor level.
b) Working with The Creative Core. Your proposal should address how the commission will be incorporated into overall exhibition design.
c) The end product is practical, robust, easy to maintain, clean and be produced to a high standard, fit for purpose.
Throughout this exhibition process we will work with Early Years audiences and expect the creative practitioner to respond to feedback from our Early Years Co-Creative Group, Hive Mind.
Key words/phrases
Mood board and key words contributed by our Hive Mind group:
- Colour
- Reflection
- Movement
- Sound
The elements, we are looking for in proposals:
- Creative and fun way of exploring nature
- Showcase Natural History collection
- Exploration of one or more of the habitat themes
- Output to be community co-produced, with the creative practitioner delivering 8 creative sessions to help develop the commission.
- Appeal to Early Years Families and imaginative use of the gallery space.
- Robust and suitable enough for Early Years audiences.
Budget
Total budget is £10,000. Under the following headings, please provide a breakdown of this budget within your application: Your fee including all travel and expenses, Materials for workshops, Production of final piece.
Development will be in partnership with The Creative Core who have been appointed to oversee the design, production and installation of the Our Beautiful Oldham exhibition. Any proposal must work holistically and practically within the overall design and exhibition space. If selected, for health and safety and sustainability reasons, any materials used within the commission must be agreed with The Creative Core.
Installation will be carried out by Gallery Oldham staff.
How to Apply
Please send a short document (no more than 2 sides of A4) that sets out your interest in this project and how you would approach the task.
Show us your work by including in your document or accompanying email any links to portfolios or examples of work which demonstrate a good match to this project.
Deadline Tuesday 17 June 2025 at 9am.
To send us your proposal, or if you have any questions about the project before submitting, please get in touch with karen.heatley@oldham.gov.uk
We will shortlist 3 creative practitioners who will be invited to present their ideas to our Hive Mind group on Thursday 26 June, 1-2.30pm. If you have not heard anything by this date then your application has not been shortlisted on this occasion.
This project is supported by Art Fund.
Volunteering & Work Experience
If you are interested in volunteering with Oldham Heritage, Libraries and Arts, please register with Take Part Oldham, to view volunteering opportunities.