9th Jul - 18th Jul 2021

Our River: Two freelance roles available

Our River is a new public art project in the form of a large-scale photomosaic on the Bute-street facing Mall Wall and we are recruiting for two exciting freelance roles, a Community Participation Coordinator and a Community Photographer.

Curated by The People’s Picture, the photomosaic will feature 1000 images of Luton residents, commemorating those lost to the COVID-19 pandemic and celebrating the key workers that supported us and the moments of joy that got us through it.

The goal for Our River is for the artwork to feature images from a broad range of Luton residents who have been affected by the pandemic in a broad range of ways. This includes photographs of those that have been lost during the pandemic, portraits of people who have lost a loved one, images of our key workers and photographs of the joyful moments of the past 16 months, such as the drawings of rainbows in our windows.

The artwork will be realised in both physical and digital forms. It will be installed as a large-scale piece of public art in the town centre (see page 7 for a mock up) and will also exist digitally as an interactive artwork. Similar to this project, the digital artwork will enable people to click on the individual images and read the stories of the person or people featured. The People’s Picture will create a microsite for the project which will be used to communicate about the project and enable residents to submit their images and stories. The project will be publicised widely on social media and through council networks, encouraging people to get involved and submit their images.

We know from previous experience of creative engagement projects in Luton that we need to work deeply and directly with our communities to build trust in the project and to encourage people from our super-diverse range of cultures and communities to get involved. Therefore we are recruiting a Participation Coordinator and a Community Photographer/Participation Officer identify people who have been affected by the pandemic and to support them to engage with the project.

Both roles close for applications at 11.59pm Sunday 18 July. Please view the job descriptions below:

• Freelance Community Participation Coordinator (3-4 days per week, £200 per day)
• Freelance Community Photographer/Participation Officer (3 days per week, £160 per day)

Luton Council is delivering Our River with support from the European Regional Development Fund’s Welcome Back Fund and The Mall Luton. It helps meet the Luton 2020-2040 Vision’s Transforming Lives through Arts, Culture and Heritage goal, Harnessing Momentum the town’s strategy for arts, culture and creative industries 2017-2027 and will form part of our new 10-year heritage strategy.

*image is a mock up only. a new piece of artwork will be created as part of the project