Warwickshire Libraries – Hidden Stories Commission 2024
OFFICIAL
Warwickshire Libraries is seeking proposals for a creative
practitioner/ organisation to:
• Co-create content for our Hidden Stories programme, driven
by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities in
response to the Heritage and Culture Warwickshire
Collections.
• Work with GRT communities including children and adults,
between April to May 2024.
• Deliver a minimum of one creative output in terms of an
exhibition, performance, or display to be toured across
Warwickshire Libraries during Gypsy, Roma and Traveller
History Month (June 2024).
Fee: a maximum of £10,000 (plus VAT if applicable); an inclusive
fee (to include all travel, materials & delivery costs).
Deadline for application: Monday 25
th
March (12.00 midday) 2024
Summary of Brief:
Warwickshire Libraries has recently become a National Portfolio Organisation
(NPO), directly funded by Arts Council England (ACE), to deliver a range of
programmes and activities. We are seeking an experienced creative practitioner/
organisation to deliver the Hidden Stories 2024 Commission.
This will include:
• Co-creating creative content driven by GRT communities in response to local
studies collections, museum collections and / or record office collections.
• Researching and identifying archive photographs and local records that can
be used as a starting point for activities tailored to supporting participants’
creative responses.
• Revealing hidden and forgotten voices and stories of Warwickshire’s GRT
communities by forging new stories.
• Delivering a minimum of 1 co-created creative output with GRT communities,
including children and adults, that can be toured across Warwickshire
Libraries during Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month (June 2024).
• Delivering a minimum of 6 workshops working with primary-aged children
within their school setting (North Warwickshire) and their parents/ carers in
April/ May 2024. Please note this could incorporate the participants visiting
Warwickshire Libraries – Hidden Stories Commission 2024
OFFICIAL
Warwick (Museum Collection Centre, Warwickshire County Record Office,
Market Hall Museum, St. John’s House Museum and /or Warwick Library).
• Delivering a minimum of 3 events/ participatory activities in partnership with
the NPO team during June 2024, to coincide with the tour.
Working in partnership with the Warwickshire Libraries NPO Team to:
• Enable participants to visit a Warwickshire Library/ Mobile Library or be visited
by a member of the library team to encourage library membership.
• Build community consultation into the 6 workshops and the 3 events/
participatory activities.
• Incorporate evaluation and data capture including photography and filming
into the activity days and events/ participatory activity, if appropriate.
• Develop digital content that can be shared to promote the Hidden Stories
programme on Warwickshire Libraries’ social media channels.
Delivery Timeframe: April 2024 to June 2024
Timetable:
Deadline for submissions: Monday 25
th
March (12.00 midday)
Informed of invitation to selection meeting: Thursday 28
th
March
Selection meeting: Monday 8
th
April – Nuneaton Library
Successful creative practitioner/ organisation informed: Friday 12
th
April
Planning meeting with NPO Team: April 2024
Location: Working from your own premises, as well as meetings (live and on-line)
with the NPO Team and delivering a minimum of 6 workshops and 3 events/
participatory activities in Warwickshire.
Fee: The maximum amount available is £10,000 (plus VAT if applicable). Your
proposal must include a full breakdown of costs to include all expenses, goods,
travel, materials, and services.
Reporting to:
- Dr Anjna Chouhan – NPO Creative Producer
Contractual Details: Please note that Warwickshire Libraries will contract the
supplier to deliver the commission and the payments will be staged depending on
your budget to deliver the proposal.
How to Submit a Proposal (see below for details)
Both individuals and organisations can submit a quotation.
Proposals should include the following:
• Credentials for your organisation and/ or CV; please include a CV for any
individuals who will be involved in this delivery.
Warwickshire Libraries – Hidden Stories Commission 2024
OFFICIAL
• Examples of similar programmes/ events/ projects you have delivered, via
websites, LinkedIn, or other evidence.
• An outline proposal of your initial ideas for delivering the commission and a
delivery plan, based on this brief.
• A methodology of how you propose to meet the requirements and outputs of
the brief. This should be no more than 500 words.
• A cost breakdown/ budget. Your proposal must include a full breakdown of
costs to include all expenses, goods, materials, travel and services (please
itemise VAT if applicable).
• Details of two referees for whom you have done similar work.
Please note: if you are successful, we will ask for Public Liability Insurance and DBS.
Selection – Proposals will be assessed against the following:
• How well the proposal meets the brief;
• Knowledge and passion for libraries and the role they play in their
communities;
• Knowledge and passion for Local History and heritage;
• Experience of delivering events for communities of all ages;
• Experience of co-creation with community groups including children;
• Experience of project/ programme management;
• Experience of working with GRT communities;
• Ability to meet established budgets and work to a schedule; and value for
money/ price.
Proposals are encouraged from creative practitioners who have lived experience/
identify as being part of GRT communities.
Warwickshire Libraries wishes to attract a more diverse range of proposals from
people of different ages, ethnicities, and educational backgrounds, from all parts of
the wider community, who can bring fresh ideas and new perspectives. Previous
experience is valued; however, we aim to take a whole person/organisation
approach to our commissions.
Please e-mail your proposal and any supporting documentation by
Monday 25
th
March (12.00 midday) 2024 to:
Dr Anjna Chouhan – NPO Creative Producer, Warwickshire Libraries:
For any queries:
- Dr Anjna Chouhan: anj[email protected] | 07773662828
Warwickshire Libraries – Hidden Stories Commission 2024
OFFICIAL
Warwickshire Libraries Hidden Stories 2024
Further Information:
Hidden Stories is part of the Year 2 Activity Plan for the Warwickshire Libraries NPO,
which is informed by the ACE Let’s Create strategy – www.artscouncil.org.uk/lets-
create. There are three outcomes for the strategy, and this commission sits within
Cultural Communities, which stipulates that villages, towns and cities thrive through
a collaborative approach to culture.
The commission outcomes are to:
• Improve access to a full range of cultural opportunities wherever people live.
• Work with communities to better understand, and respond to, their needs and
interests, resulting in increased cultural engagement and the wide range of
social benefits it brings.
• Connect people and places, including diaspora communities nationally and
internationally.
Background Information
Warwickshire Libraries NPO
As the first library service in the West Midlands to become an NPO, Warwickshire
Libraries is being funded directly by ACE from April 2023 to March 2026, with the
opportunity to reapply at the end of the period. It is both an honour and an accolade
to be awarded NPO status.
ACE describes NPOs as “leaders in their areas, with a collective responsibility to
protect and develop our national arts and cultural ecology.” The NPO award will
provide funding on top of the service’s Warwickshire County Council budget for
additional activities and programmes to extend and enhance our arts, heritage and
culture offer across the county, particularly focusing on areas of greater need.
Our overarching ambition is to grow and develop a high-quality cultural offer for the
people of Warwickshire that delivers against Warwickshire County Council priorities,
ACE’s Let’s Create strategy and four investment principles:
• Inclusivity and relevance
• Environmental responsibility
• Dynamism
• Ambition and quality
In essence, the NPO is about making arts and culture more attractive and accessible
to all Warwickshire residents, wherever they live, whatever their circumstances or
previous levels of engagement.
Warwickshire Libraries – Hidden Stories Commission 2024
OFFICIAL
The Warwickshire Libraries NPO will focus heavily on the levelling-up agenda. The
NPO team will support Warwickshire County Council ambitions towards narrowing
gaps and creating equality of opportunity for all Warwickshire residents, with a
particular emphasis on rural communities, young people, and those living in less
advantaged parts of the county. Of the 22 Warwickshire areas identified for levelling-
up, 17 are in the Nuneaton and Bedworth district.
For more information on Warwickshire County Council policy on levelling-up:
https://api.warwickshire.gov.uk/documents/WCCC-970487194-271
https://api.warwickshire.gov.uk/documents/WCCC-808477336-692
Warwickshire Libraries
We have 18 council-run libraries, three mobile libraries and a Schools Library
Service. In addition, Warwickshire Libraries has specialist reading and learning,
digital and outreach teams, and has recently introduced a tablet lending scheme. We
also support a vibrant network of 13 social enterprise libraries, and our services
actively involve hundreds of volunteers.
The Warwickshire Libraries service is part of the British Library’s Living Knowledge
Network and has a crucial role to play in delivering the Warwickshire Waterways
Strategy, as well as the Warwickshire Heritage and Culture Strategy 2020 – 2025.
Both are key five-year strategies for Warwickshire County Council, shaped around
three main themes: health and wellbeing, sense of place, and economic vibrancy.
Our work and programmes need to meet the key aims of the Council Plan, which
prioritise the following:
• To have a thriving economy and places that have the right jobs, skills, education,
and infrastructure.
• A county where all people can live their best lives; where communities and
individuals are supported to live safely, healthily, happily and independently.
• Sustainable for the future, which means adapting to and mitigating climate change
and meeting net zero commitments.
Key themes in our NPO Programme support all the above.
For further information: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/libraries
Warwickshire Libraries – Hidden Stories Commission 2024
OFFICIAL
Heritage and Culture Warwickshire
Heritage & Culture Warwickshire (HCW) provides a wide range of services that
safeguard and promote Warwickshire’s archives, local studies, human history and
natural sciences collections and provide residents and visitors with opportunities to
engage with local heritage, visitor attractions and cultural opportunities that support
lifelong learning through high quality education activities and events programmes.
HCW contains 5 professional areas of operation (Museums, Archives, Arts, Heritage
Learning and Local Studies), across 5 main sites (Market Hall Museum,
Warwickshire County Record Office, St Johns House Museum, Museum Collection
Centre and Chesterton Windmill).
The service provides an annual learning and engagement programme, including
curriculum-based schools programmes and community activity, with a focus on
providing the broadest possible access to Warwickshire's heritage and culture.
The service also has a strategic role in supporting the development of the Heritage
and Culture infrastructure of the County, and leads the Warwickshire Heritage and
Culture Strategy, and the Warwickshire Waterways Strategy.
For further information visit: https://heritage.warwickshire.gov.uk/
