DesignLab Nation Newcastle/Gateshead - Call out for designer/artist/maker

Tyne and Wear Museums & Archives (Shipley Art Gallery) are collaborating with designers and local schools as part of DesignLab Nation, a national school’s programme led by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Creative education has the power to change and shape young people’s lives for the better, and today, the creative industries are worth over £10 million per hour to the UK economy. However, design education across the UK is in crisis and a damaging skills gap is increasingly apparent.

The V&A’s national schools programme - DesignLab Nation - aims to inspire the next generation of designers, makers and innovators across the country, and to help young people develop 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 D&T networks.

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, Bradford, and Newcastle/Gateshead.

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 2024 and August 2025. This designer will work with up to three Newcastle/Gateshead based Secondary schools on exciting in-depth design projects focussing on the theme of Ceramics.

Midnight on Tuesday 13 August 2024.

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 Shipley Art Gallery (Gateshead) and the 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 crits. Students and teachers will be encouraged to take inspiration from objects and collections at V&A and Shipley Art Gallery.

The selected designer will also be asked to support several Teacher CPD and celebration events throughout the academic year, as well as participate in planning meetings and contribute to evaluation.

Essential criteria:

• Work as a practicing designer/artist/maker who is passionate about design and Newcastle/Gateshead’s design heritage. We are particularly interested in hearing from designers/makers/artists with an interest in ceramics/3-D design/sculpture, and designers/makers/artists who explore the relationship between handcrafted and industrially, mass-produced design.

• 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 ceramics collection at Shipley Art Gallery. This may be through materials, technical processes, or design thinking/ approach. We are keen to work with designers from different areas of the design industry. Our collections | Shipley Art Gallery

• Organised, and able to project plan and schedule accordingly.

• Able to champion sustainable design practice.

• Prepared to support evaluation, documentation, and reporting as required

• 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.

Desirable:

• 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 2017 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.

When will we do this? 

• Procurement: July/August 2024, recruit designer.
• Planning and preparation: September 2024
• Teacher Development CPD Strand: October 2024 - 2 x full day sessions 
• November 2024 - July 2025: Project Delivery - 3 school projects - each school will have 4 sessions 
• July 2025: Wider Teacher CPD delivery (tbc), End of project celebration/Student Display
• Evaluation: July/August 2025

To apply:

Please email a recent CV and covering letter (250 words max) outlining your suitability for the role to: Joy Youngman - joy.youngman@twmuseums.org.uk (Learning Officer (Art Galleries) & Melissa Whittaker m.whittaker@vam.ac.uk (National Schools Producer - DesignLab Nation) by midnight on Tuesday 13th August. 

Applicants will be contacted via email on Tuesday 20 August and shortlisted candidates will be invited to an online interview on Friday 23 August.

Candidates invited for interview will need to prepare a 5-minute presentation taking us through an overview of your ideas for a Design Challenge and a brief activity plan which you would be prepared to lead students through to help them realise the challenge during a 4-day project, including visits to the Shipley Art Gallery and the V&A, South Kensington.

Budget

• Teachers Development Strand - Early Autumn term 2024
  Lead 2 x creative sessions @ £240 each = £480
  Planning and preparation 2 x days @ £240 each= £480
• School projects - Autumn 2024, Spring 2025 and Summer term 2025
  3 x DLN school projects
  The fees for each school project are:
  Lead 4 x creative session @ £240 each = £960
  Planning and preparation 3 x days @ £240 each = £720

If you were to deliver all three school projects the total fee would be: Total: £5040.00

• Regional CPD and Celebration - Summer term 2025
  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

Overall total: £6840.00

Other Budget

• There will then be approx. £200 material budget for each school project and £50 per Teachers CPD/workshop.
• The designer will also be consulted on the budget for Teachers Development Strand, Teacher’s Regional CPD and Celebration Event/Student Display.
• For trips to the V&A, London the designer 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.

If you have any questions or would like an informal discussion about this work, please contact: joy.youngman@twmuseums.org.uk to arrange a call.

This brief can also be downloaded for offline use:
DesignLab Nation Newcastle/Gateshead Designer brief (PDF, 648 KB)