St Andrews Hall
The Halls is a multi-use cultural venue owned and run by Norwich City Council, and a Grade I listed ancient monument. The building passed into public ownership during the Reformation in 1538 and is the most intact medieval friary in England in secular use. Today it is a successful receiving house and the largest concert venue in the city.
Norwich City Council successfully bid for £3.6m of Town Deal funding to upgrade The Halls. The renovations will transform the Halls, a unique city centre heritage asset, into a multi-use performance venue and enable Norwich to capitalise on the rapidly growing cultural economy in the city.
Upgrades to the venue will be achieved by investing in the facilities, including audio visual equipment and lighting, a major redesign to improve flow and accessibility, a revamp of the outside space, and an enhanced café and bar offer.
Creating a high quality, multi-use venue at The Halls is part of the city council’s ongoing work and collaboration with cultural partners to open up more spaces, attract a greater variety of arts and culture, and increase the overall number of events - appealing to wider audiences and broadening the cultural activities on offer in Norwich.
Norwich has a strong existing cultural landscape and this project to develop The Halls will support the wider cultural provision in the city, as well as contributing to the Norwich 2040 Vision aims to be a creative, fair, liveable, connected, and dynamic city. It will also enable the city council to act as a responsible steward of the building and ensure its future sustainability.
The project is predicted to complete in Spring 2025 and in the meantime The Halls will be closed while the improvements are carried out.
Open Call for Artist in Resident 2024-2025
We are excited to announce an open call for a designer or graphic artist who can research the fascinating history of the Halls and tell its stories through text and images.
The Halls is the most intact medieval friary in England in secular use. It encompasses St Andrew’s and Blackfriars’ Halls, The Crypt, Becket’s Chapel, The Cloisters, Chapter House (remains). At the Reformation the City petitioned King Henry VIII in 1538 to purchase the friary and to 'make the churche a fayer and large halle, well pathed, for the mayor and his bretheren... for their common assemblyes...'. It has hosted many significant cultural moments in the city including the first Norfolk & Norwich Festival, a reading by Charles Dickens and performances from AC/DC, Pretenders and many others.
Requirement
We are looking for someone to deliver the outcomes below:
- Create artwork which tells the story of The Halls including plans for the future, for site hoarding which will be accessible and engaging for passers-by. The artwork will be applied to the hoarding which will be grey/ blue or another dark colour and will be 3m high x 50m long. Format/ file type to be confirmed.
- Provide images and text for use by The Halls and Norwich City Council on social media.
- Document the progress of the project and engage with local residents, audiences and community groups to create for social media and web.
The successful artist will be required to meet regularly with The Halls Team and Communications Team to agree the approach and provide copy and/ or images as agreed.
Fee
£3,500 to be paid in two instalments
Timeline:
- Call for submissions: 01/02/2024
- Deadline for submissions: 21/02/2024
- Successful artists appointed: 26/02/2024
- Artwork required for hoardings: 08/04/2024
- Regular updates: monthly
To Apply
To apply for the commission please submit the following:
- Proposed approach to achieving the outcomes above
- A brief CV and contact information
- Portfolio of previous work that you want to show us
Proposals and/or questions to be submitted to Clare Hubery, Leisure and cultural services manager, clarehubery@norwich.gov.uk 01603 989427
