We’re sharing news of an artist commission, details below!

Artist Brief – The Story That Moves

Ministry of Stories, on behalf of the Story Venues Cohort

About the Story Venues Cohort

The Story Venues Cohort are a group of eight ‘Story Venues’, each rooted in the local communities and united by a commitment to empowering children and young people. They deliver immersive programmes, creative writing workshops, exhibitions, performances and community-led initiatives that engage over 380,000 children and young people each year.

The Story That Moves

The Story that Moves is an oversized spectacle of a story book that will tour the network of Story Venues, forming a centrepiece for workshops that collect story components from children, young people and families in a celebration of the National Year of Reading. The book will be a large, specially commissioned artwork with sections enabling each venue to ‘slot in’ their contributions as the artwork tours and grows.

The Opportunity

This opportunity is for a 3D artist-maker with experience of creating engaging, hands-on, playful pieces to create the magical giant Story Book that will travel the country between September and December 2026.

The work will need to be:

• Large! It’ll need to stand out in busy Story Venues and form the centrepiece of workshops with groups of up to 30 people at a time.
• Suitable for transport (think standard van): ideally lighter weight materials, robust, easy to take down and set up and ideally freestanding
• Child-friendly: touchable, interactive, clear in its identity (must look like a book), engaging and exciting.
• Safe, stable and robust.
• Growable – for each local community on the tour to be able to add to it.
• Sustainable: materials used should be locally sourced, reused and/or biodegradable wherever possible

The hope is to find a permanent home for the artwork at project conclusion, and artist input is welcomed.

The contract is subject to completing an Enhanced DBS Certificate.

The project is funded and supported by Arts Council England.

Next Steps

Interested artist-makers are invited to attend an optional online Q&A session on Wednesday 1^st July 2 – 2.45pm via this link. This will be an opportunity to hear more about the project and the partners and to ask any questions about the brief.

Following this, to apply please send: 

An expression of interest letter (no more than 4 sides of A4), or short video no longer than 4 minutes to rob@ministryofstories.org that explains:

• Why you are interested in the project
• The skills and experience you bring, and their relevance to this project
• A high level outline of how you would propose to deliver the brief, including your approach to the ‘growability’ of the artwork and to ensuring sufficient safety considerations and robustness for project purposes
• Initial fabrication plan/preferred materials
• A proposed timetable, including design iteration stages and allowance for minimum two rounds of feedback. Please confirm that you are available to design and fabricate the artwork within the project timeframe, Complete, tested and ready for the first venue in the tour from early September 2026.
• Up to 4 images of relevant examples, or links to two examples from your portfolio/website
• Breakdown of fees, inclusive of all materials and expenses, travel to Story Venues if required, and inclusive of VAT

Please also send a CV, professional biography or LinkedIn profile, along with a completed diversity monitoring form

Artists will be fully credited throughout the project. IP in the artwork will remain with the artist, but ownership of the work will rest with the Story Venues Cohort.

Applications from artists of all backgrounds are welcomed. If you require any adaptations to the application process in order to be able to take part please get in touch with the organisation directly. Please note that artists may be based anywhere in England; regrettably, this opportunity is not available to artists based in the wider UK or beyond the UK.

Applications will be assessed by members of the Story Venues cohort according to the following criteria:

– Relevance and strength of track record/past projects (30%)

– Imaginative engagement with the brief (20%)

– Feasibility of the proposal (30%)

– Value for money (20%).

Other details:

Commission Fee: up to £15,000

Contract dates: July/August 2026

Expression of interest deadline: 12pm, Monday 6^th July 2026

Interviews will take place on zoom on: Tuesday 14^th July 2026 (3-5pm)