Design Hothouse Residency

The Brief

The brief will be to work together to co-design and co-create a body of digital and printed work to promote Design After Dark, a new Blick X Belfast Design Week initiative that will bring a series of seasonal evening celebrations of contemporary design in Belfast.

Design After Dark Includes 2 key projects

• Belfast Community Plant Library – a project which brings together designers, gardeners and the public.
• Design Loves Food – a series of design talks exploring the role of design within the food industry in Belfast.

The participants will also be encouraged through their work to highlight the message that design shapes our cities, our everyday lives and is all around us.

The Details

The residency will take place in Blick Shared Studios, Hill Street Studios from 17th July – 18th September. The selected applicants will have access to workspace to work on the project, weekly workshops, mentoring and professional development support from established creatives. They will each receive a bursary of £800 that they can use for their time, materials and expenses.

The residency will be part-time and selected participants will be required to attend each of the weekly workshops (time to be agreed based on participants and facilitators availability) and provide weekly reports on project progress. They will be responsible for working together collaboratively to create the digital artwork to promote Design After Dark, Belfast Community Plant Library and Food Loves Design. In addition they will get the opportunity to exhibit printed versions of their work and talk about their experience on the residency during Design After Dark.

Applicants can be emerging creatives (working in industry for less than 2 years), students or graduates or self-taught designers looking to build their skills, experience and connections.

What will you get out of the residency?

• An £800 bursary which can be used to cover your time, materials and expenses for the project.
• A space to work in the shared studios at Blick Studios for the duration of the project, a creative workspace full of creatives of all disciplines giving you a chance to meet like minded people and grow your network.
• Facilitated weekly workshops providing a variety of professional advice and opportunities for professional and creative development.
• An opportunity to exhibit your work at Blick Studios during Design After Dark.

Application Criteria

• Passionate about design, community and Northern Ireland and the role design can play in shaping our cities and lives.
• Willing to work as part of a team with good communication skills.
• Interested in building skills, experience and connections.
• Available to attend and actively participate in the weekly design workshops, site visits and any other essential activities and complete short weekly updates on project progress as well as work with the other participant as required to complete the project outputs on time.
• Willing to complete project interviews, and social media updates as well as end of project exhibition and talk.
• Available to attend residency interview week week beginning Mon 6th July (date and time TBC)
• Emerging designer of any age, student, graduate or self-taught or working in industry for less than 2 years
• Working, studying or practising within any design industry.

What do we mean by design?

Design is what happens when people use creativity to solve problems. Computers and coffee cups, skyscrapers and socks. Everything not made by nature, has been designed https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/design-for-planet/what-is-design/.

“Design” covers many specialised sectors. Here are some of the main ones: graphic design, product design, illustration, fashion and textiles design, industrial design, interior design, architectural design, UX design, UI design, games design, motion graphics and animation, service design, environmental and exhibition design, digital and web design, experience design, communication design.

We welcome applications from a broad range of design sectors and are seeking creative and innovative collaborations and will have suitable established creatives available to help with formatting of project outputs so don’t be put off if you have an idea, but don’t have all the technical skills required for the project outputs.

Closing date Fri 3rd July 5.00pm

Apply Online

If you are interested, but aren’t sure if you are eligible, or have any questions about the residency please don’t hesitate to reach out and get in touch.

This project is kindly supported by Belfast City Council