Commission FAQs: Coalhouse Fort, Thurrock

Our commissions are often ‘place-based’, inviting creative practitioners to respond to a particular place. This has included cities, towns, beaches and waterways, National Trust sites, forests, and even a housing development that has not yet been built. Many commissioned artists take a ‘residency’ approach, spending time in those places with local people and community groups who they have invited to be project participants.

To see examples of the kind of projects we support, the best place to start is at our commissions page for an overview of the projects we’ve commissioned over the years.

Successful projects have put communities at the heart of the creative process, while also being central to the artists’ practice and own lines of enquiry. Commissions can capture the spirit of place, give people a voice, connect communities and let people tell their own story in their own words.

We are looking for original projects and new work that is bespoke to the commission brief, and unique to the place and its community. Therefore we do not tend to support relocating existing work or the repeat of an existing project.

We do not tend to support projects that propose large public artworks, such as permanent or semi-permanent sculptures or structures, which often require planning permissions and ongoing maintenance that can challenge the budget and timeline available. We also do not support projects that have little or no community participation.

Our commission call outs are open to creative practitioners working across any media, at any levels of career, as individuals or as part of a collective or a company. This includes, but is not limited to, visual artists, digital artists, writers, poets, performers, theatre practitioners, musicians, dancers and multimedia artists. We ask that you are registered as self-employed, as you will be responsible for paying your own taxes.

We are keen to support diverse practitioners and those working in diversity, to develop their socially engaged and participant-led projects and practices, which often means projects that work with, or in response to, diverse people and communities.

We don’t tend to support funded organisations as lead applicants (such as venues, galleries, museums, festival organisers, trusts, art centres, local authorities, other commissioners or NPOs etc) although feel free to garner their in-kind support, if it helps to strengthen your project and aid delivery. Instead, these types of organisations are often our commission partners or hosts.

Our core mission is to energise diversity in arts and heritage. We know that diversity is different for everyone. Diversity for us means: Cultural diversity | Different ethnic backgrounds | Low socio-economic backgrounds | LGBTQ+ | Disability | Neurodiversity | or an intersection of these

We are often looking for projects that engage with: Deprived communities | marginalised voices | communities with little or no access to the Arts | those who are culturally curious or want to connect with where they live in different ways.

In your proposal, we don’t expect you to tell us what diversity is or why it’s important (that’s our job) – instead tell us how your project explores or promotes diversity through its core themes, or needs and interests of its participants, how diversity has shaped your creative practice, and the diverse communities you work with.

The budget for the Coalhouse Fort commission is £20,000 (including VAT).

This will be treated as a grant, and is usually paid to the creative practitioner(s) in instalments at the start, middle and end of the project (the last payment will be released upon receipt of a final evaluation report). The budget should cover ALL PROJECT COSTS such as fees, expenses, travel, participant recruitment, event costs, and materials. General marketing for the commission can be undertaken in partnership with ECDP and other partners as appropriate.

We do not tend to select projects that are only partly funded by the £20K budget, especially if additional fundraising is needed before or within the project’s main timelines, which could affect the commission being delivered on time and to budget.

Coalhouse Fort has been designated a Scheduled Monument by Historic England. The surrounding areas are subject to conservation management schemes and designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Protection Area (SPA) by Natural England. The area is also a Ramsar site. Consent may need to be obtained from Historic England and/or Natural England for certain events and activities.

The creative practitioner will need to give due consideration to these factors, and be prepared to be flexible and responsive to opportunities and limitations during the delivery of the project. Given the site considerations, we expect to see a project that is durational with multiple touch points for the public.

At the proposal stage, we’re not expecting a fully formed idea with worked up drawings, rather a strong creative idea and interesting starting points, some thoughts about who the participants might be and how you will engage them, and an overview of your practice.

We’d like to see enough information to help the panel visualise what your project, participant events/workshops and possibly final artwork might look like, but also think about leaving room for the participants to shape the work.

The budget for this commission is £20,000 including VAT. This will be treated as a grant. This is inclusive of all expenses.

At the proposal stage, we are not looking for too much detail, or for everything to be costed to the nearest pound and penny. We would like to see a few basic budget lines with some estimated figures. We will be looking for your project management skills and your ability to set out a whole project budget, so this is an opportunity to show that you’ve considered all potential project costs. This may include artist fees and expenses, workshop and event costs, participant expenses, marketing and participant recruitment, and costs associated with the creation of the artwork. Unknown costs could be highlighted, and/or covered with a contingency.

At the proposal stage, we are not looking for too much detail so it could be 4-6 lines of the key milestones in your project, such as the public launch of the project, participant recruitment, when any workshops / the final exhibition or event might take place, and time for evaluation. This is an opportunity to show off your project management skills and let us know that you are able to plan and deliver the project on time and to budget.

We always like to see a realistic amount of time built in to research and recruit participants.

We accept written, verbal and video proposals for this commission.
To apply, please email your response to jo@essexcdp.com by midnight on Tuesday 17 June 2025.

Please set your response on no more than 5 pages, including images and weblinks if useful. Your proposal should tell us the following:

– The title of your proposed project
– An outline of the artistic concept and its creative starting points and intended participants and any groups you may like to work with (if known), and your community engagement process (no more than 800 words).
– How your practice and project explores or promotes diversity and inclusion, and your connection to Essex, Thurrock or Southend (no more than 250 words).
– Some info about you and your work. This could be a short biography/artist statement with visual examples of previous work / a CV / links to your website and social media.
– A budget showing how you would utilise the £20,000 (including VAT)
– A short approximate timeline for the work
– A completed Commissioning Monitoring Form – https://bit.ly/ecdp-commissions2025-6 (please note on some computers this document goes direct to your downloads folder once clicked)

Proposals can be submitted in written form or voice/video recorded. Recordings should be no more than 8 minutes in length.

Commission proposals are usually shortlisted by a panel of at least three people representing the commissioners, on the strength of the following:

• Response to the brief and relevance to ‘Place’
  Evidenced in your outline of the artistic concept and creative starting points for the project
• Creative practice
  Evidenced in your CV, website, social media and/or bio
• Diversity and potential benefits to participants
  We look at how your practice and project explores diversity, and how you engage the community.
• Track record and project management
  Evidenced in past projects, budget breakdown and timeline – we look for evidence of your ability to deliver the project on budget and on time.

It is expected that the commissioned artist(s) will meet with commissioners regularly throughout the project, to update on progress and talk through any issues or challenges.

We expect the appointed artists to evaluate and track the outcomes of the project as they go, and we will provide guidelines for this upon appointment.

It is important for ECDP as an Arts Council England funded National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) and Start Thurrock as a Creative People and Places programme, to report on all of our activities effectively and accurately. Both ECDP and Start Thurrock expect there to be important outcomes, which we will work with the commissioned artist to record and track. The appointed artist(s) is expected to provide a final report at the end of the commission and record both quantitative and qualitative information to support us in capturing outcomes. These include:

– Description of what took place and numbers of workshops/events/meetings.
– Numbers of participants, volunteers, audiences who attended events and digital audiences,
– Postcodes of participants and volunteers and where possible audiences (e.g. if there is a booking system in place).
– Reflections on how the commission has impacted on the practice of the appointed artist(s), and how the commission may have impacted beneficiaries.
– Reflections on the effectiveness of community engagement approaches and methods, particularly on engaging under-represented communities.
– Any recorded feedback from participants/beneficiaries or partner organisations involved.
– Photos from workshops, events and the artwork/performances.

As stated in the brief, Coalhouse Fort has been designated a Scheduled Monument by Historic England. The surrounding areas are subject to conservation management schemes and designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Protection Area (SPA) by Natural England . The area is also a Ramsar site. Consent may need to be obtained from Historic England and/or Natural England for certain events and activities the creative practitioner will need to give due consideration to these factors, and given the site considerations, be prepared to be sensitive, flexible and responsive to opportunities and limitations during the delivery of the project.

ECDP and our commission partners are committed to minimising the potential for negative impacts on the environment. ECDP as an NPO (National Portfolio Organisation) has a leadership role in the arts/cultural sectors and can therefore have a positive impact on environmental sustainability as we have for issues relating to diversity. This is relevant to the commissioning programme for artists, and at the main proposal stage we are always keen that those interested in our commissions consider how they will reduce the impact of their work on the environment. For example, the use of materials – consider whether they are recyclable, made from recycled materials, or can be repurposed after the commission. The aim of this will be to reduce the waste from commissions/exhibitions and the use of non-recyclable materials where possible. Artists should consider where possible choosing accessible locations for activities and events – locations that can be easily accessed by public transport or walking as well as by older people. We accept that this can be challenging for less central locations. You may wish, for example, to consider including transport in your budget if public transport is a particular challenge.

If you have accessibility needs and would like us to talk this brief through with you, we’d be very happy to offer support with a 1-2-1. Please email Jo on jo@essexcdp.com to arrange a Zoom meeting.

About Essex Cultural Diversity Project (ECDP)

Since 2007 Essex Cultural Diversity Project has been bringing together artists, museums, libraries, performers and writers with local authorities and commissioners to improve and enhance artistic and cultural diversity, ensure that excellence is thriving, and that cultural integration and understanding is supported through arts and cultural activity. ECDP is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) working across the East of England to support diversity in arts and cultural practice. ECDP has a key role to explore the concept of ‘diversity’ across the East of England and beyond, working with a wide range of partners and providing opportunities for artists and creative practitioners from diverse backgrounds and contexts. Through our commissioning programme ECDP supports the production of challenging work that responds to specific places and the local context, as well as reflecting on national themes and issues around diversity.

You can get a good overview of our past and present commissions at https://essexcdp.com/commissions/

About Start Thurrock

Start Thurrock is our plan to support Thurrock residents to step forward and take the lead in selecting ambitious and inclusive cultural activity and experiences which in turn, grows broader and deeper cultural engagement amongst local audiences. Start Thurrock responds to low levels of engagement in arts and culture relative to the national picture.  We want to increase engagement by facilitating public-led cultural programming that develop place, increase cultural supply and demand, and grow quality and ambition by placing communities in the driving seat of cultural provision.

Start Thurrock is a Creative People and Places programme, hosted by Tilbury on the Thames Trust as lead accountable body and member of our Core Consortium along with Thurrock Council, Thurrock Lifestyle Solutions CIC, Thurrock CVS and Royal Ballet & Opera.

Our work, including films and case studies, can be explored here: www.StartThurrock.org

In the brief we refer to the Thurrock Plan for Culture. Here is the link to the strategy if you are interested in reading it: https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/arts-and-culture/thurrock-plan-for-culture-home#:~:text=The%20Plan%20sets%20a%20direction,Thurrock’s%20creative%20talent%20to%20thrive.

The commission comes at a key moment for Coalhouse Fort and culture in Thurrock. A new ‘Plan for Culture’ was launched in early 2025 and sets out a direction for change in Thurrock, with plans to activate spaces and places with creative and cultural activity, celebrating Thurrock’s unique heritage and diverse cultural offer. Overall, this project will help to inform future engagement strategies and activity plans at Coalhouse Fort and learning will be shared widely with cultural stakeholders across Thurrock.