HOMELANDS

Three short, photography-based, 3,000 commissions will explore host/migrant communities in the North East of England. The North East has a number of long-standing ethnic minority communities the South Shields Yemeni community dates from the end of C19th but it was the UK governments asylum seeker dispersal policy in 2001 that began a radical cultural transformation in the region. Amber/Sides engagement with this story began in 2003 when photographer and collective member Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, who had documented the working class Newcastle community of Byker in the 1970s, was invited back to work in the Byker Wall Estate, which had recently become one of the North Easts major locations for asylum seeker housing. With support from Baring Foundation and Arts Council England, Side Gallery has launched Homelands to generate new documentary production exploring the stories involved in this cultural shift. The new photography runs in parallel with work on Ambers new feature film, which is concerned with the same territory. Major photography-based multimedia commissions have been awarded to Peter Fryer & David Campbell, who are developing work in South Shields (SEE HERE), and Dean Chapman who is working with the Burmese Diaspora. (SEE HERE)

APPLICATION GUIDELINES The Homelands commissions are intended to encourage emerging documentary photographers and new photographic relationships for the gallery. The three 3,000 commission fees are inclusive of materials and expenses and are for work in the tradition of humanist documentary. In assessing applications Side will be concerned with identifying the photographers technical skill, aesthetic sense and understanding of narrative possibilities. Applications are welcomed from photographers who have already identified potential subject matter, but this is not essential as Side Gallery is happy to work with successful applicants on identifying possibilities. The commissions are for new work and must explore discreet stories, but these could build on existing work. Side will provide a critical forum within which successful applicants will be able to discuss and develop their work. The resulting work can take the form of a print exhibition (15+ images) and/or multimedia piece(s). The commissioned photographers will retain copyright of their work.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
Your submission must include: A signed application form (next page), saved as a PDF file. A photographic CV. A letter of application, including details of: (a) Why you want one of the commissions, (b) How it would fit into your practice, (c) How you would approach the work. (d) If you have a specific project proposal it should be included in here and saved as a PDF. No more than 500 words per section. A portfolio of 20 images, all files labeled with your first and last name, followed by a number i.e., Smith John_01.jpg. Images must be sized 1024 pixels on the longest side, at 72 dpi with a file size of no larger than 2 MB per photo A comprehensive caption sheet, saved as a PDF file. Files must be sent in a zipped folder All applications must be in English. Do NOT send anything else with your application. Upload required files to http://www.mailbigfile.com/sidegallery/ - You will be notified via email when your files have been successfully uploaded.

NOTE: Zipped folders must not exceed 2GB. QUESTIONS: Email application questions to side.gallery@amber-online.com Side Gallery Homelands Commissions Application

HOMELANDS COMMISSIONS APPLICATION

DUE DECEMBER 1ST 2011

Name Address Phone Email Website Project Title Professional Affiliation (if any agency, etc)

The work submitted is my own, and I accept all rules of submission to The Homelands Commissions. Signed __________________________________________ Date ___________________

Please see page two for important terms for grant winners and finalists.

2012 GRANT APPLICATION IMPORTANT TERMS AND CONDITIONS

ELIGIBILITY: 1. 2. Submissions must include all required materials to be considered for entry. The commissions are not open to undergraduate students.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS & NOTIFICATIONS: 1. Completed and signed application forms and supplementary materials must be RECEIVED, via Side Gallerys Mailbigfile account, no later than December 1st, 2011. Successful applicants will be informed no later than 30 January 2012. Applicants who do not hear by this date must consider themselves unsuccessful on this occasion. Side Gallery will not enter into any communications with unsuccessful applicants regarding their proposal.

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REQUIREMENTS OF COMMISSION WINNERS: Commissioned photographers retain all copyright in their work. Obligations to The Homelands project are as follows: 1. Photographers awarded a commission agree to give Side Gallery 15+ prints and/or multi-media piece(s), chosen by the photographer in collaboration with Side Gallery for its archive at project completion. Prints must be 16x20 inches or larger. Photographers awarded a commission agree to deliver 15+ images and/or multi media piece(s) from his/her resulting work to Side Gallery. The photographer grants permission for Side Gallery to exhibit the resulting body of work at Side Gallery; publish online (Amber/Side Gallery dedicated websites with resolution no higher than 72dpi and 500 pixels on the longest side); and for touring exhibition purposes, either in part or whole without further financial compensation. Side Gallery does not guarantee that any commission will result in an exhibition. Photographers awarded the commission also agree that images from his/her commissioned work may also be used for publicity and press purposes by Side Gallery. Any photograph so used by Side Gallery will carry the photographers credit/copyright line.

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REPORTING AND DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS, AND PROJECT DEADLINES: 1. Photographers awarded the commissions will receive 2,000 funds at project onset and will receive the remaining 1,000 upon delivery of 15-18 prints at project completion. All commissioned work MUST be completed and delivered by July 31st, 2012.

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ABOUT SIDE GALLERY

Newcastle-upon Tyne-based Amber film & photography collective opened Side Gallery in 1977. Dedicated to humanist documentary, it has produced, commissioned and supported over 100 bodies of photographic work engaged with communities, lives and landscapes in the North East of England. Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Graham Smith, Chris Killip, Marketa Luskacova, John Davies, Chris Steele-Perkins, Ian Macdonald, Jindrich Streit, Peter Bialobrzeski & Simon Norfolk are among the photographers whose work is, in consequence, held in the Side Photographic Collection. Many of these bodies of work have grown out of, led into or been developed in parallel with Ambers film projects. Alongside its documentaries and dramas and particularly around the work of founder member Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Amber has built a particular expertise in the photography film Byker (1983), Keeping Time (1983), The Writing in the Sand (1991) and Today Im With You (2010). The unique narrative of Ambers films and Sirkkas photography was inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2011. More information on Amber, Side Gallery and the work that has been developed can be found at www.amberonline.com and at www.sidetv.net.