Cove Park

Issued: Fri, 03 Aug 2018 11:01:00 BST

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Organisation 

Cove Park is an artists residency centre located on an outstanding rural site on Scotland's west coast. Their residencies support the development of new work by national and international artists, groups and organisations working in all art forms.

Location 

Cove, Argylle & Bute (please note assistance may be available for travel and accomodation, contact us at admin@sgsah.ac.uk for more information)

Dates 

October 2019 to March 2020 (All internships comprise of a maximum of three months FTE to be taken within this timescale.) This role can be undertaken part-time over five months, or intensively, with accommodation provided on-site.

Project Description

In 2020, Cove Park will mark its 20th anniversary. A year-long programme is being planned to celebrate our past and look forward to the next 20 years, with fellowships, residency exchanges, commissions and events. Ahead of this, we would like to draw together the various strands of our history through an archive project, and hope this will be of interest to, and could be supported by, a SGSAH intern.

Over 2,000 artists – from emerging artists to Man Booker and Turner Prize winners – have now taken up funded residencies at Cove Park. The stories of how these residencies have affected the artists’ careers are yet to be fully explored; photos, documentation, some art work and CVs have been accumulated but are not yet professionally archived. There is also a wealth of knowledge, which remains in the memories of the founders, staff and trustees, which needs to be recorded.

This project will reveal key aspects of Cove Park’s history and, through this process, communicate how it became a leading residency centre for national and international artists and a vital component of Scotland’s wider infrastructure of contemporary arts organisations. It will act as a resource for future applicants, staff, partners and funders and those interested in the development of contemporary arts in the broadest sense in Scotland over the past 20 years.

Aim of the project

By developing a series of case studies, highlighting the career trajectories of a number of former  residents and their ongoing relationship to Cove Park, we aim to create foundations from which we can develop and expand our work in the future, providing the best possible opportunities for artists and our local community.

Specific Output will likely be the following:

• Compile a definitive list of every resident at Cove Park that can be shared in print and online (linking when relevant to each artist or company’s website)

• Archive photographs, CVs, letters, postcards, books and catalogues related to previous residents, selecting key items that may be of public interest and documenting these items so they can be shared as an online resource

• Produce case studies of up to 8 former residents employing both video and audio documentation

• Develop guidelines for Cove Park’s staff to ensure the maintenance and development of this archive.

• Create a Wikipedia entry on Cove Park with relevant links

Specific Skills required

• archival skills and online data and media processing skills relevant for the tasks above (no specialist software skills required)
• work independently: we are a small team and will provide mentoring, but we require the intern to work on specific tasks on their own accord

Benefit to researcher

The intern will have the opportunity to work within Cove Park’s small, dedicated team, working amongst its specialist art-form producers and interacting with artists from all over the world. The intern will gain valuable research and archiving skills, learn about key moments in the history of Scottish and international artists and have the opportunity to help direct how the outcomes of the project are displayed or published.