During 2012 Manchester Art Gallery and the Whitworth Art Gallery will collaborate to show a major exhibition of contemporary art drawn from countries in West Africa:We Face Forward: West African Art Today. Taking place across three locations, the Whitworth Art Gallery and Park, the Manchester Art Gallery and Platt Hall (Gallery of Costume) the exhibition will feature art from a wide range of practitioners including Romuald Hazoumè and Pascale Marthine Tayou.

The galleries are looking to hire a number of practising artists to develop and deliver a number of events and projects across all sites and at the Manchester Museum. They have approximately 10 contracts for paid work.

Who can apply?

They are not exclusively looking for artists who practice traditional artforms, but are looking more broadly to artists who have some connection with West Africa that can be demonstrated through their artistic practice. This could be in sculpture, photography, film, painting, textiles, stories, music or dance. Preference will be given to artists who have the most interesting practice.

Non-English speakers are welcome to apply and can be supported by translators. However, you must be eligible to work in the UK .

How do I get involved?

If you are interested they would like to invite you to an open day on Wednesday 22nd February 2012 from 1-3pm at Manchester Art Gallery so that you can find out a bit more about us and we can learn about you and your practice. A French translator will be available for French speakers. Food and soft drinks will also be provided.

There will be a short presentation about the exhibition and then an opportunity to talk to staff from all 3 venues about projects and programmes that you could be hired to work on.

Please bring with you examples of previous work. This could be in a portfolio, on DVD or CD.

What next?

At the end of the open day artists will be asked to submit an expression of interest. If there is a match between the exhibition themes and the artist’s work, artists will be contacted directly to discuss potential future work. They are unlikely to be able to offer work to everyone who attends the open day.

If you would like to attend the open day, please contact Alex on 0161 235 8869 or by email. If you can’t make the date, please get in touch anyway as they may be able to make separate arrangements to meet with you.