Our Natural Blue Spaces
A project dedicated to exploring and celebrating the beauty of Blue Spaces within Central Bedfordshire.
Artists & Associates
Our Natural Blue Spaces is a project dedicated to exploring and celebrating the beauty of Blue Spaces—rivers, lakes, canals, and ponds—within the Central Bedfordshire area. Through a blend of art, workshops and community engagement, we will create an interactive map, with artist Kremena Dimitrova, that encapsulates these natural spaces, both in physical and digital formats.
This project is funded by Central Bedfordshire Council, supported by the Culture and Engagement team. We are partnering with the Canals and River Trust, The Greensand Trust, and the Central Bedfordshire Countryside Team to work with four schools and families within Central Bedfordshire to explore a Natural Blue Space near each school. We will work with the schools to develop a map of each of their local Blue Spaces.
We will have sketch-up walks, record natural findings and create a “Charter” for the Blue Spaces. The Charter will act as a campaign to help local people to protect and enjoy their natural spaces.
The participants will:
- Learn about their local environment
- Share facts and findings
- Create a map with an illustrator
- Produce a documentation piece of the process
- Learn about their local community and feel part of a wider community
- Produce a successful campaign by learning skills such as designing print, pr, etc.
- Build relationships, arrange meetings and work collectively with a natural artistic focus
The final creative sharing of the Charter and map produced will take place at the Linslade Canal Festival on 27 July 2024.
This project is commissioned by Central Bedfordshire Council and supported by Linslade Canal Festival, Greensand Trust, Central Bedfordshire Countryside Team and Canals and Rivers Trust.
Related opportunities
Digital Designer/Technologist – Our Natural Blue Spaces
Bedford Creative Arts (BCA) is looking to appoint a freelance creative to create an interactive digital map for our project Our Natural Blue Spaces.
Our Natural Blue Spaces is a project that works with schools and communities in Central Bedfordshire to create an illustrated map of local Blue Spaces (i.e. rivers, ponds, canals, lakes) and identifies ways in which they can be conserved and accessed by local people.
Artist, Kremena Dimitrova, is working in four schools to create a physical illustrated map and accompanying healthy-living campaign. https://kremenadimitrova.com/
We are looking for someone to interpret Kremena’s map in a digital space, on a website or via an app, and add interactivity that enables people to access the content digitally as well as physically.
The budget for this work is in the region of £2,500-£3,000, inclusive of all expenses and disbursements. Applicants are asked to provide a quotation for their services. The fee will need to include your time alongside the digital capture of the illustrations, school’s artwork and any hosting or platform design.
Application deadline: Monday 3 June 2024 at 10:00
Interviews: week beginning 10 June 2024
Submissions to: office@bedfordcreativearts.org.uk
Questions may be asked in advance by email to clarify the brief using the address above.
For more information about the role and how to apply, please download the Digital Designer/Technologist Brief below.
We welcome applications from applicants at various stages of their career and from a variety of demographic backgrounds.
