Organizer Information
Wigan Museum, housed in Wigan's first public library on Library Street, is run by Wigan Council and describes itself as a celebration of the borough's cultural, social, and industrial past, present, and future. In 2024–2025 the museum delivered the Arts Council-funded What's in Store project, testing displays and gathering community feedback on the museum's future direction. Building on that consultation, Wigan Council secured £249,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for Our Northern Soul: A New Vision for Wigan Museum, a project to transform the ground floor gallery and learning space. The museum closed in July 2026 for the redevelopment and is due to reopen to the public in summer 2027, with a new display approach organized around co-developed "Wigan personality trait" themes.
Title & Description
Wigan Museum Digital Artist Brief — Our Northern Soul
Wigan Council is seeking to appoint a freelance Digital Artist to produce a new feature digital work introducing Wigan's identity, as part of the National Lottery Heritage Fund's Our Northern Soul project. The commission will produce an immersive, imaginative digital artwork forming a central focus of the museum's reimagined main gallery exhibition, working collaboratively with the Exhibition Designers on positioning and technical requirements. The finished artwork will be accessioned into the museum's permanent collection and installed as a long-term exhibit, drawing on the museum's collection store of 30,000 objects and on themes emerging from the wider community engagement programme, organized around eight Wigan "personality traits": Rebellious, Innovative, Dreamer, Caring, Curious, Legendary, Passionate, and Surprising.
Theme
Our Northern Soul — a collective representation of the diverse communities, stories, and heritage of Wigan Borough, expressed through eight co-developed Wigan personality traits (Rebellious, Innovative, Dreamer, Caring, Curious, Legendary, Passionate, Surprising).
Categories
- Digital
- New Media
- Multimedia
- Installation
- Public Art
- Curatorial
Eligibility
- Applicant must be over 18
- Connection to Wigan Borough (living or working locally) is a stated selection factor
- Open to freelance artists able to provide evidence of similar commissions delivered in museum, gallery, and community art contexts
- Must be able to work from their own premises while also engaging with local people across Wigan Borough as necessary
- Where relevant to working with young people and vulnerable adults, must hold relevant insurances and certification, with copies of current policies and certificates to be produced before starting the commission
Program Benefits & Awards
- Fixed fee of £10,000 plus VAT, inclusive of travel and expenses
- Payment made in instalments against agreed milestones, under Wigan Council's 30-day payment terms, via BACS
Application Fee
None
How to Apply?
Submission by email to C.Storr@wigan.gov.uk.
Key Dates
- Application Deadline: 13 September 2026
- Interviews: week commencing 21 September 2026
- Contract commencement date: 19 October 2026
- Commission duration: October 2026 – May 2027
- Wigan Museum public reopening: summer 2027
Location
Wigan, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom
Additional Details
- This is a freelance contract; the artist is responsible for their own travel expenses, tax, National Insurance, and pension contributions, as well as any materials, travel, and accommodation they require
- Copyright for material produced during the contract belongs to Wigan Council; as a National Lottery Heritage Fund project, all digital outputs must be freely available for five years and shared under an open Creative Commons licence, with a visible Creative Commons marque displayed alongside the content, crediting the original creators and the National Lottery Heritage Fund
- Digital outputs generated at community meetings involving children, young people, or vulnerable adults are exempt from open licensing, with separate safeguarding measures and permissions required for that material
- All digital software produced must meet accessibility guidelines, considering alternative formats and access features (BSL, subtitles, font size, colour contrast, easy language, icons)
- The artist must comply with the National Lottery Heritage Fund's Acknowledgement Guidance, support Wigan Council and funder requirements, and share work with project partners as directed
- Where members of the public contribute content or ideas during research, co-creation, or in the gallery space, GDPR compliance and consent must be evidenced by the artist for unrestricted use in the final artwork
- The artist is responsible for managing health and safety for themselves and collaborators, complying with relevant legislation and site-specific health and safety regulations
- Selection criteria include: proposed project methodology; artistic quality and originality; connection to Wigan Borough; evidence of genuine interest in working with the museum; demonstrated ability to engage diverse audiences; capacity to deliver within the timescale; and consideration of audience engagement, wellbeing, and contemporary relevance
- A separate Community Artist contract is being delivered alongside this commission
- Target audiences for the wider project include young people (16–25), diverse communities, people with additional needs, and families (including children under 5) who are not regular visitors