Call for commission proposals
The Coed Coexist team is working to secure funding for four major new commissions to be presented alongside the Coed Coexist exhibition in May - July 2026. Each selected artist or collective will receive a £2000 fee to realise new work (fee to cover all artists costs).
Those interested in making a proposal should do so by 5pm, 28 March 2025. Any enquiries please contact alex@oriel.org.uk
The commissioned creatives will be supported by staff at Plas Glyn-y-Weddw and Junko Mori & John Egan throughout the project. It is hoped that continual documentation of each commission’s journey will be captured through film, photography and written / spoken word.
Project Background
Coed Coexist is a project initiated by Pen Llŷn artists Junko Mori & John Egan in partnership with Plas Glyn-y-Weddw. The essence of the project draws our attention to trees and woodland, seeking out wider connections, desires and reliance on these ecosystems while connecting community, creativity and environmental stewardship. The project as a whole aspires to celebrate the local area and the communities based in Pen Llŷn.
Utilising solely fallen or felled trees from the peninsula and Winllan woods at Plas Glyn-y-Weddw, Coed Coexist will showcase new creative work alongside public and community engagement in and around Plas Glyn-y-Weddw. Following the symposium which took place in September 2024, there has been an open invitation to creative practitioners who have links to Pen Llŷn and the wider Gwynedd area to make new work for an exhibition in 2026.
This invitation has included collecting wood from a large beech tree that fell in a storm at Plas Glyn-y-Weddw earlier in 2024. This tree and its wood are central to the Coed Coexist project both symbolically and physically and the aspiration of the project is to inspire and give a platform to the craftsmanship and ingenuity of creatives and thinkers connected to the area. All those who have expressed an interest or taken wood can take part in the exhibition taking place May - July 2026.
Who can apply?
These commissions are an opportunity for creatives who would like to realise a more ambitious project, whether that’s in the realisation of a larger / more complex work or something with wider community involvement. This invitation extends to creatives who have links to Pen Llŷn and the wider Gwynedd area, working across (but not limited to); visual arts*, design, craft and applied arts and live / performance art and each proposal can be made by one individual or a collective collaboration.
Although the artists selected will not necessarily be Welsh speaking, they will gain experience, awareness and knowledge of the language as a result of working at Plas Glyn-y-Weddw. Welsh speaking artists would be able to work and communicate through the medium of Welsh.
We strongly encourage artists who are under-represented within the arts to apply. This includes artists with disabilities or long-term health conditions, neurodivergent artists, artists from low-income backgrounds, LGBTQIA+ artists and artists from the Global Majority. Proposals from Welsh speaking artists are welcomed.
*This includes traditional practices but also encourages those working in less traditional media or in more interdisciplinary ways.
How to submit a proposal**
Please send by email to alex@oriel.org.uk
(or post; Plas Glyn-y-Weddw, Llanbedrog, Pwllheli, Gwynedd, Gogledd Cymru, LL53 7TT)
A PDF with the following information;
- A 500 word outline of the work / project you would like to realise and why.
- Describe the proposed work / project.
- Explain how you consider the proposed work to fit within the wider Coed Coexist project and its aspirations.
- If you can, consider how this work you want to make might inspire, reach and connect with a wider audience.
Outline any relevant experience or how it fits within your current practice and how it would benefit your practice (or collaboration if submitting as a collective).
- A 250 word statement about your wider practice. If you are submitting as a collective please provide a statement relating to your collaborative practice and / or a statement for each person.
- A 250 word biog (as above if you are submitting as a collective)
- An outline budget / costings
Images
- Send up to 6 good quality jpegs of recent work that has relevance to the proposal (each file should be minimum 1mb and max 3mb). Label each file; ‘Artist name, title, year, media’.
*Please contact Plas Glyn-y-Weddw post@oriel.org.uk / 01758 740 763 if you would like support in order to submit a proposal or would like the information in an alternative format.
Selection process
A selection panel will assess all proposals, comprising Junko Mori & John Egan, Plas Glyn-y-Weddw Director, Curator and Engagement Officer and another external selector.
Timeline
Deadline for proposals - 5pm, 28 March 2025
Selection process and decision outcomes - April 2025
Funding outcome - May 2025
Announcing Commissions - May / June 2025
Commissions start - June 2025
Exhibition and showcase commissions from May 2026
For questions and information, please email Alex Boyd Jones, Curator, at alex@oriel.org.uk
*Please note that these commissions will only go ahead upon the success of securing additional funding.
