ACAVA invites expressions of interest from socially engaged artists to lead paid creative sessions for families in Brent during summer 2026.
We’re looking for an artist to lead a week-long project in August 2026 as part of Flourish, ACAVA’s holiday arts programme for families in Brent. Based at Barham Park Studios in Wembley, Flourish offers a welcoming, playful, and supportive space where families with children aged 5–12 come together to explore art, play outdoors, and learn new skills alongside professional artists.
This is a paid opportunity for a socially engaged artist with experience working with families to co-create a series of hands-on sessions responding to a theme of your choice. Whether your practice is rooted in visual arts, movement, sound, storytelling, or something more interdisciplinary, we want to hear from artists who are:
- Deeply committed to social engagement
- Passionate about intergenerational creativity
- Excited to contribute to a growing community arts programme in Brent
The residency will take place over three half-days in the week commencing 18 August 2026.
Scroll down to read our FAQs which offer full details on the opportunity, eligibility and application process.
Key information
Deadline to apply
Monday 19 May 2025, 9am
Apply here
Informal Q&A about the open call
Thursday 8 May 2025, 11am (via Zoom, sign up on Eventbrite here)
Delivery date
Week commencing 18 August 2026
Location
ACAVA Barham Park Studios, 660 Harrow Rd, Wembley HA0 2HB
Fee
£900 total for three days, based on a day rate of £300 (see FAQs on our website for a full breakdown)
Series of five banners depicting the core values of Flourish, designed by Sadie St-Hilaire, co-created with families and artist Flora Duley.
You can find more about the Flourish story, and the development of our manifesto and principles, here.
FAQs
At ACAVA, social engagement has been central to our work for over 50 years. As we continue to grow our community at Barham Park Studios, we invite applications from artists who:
- Integrate social engagement into their practice
- Are passionate about intergenerational work with families
- Enjoy working collaboratively in community settings
Applications will be shortlisted based on the following criteria:
- Suitability for the Flourish programme
- Current socially engaged practice, themes, and interests
- A connection to Brent or the local community
- Potential for long-term involvement in Flourish programmes
- Artists who are underrepresented in the sector**
**What do we mean by underrepresented in the sector?
ACAVA recognises that certain groups are underrepresented in the creative sector, including individuals who identify as:
- Global Majority
- Living with a disability
- From working-class or lower socio-economic backgrounds**
We also acknowledge other barriers, such as:
- Long-term health conditions or impairments
- Homelessness
- Being a care-leaver or caregiver
- Unemployment or receipt of welfare benefits
- Migrant or refugee status
** What do we mean by working class and/or from a lower socio-economic background?
Equitable access to working in the arts remains one of the most vital issues facing the sector today, with those from lower socio-economic backgrounds still vastly underrepresented amongst the artists and employees of UK theatres, festivals, galleries and arts organisations of all kinds. We have drawn from Jerwood Arts' ‘Socio-Economic Diversity and Inclusion in the Arts: A Toolkit for Employers’ to define how to determine who falls into this category. We acknowledge this needs work and often, things aren’t always simple at all, for now this is the framework we are using to determine this;
While we recognise the complexities of this, our current framework includes considerations such as:
- Type of school attended at ages 11-16
- Eligibility for Free School Meals (FSM)
- Parental education levels and occupation at age 14
Flourish is ACAVA’s free school holiday arts programme for families with children aged 5 to 12, based in North Kensington and Wembley. It’s designed to be a welcoming, playful, and inclusive space where families can spend quality time together, get creative, and learn new skills alongside professional artists.
In Brent, Flourish sessions take place at our Barham Park Studios in Wembley. Each school holiday, families are invited to take part in hands-on, artist-led activities inspired by a new theme. Sessions are relaxed, family-led, and often make use of the beautiful green space of Barham Park, allowing for indoor and outdoor exploration.
The programme is grounded in five core values, co-developed with participating families and artists:
Authenticity: Artists share the creative journey with families, building trust through connection and an equal exchange of ideas.
Discovery: Sessions provide space for children and families to experiment, learn, and create without judgement.
Exploration: Each session can be experienced individually or as part of an ongoing creative journey, with all levels of engagement welcomed.
Play: Creativity builds confidence and strengthens bonds, with outdoor play encouraging interaction with nature.
Wellbeing: The programme fosters connections between families and strengthens emotional resilience.
View our Flourish programme page here, and find more about the Flourish story and the development of our manifesto and principles here.
Application deadline: Monday 19 May 2025, 9am
Informal Q&A: Thursday 8 May 2025, 11am (via Zoom, sign up on Eventbrite)
Interview notifications: By Friday 13 June. We will send questions for interviews in advance.
Interviews: Week commencing Monday 23 June at Barham Park Studios (travel reimbursement available)
- Initial planning and development: A half-day session with ACAVA’s Curator of Young People, Children and Families
- Preparation time: One full day to plan and source materials
- Delivery: Three half-day workshops delivered across one week in August 2026
- Evaluation: A one-hour online session in September.
There is also a materials budget of £50 per session, so £150 total.
This fee is benchmarked annually against the pay guidelines set by a-n and Artists Union England.
The sessions will be held over three half-days during the week commencing 18 August 2026.
Yes, due to the nature of this work, you must have previous experience working with families.
No. We are only looking for individual artists at this stage.
We usually have around 7-8 families join us for our Flourish programme each week.
Yes! The outdoor space is a key part of our Flourish programme, and we are very open when it comes to the kind of artists and art forms we work with, and are excited to develop Flourish work in new directions.
Yes! We will be hosting an informal Q&A about this opportunity on Thursday 8 May, 11am on Zoom. Sign up here.
To express your interest in this opportunity, please complete the online application form here.
If you have access requirements or need information in a different format at any stage of the process, please email us at recruitment@acava.org.
If you have a disability that makes it difficult to answer the application questions in writing, you’ll have the option to submit your answers as a video or sound recording instead. Simply select this option in the application form.
In the online form, you will be asked to:
- Complete a short eligibility checklist
- (Optionally) Fill out an Equal Opportunities form – this is confidential, anonymous, and not required
- Answer four application questions (maximum 450 words total)
- Or submit a video or sound file if this is more accessible for you
- Upload an up-to-date CV (maximum 2 A4 pages), including:
- Names and contact details for two referees
- Up to six images that show your practice and/or previous workshop experience
- Or a link to your website instead of images
Please note: Applications missing any of the required elements above (except the optional Equal Opportunities form) will not be considered.
We want our projects, events, and spaces to be welcoming, inclusive, and representative of the diverse communities we engage with. By asking these questions, we can better understand who is engaging with our work, identify any gaps, and ensure we are creating fairer and more accessible opportunities. These questions are based on the protected characteristics defined by the UK’s Equality Act 2010, alongside wider guidance on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Arts Council England, and other trusted sources.
Filling out the Equal Opportunities form is completely optional.
Any information you provide is confidential and anonymous – we do not collect your name or any identifying details.
Your answers will be stored securely and used only for monitoring and reporting purposes, in line with UK GDPR and data protection laws.
We will never share your data in a way that could identify you.
We understand that identity is personal and complex. If you're not comfortable answering a question, you can simply skip it or select “Prefer not to say.”
We share this anonymous data with our funder, the Arts Council, to help improve access and representation in our work in Brent.
Decisions on who is shortlisted for interview will be made by a panel of ACAVA staff members and external cultural workers:
- Jack Young (ACAVA Curator, Young People, Children and Families)
- Isabella Niven (ACAVA Head of Social Practice)
- Nick Murray (Artist and ACAVA Hosts Barham Park Resident 2024-25)
- Maxi Himpe (Performance Director and Interdisciplinary Artist)
We commit to offering feedback as best practice for all applications if this is useful to artists and is requested in the application form. We can offer this in the format you prefer after we notify you. Please bear with us in this process, we want all our feedback to be carefully considered and useful.
