Artist Callout - Our Freedom: Then and Now

About Our Freedom: Then and Now

2025 marks 80 years since the end of the Second World War, a pivotal moment that reshaped life across the UK and beyond. To commemorate this anniversary, arts centres and libraries across the country will be hosting a powerful new programme of community-led creative projects.

Led by Future Arts Centres, in partnership with Libraries Connected and supported by Arts Council England, Our Freedom: Then and Now invites local people to explore what freedom means to them, then, now, and in the future.

As part of this national initiative, Queen’s Hall Arts is leading a local commission that prioritises community voices. Inspired by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage’s specially commissioned piece Freedom Road, our project will connect past and present, honouring personal and shared histories through a contemporary lens.

Our Freedom: Then and Now will run from July to November 2025.

Artist Commission

We are seeking an artist or collective to co-create a new public-facing work that explores the question: What does freedom mean to us today, in this place, through the lens of the Second World War and its legacy?

The project will focus on RAF Spadeadam, a remote site on the Northumberland and Cumbria border. Built in the 1950s to support the Blue Streak rocket programme, the base reflects a moment in Britain’s Cold War history. Although the project was later abandoned, parts of the original site remain, offering a striking prompt for creative reflection.

Our starting point will be Simon Armitage’s poem Freedom Road, which can be used to begin conversations about freedom in personal, political, and historical terms.

A video of Simon performing the poem can be found on our website here.

Read the Artist Callout document in full >

How to Apply

To apply, please email the following to [email protected]:

- Examples of previous work and links to photos / films
- A proposal of how you will approach the project – including gathering ideas from community participants and translating them into an animation or moving image piece of work. (word limit 300)
- Contact details
- Artist Bio
- Any access requirements you’d like us to be aware of

Deadline for applications: Sunday 20 July 2025.

If you have any questions about your application, please email [email protected].