Great North Museum: Hancock seeks Schools Project Artist Facilitator

The Great North Museum: Hancock seeks a Schools Project Artist Facilitator to work with school groups to explore the theme of Treasure.

2026 will be the year of Treasure at the Great North Museum: Hancock – we will be exploring the concept of Treasure and what it means to our audiences, our region and our history. The year-long programme will include exhibitions, events, learning activities and interventions. Many of these elements will be developed and delivered in partnership with other institutions, creative organisations and individuals. 

We are looking for one artist facilitator to work with three schools to lead the group as they explore this theme and produce a collaborative artwork per school, to later display at the museum. 

The Great North Museum: Hancock’s 2026 exhibition explores the theme of treasure; 

• Why it’s hidden and lost. 
• How it’s found. 
• What happens next.  

The exhibition, running late March to late September 2026, will include a traditional exhibition space, and then a more playful space aimed at a family audience. The learning team have been awarded funding to run a schools project to explore this theme and produce collaborative responses to the exhibition.  

The selected facilitator will work with three schools for the duration of the project.  

We are looking for one artist facilitator to work with three schools to lead the group as they explore the theme and produce a collaborative artwork per school, to later display at the museum. The schools will come from around the Northeast and may include Primary, Secondary and SEND.  

The facilitator will: 

• Spend two days in each school to support the students as they produce a collaborative artwork linked to the theme.  
• Support the museum team to identify a location to display the work.  
• Support the museum team to produce a short piece of text, or submit supporting information for this to accompany the display.  

Midnight Friday 31 October 2025. 

The chosen facilitator will work with three school groups to explore the theme of Treasure using our collection. 

Prior to work with an artist, schools will have visited the museum to explore the theme, meet a curator and explore our collection. Each school has been selected as they are located near to where an item from our collection was found. The museum will have this item replicated with the replica item then staying with the school.  

The facilitator visits in school will focus on some of our exhibition themes, including: 

• What is archaeology? 
• How objects are lost and buried.  
• How objects are found. 
• Value of treasure. 
• Ownership of treasure (not a required focus). 

We are also keen to have links to climate change, exploring resilience and what is left behind.  

Children’s art will be displayed in the museum during the course of the Treasure exhibition and work done by the different schools should form a coherent exhibition based around the themes above. The artwork for this project will not be displayed within the main exhibition space but will form one way in which we take the themes of the exhibition into the rest of the museum.  The chosen facilitator is invited to suggest suitable spaces to use within the museum. 

We are open to applications which engage with a wide range of specialisms and disciplines for these roles. Due to our available display space, 3D sculptural work will not be suitable for this project.  

You must have: 

• Experience leading creative workshops with Primary and Secondary age children.
• Experience working with SEND school groups.
• Able to travel to groups throughout the North East region.
• Organised and able to project plan and schedule accordingly.
• Prepared to support evaluation, documentation and reporting as required. 
• A satisfactory Enhanced DBS Disclosure.
• Must be able to provide a copy of their valid Public Liability Insurance certificate in a sum of not less than £5 million prior to commencement of the contract, and be responsible for paying all tax and National Insurance arising on the fees. We will need to check your Employment Status Indicator (ESI).

Desirable: 

• Experience in working with teachers/educators.
• Awareness of differentiating teaching styles to communicate with a variety of students. 

Each school will have the following: 

• A visit by the museum staff in school for a whole school assembly and/or a session with the class. (Dec or Jan) 
• A visit to the museum to meet museum staff, explore the Treasure theme and explore the collection. Children will get close to objects. (Jan) 
• 2 days in school with the artist. (Jan, Feb and March) 
• A final collaborative piece produced to then display in the museum. (approx. March 2026) 
• Artwork is returned to school post-exhibition for their own display and celebration. (approx Oct 2026) 

The artist is required to meet with museum staff in order to find out more about the objects which will be used with each school. They will then spend two days in each school, working with pupils. Meetings with museum staff during the project will be scheduled, when appropriate, to discuss any project details. 

• Proposals must be received by midnight on Friday 31 October 2025.
• Reviews of applications will begin in early November. 
• Successful applicant will be contacted mid November 2025. 
• Session delivery as point 6.  

Quotation assessment  

There is a fixed price (inclusive of VAT) for this work, including all time, travel, materials, subsistence and other costs to deliver the full activity.   

£3,750 total fee. This includes:

• 6 days in school (2 days per school with 3 groups) @£300 per day.
• 3 days to prepare and bring work together at @£300 per day. 
• Travel costs of £150 (£50 per school). 
• Materials at £900. 

Based upon the information we have provided please tell us more about how you would propose to undertake this commission and outline the programme for delivery. 

Please provide details of how you propose to delivery this work, including: 

• How the commission will be delivered including what artform the finished piece may look like. 
• Your experience of work relevant to this commission.  
• Examples of previous or similar work.  

We would also welcome any suggestions of where this work would be displayed in the museum.  

Please email your proposal, on no more than 2 sides of A4, outlining your suitability for the role to: morgan.fail@northeastmuseums.org.uk. If you would prefer, you can submit a video proposal. All proposals must be received by midnight Friday 31 October 2025. Please note, successful applicants must provide evidence of satisfactory DBS checks and must provide a copy of their valid Public Liability Insurance certificate in a sum of not less than £5 million prior to commencement of the contract. 

If you have any questions or would like an informal discussion about this work, please contact morgan.fail@northeastmuseums.org.uk to arrange a conversation. 

We are awaiting the result of other funding applications and if successful this project may expand.