invitation to tender for the development and design of a ... · dance4 offers cpd and career ... 1....

of 14

InvitationtotenderforthedevelopmentanddesignofanewwebsiteforDance4.

BecLister,HeadofCommunications,Dance4

of 14

Dance4 is an internationally recognised development agency nurturing new ideas in choreography. Dance4 supports international and UK artists, contributing to the evolution of choreography as an art form.

Dance4 works with the public as participants, makers, commissioners, commentators and spectators to create extraordinary experiences for all.

Dance4 commissions, produces and presents new choreographic work.

Dance4 provides leadership in Nottingham and the East Midlands, working in partnership to connect artists and communities, inspiring people, places and lives.

Dance4 supports professional training in choreography and dance for young people through its Centre for Advanced Training in dance (CAT). Dance4 offers CPD and career development opportunities within the creative industries.

Dance4 produces the biennial Nottdance festival. Dance4 established the international Centre for Choreography (iC4C) in Nottingham in 2016.

Dance4 is a registered charity and an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.

Dance4’s international Centre for Choreography (iC4C) is an exemplar creative facility from which Dance4 invests in artists’ practice and delivers specialist support and space for the research, production and distribution of new choreographic work.

iC4C hosts international and UK artists, alongside the public as participants, makers and commentators.

iC4C also provides a home to Dance4’s Centre for Advanced Training in dance and is a creative industries hub for learning and skills, knowledge exchange and workforce development.

iC4C sees new work produced in Nottingham and distributed from Nottingham to local, national and international markets.

iC4C offers three state-of-the-art studios with high quality sprung floors alongside changing, laundry and kitchen facilities, hot-desking and adaptable networking spaces.

Nottdance is a biennial international dance and performance festival which platforms artists exploring new territories in dance and choreography.

Nottdance takes place across the city of Nottingham and positions Dance4 as a major voice in curating new choreographic ideas and work.

Nottdance has a rich archive dating back over a quarter of a century.

The next Nottdance takes place in March 2019.

It is anticipated that the Nottdance brand will grow in its importance to the organisation and discourse around progressing the artform and choreography.

of 14

Brief

This brief was written following a consultation with Horizons Digital Economy Research Unit at University of Nottingham who produced version 1 of the Dance4 Digital Strategy.

What we want

We want an exciting, highly accessible, dynamic and engaging website that places our customers at the centre of a clear and relevant digital journey through all that we offer.

We want a website that is exceptionally flexible in order to respond to the project needs of Dance4 (the organisation), Dance4’s international Centre for Choreography (the centre) and Nottdance (the festival).

We want a website that meets the needs of our key customers: artists, the public and funders.

We want a website that showcases and reveals the stories we have to tell, the opportunities we have to offer and that speaks of who we are.

We want a website that holds our past, present and future offer.

We need design that can clearly communicate the distinction between projects curated by Dance4 (as commissioner, research partner, producer, presenter) and the offer of external choreographic and dance opportunities that are supported by Dance4’s communications.

We wish all digital communications to reflect our branding.

We need design that clearly reflects that Dance4 forefronts choreography in the relationships it builds. Choreography in this sense may or may not involve dance.

We need design that clearly messages that we are an agency and we run the international Centre for Choreography, which is neither a venue nor a dance school.

The developer/designer should strongly consider moving away from Drupal as the basis for the Dance4 digital presence.

NB We do not need the creation of a selling pathway as our current ticketing and CRM system Tessitura is to be used. Tessitura Software was developed specifically for the needs of arts, cultural and entertainment organisations, and provides a 360-degree CRM platform for all aspects of customer transaction. There is no specific requirement for integration of Tessitura into the main Dance4 site as all transactions will be hosted offsite.

Proposals

Proposals should include:

• Design & build proposal examples, including background research into proposed designs

• An overview of how you would work with us

• Who your working team would be

• Evidence of your expertise and past portfolio

• Outline budget including on-going support and service costs

• A timeline covering research and planning, design option presentation, design development, build of all components, testing, site population/transfer, and training

The website should be tested and scheduled for launch by the end of March 2018. We’re looking for design and budget proposals. As various sections of the Dance4 website will now be dependent on streams of content from various external platforms, as well as from within the Dance4 archive, on-going support and service costs need reflect this and be itemised separately outside of the development and build budget.

Deadline

Please submit a written proposal by 5pm on Wednesday 15 November 2017. We will invite shortlisted applicants to a further interview/conversation on Wednesday 22 November 2017.

of 14

Submissions

Please send your proposals to:

Bec Lister, Head of Communications, Dance4

[email protected]

of 14

Dance4.co.uk

This is the hub of Dance4’s digital presence.

What should dance4.co.uk be?

Immediate redevelopment of the dance4.co.uk site should demonstrate

• Clearer, distinct propositions of Dance4’s “products”: o advertise and sell events and experiences that are ready for consumption,

tightly integrated with the existing ticketing and CRM system Tessitura o explicitly reveal what is being created for the future and opportunities to

become part of the Dance4 programme o showcase what has been created in the recent past o easily highlight ways to become part of the classes, courses, discourses,

research, performances and wider community taking place across Dance4’s activities

o provide ways to donate to and support Dance4 and share its success

• A showcase of everything Dance4 has and will achieve: o the ability to curate Dance4’s archive to showcase a proven track record of

creating cutting-edge dance o by demonstrating long-term trajectories: How do our events and research

now relate to the past? What themes underpin Dance4? What themes will underpin the organisation’s future?

A starting point for the Dance4/iC4C/Nottdance journey, dance4.co.uk needs to easily navigate users to where they need to be.

An area within the site needs to host a secure section for members of our Centre for Advanced Training (CAT) programme, CAT students and their parents to access course information. This can be a simple universal login, administered by the Dance4 team.

Suggested model

A long scroll website, launching from a hero image encapsulating Dance4 in the present. From this hero image the site will present the user with a sequence of five distinct areas on the work of Dance4, offering the visitor opportunities to

1. view and book imminent events and experiences – including but not limited to a What’s On calendar

2. see how the future of Dance4 is being created [including R&D / artist take-over / iC4C live – an insight into work produced in the studios, what people are talking about on social media and backstage time-lapse possibilities)

3. explore the track record of Dance4 through the living archive, showcasing current and historical work

4. a sophisticated search feature across dance4.co.uk and its sub sites, including a clear and clean methodology for presenting any search results

5. engage Dance4 in conversation – how to get involved in workshops, performances, CAT; this must be logically presented and easy to understand and engage with

6. connect with Dance4 and its partners - our engagement with TNEM, NDN, U.Dance, cultural partners, region-wide (including Dance Action Group), city-wide, international etc.

Note:

The sections 1 and 3 (as well as the dance4.co.uk/ic4c sub site outlined in the next section) are dependent upon a reengineered living Dance4 archive. The Dance4 web administrators will filter the existing archive to support and populate the live copy.

The Dance4 Team will populate database to hold the project spaces. A project space is to be identified as either an Event or a Residency currently happening, then archived once the event has taken place. Each event or residency aggregates:

of 14

• an overview of the event or residency

• a set of associated creators, including artist & contributors involved in the event or residency

• a timeline of the project’s events

• a set of media relating to the project, such as e-flyers, trailers, to provide a one-stop shop for all the information around the artist, the event and or residency.

The resulting living archive will drive the new Dance4 digital presence. Project spaces for past projects will be searchable by visitors via section 3 of the website; project spaces for currently ticketed projects will populate section 1; project spaces for active research projects will populate the R&D subsection 2 while current project spaces relating to work happening in iC4C will populate the dance4.co.uk/ic4c sub site.

In brief, there will be three main strands to the site: Dance4 | iC4C | Nottdance

Two additional strands are: International and Learning. These will penetrate across all three other strands shown above.

of 14

Dance4.co.uk/ic4c

This is a digital presence for the international Centre for Choreography (iC4C), existing as part of the Dance4 website.

What should dance4.co.uk/ic4c be?

The immediate development activities should produce a sub site where the constant creative process is exposed and reflects the physical look of the iC4C building and spaces. Dance4.co.uk/iC4C should

• demonstrate a live “work in progress” model o iC4C is the physical home of cutting edge R&D: the site must reflect this

activity

• host real-time information on Associate Artists and visiting artists

• showcase the building and the route to booking the studio as a hire (iC4C is primarily a curated space with an artistic programme, however it also has a hire offer which may become less or more important to the organisation), including

o what’s on in our studios this week o why and how we curate the residency programme o “Your next residency at iC4C” o how new artists can engage with Dance4 at iC4C o costs and calls to action, including hosting the hires document and studio

technical specification

Suggested model

Each sub site of dance4.co.uk follows the general recommendations laid out earlier in the brief, including the long scroll model.

This first sub site presents a sequence of three opportunities to a visitor who has followed iC4C links from the homepage:

• an overview of the four iC4C studios (including King Edwards Park as “Studio 4”)

• a live experience of what is happening in each of the four studios with occupants creating their own stream of updates

• a round-up of the specific ways to collaborate with iC4C

The live spaces are the main components to be developed for dance4.co.uk/ic4c. Beyond static information about the facilities available in each studio, each studio’s live space will be a showcase of current activity in that studio, contributed by the occupants and curated by Dance4 team. This element will be curated; we do not require an automated or autopost system for the live spaces.

To achieve this, the web developer will

• extend the Dance4 archive to allow active project spaces to be linked to iC4C studios (and unlinked when the occupants leave the space)

This will allow the developer/designer to create a “live space” for each studio or the studios as a collection that brings together

• an overview of the studio’s facilities (including 360° tours)

• latest updates from the stream of social media and UGC addressed to the studio by the current occupants

• all media produced within the space by its various occupants

• a chronology of all occupants - listed in a standardised format

This will allow visitors a glimpse of activity occurring behind closed doors, but also a means of co-habiting creators to view each other’s process and encourage dialogue.

For the live spaces to be a success the model relies on active engagement by the studio occupants. A digital maintenance plan for iC4C, created and implemented by the live spaces manager (from the Dance4 team), should outline ways of encouraging and managing contribution by space occupants, structured around the start and end of residencies.

of 14

It would also be beneficial to link the space and discourse from Nottdance to iC4C live spaces as well as linking to Nottdance from the Dance4 and iC4C sites.

of 14

Nottdance www.nottdance.co.uk

The biennial Nottdance festival requires functionality for Dance4 admin team to be able to update and modernise the colour scheme of the site with each iteration of the festival, to freshen and re-energise the branding in-line with each festival launch.

What should Nottdance be?

Through development activities in the lead up to the next Nottdance festival, a digital presence for the festival should be developed that can

• be an event website

• make the festival programme and intentions clear

• make opportunities to participate clear

• easily promote highlights

• make it easy to search across the entire Nottdance archive

• make it easy to buy tickets

• host artist interview and features

• profile legendary artists to highlight the historical significance of Nottdance, such as Rosemary Butcher / Nigel Charnock

• be a special moment in Dance4’s history

• a place to build anticipation before the festival

• a place where the festival happens

• a place where the festival can be reflected upon

• be customisable for visitors

• What’s On will either export pre-purchased event choices to the user’s personal calendar or retain user’s event selections through cookies

• be a renowned meeting point for Artists Other considerations

• a digital meeting place for Artists to hold discourse around the art form

• hold discussion about artists and ideas during and post each festival

• host podcasts and transcripts

• host video content

• a newsfeed and social media feed

• a section of the overall site where we can place and try out new visual ideas

Suggested model

Although the look-and- feel of the Nottdance website may vary distinctly from the dance4.co.uk site (i.e. to reflect the character of the festival), the following typical components of a modern event website should be included:

• a clear showcase of headline events

• a statement of what makes the festival unique

• the ability for visitors to personalise their event experience, based on cookies and not reliant on a login

• a programme of activities

• a way to engage in discourse around the activities

• an overview of opportunities to be actively involved

• What’s On feature

• a place to discuss artists and the festival

In terms of creation: as Nottdance is a regular festival, a system should be put in place to allow Dance4 to generate new, tailored event sites for each festival, rather than relying on a web developer to implement each festival site independently.

In this activity the web developer will implement a content management system to allow Dance4 to populate a Nottdance festival programme with events and activities, and generate a festival website based on the model outlined above.

of 14

The CMS should allow Dance4 to tailor the look-and-feel of the website to match the character of the festival.

The web developer should ensure that the CMS does not limit Dance4 to creating only one festival site. Instead, Dance4 should be able to use the same CMS to generate multiple festival sites as necessary, and preserve previous sites for viewing by visitors.

The developer should provide a clear protocol for Dance4 to be able to migrate a festival site to an historic subdomain, eg 2015.nottdance.co.uk.

To echo a similar template as Dance4 site that allows a biennial facelift and enables quarterly publishing of discourse, via podcasts, video documentation, blogging and online journal.

Allow migration of work for festival into Dance4 living archive as we are retaining it within the historical Nottdance archive.

of 14

Five users

The four web components outlined previously should serve five key user groups:

1. Dance4 2. Creators (Artists & Researchers) 3. Participants (The Public, Communities and Partners) 4. Consumers (Audiences and Buyers) 5. Supporters (Funders, Donors and Advocates)

Each user group has a set of tasks and goals. Tasks are activities that the user group hopes that Dance4’s digital presence will support, and goals are what they hope that their experience with the digital presence will help them achieve. The two overlap, and come together to form the needs of the users.

The briefs for each of the web elements have been specified with these users and their needs in mind, but the web developer should continuously assess whether these needs have been met and proactively suggest extensions to the brief to solve such issues.

Dance4

Dance4 is reinventing its digital presence to take advantage of new web technologies and tap into modern expectations of an exciting arts organisation, to host and communicate the scope of its activity and effectively respond to the needs of its customer segments.

International markets that we will be talking to need to be able to access Dance4 and immediately find out who we are and what we do. The digital offering needs to be positioned and presented in a way that will talk to these international audiences and engage them with our organisation.

Digital is to become an increasingly important channel for interacting with the other user groups, many of whom will now be digital natives. Dance4 has a fledgling digital archive, and will go on to produce most media in digital form. The tables below outline the generic and overarching needs of the five key user groups and generic and overarching responses to those needs.

Task Goal

Sell tickets, facilities and services Increase return on investment

Provide a variety of easy digital opportunities for other users to interact with Dance4

Reach new user groups and develop strong, long-term relationships with users

Reveal impact Provide evidence for external support and attract new creators

Reveal an active creative process by aggregating social media and other existing digital activity

Utilise new technologies with dance: drones, AR, VR & MR

Create an energetic digital presence while reducing reliance on staff to author updates

Creators

This user group includes artists and researchers who are working with Dance4 to create new choreographic work, as well as users who are building upon past Dance4 work.

For these users, Dance4’s digital presence could be the sort of platform for collaboration, research and promotion that they might not have the finance or expertise to develop themselves. Many of these users are also now seriously considering digital as part of their work, and need support here.

of 14

Task Goal

Learn about the facilities, support and services offered by Dance4

Find a cutting-edge, capable centre for creativity to present such ways of working

Promote, contextualise and sell work Access the widest audience possible, while developing a reliable understanding of who is being impacted especially in the context of international showcasing

Develop relationships with a network of artists, supporters and consumers

Ensure a steady stream of exciting opportunities to continue working, while developing a legacy

Participants

This user group includes the public, communities, students (e.g. those in CAT) and volunteers around events and within Dance4.

For many of these users digital will be an integral part of daily life. The web will be the first port of call for opportunities for work and play, as well as the place to build a portfolio of skills and achievements and the place to socialise and discuss daily events.

Task Goal

Look for opportunities to learn about and explore choreography and what dance can be.

Develop dance and choreography skills for artistic development/career, further education, social enrichment, knowledge enrichment or health and wellbeing

Publish my experience of being involved Be a part of an active arts/social/new community

Work within an arts organisation Develop a track record and career within the sector

Consumers

This user group includes ticketed audiences (before and after ticketing), buyers of experiences and products and social network members.

Like the participant user group, this group is increasingly made up of digital natives. Some will have used their mobiles to search for and pay for products; many will have used those devices to search for information, consume media and communicate. Like most digital natives, this group expects relationships with organisations to extend beyond a financial transaction, hoping for value-added content and the opportunity to discuss and provide feedback, and to add to their social networks to reflect their interests.

Task Goal

Book an exciting experience or performance A short, simple, transaction

Find out more about artists and their work, the performances/ events/experiences I enjoyed

To be immersed in a narrative that is as simple or academic as I want it to be, and reveals other performers and genres that might also be interesting

See more performances/experience more opportunities like this in the future

Find out about projects and performances I might like, but not get pestered

of 14

Meet artists /explore the creative process Get access to the creative process and the artists; understand what goes into a work/performance/creative process, and build anticipation before seeing or participating in the final product

Tell Dance4, the performers, and other consumers what I think

Be a part of an active dance and choreography community

Funders

The Funders user group includes donors, funding organisations and other benefactors.

For this group digital represents new opportunities to capture and view evidence of social and cultural impact, gain recognition for support and gain a more complete picture of the funding landscape. They will have expectations that Dance4 – as a recipient of and future requester for funding – will be taking advantage of its digital presence to make their job more straightforward and comprehensive.

Task Goal

See stories of success in Dance4’s track record

Determine that Dance4 has proven capable of translating funding into success

Assess the impact of funding Map pathways to impact and understand how funding should be allocated in future

See evidence of ambitions

Position the organisation with corporate donors with what iC4C can offer

Determine whether to invest in the future of Dance4

of 14

Overview of Dance4 Branding Guidelines.

Dance4’s branding includes a series of supporting logos including: Dance4 branding includes complimentary logos for iC4C and Dance4 with iC4C.

invitation to tender for the development and design of a ... · dance4 offers cpd and career ... 1....

Documents