Parliament in the Making Banner Exhibition
Gifting of Banners - Information for applicants
1.
Background
Throughout 2015 the Houses of Parliament has been commemorating two significant
anniversaries: 750 years since the Simon de Montfort parliament and 800 years since the
sealing of Magna Carta.
A year-long programme, Parliament in the Making, has celebrated those anniversaries in
various ways, with ‘The Beginnings of that Freedome’ banner exhibition in Parliament’s
Westminster Hall at the heart of the programme.
Featuring 18 large-scale banners, created by nine artists, this exhibition shows how the UK
has built a powerful system of civil rights and representative government over the last 800
years. Each banner provides a dynamic visual representation of the milestone moments and
movements which ‘made a difference’ in the journey to the rights and representation that we
enjoy today.
The exhibition continues until 12 December 2015 and is free to view either by visiting in
person or via the virtual gallery on our website www.parliament.uk/2015.
Once the exhibition is over, the banners will be gifted to appropriate organisations to allow
increased access to the public to engage with them. Parliament is seeking applications from
charitable, political and cultural organisations interested in receiving one of the banners.
2.
Description
Each banner is the artist’s response to a movement and moment that has ‘made a
difference’ in the journey to the rights and representations that we enjoy today. The full list of
movements and moments commemorated and the name of the artist:
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1215 Magna Carta (Ruth Ewan)
1265 Simon de Montfort’s parliament (Ross Birrell)
1601 Poor Law (Rachel Gadsden)
1628 Petition of Right (Maria Amidu)
1647 Putney Debates (Ross Birrell)
1689 Bill of Rights (Ross Sinclair)
1771 Wilkes: Freedom of Speech and Parliament (Ruth Ewan)
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1807 Abolition of the Slave Trade (Maria Amidu)
1829 Catholic Emancipation Act (Rachel Gadsden)
1832 ‘Great’ Reform Act (Paula Stevens-Hoare)
1833 Factory Act (Joel Millerchip)
1834 Tolpuddle Martyrs (Jason Wilsher-Mills)
1838 The People’s Charter (Ross Sinclair)
1897 National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (Alinah Azadeh)
1965 Race Equalities Act (Alinah Azadeh)
1967 Sexual Offences Act (Paula Stevens-Hoare)
1995 Disability Discrimination Act (Jason Wilsher-Mills)
2015 Parliament now (Joel Millerchip)
The original artworks created by the artists were photographed in high resolution and printed
onto a durable flameproof heavy duty canvas using a dye sublimation technique. The
copyright to the image to each banner is and will remain jointly owned by Parliament and the
artist.
Each banner also includes text written by the History of Parliament Trust and other historians
that provides the historical context for the movement or moment depicted by the banner.
Each banners is one sided, approximately 3 metres wide and 5 metres long (except the
1601 Poor Law and 1628 Petition of Right banners which are just under 4 metres long).
3.
Selection of recipients
A panel of historians, officials from across Parliament plus representatives of the Speakers’
Advisory Group for the 2015 Anniversaries will decide which organisation will receive each
banner. The Speakers’ Advisory Group is a cross party group of MPs and Peers set up to
advise House officials on the anniversaries being celebrated during 2015.
Applicants will be asked to complete a brief application form. Organisations may apply for
more than one banner but each application should be made on a separate form. It is not
expected that an organisation will be gifted more than one banner.
Criteria for selection will include:
 A demonstrable connection between the organisation with the subject matter
or artistic content of the banner
 Degree of on-going public access to the banner
 How the organisation intends to work with banner
It will be a condition of contract that organisations will not be able to sell any banner that has
been gifted and that the Houses of Parliament and the Speaker’s Art Fund must always be
respectively credited as commissioners and funders of the banners.
4.
Timescale:
Applications should be submitted by 5 January 2016 to:
2015 Banners,
Parliament in the Making,
Room L2-13,
1 Derby Gate,
2
Houses of Parliament
London SW1A 2DG
email: [email protected]
Any queries can be emailed to [email protected] but must be received
before 14 December 2015.
Successful organisations will be notified by 16 January 2016 and will be expected, where
feasible, to be able to send a representative to Parliament on the evening of 21 January
2016. Banners can be collected, or will be posted, after this date.
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