2027 Aberlleiniog Sculpture Trail
Open Call

➜ Overview

The Aberlleiniog Sculpture Trail offers an unusual variety of landscapes and settings for creative work — woodland, stream, castle, coastline and community spaces, all connected along the route of the Trail.

We invite artists, makers, craftspeople, environmentalists, performers and creative practitioners to propose work that engages with these landscapes in imaginative ways. This might mean responding directly to a particular site, exploring its histories or ecologies, creating an encounter for visitors, or bringing a work into a new context.

The Open Call is an opportunity to experiment, make ambitious work and explore what happens when creative practice meets the distinctive environments of Aberlleiniog.

➜ What can you propose?

We welcome sculpture, installation, sound, performance, moving image, participatory work, workshops, walks, craft, environmental projects, interventions and interdisciplinary approaches — as well as things that don't fit neatly into any of those categories.

Work can be new, existing, adapted or reworked. Existing work might find a completely different life or meaning when placed within the landscapes of the Trail.

➜ Where?

The Trail begins at Llangoed Village Hall and gardens, through the Aberlleiniog woodlands, alongside the Afon Lleiniog and its springs and waterways, around Aberlleiniog Castle and down to Lleiniog Beach and the Menai Strait.

For 2027, we’re also particularly interested in ideas for two existing features:

• The Willow Dome in the Garden of Llangoed Village Hall — could your work inhabit, transform, activate or respond to it?

• The Flagpole at Llangoed Village Hall — could you make a flag, banner or something else to fly during the Trail?

These are invitations rather than prescribed locations — proposals for sites throughout the Trail are welcome.

➜ What we offer

Participants can apply for up to £50 towards materials or project costs, where this support would help make their project possible. We aim to support as many projects as we can within the funding available.

We are unable to provide travel, transport, accommodation* or artist fees through the Sculpture Trail Open Call. Applicants should consider how they would practically bring themselves and/or their work to Aberlleiniog.

We can offer plenty of practical support. We’ll help with finding the right site, thinking through installation and connecting people with help where we can. Installation day is a collaborative one, with artists, organisers and volunteers working together throughout the day.

* sometimes we can arrange a visiting artist to stay with a local creative, please say in your application if you want to explore this option.

➜ Who can apply?

Anyone! There are no restrictions based on location, age, career stage or educational status. Individuals, collaborations and groups are all welcome, and students are very welcome to apply.

You do not need to describe yourself as an artist. We welcome artists, makers, craftspeople, performers, environmentalists and creative practitioners of all kinds.

➜ How we select

We endeavour to incorporate all proposals that can be presented safely and practically within the Trail.

We’re looking for strong, imaginative work and ideas that make good use of the unusual settings the Trail offers. We welcome experimentation and proposals that approach the landscape, audiences or the idea of a sculpture trail in unexpected ways.

Where we like an idea but something about the proposed site or installation isn't possible, we'll work with the applicant to see whether there is another way to make it happen.

➜ Installation & practicalities

Artists are responsible for installing their own work, with support from the Sculpture Trail team and volunteers wherever possible.

• Friday 19 March 2027 — Installation Day
  All work must be completely installed by 15:00 so that we can undertake our final site and risk assessment.

• Saturday 20 + Sunday 21 March 2027 — Aberlleiniog Sculpture Trail
  Work should remain in place for both days.
  Where appropriate, work can be brought into Llangoed Village Hall overnight for safekeeping.

• Monday 22 March 2027 — Deinstallation
  All work must be removed by 19:00.

The application will ask you to explain how your work will be installed and what assistance you might need. Please tell us what you need — the earlier we understand what is involved, the better we can help.

➜ Insurance, sites & looking after the landscape

We will ask whether you hold your own Public Liability Insurance and encourage participants to have appropriate cover, but insurance is not a condition of applying.

The Trail passes through community woodland, waterways, historic sites, along private land, the CADW managed castle and a coastal Site of Special Scientific Interest. All projects need to be appropriate to their location, sensitive to the surrounding environment and leave the site as they found it.

Full practical, environmental and safety guidance will form part of the application process.

➜ Important Dates

12 January 2027, midnight - Sculpture Trail Open Call deadline

19 January 2027 - Sculpture Trail selection announced

19 March 2027 - Installation Day; all works installed by 17:00

20 + 21 March 2027 - Aberlleiniog Sculpture Trail

22 March 2027 - all works removed by 19:00

➜ How to Apply

Applications are made through our online application form.

We’ll ask you to tell us about your idea or work, how you imagine it engaging with the Trail, any particular site you have in mind, and how it would be installed. You’ll also be able to tell us about any practical help you might need and whether you would like to apply for up to £50 towards materials or project costs.

Application deadline: midnight, 12 January 2027

[the link to apply will shortly be here]

➜ Access

We want the Open Call and Sculpture Trail to be accessible to as wide a range of participants as possible.

The application form includes space to tell us about any adjustments or support that would help you take part. You do not need to provide medical or personal details.

If site access, installation, travel or another aspect of participating presents an access barrier, please get in touch and we can discuss what may be possible.

Questions: julie@plasbodfa.com