Electric Picnic: Here’s your chance to design a caravan in the Trailer Park

Electric Picnic's Trailer Park is a heaving hub of wonderful and strange activity, with a diverse range of caravans doing things you might not believe. This isn't the average rain-trodden caravan holiday that you used to have in Lahinch; this is something entirely different, and now the Trailer Park wants to find and fund some unique caravan-based ideas for Electric Picnic 2017.

If you want to become a proud Trailer Park resident this September, this is your chance to let your imagination run wild and design a van that doubles as an installation, a venue or an interactive experience for festival goers, that transforms them from voyeurs into active contributors.

"In Trailer Park we really do set out to make people laugh, with a liberating experience which marries creativity, silliness and style. It also loves a good host," says artistic director Roz Jellett. "So if you have a gang of friends who love to make people around you have fun, simply think of how you might do that in the most unusual way, and either inside or in front of a room on wheels."

This is a call for designers, artists, engineers, technicians, builders, architects and dreamers to get involved. Grants range from €150 to €1,500 (but they’re willing to stretch that if you have a really good idea) and up to 12 grants will be awarded – other applications may be accepted if the caravans are deemed deliverable without any help from Trailer Park. A maximum of nine passes per project will be given to the design team.

The curators are looking for “Projects that stand on their own as a place of entertainment, or that draw people in and are a place of wonder in their own right.” The key word, they say, is “interactive”.

If you do not have a van but have a dream, Trailer Park have access to a limited number of caravans that can be made available, but they will remain the property of Trailer Park after the festival. Your caravans do not need to be roadworthy or NCT-approved – but that would certainly help when you are making your way to Stradbally and home again – and your caravan must be in position by August 15th at Stradbally Hall. Further work on the caravan can be completed onsite, but the caravan must be available for positioning onsite by then.

A judge from The Irish Times will help in the selection process and final decisions will be made by April 24th. All applicants will be notified by April 29th.

So if you think you have what it takes to add this mobiletropolis, get cracking on some ideas and get your applications in before April 15th. To apply, click on this link and fill out the electronic form. For more details, click here, and for full terms and conditions, click here. And keep an eye on irishtimes.com next week for the festival line-up, which is out on Thursday, March 23rd.