PASW Regional Newsletter: Autumn 2006
Public Art South West Activities
Public Art South West is recognised as one of the leading public art development agencies in the UK. Primarily serving the south west of England, its work extends beyond geographical boundaries in terms of the critical thinking and application of artists' skills and creativity it promotes. It works with artists and national and regional public and private sector organisations across Britain, and actively networks with a range of professionals within art and the built and natural environment.
All Change!
After ten years of unstinting hard work and support, our public art assistant officer, Linda Geddes has moved to pastures new. Many of you will have worked with Linda over the years and will realise what a loss this is to PASW’s small team of two! Due to changes at Arts Council England’s national office, we are unable to re-appoint within the foreseeable future – so please bear with us whilst we go through this ‘challenging’ period!
Jo Morland, who has been highly instrumental in the conception and development of www.publicartonline.org.uk stepped down as website editor in July after eight years involvement.
From 1998, Jo worked closely with us up until the launch of this extremely successful and unique website in May 2000 and her ongoing input and critical thought has been invaluable. The success of the site and the quality of the content are in no small part due to Jo’s dedication and commitment and we are very grateful for all her hard work over the years.
PASW would like to wish Linda and Jo all the very best for the future.
Recent Projects and Initiatives include:
www.publicartonline.org.uk
Firstly, we would like to warmly welcome Josie Aston, our new website editor. Josie took up the reins in July and brings great enthusiasm and ideas to the continued development of the site.
This unique resource has an increasingly growing visitor base, which now totals over 38,650 per month. There are now over 1200 people subscribing to the e-mailing list.
“Publicartonline is a remarkable resource and hands down the best public art site out there,” Annie Hillis, arts consultant, Canada.
Over the past few months we have added three brief studies: Stedelijk Restruimten A20, Muizengaatje in Rotterdam with four artists leading the redesign of an neglected inner city public path and bus station; Four Shores on the Isle of Sheppey, the artist/architect collaboration for the Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol and an in-depth study of Electric Wharf, where artists were involved in the work/live redevelopment of a disused factory site.
Interior of Arnolfini following redevelopment by architects Snell Associates and artist Susanna Heron. Photo: Adam Farraday.
New reports include: A decommissioning policy for public art from Auckland City, New Zealand; the Inspire project in South East Northumberland; Marking the Transition programme of commissions in a family medical practice; and the launch of Arts and Healthcare South West.
New research includes: the independent evaluation of schemes funded by PROJECT, commissioned by Public Art South West and undertaken by Comedia, and a report roundup of current research into public art practice, audiences and impact.
Local Authorities
PASW prioritises working in partnership with local authorities across the region and below is a taster of some of the work we have been doing recently.
Cornwall - we have been working closely with Carrick District Council on various initiatives: the development of a public art strategy for Perranporth, bespoke Continuing Professional Development for officers within regeneration, planning and leisure; the development of a public art strategy for the authority.Penwith District Council: advising on various public art commissioning opportunities; St. Ives/Environment Agency: advising on the involvement of an artist in the St. Ives flood defence scheme.
Devon - PASW is currently advising on two major resettlement projects in the County, Cranbrook in East Devon and Sherford in South Hams; and continues to be involved in the Plymouth Waterfront scheme and the Barnstaple Regeneration Scheme, both of which have been supported by PROJECT (www.project-awards.org.uk).
The Devon and Cornwall Architecture Centre has now appointed a Director, Tanya Griffiths who took up post in June. Maggie Bolt is on the shadow board and the official launch of the Architecture Centre will take place later on this year.
Dorset - we continue to work closely with Dorset County Council both in an advisory capacity on various schemes including the regeneration of West Bay and also in relation to the realisation of the work the General Public Agency has been doing in the County (refer to Spring 2006 Issue).PASW has supported Poole Borough Council in the appointment of a new public art post.Nichola Whittenham took up post in June and will be working on advocacy and training and delivering the Poole public art strategy and SPG through project managing a range of negotiated and outline projects from small to major developments.
Bournemouth - see the article later in this newsletter.
Gloucestershire - we are working with Gloucestershire County Council on a quality design initiative for the County which moves on from its percent for art policy.The following statement from the County clarifies its current position. “Reduced central government borrowing approvals have forced Gloucestershire County Council to review its capital strategy spend, including cutting support to public art and the Percent for Art levy on projects over £500,000. This was not a judgement against public art, but part of a wider re-examination of spending priorities across all services.
Gloucestershire County Council retains its commitment to promoting good design in the public realm, including public art. Councillor Tony Hicks, Portfolio holder for Culture, says, “This Council has a 10 year track record of excellence in delivering quality public art. We now want to champion good design in the public realm over the next 10 years, and we are keen to get this message out to our partners”.
Council officers are currently reviewing the options for action, and believe that good public art practice in Gloucestershire must include:
- Following up the recent Creating Excellence seminars through joint work with Gloucestershire District Councils on benchmarking good design.
- Commissioning public artwork within selected ‘exemplar’ projects, such as a new Pathfinder secondary school.
- Advocating that Gloucestershire Strategic Partnership adopts a role as champion of good public realm design, to secure resources.
- Supporting public realm design, including public art commissioning, as part of the Gloucestershire Local Authority Partnership Agreement with Arts Council England, South West.
PASW will be working in partnership with the County and further information on any of the areas mentioned above can be obtained from helen.owen@gloucestershire.gov.uk.
Wiltshire - PASW is working with the four District Councils, North and West Wiltshire, Kennet and Salisbury to recruit a public art post.This will be a strategic post, co-ordinating strategies, developing implementation and training, and overseeing work with developers to encourage resources for quality commissioning across all four Districts.
Training
Training is one of our major focus points this year and we have already delivered an Introduction to Public Art for Arts Development Officers across and beyond the region in two venues, and training for Cornwall artists in partnership with Creative Skills Cornwall. Further events and opportunities included:
Public arts training for ACESW staff:
PASW delivered an informal and informative seminar to ACESW Officers at the ACE Offices in Exeter in May. The session was designed to show the national and regional context for public art, to look at models of good practice, to give an overview of the work of PASW, and to explore ways to further develop understanding and opportunities to encourage quality public art for ACE Officers.
Everything you always wanted to know about public art but were afraid to ask (Course 3):
Due to demand we ran a third Introduction to Public Art seminar for Arts Development Officers hosted by Swindon Borough Council in July. The training included presentations from PASW Director Maggie Bolt, Public Art Officer and freelance consultant Gerry Wall, and Aaron Smith, planning officer from Swindon Borough Council.
Public Art and Planning
PASW worked with Carrick District Council to develop a seminar for officers involved in planning and regeneration. The seminar, held in July in Truro, included national and regional case studies and presentations from Maggie Bolt, PASW Director and Chris Marsh, Planning Consultant.
Planned future training includes training for artists in partnership with Devon Artsculture and Artsmatrix and a master class in the Legal and Business Frameworks for Public Art Commissions led by Henry Lydiate.
Other presentations and training include an invitation from Fife Regional Council to present to and chair a discussion between key Officers and Agencies across the District on the strategic development of public art. This took place in May. Fife, already experienced in commissioning, were seeking an informed forum debate, examining national context and opportunities, and looking at their own policies and opportunities. PASW also delivered a session on artists/architects collaborations on behalf of the Festival of Nature and funded by Arts Matrix, which was held in Bristol during July.
On the 26th September PASW will be speaking at the ‘Urban Alchemy: The Transforming Power of Art and Architecture’ conference in Belfast. The aim of the conference is to share new ideas and create greater understanding of the power which architecture and art hold in shaping and re-energising our environment. It will be delivered by partners The Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast City Council and the Royal Society of Ulster Architects. A full report will be available on www.publicartonline.org.uk in due course.
PROJECT: engaging artists in the built environment
PASW has agreed to continue to manage and support all outstanding awards, post March 31st 2006, when the scheme officially closed, until December 2006. Alastair Snow, the scheme manager has been retained to undertake this work until that date.
Meanwhile, Arts & Business and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment are in discussion with regard to the next phase of providing support for integrating artists into the early stages of development. A publication is being planned for late autumn and further details will be posted on www.publicartonline.org.uk.
The independent evaluation by Comedia is now available on www.project-awards.org.uk and provides fascinating reading. Its main findings are that the majority of participants experienced a change in both mindset and working practice, artists somewhat less so than other professionals; the majority of those who underwent a change in their working practice described it as fairly long-term; there is wide appreciation among the other professionals that the engagement of artists has raised the quality and value in the projects and, it is believed, in the built environment that ultimately ensues.