THE BRISTOL PUBLIC ART STRATEGY  
city centre < legible city > outer neighbourhoods

The Bristol Public Art Strategy places public art within the planning and development process; complementary to good urban and building design; integral within new development schemes; as part of social investment in new and refurbished housing, improvements to open public space, arts and health initiatives, towards creative and neighbourhood renewal.
The strategy acknowledges wide consultation with artists, planners, architects, key service providers, arts venues and other organisations working together in the public realm. 
An enhanced Public Art Policy and revised statements within the Bristol Local Plan 2001-2011 aims to embed public art in key renewal projects to promote city and neighbourhood identity in the future. The strategy outlines how Bristol City Council intends to implement the Public Art Policy and gives guidance to developers as to how to promote artworks of high quality in the public realm.

CONTENTS                                                                                                     page                                                                                       

Section 1   Executive Summary                                                                                               2                                                                                                             
Section 2   Public Art Policy                                                                                                    5 
Section 3   Bristol Local Plan                                                                                                   7 
Section 4   The Planning Framework                                                                                     
                   4:1 Planning Policy Guidance 17                                                                         9 
                   4:2 Living Places
                   4:3 Towards an Urban Renaissance                                                                    
                   4:4 Strategy for Architecture and the Built Environment                              10 
                   4:5 Public Art South West     
                   4:6 Bristol City Council                                                                                      11
                         4:6.1  Corporate Plan 2002-2005                                                                  
                         4:6.2  Cultural Strategy                                                                                12 
                         4:6.3  City Centre Strategy                                                                           
                         4:6.4  Bristol Legible City                                                                             13
                         4:6.5  Neighbourhood Arts Strategy                                                           
                   4:7 A New Commitment to Neighbourhood Renewal                                      14 
                   4:8 Planning Green Paper  delivering a fundamental change                          15 
Section 5   Public art as part of planning and arts development                                       16
                   5:1 Advocacy and procurement
                   5:2 Working with artists                                                                                     
                   5:3 Artist selection                                                                                               17
                   5:4 Good practice                                                                                                18
                   5:5 Consultation 
Section 6   Action Plan                                                                                                           19 

Appendix A   Public Art Policy, Bristol City Council 2000                                                20
Appendix B   Demonstration projects                                                                                  24                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
SECTION 1 : EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

1:1 PUBLIC ART POLICY 

The Public Art Policy was approved by the Cabinet of Bristol City Council on 26 October 2000. The policy demonstrates Bristol City Council’s commitment to the development of public art across the city and encourages the commission of artists and artworks for the public realm as part of the planning process.
Bristol City Council aims to integrate public art into the council’s own capital building programme and will establish good working practices and partnerships to commission public art of the highest quality in the city centre and outer neighbourhoods.

1:2 BRISTOL LOCAL PLAN

A review and update of the Bristol Local Plan in 2002 has given an opportunity to increase the profile of the relatively new Public Arts Policy and revise both policy statements and delivery expectations in the period 2003 – 2008. A new profile for public art will refer to artworks made specifically for the public realm by artists, makers and designers working within the natural, built, urban and rural environment. This will aim to integrate artist’s skills, vision and creative ideas at the earliest possible stage and be part of the planning and development control process.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

It is proposed that a new approach to public art is encouraged, integrated with the corporate priorities of Bristol City Council; multi-directorate in philosophy and application, integral to education, housing, environment, transport, planning, social, health and cultural services. 
A new framework is needed to enable wider public engagement in public art in both the city centre and outer neighbourhoods. This must build on the existing links with the planning and development control process and encourage on a voluntary basis the commission and provision of art and craftwork by public and private sector developers. Attention to the quality of urban design will encourage more work for artists and demonstrate and achieve new models of art in the public realm.                                                                       
Within the (emerging) Bristol Local Plan 2001-2011 public art is profiled within the Built Environment section:

To recognise the quality and special character of different parts of Bristol and welcome new development that improves the existing environment through good urban design. 
POLICY B2 : IN DETERMINING APPLICATIONS ACCOUNT WILL BE TAKEN OF THE FOLLOWING:
(v) INTEGRATION OF PUBLIC ART INTO MAJOR DEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS TO ENHANCE IDENTITY AND LOCAL DISTINCTIVENESS.
B5A  THE COUNCIL WILL ENCOURAGE THE INVOLVEMENT OF AN ARTIST IN COLLABORATIVE DESIGN AT THE EARLIEST POSSIBLE STAGE OF ALL PROPOSED MAJOR DEVELOPMENT, INCLUDING NEW AND REFURBISHED HOUSING, PUBLIC OPEN SPACE ENHANCEMENT AND AS PART OF HEALTH INITIATIVES. 

1:3 PUBLIC ART AS PART OF PLANNING AND ARTS DEVELOPMENT   

In association with Public Art South West, Bristol City Council has established two new posts to assist the development and delivery of the Public Art Policy: a Senior Public Art Officer within the Arts Development Unit of Cultural Services; and an Art Project Manager within City Projects and Urban Design, Planning Services.
Local authority officer support with specialist knowledge of public art can advise developers, architects and planning consultants how best to integrate and procure a public art component within a major development proposal seeking planning permission. 

As part of the 2008 project ‘Neighbourhoods of Culture’ a Neighbourhood Arts Strategy is being compiled by the Arts Development Unit of  Bristol City Council. In 2002/03 four public art ‘demonstration’ projects are being supported in the following Neighbourhood Renewal Areas in Bristol :
Ashley : St Pauls Learning and Family Centre
Barton Hill : Healthy Living Centre
Hartcliffe & Withywood and Knowle West : ‘Spacemakers’ 
Knowle West : ‘The Art  of Well Being’, Knowle West Health Park

It is advocated that public art is presented in the context of planning obligation, which under national planning guidance (PPG1) highlights aspects of design as a material consideration. 
Bristol City Council will profile and support the commissioning of public art through the Development Control process, respective development briefs, the use of planning conditions and Section 106 planning agreements.       
Pre-application advice will promote the value of public art strategies as part of planning proposals; recommend the role and selection procedures of artists, art consultants and project managers; and define the important link between policy and procurement, artist and architect so critical to the success of policy application and the quality of completed commissioned work. 

1:4 KEY OBJECTIVES

To give enhanced profile and recognition of the added value that an accessible, culturally diverse programme of public art can bring for public benefit.
To establish a coherent framework of advice to enable the commission of public art of high quality by public agencies, the independent and commercial development sectors.
To promote the value of research and consultation, marketing, interpretation and education links as an integral element within public art projects.
To generate work and income for artists, makers and the creative industries sector.
To sustain an annual programme of permanent works and temporary installations by artists in the public realm to establish Bristol as a modern, European, safe and legible city.

1:5 THE PLANNING FRAMEWORK

Bristol City Council recognises the potential of public art as part of its vision for the future of the city and has identified key priorities for the period 2002-2005: 
- to achieve the transformation of secondary education in Bristol
- secure Bristol’s economic prosperity and quality of life by accelerating the implementation of the city centre strategy and progressing ten major development projects:
a tram system; an arena seating 8,000-10,000 people; park and ride facilities; an outdoor sports stadium; three major new swimming pools; completion of the Harbourside development; a top quality concert hall; expansion of the Broadmead shopping centre; a conference centre; a Museum of Bristol.
- increase the extent to which economic prosperity benefits the whole city by introducing a new programme for neighbourhood renewal.
- improve the look and cleanliness of the street scene through a Bristol Pride initiative.
- tackle crime and the fear of crime through partnership working in community safety across the council and the city.
- continue to improve the quality of services, particularly those that are currently low performing.
Within the City Centre Strategy the principle objective of the Bristol Public Art Strategy is acknowledged to ensure that public art becomes an integral part of the development process; with a focus in the city centre on three major regeneration areas Broadmead, Harbourside, Temple and main pedestrian routes. 
Key issues in the Cultural Strategy include public art. 
Bristol is committed to becoming a more legible city and to involving artists in the interpretation and development of the urban environment.
Projects led by the Council should be demonstrating best practice in the legibility of their design and their use of public artists.    
The Bristol Legible City initiative is an integrated programme of identity, transportation, information and arts projects designed to improve people’s understanding, experience and enjoyment of the city.
Major capital development of the Colston Hall will offer opportunity for artists to become part of the design process identified via a lead artist as an appointed member of the Colston Hall Design Team. 

1:6 PLANNING GUIDANCE

Planning Policy Guidance (PPG) notes set out the Government’s national policies on different aspects of planning and gives advice to local planning authorities in the preparation of development plans. PPG 17 refers to Planning for Open Space, Sport and Recreation.
In identifying where to locate new areas of open space, sports and recreational facilities, local authorities are asked to locate more intensive recreational uses in sites where they can contribute to town and city centre vitality and viability; and to improve the quality of the public realm through good design.

The report  Living Places, Cleaner, Safer, Greener  sets out the Government’s vision for public space. Key areas that affect the quality of public spaces are highlighted including regeneration, neighbourhood renewal and quality design, promoted:
with those individuals, organisations and partnerships that make policy work on the ground – the police, street cleaners, neighbourhood and street wardens, community leaders, businesses, artists, contractors and local government.  

The Urban Task Force report  Towards an Urban Renaissance  contains over 100 recommendations for change and a number of key themes and measures which include an improvement in the quality and design of the urban environment.

A principle objective of the Strategy for Architecture and the Built Environment in the South West is to achieve the highest quality of design in architecture and the built environment in the South West region. It aims to promote the benefits of good design and architecture, urban planning and integrated public art. The strategy will be published in 2003; further details are available from Public Art South West.
SECTION 2 : PUBLIC ART POLICY

The Public Art Policy was approved by the Cabinet of Bristol City Council on 26 October 2000. The policy (attached as Appendix A) defines how it meets the council’s corporate priorities and is linked with the Cultural Strategy,City Centre Strategy and Bristol Local Plan.

The policy aims to meet certain objectives from Government and national agencies:
- the improvement of urban design as reported in Towards an Urban Renaissance by the Urban Task Force and By Design published by DETR and CABE;
- Policy Action Team No. 10 report on Arts and Sport to the Social Exclusion Unit;
- Arts Council England South West; and Public Art South West’s policy on Architecture and the Built Environment.    
                                       
The term ‘public art’ refers to artists and makers working within the natural, built, urban or rural environment. Public Art aims to integrate artists and makers skills, vision and creative abilities into the process of both the regeneration of existing and creation of new spaces and buildings, in order to enliven and animate them and create a visually stimulating and quality environment.  Working with artists and makers offers an opportunity to design schemes, which go beyond the purely functional and create places that reflect the life, identity and aspirations of a particular place or community.

There is no single definition of public art. 
It can incorporate paving, hard and soft landscaping, fencing, brickwork, glasswork, gates, grilles, windows, lighting, seating, children’s play, carved letter forms and plaques.
It may take the form of tapestries, carpets, weaving, textiles, hangings, banners, use of colour, design of spaces, mobiles, ceramics, tiling, interior lighting, signage, and flooring.
It could be sculpture, photography, prints, paintings, moving images, computer generated images, performance, events, music commissions etc. It can introduce narrative or text, be decorative, humorous, beautiful, subtle or contentious.
It may refer to our heritage or celebrate the future, highlight specific areas and issues or be conceptual. Work can be permanent or temporary, internal or external, integral or free standing, monumental or domestic, large or small scale, design or ornament.
In whatever form, public art has one consistent quality: it is site-specific and relates to the context of that site. 
                                                                                             
The policy statement encourages the commission of public art and advises external organisations, including commercial developers, architects and the people of Bristol of the city council’s priorities.
It raises awareness of the value of public art within all council departments; makes  strategic links with other corporate policies and provides a consistent and coherent approach to public art across the authority.
It aims to encourage and support public art development within all appropriate developments especially regeneration projects and environmental improvements works.
It will provide a link with the statutory development plan and emerging Community Strategy for Bristol. 
It outlines how Bristol City Council will profile and support the commissioning of public art through the Development Control process, respective development briefs, the use of planning conditions, and Section 106 planning agreements. 

A vigorous application of this Public Art Policy aims to: 
- initiate and support commissions for artists and makers;
- invest in the arts and support the local creative economy;
- involve artists both conceptually and practically in the development of Bristol Legible City and Neighbours of Culture;
- commission public art to enhance civic pride and Bristol’s status as a major European city;
- create unique identity in areas of renewal and regeneration; 
- improve the built environment, encourage business relocation and economic development;
- attract additional funds for regeneration to complement and extend existing budgets;
- create and develop new audiences for the arts;  
- enhance community involvement and empowerment, to build capacity and respective skills;

- promote a critical approach to the development of the urban and built environment.

Bristol City Council recognises and can demonstrate opportunities for artists to contribute to capital programme schemes; to integrate public art into the council’s own capital building programmes e.g. libraries refurbishment, school building, housing renewal projects. It aims: 
- to establish good working practices in commissioning, to maintain public art of the highest quality and to lead by example;
- secure funds from within the authority and from other public and commercial sector partners;
- to advocate within the Local Plan and encourage other developers to create opportunities for public art in the city centre and outer neighbourhoods.

SECTION 3 : BRISTOL LOCAL PLAN

Policy L10 of the current Bristol Local Plan links public art with the planning and development process. This provides the basis for the provision of public art through new development requiring planning permission.

The development control ‘vehicles’ for securing resources for public art through this re-enforced process of encouragement will be section 106 agreements and conditions within planning applications. The majority of developments are likely to follow the route of securing a condition in the planning application route because it is less legally onerous. The section 106 route would be pursued for large, high profile projects where a package of benefits is being negotiated. Public art would be presented alongside the realm of planning obligation which under the national planning guidance (PPG1) highlights aspects of design as a material consideration.

A review and update of the Bristol Local Plan in 2002 has given an opportunity to increase the profile of the relatively new Public Arts Policy and revise both policy statements and delivery expectations for the period 2003 – 2008. A new profile for public art will refer to artworks made specifically for the public realm by artists, makers and designers working within the natural, built, urban and rural environment. This will aim to integrate artist’s skills, vision and creative ideas at the earliest possible stage and be part of the planning and development control process.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
It is proposed that a new approach to public art is encouraged, integrated with the corporate priorities of Bristol City Council; multi-directorate in philosophy and application, integral to education, housing, environment, transport, planning, social, health and cultural services. A new framework is needed to enable wider public engagement in public art in both city centre and outer neighbourhoods. This must build on the existing links with the planning and development control process and encourage on a voluntary basis the commission and provision of art and craftwork by public and private sector developers. Attention to the quality of urban design quality will encourage more work for artists and demonstrate and achieve new models of art in the public realm.                                                                       

Within the (emerging) Bristol Local Plan 2001-2011 public art is profiled within the Built Environment section to recognise the quality and special character of different parts of Bristol and welcome new development that improves the existing environment through good urban design. 
4.3.7  To raise public awareness and values in respect of existing buildings, structures, public spaces and other townscape features and the benefits flowing from Public Art which contribute towards the identity and character of Bristol.
4.4.8A  The provision of public art as an integral part of the design is an important means to enhance local identity and contribute to local distinctiveness. Consequently major new development proposals should consider the following:
(i)  The inclusion of public art elements in the external treatment of buildings.
(ii) The provision of public art commissions which enhance existing and new open spaces.   
(iii) The provision of signage which encompasses a public art approach.
(iv) The incorporation of artworks which aid legibility and movement.
It should be noted that public art is an integral part of good urban and building design and not a substitute for poor design.
POLICY B2 : IN DETERMINING APPLICATIONS ACCOUNT WILL BE TAKEN OF THE FOLLOWING:
(v) INTEGRATION OF PUBLIC ART INTO MAJOR DEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS TO ENHANCE IDENTITY AND LOCAL DISTINCTIVENESS

Public Art
4.4.18A  As a Centre of Cultural Excellence, the importance of the contribution of cultural activities contribute to the vitality and attractiveness of Bristol with a number of arts venues, organisations and artists working together to create a distinct identity and sense of place. The role an artist plays in the development and design of a high quality, physical and visual environment is recognised and the Council’s Public Art Policy demonstrates the commitment to the development of public art across the city and the practical implications of involving an artist in the development process.   
It aims to integrate the arts within high quality urban design and enable artists to be involved at the earliest possible stage. It enshrines a principle objective of the Strategy for Architecture and the Built Environment in the South West  which promotes high quality and the benefits of good design and architecture, urban planning and integrated public art. It also encourages the commission of high quality artworks made specifically for the public realm by artists, makers and designers. 

B5A  THE COUNCIL WILL ENCOURAGE THE INVOLVEMENT OF AN ARTIST IN COLLABORATIVE DESIGN AT THE EARLIEST POSSIBLE STAGE OF ALL PROPOSED MAJOR DEVELOPMENT, INCLUDING NEW AND REFURBISHED HOUSING, PUBLIC OPEN SPACE ENHANCEMENT AND AS PART OF HEALTH INITIATIVES. 

Implementation: In partnership with Arts Council England, South West; Public Art South West; Development Control and the City Council’s Arts Development Unit within Cultural Services. 

SECTION 4 : THE PLANNING FRAMEWORK

The Bristol Public Art Strategy places public art within the planning and development process. It encourages the commission of public art as part of high quality urban and building design, integral within new development schemes and as part of social investment in new and refurbished housing, improvements to open public space, arts and health initiatives, towards creative and neighbourhood renewal. The importance of an integral approach to the procurement of public art is advocated within national and local policy guidance. 

4:1  PLANNING POLICY GUIDANCE (PPG) 17

Planning Policy Guidance (PPG) notes set out the Government’s national policies on different aspects of planning and advise local planning authorities in the preparation of development plans. 
PPG17 refers to Planning for Open Space, Sport and Recreation:
Open spaces, sport and recreation all underpin people’s quality of life. 
Well designed and implemented planning policies for open space, sport and recreation are therefore fundamental to delivering broader Government objectives.
These include:
- supporting an urban renaissance
- promotion of social inclusion
- health and well being
- promoting more sustainable development

In identifying where to locate new areas of open space, sports and recreational facilities, local authorities are asked to locate more intensive recreational uses in sites where they can contribute to town and city centre vitality and viability; and to improve the quality of the public realm through good design.

Open space can be located in parks and gardens, green corridors, civic spaces and other hard surfaced areas designed for pedestrians.
Local authorities should also recognise that most areas of open space can perform multiple functions; for example:
- urban quality: helping to support regeneration and improving quality of life for communities by providing visually attractive green spaces close to where people live;
- as a visual amenity: even without public access, people enjoy having open space near to them to provide an outlook, variety in the urban scene, or as a positive element in the landscape.     

4:2  LIVING PLACES   

The report Living Places, Cleaner, Safer, Greener sets out the Government’s vision for public space.

The best public realm schemes strive for the highest achievable quality. This does not always mean the most expensive solution but does imply an understanding of the principles of good design, a balancing of the sustainable over the quick fix, of quality over quantity, of innovation over the easy option. Quality tends to focus minds on design issues. ‘Living Places, Cleaner, Safer, Greener’   Office of the Deputy Prime Minister 10.02   
Key areas that affect the quality of public spaces are highlighted including regeneration, neighbourhood renewal and quality design, promoted: 
with those individuals, organisations and partnerships that make policy work on the ground – the police, street cleaners, neighbourhood and street wardens, community leaders, businesses, artists, contractors and local government. 

4:3  TOWARDS AN URBAN RENAISSANCE

The Urban Task Force will identify causes of urban decline in England and recommend practical solutions to bring people back into our cities, towns and urban neighbourhoods. It will establish a new vision for urban regeneration founded on the principles of design excellence, social well-being and environmental responsibility within a viable economic and legislative framework.                 Mission statement  1999

In association with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, the Urban Task Force set out to consider how the quality of towns and countryside
can be improved while simultaneously creating four million additional households in England over a twenty-five year period. It promotes a change in urban attitude so that towns and cities can become attractive places to live, work and socialise.
The Task Force’s report contains over 100 recommendations to local authorities and public agencies with a number of key themes and measures identified which include an improvement in the quality and design of the urban environment.

The quality of the built environment in our towns and cities has a crucial impact on the way they function. Well-designed buildings, streets, neighbourhoods and districts are essential for successful social, economic and environmental regeneration.
                                                                                                                           Urban Task Force Report 

Within the Designing the Urban Environment section main recommendations include:
- the introduction of a national urban design framework and the dissemination of key design principles through planning and funding guidance;
- a series of Government-sponsored demonstration projects which adopt an integrated approach to design-led regeneration of different types of urban neighbourhood;
- the establishment of Local Architecture Centres in each major city.

4:4  STRATEGY FOR ARCHITECTURE AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT 

In 2000 work commenced on defining a Strategy for Architecture and the Built Environment.
With funds from Arts Council England South West, Public Art South West, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, Government Office South West, Royal Institute of British Architects and the South West of England Regional Development Agency, consultants Jon Rowland Urban Design were commissioned to undertake research towards the development of ‘a common manifesto and action plan, jointly owned by key partners charged with delivering change in the region.’  

A principle objective of the Strategy for Architecture and the Built Environment in the South West is to achieve the highest quality of design in architecture and the built environment in the South West region. It aims to promote the benefits of good design and architecture, urban planning and integrated public art.
Good quality, attractive buildings and public spaces play a key role in urban and rural regeneration. How to ensure that quality is paramount is a key aim of this Strategy.                                                            Maggie Bolt, Director, Public Art South West 

The Strategy has five specific aims:
Process:  to achieve greater public participation in planning and decision making;
to ensure that good design criteria is embedded in regional policies.
Skills and Knowledge:  to increase the design skills available at every level by                                                                                                                                                      engaging universities, schools and other education agencies as well as other                                                                                                                disciplines such as artists or gender specialists.
Communication:  to celebrate and acknowledge good design and disseminate good practice in the region.
Mechanisms and key players: to influence private and public sector developers to raise their design aspirations; to increase collaboration between all participants involved in environmental change.
Vision and Culture: to promote the benefits of good design and in particular foster good architecture, urban planning and integrated public art.
The strategy will be published in 2003; further details are available from Public Art South West.                                                                               (Information source: Public Art South West)

4:5  PUBLIC ART SOUTH WEST

Public Art South West (PASW) is the public art development agency for the South West, whose remit is to develop a wide range of opportunities for artists and craftspeople to contribute in diverse and innovative ways to the built and natural environment. 

PASW leads on the development of a range of strategies for public art development in the region. It works in partnership with a wide range of organisations in the public and private sectors and focuses on advocacy, planning and development, training, advice and support and information. PASW welcomes collaborations and works closely with artists, architects, developers, local authorities and agencies concerned with the quality of the environment.    
Further information is available on www.publicartonline.org.uk

4:6  BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL   

4:6.1  Corporate Plan 2002-2005

The Local Government Act 2000 places a duty on local authorities to prepare ‘community strategies’ for promoting the economic, social and environmental well-being of their areas. Community strategies will be prepared and implemented by Local Strategic Partnerships which consist of representatives of all the major stakeholders in the city. The Bristol Partnership has been formed and has begun to prepare a community strategy for the city. Bristol City Council recognises the potential of public art as part of its vision for the future of the city and has identified key priorities for the period 2002-2005: 
- to achieve the transformation of secondary education in Bristol
- secure Bristol’s economic prosperity and quality of life by accelerating the implementation of the city centre strategy and progressing ten major development projects: a tram system; an arena seating 8,000-10,000 people; park and ride facilities; an outdoor sports stadium; three major new swimming pools; completion of the Harbourside development; a top quality concert hall; expansion of the Broadmead shopping centre; a conference centre; a Museum of Bristol
- increase the extent to which economic prosperity benefits the whole city by introducing a new programme for neighbourhood renewal
- improve the look and cleanliness of the street scene 
- tackle crime and fear of crime through partnership across the council and the city
- continue to improve the quality of services

4:6.2  Cultural Strategy

The arts are one element of a broad cultural portfolio which comprises:
archaeology – architecture – archives – arts – broadcasting – countryside – crafts – cultural industries – the environment (natural, managed and built) – film and video – heritage – libraries – media – museums – parks – recreation – sports and tourism.
While Bristol City Council is charged by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, to produce a Cultural Strategy the range of cultural resource as profiled is not limited to local authority services.

It is anticipated that the Cultural Strategy will acknowledge the visual arts as a particular strength in arts provision with organisations like Arnolfini, Spike Island, other studio groups and a large number of visual artists living and trying to make a living in Bristol. Key issues will be highlighted: to identify and generate support for the development of the creative industries; to promote the intrinsic value of the arts to the cultural life and profile of the city; to set up sustainable and appropriate local arts opportunities in neighbourhoods and connections between neighbourhoods and the centre; to develop and sustain arts infrastructure in terms of facilities and organisations; festival development and support in order to promote high profile city-wide collaborative initiatives; arts in education and life-long learning; creative partnerships; and public art.   

Bristol is committed to becoming a more legible city and to involving artists in the interpretation and development of the urban environment.
Projects led by the Council should be demonstrating best practice in the legibility of their design and their use of public artists. 

4:6.3  City Centre Strategy

The strategy profiles a strengthening of the roles which arts, culture and community activities and facilities have in city centre life. An important part of the quality of cities is the richness of its social and cultural interaction. The city centre has a rich mix of venues, attractions, events, activities and increasingly public spaces.
Bristol’s bid for European Capital of Culture 2008 gives opportunity to increase the profile of arts and culture within the city under the key themes of access, education and lifelong learning, the creative economy and excellence.

A Culture Quarter is also profiled in the area surrounding St Augustine’s Reach - the Centre - Arnolfini - proposed Museum of Bristol - Watershed - Architecture Centre - 
@t Bristol - Bristol Old Vic - Hippodrome - Colston Hall; connecting with College Green - Central Library - Cathedral - Lord Mayor’s Chapel - Park Street - St George’s Brandon Hill - Georgian House - Queen’s Road - Museum and Art Gallery - Royal West of England Academy - and the Victoria Rooms. Investment is underway or planned for many of these facilities. Every opportunity should be taken to not only strengthen their individual identity and quality, but also develop the common interests and links between them. 
The principle objective of the Bristol Public Art Strategy is acknowledged – to ensure that public art becomes an integral part of the development process; with a focus in the city centre on three major regeneration areas (Broadmead, Harbourside, Temple) and main pedestrian routes. 

4:6.4  Bristol Legible City

The Bristol Legible City Initiative is an integrated programme of identity, transportation, information and arts projects designed to improve people’s understanding, experience and enjoyment of the city.
Bristol Legible City has been developed by the City Council and its partners to link together the discrete areas of the city centre. The initiative combines innovative principles with a flow of consistently designed information to provide the city with a clear identity and to reinforce the character of its individual neighbourhoods. It also makes attractions easier to find and encourages a shift towards public transport use.
In the first phase of Bristol Legible City, a pedestrian and information system, including i+ interactive street terminals, has been successfully implemented.
Working in association with lead artists FAT (Fashion Architecture Taste), temporary public art schemes have included walkietalkie a linear pavement text stream by poet Ralph Hoyte and Colin Pearce, which marked the launch of the system and high life which consists of eight artworks installed within the trees of Queen Square.
Future phases of the initiative will focus on movement and neighbourhood identity, linking the outer city to the central area. This will involve a consideration of primary routes, local centres, inner city gateways and reinforcing links with the Bristol City Centre Strategy.
There are two ways in which the suburban environment could be significantly improved. The first is through way-finding; the second is place-making, a means of reinforcing local distinctiveness and layering the legibility of urban spaces. Enhancing sense of place and strengthening neighbourhood identity is an essential aspect of urban regeneration.

4:6:5  Neighbourhood Arts Strategy

The Neighbourhood Arts Strategy (currently in draft form) is being compiled by the Arts Development Unit of Bristol City Council. It reflects the corporate priorities of the city council, in particular to:

Strengthening of local communities 
where artistic and cultural activity is key to expressing personal and social identity:
- the arts are at the heart of all flourishing communities.
- cultural diversity and community pride can be celebrated through arts activity.
- improved environments in city neighbourhoods and a greater sense of ownership of regeneration can be encouraged through community arts activity and public art projects with a high level of participation and consultation.
- the arts can encourage greater appreciation of the city and contribute to public awareness of conservation issues.

Achieving lifelong learning - the arts are a significant vehicle for developing learning opportunities for people outside the formal educational sector, as well as supporting the raising of attainment in young people at school. The development of the Arts Council’s Creative Partnerships scheme is a significant signal from Government that the arts have a central role to play in education.

Promoting health and wellbeing – where involvement in the arts can promote the development of self-esteem and personal growth. Arts in healthcare settings can support an holistic approach to healing which promotes recovery as well as improving physical and cultural access to healthy living.

There is a meeting point between community regeneration objectives and the opportunities for aligned arts development. It gives opportunity for accessible, inclusive, outreach programmes to enable public engagement with the arts on the margins rather than in mainstream or more established locations.  
This is the context for arts development at a local level where collaborative relationships between artists and local people can provide a relevant framework and starting-point to generate access and achievement in the arts for all people - a key objective of the 2008 project ‘Neighbourhoods of Culture’.

4:7  A New Commitment to Neighbourhood Renewal
 
In 1998 the Prime Minister commissioned the Social Exclusion Unit to develop a framework of support for disadvantaged, deprived areas. 
‘Bringing Britain together; a national strategy for neighbourhood renewal’ was published in 1998 and recommended eighteen Policy Action Teams to ‘fast-track policy thinking on some of the most intractable problems'.
The aim of the strategy is to arrest the decline of deprived neighbourhoods with a 'coalition' of policies and combined resources to revive local economies - revive communities - ensure decent services - give leadership and enable joint working. Within the objectives of reviving communities are a number of key ideas - to build community confidence and encourage residents to help themselves. A partnership approach to achieve these goals is recommended. The arts are also profiled:
Key Idea 11 : Promoting arts and sport in deprived neighbourhoods by focusing the spend of bodies such as the Arts Council and Sport England much more on tackling social exclusion, particularly in deprived areas.

Ten Neighbourhood Renewal Priority Areas have been identified in Bristol:
Ashley (St Pauls, St Agnes, St Werburghs) – Barton Hill – Easton – Hartcliffe & Withywood – Hillfields – Knowle West – Lawrence Hill – Lawrence Weston – Lockleaze – Southmead. 
A key objective of the Neighbourhood Arts Strategy (see 4:4.5 above) is to generate profile and recognition of the value of the arts in regeneration of each Neighbourhood Renewal Priority Area in Bristol.
In 2002/03 four public art ‘demonstration’ projects are being supported in the following Neighbourhood Renewal Priority Areas in Bristol :
Ashley : St Pauls Learning and Family Centre.
Barton Hill : Healthy Living Centre
Hartcliffe & Withywood and Knowle West : ‘Spacemakers’ 
Knowle West : ‘The Art  of Well Being’, Knowle West Health Park  
4:8  PLANNING GREEN PAPER   delivering a fundamental change

We need good planning to deliver sustainable development, to harness growth to build a better future. We need a better, simpler, faster, more accessible system that serves both business and the community. That is exactly what this Green Paper seeks to achieve.                                  Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions

In March 2002 the British Urban Regeneration Association held a regional seminar in Bristol to discuss the Planning Green Paper. Lord Falconer introduced the purpose and thinking behind the Green Paper and emphasised that the Green Paper aimed to bring the planning process ‘closer to the community’ with reference to greater links being made between Community and Local Plans in order to acknowledge ‘the wider interests of the community’. He referred to the importance of creating strategies for community engagement with the planning process and involve the community in the preparation of a new Local Development Framework. Structure plans, local plans and unitary development plans will be abolished, replaced with a new single level of plan. It is anticipated that planning will gain a new strategic focus to simplify the current complex hierarchical system of plans. Local plans will be replaced with new Local Development Frameworks and connect with a Local Community Strategy.

Engaging the Community

4.24  Local authorities will have the opportunity to seek direct participation from local people in shaping the future of their communities, taking their view on the type of development they would like to see and how it is to be laid out. Our concept of action plans is very much one which encourages planning to be undertaken close to the people who it most directly affects.
                                                                                                                                                                  
Action Plans would include area master plans – comprehensive plans for a major area of renewal or development covering design, layout and location of new houses and commercial development supported by a detailed implementation programme.
Neighbourhood and village plans would set out how the distinctive character of a neighbourhood, village or parish is to be preserved, the location of any new development and the design standards to be applied. They would also identify key services and facilities.
Design statements  will set out design standards; site development briefs will set out detailed guidance on how a particular site is to be developed. Fundamental changes in development control are outlined with an emphasis on quality not quantity and where design matters in order to create a sense of place.   

Charging for services
The Green Paper recognises that pre-application advice can represent a significant drain on a local authority’s resources. The Local Government White Paper promotes an intention by Government to enable local authorities to charge for pre-application advice – if they wish.
In setting fees for pre-application discussions, local authorities will need to ensure that they are not set at such a level as to discourage applicants from seeking advice which might improve applications, thereby lessening the burden on the local authority later in the planning process.

SECTION 5
PUBLIC ART AS PART OF PLANNING AND ARTS DEVELOPMENT

Art in the public realm can have a direct influence on our quality of life, how we live and how the landscape/environment is shaped. It can reach a public who may never have any other first hand contact with the arts. Therefore it is important that those who commission work are supported by skilled and professional help, make contact with artists and establish relationships which will lead to high quality projects.
                                                                                                                                              Maggie Bolt
5:1 Advocacy and procurement

Good public art is site-specific. It can help to define public space. 
The commission and design of public art should be informed by the associative qualities of a particular location as defined in respective development briefs. 
It should be integral with urban design principles and expectations. 
The means to achieve public art should reflect planning guidance, corporate policies and delivery mechanisms to provide a consistent, coherent approach towards the regular commission of art of high quality in the public realm.

Bristol City Council’s Public Art Policy demonstrates a commitment to the development of public art across the city. 
Within the (emerging) Bristol Local Plan, the expectations associated with the Public Art Policy are profiled within the Built Environment section.
The public art policy statement and associated publications are used by way of advocacy to encourage the commission of public art across the city and advise external organisations.   

The location of two full-time public art officer posts within the Department of Environment, Transport and Leisure, is designed to enable the planning authority to monitor planning applications and ensure that public art is integrated into major development proposals. It is advocated that public art is presented in the context of planning obligation, which under national planning guidance (PPG1) highlights aspects of design as a material consideration. Bristol City Council will profile and support the commissioning of public art through the Development Control process, respective development briefs, the use of planning conditions and Section 106 planning agreements.     

In determining (planning) applications, the opportunity to incorporate proposals for public art within design statements as part of planning negotiation is encouraged by respective area planning officers and Development Control in association with the Senior Public Art Officer and Art Project Manager. 

5:2 Working with artists

Artists and makers, their individual practice, presence and creative output are important to the cultural infrastructure of a city. In fact they make up a significant subsector of Bristol’s burgeoning creative industries sector. Public art commissions can contribute by creating employment opportunities for artists, makers and fabricators who in turn utilise local industry, skills and resources. Other than by the purchase of artwork, investment in visual arts practice can be extended to specific commission and the involvement of artists in the design and use of the public realm.  A distinction of Bristol City Council’s public art programme is the opportunity it gives to artists interested in working to commission within architecture, transport and public realm information and identity projects, especially as part of the Bristol Legible City initiative. 

By 2008 an enhanced economy of the creative industries in Bristol will have recognised the respective professional development needs of artists and generated high quality commissioned work. Bristol Legible City will have uncovered further layers of information and meaning to places and routes on Harbourside, in Broadmead, Redcliffe and Temple. Artist interventions will have been presented along major pedestrian and transport routes, public open spaces and development sites which together with an annual programme of permanent works and temporary interventions by local, regional and national artists will assist in making Bristol a modern, European, safe and legible city.

5:3 Artist selection

A successful Call to Artists Campaign which commenced in the spring 2002 has enabled the Arts Development Unit of Bristol City Council to provide a database of artists interested in working to commission in the public realm. It can advise the selection of ‘Lead artists’ and artists for prospective commissions:
- by open submission following advertisement to enable any artist to register interest;
- limited competition: invitation to a small number of recommended artists who are paid to produce first stage design proposals and/or invited for interview;
- direct invitation: artists approached directly and invited to undertake a commission or in response to artists themselves initiating an idea;
- purchase of contemporary work: direct from the artist, studio or gallery or from open or limited submission.                                                             (Information source: Arts Council England)

Bristol City Council normally expects appointments to be made following public advertisement and a defined selection process. Being a friend of the architect or developer is not usually a successful way of ensuring an inclusive approach to the commission or procurement of high quality public art. The public art policy enables work for artists, especially those artists at an early career stage. It also seeks to involve artists and communities who have traditionally been excluded from public art.

A commission panel should short-list and select artists against agreed criteria to assess for example:
track record and experience of art in the public realm;
conceptual skills towards the production of original artwork of high quality;
the ability to communicate with a variety of different people;
some experience of working with architects and landscape designers;
an interest in and experience of collaborative design and planning;
the ability to recognise the potential for artwork as an integral part of the internal and external structure of public buildings;
awareness of financial thresholds within capital building projects;
an understanding and experience of different methods of community consultation;
experience of setting up and running workshops and events with people of different ages and abilities;
experience of working with and or commissioning other artists.

5:4 Good practice

Commissioning for complex capital projects depends on good team-work. The arts consultant is a key player in the commissions team which will often include other professionals such as architects, engineers, planners and community leaders as well as artists and makers. Even small commissions may need co-ordination and professional guidance from the beginning of the scheme. 
                                                                                                                           Arts Council England

Implementation and service delivery of Bristol City Council’s Public Art Strategy lies within the Arts Development Unit and City Projects and Urban Design team. Local authority officer support with specialist knowledge of public art can advise how best to integrate a public art component within a major development proposal seeking planning permission.   

Pre-application advice will promote the value of public art strategies as part of planning proposals; recommend the role and selection procedures of artists, art consultants and project managers; and define the important link between policy and procurement, artist and architect so critical to the success of completed commissioned work. 

Good contractual practice will be advocated for each design and commission phase of a public art scheme. This will ensure that key obligations are recognised with regard: 
research and consultation – design and production stages – fee payments/schedules –  insurance and public liability – delivery/installation of work – copyright – ownership
and adoption  responsibilities of management companies  –  commuted sums for the long term care and maintenance of completed works – repair liabilities – relocation –
and de-commission.
                                                                                                                                  
5:5  Consultation 

A key objective of the Bristol Public Art Strategy is to promote the value of research and consultation as an integral element within public art projects. It echoes a similar priority of the Neighbourhood Arts Strategy to generate a greater sense of ownership and public involvement in regeneration and change. Local development frameworks aim to promote greater community engagement with the planning process to seek 
direct participation from local people in shaping the future of their communities.
                                                                           Planning Green Paper   delivering a fundamental change
This helps to ensure the survival of artworks in the vulnerable public domain.

First stage design proposals as commissioned from artists should be informed by project research, site visits and discussion with local people.
Artists can also work very effectively with local people and groups. They can enhance a ‘sense of place’ by helping people to articulate, in many different ways, the perception and experience of their environment.
                                                                                                                                    Arts Council England

SECTION 6 : ACTION PLAN 

Consultation

To set up a Public Art Advisory Group :
- to support consultation linked with the publication of the Bristol Public Art Strategy as planned with service divisions of Bristol City Council, artists, arts and other organisations;
- to advise major capital schemes to be targetted for the inclusion of public art;
- to monitor a strategic approach and ensure professional arts commissions practice.  

Application and key targets of the Bristol Public Art Strategy

To promote acknowledgement and further support of public art and the creative industries in Bristol by the South West England Regional Development Agency; Regional Cultural Consortium; Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment; Arts Council England, South West and Public Art South West.

Establish new partners for public art development as part of cultural strategies, local development partnerships and collaborative planning.

To give enhanced profile and recognition of the added value that an accessible, culturally diverse programme of public art can bring for public benefit.

Establish a coherent framework of advice to enable the commission of public art of high quality by public agencies, the independent and commercial development sector.

Encourage the commission of temporary and permanent public artworks using new technologies, new materials and in new formats, to challenge and build new audiences for contemporary art.

To promote the value of research and consultation, marketing, interpretation and education links as an integral element within public art projects.

Generate work and income for artists, makers and the cultural industries sector.
In association with artists, curators, art consultants, Public Art South West, Bristol Eastside Traders, BRAVE Enterprise Agency, Business Link and other training agencies, identify respective professional development needs to support the public art commissions programme in Bristol. 

To monitor and evaluate major public art projects to give an objective analysis of achievement and inform future projects. 

To sustain an annual programme of permanent works and temporary installations by  artists in the public realm of a modern, European, safe and legible city.

APPENDIX A  
BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL   PUBLIC ART POLICY     
					           
This policy demonstrates the council’s commitment to supporting the development of public art across the city of Bristol.  The aim of the policy is to highlight this commitment and to act as an advocacy tool to influence, shape and support the integration of public art into capital development schemes within an overall approach of targeted encouragement backed up by officer expertise to enable implementation. This policy builds on the council’s track record of commissioning artists and gives policy framework for the council’s support. The policy is aligned to the Bristol Arts Strategy 1997 and detailed in the City Centre Strategy 1998.  It will complement and re-enforce the public art statement in the Local Plan, which currently reads:
Objective 4.3.7: “To raise public awareness and values in respect of existing buildings, structures, public spaces and other townscape features and the benefits flowing from the public art which contribute towards the character and identity of Bristol.”

Public Art in Bristol 

Bristol is the regional capital of the West of England where more than 400,000 people live and 80,000 people travel to work each day.  The city has a dynamic and prosperous past, which has contributed to the development of the rich architectural and historic urban environment.  Cultural activities additionally contributes to the vitality and attractiveness of the city with a number of arts venues, organisations and artists playing a vital role in creating a distinct identity and sense of place. 

In recent years, the scale and range of construction and development in the city has been considerable with significant private and public investment helping to create a more sustainable mix of uses within the city.  This in turn has transformed central Bristol into a place not only to work, but also to live, to relax and to visit, and has raised expectations with regard to the quality and cultural expression that should be found in its streets and spaces and on its buildings.

Contributing to this is the recognition of the role that artists have played in the development of the built environment and the need to continue this tradition in order to reflect the values and skills of today.  This approach can be seen in nationally-recognised projects that have integrated the work of artists into the improvement of city centre spaces such as Castle Park, area renewal investment at Easton and St. Werburghs, and the millennium schemes focused within the City Docks.

Public Art – Its Scope

The term public art refers to artists and craftspeople working within the built, natural, urban or rural environment. It aims to integrate artists' and craftspeople's skills, vision and creative abilities into the whole process of creating new spaces and regenerating old ones, in order to imbue the development with a unique quality and to enliven and animate the space by creating a visually stimulating environment.  Working with artists and craftspeople offers an opportunity to design schemes, which go beyond the purely functional and create places that reflect the life and aspirations of the district, county or region.

There is no simple definition of public art: 
•	It may result in paving, landscaping (hard and soft), fencing, brickwork, glasswork, gates, grilles, windows, lighting, seating, play areas/structures, carved lettering and plaques.
•	It may take the form of tapestries, carpets, weaving, textiles, hangings, banners, use of colour, design of spaces, mobiles, ceramics, tiling, interior lighting, signage, and flooring.
•	It could be sculpture, photography, prints, paintings, moving images, computer generated images, performance, events, music commissions etc. It can introduce narrative or text, be decorative, humorous, beautiful, subtle or contentious.
•	It may refer to our heritage or celebrate the future, highlight specific areas and issues or be conceptual. Work can be permanent or temporary, internal or external, integral or free standing, monumental or domestic, large or small scale, design or ornament.
Whatever the outcome, it has one consistent quality; it is specific to the site and relates to the context of that site. 
The key elements of successful public art projects are collaboration, consultation and participation, quality and education.

Why Have a Policy?

The benefits of a policy on public art are as follows:

1.	It clearly illustrates the Council’s commitment to this area of work that is a priority within the Arts Development Unit as highlighted in the Bristol Arts Strategy 1997.

2.	A formal statement is critical as an advocacy tool to influence external organisations, including private developers, architects and the people of Bristol of the city council’s priorities.

3.	It will raise awareness of the value of public art within other council departments and make a link strategically to other corporate policies and delivery mechanisms thus providing a consistent and coherent approach to public art across the authority.

4.	It will encourage and support public art development within all developments especially sustainable regeneration projects and environmental improvements works.

5.	It will provide a link with the statutory development plan and any future Community Plan for Bristol. 

6.	It can support the commissioning of public art through the Development Control process, Section 106 agreements and for example related development briefs.

7.	It will set down the objectives that can form the basis for a public art development plan that can be measured for achievements and success over a set period.

8.	It can add substance to the application process for grant-aid. 

What are the benefits of public art for the authority?

Public art can support the council’s priorities of regeneration and sustainable development, lifelong learning and social exclusion by:

1.	Initiating and supporting commissions that inspire creativity and imagination.

2.	Integrating artists both conceptually and practically in the development of Bristol Legible City initiative* in order to further the aims of the project.

3.	Display of public art can enhance civic pride and Bristol’s status as an emerging major European city thus enhancing the potential growth of the tourism sector.

4.	Creating unique identity for areas of renewal and regeneration thus engendering pride of place. 

5.	Improving the built environment that in turn encourages business relocation and economic development.

6.	Investment in the arts encourages sustainable cultural activity and encourages artists to stay in the area.

7.	Attaching additional funds for regeneration that compliments existing budgets.

8.	Creating and developing new audiences for arts practice. 

9.	Developing creative skills of imagination, self-awareness and personal growth for participants of public art projects.

10.	Enhancing community cohesion that builds social skills of communication, articulation and social awareness

11.	Developing critical approaches to the development of the urban and built environment.

12.	Community-led public art bring communities together and acts as a catalyst for local empowerment.

13.	Access to training, skills development and skills sharing in public art that contributes to the path of lifelong learning for individual members of the community.

The key principles of equal opportunities adopted by the council underpin the development and implementation of this policy.

* Bristol Legible City is a citywide initiative that aims to promote confident, fluid and well informed movements of residents and visitors within and between the different areas and neighbourhoods of the city. 

How can the City Council put the Policy into Practice?

1.	The city council can lead the way by recognising and supporting opportunities for artists to contribute to capital programme schemes.  Supporting public art projects via the capital programme of the authority would mean integrating public art into the council’s own capital building programmes eg lighting schemes, paving, school building, housing renewal projects.

2.	Establish good working practices in commissioning and maintaining public art of the highest quality to lead by example.

3.	Support the initiatives of others by offering training, advice and guidance where appropriate.

4.	Support aspirational and practical initiatives that link across strategies including Local Agenda 21, the Local Plan and regeneration strategies like the City Centre Strategy.

5.  Securing funds from within the authority with match funding from other public and 
     private sector partners.

6.  Act as an advocate to encourage other developers to create opportunities for public art via                                                                                                                              
     the local plan.

7.  Establish a cross-department working group to take forward and develop a strategy for the                                              
     implementation of the policy as described.

This policy has been developed by the Department of Environment, Transport and Leisure.

It is intended this policy will shape the development of a public art strategy and commissioning guidance notes to support public art development.

For further information on the commissioning of public art, contact Arts Development Unit 0117 922 3694 or City Centre Projects/Urban Design 0117 922 3064.

October 2000

APPENDIX B    DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS

Castle Park is apparently where Bristol began and is one of the city’s most important archaeological sites. The History Trail covers a time span of a thousand years from the city’s Saxon origins to the present day. In the 1980’s this riverside area was in need of major refurbishment and a public art component was added to the landscape re-development plan. Commissioned artists collaborated with landscape architects, archaeologists, Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery and the local community, united by a strong sense of environmental commitment, an interest in Castle Park’s history and new ideas for incorporating art in the landscape.   
Commissioned artworks include: Beside the Still Waters by Peter Randall Page who worked with Bristol City Council landscape architects using Kilkenny limestone, Pennant stone, horn beam hedge and pleached Lime trees; Drinking Fountain in bronze by Kate Malone; Herb Garden Railing  by Alan Evans; and park benches in oak and steel by Alan Tilbury. 

In 2000 as part of Year of the Artist, Bristol City Council commissioned artist Helen Schell to produce a flowering artwork for Castle Park with 20,000 tulip and daffodil bulbs planted in November. The project complemented Annie Lovejoy’s Year of the Artist residency with the Parks Service to create the Purdown Man, an ecological artwork made up of 5000 Ox-eye daisies.                                                                                                                                                                                             

I wanted to create a work that celebrated the preservation of an intriguing landscape easily accessible via public rights of way from the inner city. The familiar pedestrian symbol is environmentally recreated in urban parkland and draws on the history of figurative icons in the landscape.        Annie Lovejoy                                                  
                                                                               
Dedicated on the 16 March 1999, the Pero Footbridge across St Augustine’s Reach links Narrow Quay and Queen’s Square with a new Millennium Square across the water.
The bridge is named after Pero, a slave who worked on the Caribbean sugar plantation of the leading 18th century Bristol merchant John Pinney. It was achieved in a design collaboration between artist Eillis O’Connell and engineer’s Ove Arup, commissioned by the JT Group as part of their waterfront development in 1998. 

@t Bristol is a major regeneration Millennium project and has provided the city with a significant new leisure and recreational resource with a unique interface between science, technology, wildlife, the environment and public art. Commissions include:  
Aquarena  by William Pye with two prism shaped monoliths in mirror polished stainless steel, a shimmering wall of water and water terraces. WET was a film/dance collaboration by Rachel Bowen (film) and Lisa Thomas (choreography) centred on William Pye’s sculpture and presented as part of Dance Live Bristol in September 2002. 
Zenith  by David Ward features 52 helicopter lights and is inspired by an analemma – the line traced by the sun recorded at noon over the course of a year as used in the past by navigators, explorers and astronomers.
Small Worlds by Simon Thomas, a 4 metre high abstract sculpture to commemmorate the work of physicist Paul Dirac and his discovery of anti-matter. 
A life-size sculpture by Graham Ibbeson of Bristol born actor Cary Grant was sited in Millennium Square in 2001
Douglas Merritt’s book  Sculpture in Bristol published by the Redcliffe Press honours and highlights the touchstones of memory and achievement to be found in the streets of Bristol. Memorial art enhances the everyday with pointers to the past. It can give cause for reflection, entertain, stimulate broad judgement and awareness.
It can also stand as testament to the role of artists in creating artworks, perhaps in less traditional ways, to add renewed status, character and dynamic quality to a city ambitious to become European City of Culture in 2008. 

Sean Griffiths from Fashion, Architecture and Taste (FAT) is the lead artist for Bristol Legible City and is appointed to contribute at a strategic level to the development of the role of artists within the project and to carry out specific commissions.
High Life and walkie talkie are two completed commissions on the pedestrian route that links the City Centre’s three regeneration areas – Harbourside, Temple and Broadmead. The aim of these commissions is to reinforce the identity of the site on the route with artworks that convey additional layers of meaning. 
High Life consists of eight artworks by artists Antoni and Alison, FAT, Kathleen Herbert, Luke Jerram, John Pym, Julian Opie, Seamus Staunton and Elizabeth Wright. The artworks, which each contain a bird box, are installed within the trees of Queen Square and were created in response to the ecology, history, design and use of the Square.
walkie-talkie by visual artist Colin Pearce and poet Ralph Hoyte, was a temporarily installed 600 metre line of pavement text the appearance of which drew on the placement, colour and font of the Bristol Legible City pedestrian signage system. The text conveyed an alternative way of understanding the City by representing a mixture of voices that combined everyday, chatty conversation with contemporary poetry an local historical facts and references.
At present two public art commissions are being developed as part of Bristol Legible City. Pedestrian’s Friend and City-gates are working titles of projects that will consist of the presentation of a series of permanent or temporary artistic interventions that explore the experience of being a pedestrian in the city centre and the contemporary significance of the city’s historical gateways.  

art and power is a membership led organisation of disabled artists that use a variety of art forms to inform, challenge and inspire. Many of art and power’s members have experienced life in a range of institutions and have often been labelled, separated and marginalised from public life. Having started out in a day centre for adults with learning difficulties the group are now celebrating hard won status as a key arts provider to the City of Bristol. It is the group’s ambition to play a key role in developing a more inclusive and creative city. 
One way the group meets this commitment is through the access to the arts transport research project. The aim of the project is to improve access to the City’s arts venues for disabled people by improving the user’s understanding and experience of the City’s public transport network. Informed by the Bristol Legible City Initiative projects are being developed that aim to improve the quality of service disabled people receive from bus operators, and improve the design and identity of buses, bus stops, timetables and other resources that are important when navigating the City. The projects have a wide-ranging, partnership approach and illustrate how the arts can be an effective tool for delivering social change
Harbourside, Broadmead and Temple are the three main regeneration areas in the City Centre where major development is planned. New shopping and leisure facilities, office accommodation, housing, roads, two new bridges, streets and open public spaces will have an enormous impact on the physical appearance, the economic and social vitality of the city centre. 

On Harbourside Crest Nicholson is beginning to develop Cannon’s Marsh, which is currently one of the largest mixed-use development schemes in Europe. Elsewhere, other developers for example Crosby Homes, Deely Freed, London Paris and J G Bristol Ltd are also developing schemes that will capture the unique character of respective Harbourside locations.

Broadmead is Bristol’s main retail area, which the Bristol Alliance is proposing to expand by building a significant amount of new retail space. The development will be made possible by realigning a section of the City’s inner ring road.  
At Temple the Temple Quay core site, which has provided much needed city centre office accommodation has been completed and plans are now being implemented by the South West Regional Development Agency and the developer Castlemore to build a mixed use development on the Quay’s north shore.    

The developers responsible for implementing these schemes and in other, smaller developments elsewhere in the city centre have been encouraged by the Council to recognise the benefits of commissioning artists. There is an acceptance that artists have an important role in enhancing the quality of the built environment by realising commissions that signify the identity of the development and the City; to encourage exploration of the City during the day and at night; enable way finding and encourage the choice of sustainable modes of transport. Artists such as John Aitken, John Packer, Julian Coode, Peter Freeman and Martin Richman are currently working with developers. 

Arnolfini is one of Europe’s leading centres for the contemporary arts with a national and international reputation for presenting new and innovative work in the visual arts, dance, performance, film and live art. Still Ringing  was a combined artwork for unaccompanied voice, dance and handbells in 1997 presented at the Lead Works in Bristol. Still Running  produced by hAb in 1999, from an original idea by Municipal Corporations, used video, glass, octophonic sound and live performance in a multi-sensory digital work presented in a multi-storey car park. PARA-CITIES: Models for Public Spaces was an exhibion of recent architectural proposals installed in an environment at Arnolfini in 2001 designed by Vito Acconci and the Acconci Studio.  
The artist Susanna Heron is working with the Design Team and architect’s Robin Snell Associates to advise Arnolfini’s planned development phase 2002-2005.                                                             
Four Escaped Animals road signs devised by Julian Opie were sited outside Arnolfini
to symbolically point the way to Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art which opened in Gateshead in July 2002.
                                                                                                                                                                                  
Spike Island combines artists’ studio provision with an artistic programme of exhibitions and events. Housed in the landmark Brooke Bond building, previously a tea-packing factory, it contains over seventy studios, an expansive central exhibition space, visiting artists’ residency studios, workshop facilities and commercial tenants.
Tania Abadjieva was Spike Island Visiting Arts Fellow in 2001 and with the Bristol Arrow Bowling Club and the City and County of Bristol Bowls Club created an installation entitled ‘Drawing Wood’.
Drawing Wood evolves directly from Abadjieva’s observations of England and the experience of a game of lawn bowls. She has taken this slice of Englishness and transported it into the gallery space at Spike Island. Extracting themes, distilling atmosphere, inserting them into an alternative environment she has constructed a participatory event on a grand scale.                                             Spike Island

Jamaica Street Studios are home to over forty of Bristol’s most contemporary artists. Spread over four floors in a building with a rich history dating back to the turn of the century, the studios are used to produce work ranging from video and installation to painting and sculpture.  Centrespace formerly Bristol Craft Centre provides studio-workspace to over twenty artists, designers and makers. The Epstein Building in Mivart Street provides studios for artists, photographers, performers and musicians. Studio-workspace for artists and makers is also available at the Robinson Building in Bedminster.                                                                                                                                  
Front Room was the lower Totterdown art trail held in November 2001 and 2002 with fine art and craftwork exhibited by twenty artists in ten houses. 
The North Bristol Visual Artists Group held a similar event in seven houses and Café Unlimited in November 2002. 
Artists and makers in Southville, Bedminster and Windmill Hill are being invited to be part of the Southville Arts Trail  around artists’ workshops and studios planned for June 2003.     
                                                                              
In the autumn 2000 the Independent Artists Network presented Workplace a multi-disciplinary arts event which showcased emerging and established artists in Bristol and the south west region.                                                                                                                             
For many artists the opportunity to show new work to a local audience is often limited to the formality of the conventional gallery/performance space. Workplace enabled more than 100 artists to present their work in a variety of empty or disused council buildings and spaces. These industrial, commercial and historic sites provided a rare opportunity to discover contemporary art and performance in disregarded or unfamiliar areas of the city.                                                                Independent Artists Network 
In 2003 dialogue will involve artists from Bristol, Hanover and Porto and the commission of temporary artworks and interventions in the floating harbour district.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
There are clear links between quality of the environment, good design and good health. 
Good health and well-being require a clean and harmonious environment in which physical, psychological, social and aesthetic factors are all given their due importance.
European Charter on Environment and Health, World Health Organisation

Bristol Royal Hospital for Children re-opened in 2001 in a new building with artworks commissioned by artists including Ray Smith who worked as lead artist with the interior design team; glass artist, Catrin Jones; Roger Michell who completed a series of ceramic panels for the Hydrotherapy Pool; Walter Jack who made seating and screen forms; a poet-in-residence Bertel Martine; a DVD light box by Carolyn Black; and an 18 metre high interactive sculpture with fibre optics by Andrew Smith sited outside the main entrance entitled Lollypop Be-bop. 

The Dorothy Hodgkin Building (DHB) will be a landmark construction in the centre of Bristol to provide dedicated medical research laboratories for the University of Bristol Research Centre for Neuroendocrinology (URCN) from 2003. In gaining planning permission, the University was encouraged to incorporate an artwork within the building. Four artists – Christine Borland, Rose Finn-Kelcey, Heinrich & Palmer and Mariele Neudecker were short-listed to undertake project research to inform first stage design proposals for a series of artworks to be made for the new building. 
Heinrich & Palmer have been commissioned to prepare more detailed, second-stage proposals. 
The project is jointly funded by the University of Bristol and The Wellcome Trust. The URCN has an international standing in research into the interaction between the brain and circulating hormones under conditions of disease and stress.

The DHB is being built on a corner site at the junction of Whitson Street with Marlborough Street. 
The Kendall Kingscott Partnership is the architectural adviser. The suggested location for the commission is within a series of five window spaces on level 1 within the perimeter of the building. 
The commission gives opportunity for artists to devise a series of artworks for these window spaces, to reflect by way of reference, main cornerstones in thinking in biomedical science. The intention is primarily to make these window spaces a striking artistic feature visible, daytime and at night, to passers-by on both sides of the street. A secondary intention is to generate interest in biomedical science for the inquisitive, with further information available via the URCN website and other reference points.     
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   The commission is supported by a panel of advisers: 
Professor Lightman, Dr Shelley Allen, Dr Colin Dayan; Ms Denna Jones, Sarah Wang, Wellcome Science and Art; Mrs Anne Rook; Ms Caroline Collier, Director, Arnolfini; Mr Tim Stevens, Architectural Adviser, Kendal Kingscott Partnership; Mrs Beryl Calder, Managerial Adviser, Research Centre for Neuroendocrinology; and Alastair Snow, Senior Public Art Officer, Bristol City Council.

In Bristol, public art aims to empower and involve local communities in creative renewal, to demonstrate new links between arts and health. 

Knowle West Health Park is a new national flagship project which promotes new approaches to addressing ill health. A strong partnership between local people and a wide range of health service providers have worked together to create a new ten acre park which hosts a range of new facilities such as a health centre, pharmacy, NHS Walk-in Centre, South Bristol Dialysis Unit, Healthy Living Centre (with complimentary therapies, counselling and advice services), a café, dance studios, gardens and an amphitheatre.  
The Art of Well Being at the Knowle West Health Park celebrates a new creative partnership of Bristol South and West Primary Care Trust, Bristol City Council and the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, Knowle West Media Project, Broadway Performing Arts, the Children’s Fund and the South West Arts’ Regional Arts Lottery Programme. From the summer 2002 Michael Pinsky is working as Lead Artist for the public art programme with Zoe Walker and Neil Bromwich as media/digital artists in residence. 
A windows screening commission for the Renal Dialysis Unit on site at the Health Park has been awarded to the artist Deborah Jones.

Community at Heart is the organisation set up to manage the Bristol New Deal for Communities programme in Barton Hill, Lawrence Hill, Redfield and the Dings.
A group of local residents through the HP2 Group have developed proposals for new and improved healthcare facilities for the New Deal area. By the end of 2003, a new Healthy Living Centre will open in Barton Hill and provide consultation and treatment rooms, a spiritual space or multi-faith room, a creche, meeting rooms, a café, garden, space for complementary therapists, arts activities, a dentist and optician. 
Community architects Quattro Design were appointed in October 2001 to work with residents to design the new Healthy Living Centre. Quattro specialises in housing, community, health and education projects and is well known for producing innovative designs through close collaboration with users, clients and contractors.
From the outset, there has been enthusiasm from local residents ‘that there should be art – both inside and out’. Subsequently, a public art project has been devised with members of the Healthy Places Happy People and Arts Outcome Group and Quattro Design. 
A lead artist Marion Brandis was appointed at an early stage to work closely with the architects and members of the project groups and identify a series of art commissions integral to the building: glass by Anne Smythe; ballustrade and metal gates by Julian Coode; wooden staircase surround and reception desk by Walter Jack;
internal signage by Lucy Casson; paving designs for the reception and courtyard areas by Marion Brandis 

In the summer 2002, Gloria Ojulari Sule worked as Artist Researcher with the Building Design Team to advise the planning and development of St Pauls Learning and Family Centre. She was commissioned to research preliminery ideas and outline design proposals for artworks, creative workshop facilities and exhibition spaces. 
These proposals were informed by project research and consultation with local people
and community organisations associated with the planning of the new centre. 
She joined discussions of the Building Design Team and advised best approaches and opportunities for incorporating the arts and arts facilities as an integral part of the building and also within a developing programme of activity in the centre.  
Subsequently three artists, Chris Trow, Barbara Disney and Valda Jackson were commissioned to make first stage design proposals for glass, mosaic and mural works supported by an art commissions programme consultant. 

The St Pauls External Environment Study was published by Mason Richards Planning in July 2002. It was funded jointly by the Department of Environment, Transport and Leisure, Bristol City Council and the South West Regional Development Agency on behalf of the External Environment Sub Group to the St Pauls Steering Group. The study was commissioned to inform best approaches to development and respective funding bids to the SWRDA Civic Pride Initiative, Objective 2, SRB 6 and the Neighbourhood Renewal fund.

A radical approach is required. This would require expression of the area’s vitality, by building upon the mix of use and social variety expressed through a series of arts events, building action and visual surprise. Its role would be to build a distinctive and valued role founded upon the existing network of artists working in the area, to give back confidence to the community.                                                Mason Richards Planning 

A Lead Arts Consultant is recommended with the following responsibilities:
- promoter for visual arts and activity;
- commissioning agency for arts events and performance;
- design champion for the design of street spaces and legibility programmes.
The Arts Strategy should have five key elements:
- to develop and support the local network of artists and makers;
- promote temporary events and visual installations in public spaces and streets;
- commission a team of artists to support detail proposals for key spaces and routes;
- develop  a design strategy and local constituency for quality change;
- adopt a pro-active policy framework that helps rapid delivery of radical design. 

Spacemakers is a design project for young people aged between thirteen and fifteen living in the area surrounding the Hartcliffe Community Campus in south Bristol.
The project promotes the effective and sustained involvement of young people in decisions affecting changes to the environment in Hartcliffe. A training arts and design programme with an emphasis on active learning will enable a group of young people to develop ideas with artists and landscape designers and help shape respective visions for the area.

The project will develop the confidence and skills of young people and enable them to creatively participate in decisions affecting the rebuilding of their own spaces and wider environments. They will have access into the processes of architects, designers, artists and planners who both envision and create public spaces. A programme of capacity building activities includes a three day residential training course at Trafford Hall, the home of the National Tenants Resource Centre; design research trips to see examples of high quality design in the built environment; an integral arts co-ordination programme including an idea to use SMS text messaging to foster a more appropriate style of information exchange between young people; project documentation with the Knowle West Media Project; and a series of artist residencies with Cleo Broda and Kathrin Bohm to establish a connection between Spacemakers and members of the wider community.

Spacemakers is managed locally by a dedicated project officer employed by the Architecture Centre in Bristol and based at Hartcliffe Community Campus. The project is supported by Bristol City Council, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and The Glass-House, a new national design advisory service aimed at empowering tenants and residents of low income neighbourhoods to creatively participate in decisions affecting the renovation and rebuilding of their local environment.    

The City of Bristol College and (Prowting) Westbury Homes are developing the college site in Ashley Down with PRP Architects and PRP Landscape. The potential for integrating art and craftwork as part of the scheme has been recognised especially for artist designed architectural glass and within the landscape scheme. Prowting Homes has commissioned the artist Martin Donlin to prepare preliminary ideas and outline design proposals for artworks to be commissioned for a new public plaza and mixed use building. Light and associated colour in glass will add value and distinction to a new café and restaurant with etched glass used to highlight and enhance aspects of design as a material consideration within the stairwell spaces.
A text-based artwork will be commissioned from an artist/letter-cutter as an integral part of the proposed memorial and orphans garden in respect of the legacy of George Muller. It is anticipated that the artist will work collaboratively with the selected landscape architect and devise a low-key, discreet series of ‘touch-stones’ as part of and to complement the landscape quality and peace of a quiet, contemplative garden space.

Major capital development of the Colston Hall will offer opportunity for artists to become part of the design process identified via a lead artist as an appointed member of the Colston Hall Design Team. Selection and procurement strategies for a lead artist and (subsequent) arts commissions will be advised by the Senior Public Art Officer working in association with members of the Project Team. Cost centres for the lead artist and arts commissions will be profiled within the capital programme budget, managed by the Project Team.

It is anticipated that the Design Team will identify opportunities for prospective art commissions for each development phase, to achieve an integral approach and give continuity across the project timeframe. Design criteria to advise the appointment of a lead artist and inform first stage and detailed design stages of the art commissions programme will profile:
a distinctive, high profile, public space and meeting point in Bristol’s cultural quarter;
for day and night time use;
site specific links with visual, historical and architectural elements of the site;
coherent integration of art, design with architecture and interior design;
interior and exterior lighting, colour, furniture, visual features;
a grade 11 listed façade with sculptural reliefs depicting wrestlers, music and ballet;
a respect for the past but an innovative approach towards future refurbishment;
good contemporary design, modern – of the present;
renewal of design quality over an extended period of time;
new technologies, new materials and new formats for public art;
digital and projected works, temporary installations, combined and cross artform;
the potential for inter-active, community and education projects;
buildability, architectural constraints, scale, materials, durability and long-term care.

Recruitment for the lead artist and subsequent art commissions programme will follow guidance from the Arts Council of England and Public Art South West.
Selection criteria and the appointment of the lead artist will evaluate:
track record and experience; artistic quality, originality, innovation; response to a specific brief and capital building development project; awareness of the ambition, expectations and technical constraints of the project; interest and experience of collaborative design and planning; awareness of financial thresholds.
Bristol City Council is committed to the practical involvement of artists in all aspects of the project and anticipate a programme of commissions of at least £200,000 as an integrated part of the design of the building.

For further details contact: 

Senior Public Art Officer, Bristol City Council, 
Tel: 0117 922 3694, Email: alastair_snow@bristol_city.gov.uk

Art Project Manager, Bristol City Council
Tel: 0117 922 3064, Email: jonathan_banks@bristol_city.gov.uk

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THE BRISTOL PUBLIC ART STRATEGY