PASW Regional Newsletter: Spring 2008
Public Art South West Activities
Public Art South West is one of the leading public art development agencies in the UK. Primarily serving the south west of England, its work extends beyond geographical boundaries in terms of the critical thinking and application of artists’ skills and creativity it promotes. It works with artists and national and regional public and private sector organisations across Britain, and actively networks with a range of professionals within art and the built and natural environment.
Recent Projects and Initiatives include:
www.publicartonline.org.uk
This unique resource continues to be well-used and its popularity is growing, with over six million hits on the site during 2007. There are over 1,600 people currently signed up to receive the monthly e-mail bulletin, which lets subscribers know about new material added to the site.
"I am a town planner in private practice, and have recently completed my MA Dissertation concerning community involvement in public art delivery for urban regeneration. May I congratulate you on the success of Public Art Online, which has been an extremely interesting and valuable resource for me over the past year." Becky Cocker
Over the past few months we have added a case study of the Warwick Bar Soundwalk, supported by PROJECT: engaging artists in the built environment. The Soundwalk was devised by Liminal – a team comprising architect Frances Crow and sound artist David Prior – and can be listened to on the site. We have also added the first of a series of studies on the role of lead artists on design teams. The study focuses on the contribution that artist Michael Fairfax made to a regeneration project in Tintagel, Cornwall.
New reports include Public Art - Where Shall We Start? This features the DVD that resulted from a seminar about public art held in Poole, Dorset last year.
New research includes ixia’s important review Public Art and the Planning System and Process in England, which can be read alongside an update to our advice on national planning policy in our ‘Current Practice/Policies’ section.
We have updated some of the practical resources on the site including guides to insurance, public liability and legal advice for artists, and there is a new guide to sculpture trails in the UK. We have also added a number of projects and photos to our popular “Where to see public art in the South West” section.
Training
Whilst our focus of work this year has moved away from a sequential training programme we are still undertaking bespoke continuing professional development sessions for local authorities, design practices etc and continue to research into ways in which we can develop opportunities to extend both artists’ and commissioners’ practice. We are also asked to advise on a range of training programmes around the country.
Local Authorities
Cornwall - We continue to work closely with colleagues and organisations in Cornwall including the Creative Unit, Cornwall County Council on the establishment of a Quality Design Initiative for Cornwall, and REAP (Redruth Education and Arts Partnership) on a creative lighting scheme for Redruth.
Devon and Somerset - Within Devon and Somerset we are supportingthe development of individual public art projects as well as county wide initiatives which support qualitydesign.We continue to advise on new settlements including Cranbrook and Sherford.In Plymouth we are involved in a range of initiatives including exciting new developments for the West End and regeneration in Devonport.
Dorset - Within Dorset we are supporting public art development via the Dorset Design and Heritage Forum and publicart activity within Poole and Bournemouth.We continue to support the work of Gloucester Heritage URC and the development of a Quality Design Initiative for Gloucestershire. PASW are also continuing to advise on the emerging Jurassic Coast arts initiative and on public art opportunities within South West Olympiad developments.
Wiltshire - In Wiltshire we continue to work with the District Authorities on aspirations to set up a strategic county wide public art service with an eye to forthcoming unitary authority status.
Our work across the region includes; plans to map public art spend across the south west, an update and development of the 'where to see' section on the website, and discussions with the Arts for Health network to agree a select number of key initiatives to which PASW can offer advice and support.
PASW Planning Associate
Within the South West over 250 planning policy documents are currently in production as the region's local authorities get to grips with the new system of Local Development Frameworks. The new arrangements require each authority to produce a package of policy documents to replace old style local plans, covering a range of issues from strategic spatial planning to detailed area frameworks and topic based guidance.
Part of the role of the Planning Associate is to better understand where public art policies are most effectively incorporated within the statutory planning framework, and can best be used to promote quality built environments where design and artist thinking are central to successful placemaking.
By producing a database that brings together and continues to monitor the effectiveness of public art policies it is intended to help share best practice, and provide a sound foundation for PASW planning related support. Having currently looked in detail at a good proportion of these documents it is fair to say that some patterns are emerging that raise key questions with regard to how public art is promoted within the planning system.
The most common approach is to include broad and general statements encouraging public art as part of major development schemes. There are also some examples where public art is included within the expected list of planning obligations, a sort of shopping list set out as a requirement of planning permission. Whist these statements provide a necessary basis for talking with developers about public art commissions, it is perhaps the way in which we set out priorities and outline the role and purpose of artist collaborations in specific locations that is potentially more effective but less common.
Emerging practice related to more detailed Area Action Plans and design coding are perhaps areas where the more specific promotion of public art collaboration can be tested, and with the emphasis currently on broader strategies the need to promote key project opportunities should not be lost.