'Welcome to the North' public art programme
Date uploaded: August 31, 2011
Welcome to the North public art programme
Northern Way's Welcome to the North public art programme was an ambitious initiative investing £4.5 million into public art projects which ran from 2007-2010. The project sought to change perceptions of the North of England.
At its time, it was the largest public art programme of its kind in Britain, bringing together internationally renowned artists, expert project teams and local communities.
Welcome to the North worked with some of the most respected names in contemporary public art including Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor, Richard Wilson, Hans Peter Kuhn, Greyworld, Jaume Plensa, Landlab and others. The artists created work that encourages new ways of looking at places and spaces.
A total of 10 projects received funding from the Northern Way's Welcome to the North programme. Five projects were given significant core funding resulting in new artworks in Rossendale, Liverpool, Middlesborough and Leeds and helping to secure Antony Gormley's Another Place in Crosby as a permanent piece. Four further projects were given development funding including projects within the Channel 4 Big Art initiative at St Helens, Burnley and Sheffield. In addition a virtual artwork The Wonderful North was commissioned.
Who was involved: The Welcome to the North programme was the result of a partnership between the three Northern Regional Development Agencies, Arts Council England and the former Yorkshire Culture.
Arts Council England coordinated the delivery of the Northern Way Public Art Programme and commissioned The Wonderful North virtual artwork.
The Northern Way brought together the cities and regions of the North of England to work together to improve the sustainable economic development of the North.
Evaluation
The Welcome to the North programme has been independently evaluated, looking at the impact projects have made, lessons learned and overall success of the programme.
This evaluation has been completed by the Policy Research Institute (PRI) at Leeds Metropolitan University in association with CUDEM and RKL Consulting.
Click here to download PRI's evaluation of Welcome to the North completed by Policy Research Institute in October 2009.
Click here to download the Programme Manager's final report.
Click here to download the SQW Evaluation of the Northern Way published in April 2009.
Visit www.artscouncil.org.uk/our-work/welcome-north-public-art-programme/
