Written evidence submitted by Contemporary Visual Arts Network England

 

Reimagining where we live: cultural placemaking and the levelling up agenda:

 

Response from CVAN England

 

February 2022

 

About CVAN England

 

  1. CVAN England is a national visual arts network with nine interconnected regions across England. As we have been working regionally since 2012, we have a wealth of expertise and experience on how the visual arts sector works. Engagement in the visual arts plays a crucial role in supporting the government’s levelling up agenda, which seeks to restore a sense of community, inclusion and belonging. However, inequalities in accessing the visual arts mean that marginalised groups often miss out on opportunities for creative expression. CVAN England’s Fair and Equitable programme aims to make a significant contribution over five years, to develop a visual arts sector that facilitates the leadership and thriving of artists and arts workers from underrepresented and marginalised communities. The programme is grounded in the lived experience of artists and arts workers who are most marginalised, specifically, individuals who identify as part of Global Ethnic Majorities, disabled and neurodivergent, LGBTQI+ and working-class communities.

 

Submission Summary

 

  1. CVAN England welcomes the opportunity to respond to the DCMS Select Committee’s inquiry into cultural placemaking and the levelling up agenda. Visual artists can and do play an influential role in local decision making and placemaking, and they often act as a bridge between policymakers and the general public.

 

  1. This submission sets out how artists help to revitalise public spaces and draws attention to specific areas of good practice. These include an example of an artist-led project supporting a local government playground regeneration consultation in the East Midlands, a university-led exhibition space in the North West, a creative, community empowerment project in the South West and arts and physical activity courses supporting wellbeing in Central & North Lancashire and South Cumbria.

 

  1. This response demonstrates how artists are taking art out of the gallery and onto the high street, using innovative audio visual and augmented reality technologies. This work redefines the concept of public art and reaches diverse audiences who might not ordinarily visit museums and galleries. Creative projects such as these are helping to support the government’s levelling up aims for 2030, which relate to people’s satisfaction with their town centre and engagement in local culture and community.

 

  1. As examples highlighted in this submission demonstrate, when local government supports and empowers artists, creative projects can thrive and the wider community benefits. CVAN England urges the government to do all it can to ensure that artists and artist-led initiatives that do so much to enliven and enrich our lives are supported at a regional and local level.

 

  1. Unfortunately, this submission also highlights missed opportunities and short term approaches that mean art projects with the potential to thrive long term are cut short. At the arts and cultural hub, Mansions of the Future in Lincoln, over 80 community groups, many supporting vulnerable individuals, used the building regularly as part of the project’s Takeover Programme between 2018 and 2020. The opportunity to ‘take over’ the building offered communities the use of a fully equipped, free and safe space for the social, cultural or educational activity. However, Mansions of the Future was a time-limited project, supported by Arts Council England’s Ambition for Excellence Funding, with no scope for a long-term future. When the project ended, the space was closed, and the many groups using the building were forced to seek out alternative provisions. It is encouraging to note that Lincolnshire has been identified as a priority place for Arts Council England; however, long term investment beyond 2024 will be essential to the success of the levelling up agenda.

 

  1. An inquiry into how culture can reanimate public spaces must recognise the challenges currently facing visual artists. In 2020 and 2021, CVAN England and partner organisations from the Visual Arts Alliance commissioned research into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on artists’ livelihoods. The 2021 report found that the pandemic had a marked effect on the income of visual arts workers, with 70% indicating a drop in their income. The average loss of earnings by visual arts workers due to the pandemic was £7,000. Many respondents referred to the negative impact that the pandemic has had on their mental health. CVAN England urges the DCMS Select Committee to invite emergent visual artists to speak directly to them about the challenges they face. This would give visual artists the opportunity that has been afforded to music artists during the committee’s inquiry into the economics of music streaming.

 

 

 

Submission

 

How can culture reanimate our public spaces and shopping streets?

 

  1. Local government should enable artists and art workers to make creative use of public spaces. Local councils can support artists and arts organisations to reanimate public spaces by helping with administrative requirements that often slow down or prevent projects from getting off the ground. Local councils should be encouraged and empowered to help artists with fast-tracking processes related to licences, health and safety procedures, risk assessments and insurance. Local councils should also help market and promote artist-led activities to raise the profile of initiatives that can reanimate our public spaces.

 

  1. Original Projects in Great Yarmouth is an excellent example of how Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and Community Levy funding have allowed artists to thrive in an area of significant deprivation. As with many examples of good practice, this project has benefitted from a supportive local council. This initiative contributes to cultural placemaking in Great Yarmouth by engaging with the local community.

 

  1. Universities can play an influential role in cultural placemaking and the reanimation of the high street. CVAN England welcomes and endorses the University Alliance’ response to this select committee inquiry.

 

  1. The University of Chester’s Art and Design department has developed Contemporary Art Space Chester (CASC), which is making a significant contribution to the cultural life of the city of Chester. CASC represents a range of pop-up and permanent exhibition spaces in and around the city of Chester, including the Forum Shopping Centre Gallery in the heart of the city. This initiative would not have been possible without the support of Cheshire West and Chester Council.

 

  1. The Chester Rows High Street Heritage Action Zone scheme is an excellent example of a local council working towards renewal and recovery with a university art department. The University of Chester’s School of Arts and Media facilitates diverse and vibrant events on the Rows and high street.

 

  1. Last year, Brew Projects, a not for profit arts partnership, brought an Augmented Reality (AR) artwork to the high streets of Lincoln in the form of a free, public exhibition. Visitors used their smartphones and other devices to access artwork inspired by the city and its inhabitants. This is a great example of visual art being used to reanimate a public space. The work explored notable women of Lincoln’s past and present, who may be unknown or under-celebrated by the general public. The initiative was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, which featured the removal or defacement of public sculptures.

 

  1. During the period 2016 - 2018, Nottingham Contemporary invited designer Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad to develop a project to inform local redevelopment plans. The designer considered how the proposed redevelopment would impact the community and how the neighbourhood might shape the development. The design studio invited residents to a series of events, including a summer street party, play-day and residents’ meetings. This led to the formation of the Narrow Marsh Residents Group (NMRG), which meets regularly to discuss local matters.

 

  1. Public spaces and shopping streets provide engaging and novel means to present world-class contemporary art. Projects presented in the public realm can drive footfall to areas during quieter evenings and weekends. Liverpool Biennial recently delivered an outdoor audio-visual project with Emma Dolan in the city’s commercial district, which 1,680,454 people experienced. Public and central projects also can engage large audiences who are not necessarily seeking cultural activities but instead happen upon them. These audiences are likely to be more diverse than typical museum and gallery visitors.

 

How can creatives contribute to local decision-making and planning of place?

 

  1. Local art organisations and communities can offer creative ideas for decision-making and cultural placemaking. They can help build a sense of pride and ownership for local initiatives, inviting more people to connect with their locality. The projects highlighted below are just a few examples of how artists and arts organisations work to support and empower their communities to participate in local decision making.

 

  1. Projects that connect artists, communities, and organisations can have long-lasting and far-reaching consequences, such as the Homebaked Community Land Trust that lies on the boundary of Everton and Anfield, opposite Liverpool Football Club. They are a group of residents who have been working together since 2012 to shape where they live and work.

 

  1. An excellent example of how artists enliven local decision-making processes is Public House, a social architecture commission by international design collective ON/OFF. It was a response to the historic and current use of Lincoln's Ermine Estate, exploring the potential of public spaces through the development of collaboratively built architecture made for and with the citizens of the Ermine. This work fostered playful and collaborative community action to share a piece of co-built architecture designed to encourage socialising.

 

  1. Another example of how artists contribute to local decision-making is Build Create Play in the East Midlands. The project engaged local people in a Nottingham City Council consultation on upgrading the neglected Ronald Street playground. Artist-led contemporary visual arts organisation, Primary worked with local playworkers from the Toy Library to deliver a series of creative sessions at the playground in August 2021. They asked local children and families how they use the space now and what they would like to see there in the future. This work is directly related to cultural placemaking and the reanimation of public spaces. It fostered relationships between local artists and residents and encouraged local people to ask questions about their neighbourhood.

 

  1. The Super Slow Way, founded in 2015, works with communities along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, exploring how radical and ambitious art programming by the people of Pennine Lancashire, working alongside a wide range of artists, can develop creativity, strength and connectedness across and within communities.

 

  1. The Plymouth-based Take A Part initiative works in historically underserved areas to empower people through creativity to engage in local decision-making processes. This city wide project invests in long-term, embedded processes which start with listening and supporting communities to help set agendas that reflect and address the needs of the community.

 

How can the Government support places without the established artistic infrastructure to take full advantage of the opportunities that the levelling up agenda provides?

 

  1. Where established artistic infrastructure is lacking, efforts should be made to repurpose existing buildings and spaces for use by arts organisations and the artist community. There is sometimes an assumption that arts and culture activities are not thriving in cities and towns without existing established infrastructure. However, these areas often do have creative networks operating in community centres, libraries, churches and ad hoc spaces. To realise the government’s mission to restore pride in place by 2030, local government should be encouraged to support visual artists and their networks wherever they exist.

 

  1. In 2017, arts organisation LeftCoast facilitated a creative response to a Financial Times article, ‘Left Behind: Can anyone save the towns the economy forgot?’ In collaboration with local residents, artists, academics and business owners, LeftCoast created an opportunity for residents, artists, policymakers and the private sector to engage in reframing the dominant narrative regarding Blackpool.

 

  1. With government funding and support, existing sites of culture can flourish, or repurposed provision can thrive. However, these need to be sustainable rather than short term solutions. Without the promise of longevity, spaces cannot establish a viable working model or secure funds to support maintenance. Between 2017 and 2020, the arts and cultural hub, Mansions of the Future in Lincoln, was used by over 80 community groups, many of which worked with vulnerable individuals. The opportunity to ‘take over’ the building offered community groups the use of a fully equipped, free and safe space for social, cultural and educational activity. However, Mansions of the Future was a time-limited project, supported by Arts Council England’s Ambition for Excellence Funding, with no scope for a long-term future. When the project ended, the space was closed, and the many groups using the building were forced to seek out alternative provisions in an area that does not have much in the way of artistic infrastructure.

 

  1. Create London is an excellent example of how a small commissioning organisation has forged strong partnerships with local councils. Their projects are invested in establishing long term relationships with local communities. Examples of how their sustained commitment has created new or repurposed existing infrastructure can be found in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham. The White House, established in 2016 on the Becontree estate, illustrates how by simply making an existing building available to artists, the local council has provided a centre for art and social activity in a London suburb, with few other opportunities for creative activity.

 

  1. Another example from Barking and Dagenham is A House for Artists, an ambitious replicable model for affordable housing tied to long-term civic engagement in Barking Town Centre. It provides housing for twelve artists and their families, with studio workspaces, a ground-floor community space and a shared working yard that can be opened to the public.

 

  1. The loss of affordable studio space has led to an outflow of artists from certain areas. Studio providers face growing difficulty in securing even “meanwhile” space. The Creative Land Trust was founded to tackle a long-standing problem for London and other global cities. It aims to build a new financial and operating model to secure workspace that would otherwise be unattainable.

 

  1. In levelling up, art education is essential. Valuing and investing in arts education is a way to build the artistic infrastructure of the future. Ensuring that arts subjects are better protected in the curriculum would help to create the right conditions for artists and arts workers of the future to form the networks and infrastructure they need.
  2. Another way to support areas that do not have existing artistic infrastructure is to support national networks such as CVAN England that work to share examples of good practice and raise awareness of existing opportunities.

 

How might changes to the UK’s broadcasting landscape affect investment in cultural production outside the capital, and what could the consequences be for artists and communities?

 

  1. Moving broadcasters to the regions will benefit artists and communities alike. The BBC in Bristol is an excellent example of how their investment has supported the development of a Core City and influenced the growth of digital media, art and technology. Watershed is an example of a leading international centre for art and technology. Watershed has benefited vastly from the growth of media and technology companies in the area, which is a consequence of the BBC being based in Bristol.

 

How should the Government build on existing schemes, such as the UK City of Culture, to level up funding for arts and culture?

 

  1. Levelling up funding for the visual arts should be more flexible and sustainable. It should strive to support longer-term projects that yield higher benefits beyond designated time frames. To achieve the government’s goals, the focus must be placed on the “long tail” of existing schemes, such as the UK City of Culture, to generate lasting impact. Existing schemes must shore up artists' networks and strategies emerging from university courses. 

 

  1. The investment in the Coventry UK City of Culture has significantly increased the capacity and development of local organisations. They are better connected with each other, their communities, and peers nationally and internationally, which will create tremendous opportunities moving forward. For example. Coventry Biennial, a grassroots, artist-led organisation founded in 2017, has been enabled to scale up threefold in its delivery and ambition from the core investment of UK City of Culture. The Biennial’s 2021 exhibition took place alongside the Turner Prize at the Herbert Museum and Art Gallery, thus benefiting from a captive audience. The galleries at the Herbert Museum are far better equipped and resourced now than ever before as a result of the UK City of Culture investment.