Brighton & Hove Public Art Strategy
Let’s Talk Public Art - Consultation & Strategy
Year
2020-2022
Client
Brighton & Hove City Council
Collaboration with
Lighthouse
Services
Public Art Strategy, Public Art Commissioning Toolkit, Public Art Planning Advice Note
Locations
Brighton & Hove
Let’s Talk Public Art
One landscape, many Views Public Art Strategy 2022-2032
We were commissioned by Brighton & Hove City Council (BHCC) in 2020 to produce a public art strategy for the city. We collaborated with Lighthouse to initiate a city wide conversation about public art.
Lighthouse produced a series of community conversations across Brighton & Hove that informed and assisted in developing the strategy. This series of films were aimed to spark debate, and formed the starting point of a poll and an online discussion. We worked with the maxim that - ‘you are the experts on your city and you are the public in public art!’
We believe that public art has no fixed definition or form, it can be temporary, permanent, or time-limited; it can be a performance, a sculpture, a thing to experience, listen to or participate in. The process of creating it can be collaborative, co-produced or co-curated or not. It can create connections between people, places and ideas. Or it can be one artist’s response to a site, its context or a particular issue. Most importantly, we believe public art should be open, accessible, equitable and for everyone in the city.
The series of films are with people from across Brighton & Hove discussing their thoughts on public art in different contexts: connectivity & community, wellbeing, heritage, sustainability, and more. See the films here
Lighthouse hosted a free public video meeting, a ‘digital campfire’ to discuss and explore people’s response to the consultation. We are very grateful to everyone who has been amazingly generous with their time to contribute to the poll, participate in the event and provide their thoughts. For more information and to see a recording of the ‘digital campfire’ event see Lighthouse’s website here.
Lighthouse collated all responses from the films and the online poll, informed by these responses, other consultation and research we have developed the framework of the strategy document, ensuring that the city’s diverse residents, neighbourhoods, their narratives, histories and experiences are equally reflected.
The final strategy One landscape, many views. Public Art Strategy 2022-2032 can be found here.
To assist anyone commissioning public art an accompanying Public Art Commissioning Toolkit was produced.
To embed the strategy into the planning process in the city, and provide direction for developers in particular, a Public Art Planning Advice Note was created in collaboration with the Development and Regeneration team.
We hope that this suite of documents will aid anyone involved in the commissioning or the production of public art in Brighton & Hove.
“...We want public art in the city to be for everyone and the principles of our Public Art Strategy should be important to people who live and work here, as well as to those who visit. This is an invitation to help us identify a shared vision and a set of values to shape the delivery of art in public spaces across the city over the next 10 years.”
Brighton & Hove City Council’s 10-year Public Art Strategy
The Public Art Strategy will sit alongside several other documents, such as the Outdoor Events Strategy and initiatives including the emerging ABCD for Cultural Recovery being developed collaboratively Brighton & Hove Arts & Creative Industries Commission, What Next Brighton & Hove and EPIC - which have immediate actions for art in the public realm.
Brighton & Hove City Council is committed to ensuring new development will enhance the quality of life for both new and existing residents. The Council’s cultural ambitions and priorities for its communities are set out in its strategies, City Plan 1 and 2 outline the statutory inclusion of public art. But the aim of the Strategy will also be to inspire and support the commissioning of public art.
“These short films feature discussion points such as heritage, inclusion, sustainability and wellbeing so we can delve into how people feel about public art or equally we want to hear from people who have never thought about or engaged with public art before.”
The Public Art Strategy will help commissioners understand the ways in which artists, planners, enablers, investors, residents and others can work together. It will be delivered through partnerships, including discussions with developers, charities, arts and cultural organisations, local businesses, Business Improvement District, the council, artists, makers and craftspeople, working with residents of the city.
All of the filming was done according to Covid guidance at the time. Ideally we had wanted to host a series of face events, but this had not been possible.
Bridget Sawyers Limited worked with consultants Denise Langridge Mellion and Kathryn Standing.