In Beam’s capacity as coordinators of the national Arts & Place working group as part of the Place Alliance we co-curated the Big Meet 8.
Big Meet 8 shared examples that demonstrated the range of models of practice in the field of Art and Place from across the UK; Investigate artists led approaches to engaging with place through temporary interventions and local authority initiatives to work with communities; developers support for cultural place making; While framing the wider issues of how cultural led placemaking can have a sustainable impact on the development of a place and its communities.
We reviewed the models of practice presented and asked the following questions: Is there an innovative and more robust approach to financing the future integration of the arts and artists in the development of places? Can this be developed by the sector with Arts Council England and other key organisations? In turn can this influence the forming of national policy?
We asked if there are lessons to be learnt, which can in turn influence national policy to further integrate artists and the arts in place. Is there an innovative and more robust approach to financing the arts in place, developed by the sector with Arts Council England and other key organisations.
Speakers included: Wolfgang Buttress, Artist – Matthew Carmona, Prof of Planning & Urban Design at UCL and Chair of Place Alliance – Diane Dever, Director at Folkestone Fringe – Graham Henderson, Chief Executive of the Rimbaud & Verlaine Foundation – Lorna Lee, Head of Culture & Heritage Services, Waltham Forest Council – Adriana Marques, Head of Cultural Strategy for Thamesmead at Peadbody – Anita McKeown, Director of CATALYST initiative at SMARTlab UCD – Michael Pinsky, Artist – Charles Quick – Prof of Public Art Practice at UCLAN, Co-Founder of In Certain Places & Chair of National Arts & Place Working Group.
You can download the Big Meet 8 Report and Speaker Presentations here.