Birmingham Public Art Strategy Stakeholder Consultation Event

Overview

The Birmingham Public Art Strategy 2015-2019 is currently being developed for Birmingham.

On Friday 12^th December from 2.30pm – 5.30pm there was a Public Art Strategy Stakeholder Consultation event hosted by Eastside Projects, Digbeth. The purpose of this event was to gain feedback from stakeholders about Birmingham’s Public Art strategy vision, purpose and objectives as they stand so far.

Representatives from a wide-range of sectors attended the event, including developers; Business Improvement Districts; the higher and further education sector; the housing sector; the heritage and cultural sectors; planners; artists; architects; urban and landscape designers and the transport and infrastructure sector.

What were we consulting on?

We were consulting on the vision, purpose and objectives of the draft Birmingham Public Art Strategy 2015-19, and are requesting suggestions for actions that need to be taken for these objectives to be achieved (these can be downloaded – please see below).

Public Art Strategy Event Structure

2.30pm                 Registration, teas & coffees

3.00pm                 Welcome: Councillor Ward, Deputy Leader, Birmingham City Council & Gavin Wade, Director, Eastside Projects

3.10pm                 Icebreaker in groups - What do we mean by successful public art?

3.25pm                 Breakout session 1

3.55pm                 Breakout session 2

4.30pm                 Tea & coffee break

4.45pm                 Feedback from breakout sessions

5.25pm                 Next Steps: Councillor Holbrook, Cabinet Member for Skills, Learning and Culture, Birmingham City Council

Delegates were asked to bring an image on an A4 piece of paper of what they considered to be a successful public art work (the example could be from anywhere in the world). On the other side of the paper, they described why they thought it was a successful art work. This was used in the icebreaker session, and the feedback will be reflected in the strategy.

Breakout sessions:

Delegates were allocated to one of six tables in advance to try to include a range of sector viewpoints on each objective. There were two breakout sessions:

1. Questions were asked about how the objectives could contribute to the strategy’s vision and purpose, and whether delegates thought anything was missing that they feel should be covered by the strategy. They were given a particular objective to focus on.
2. Delegates were asked for ideas of practical actions that can be taken by stakeholders to achieve goals in the short, medium and long terms. Delegates were given a particular objective to focus on.

Strategy Development – Background

In 2014-15, Birmingham City Council (BCC) will be working with partners to replace Birmingham’s Cultural Strategy 2010-15 (Big City Culture) with a new vision reflecting the current economic, social and political context. This Public Art Strategy will sit within this new framework, along with the revised Creative Future Strategy for Children, Young People and Culture, the Birmingham Heritage Strategy and Birmingham’s Festivals Strategy.

The Public Art Strategy will sit alongside other key Planning Strategic Documents such as the Birmingham Development Plan and Lighting Spaces Policy; as well as other relevant BCC strategies such as Transforming Place, Birmingham’s Neighbourhood Strategy. This Public Art Strategy will also link to the National Planning Policy Framework (DCLG, 2012) and Planning Practice Guidance.

While strategies have been developed for individual sites and developments since and have largely been led by Planning requirements, this will be the first citywide strategy for Public Art since 2002 and will reflect a wider range of considerations including funding mechanisms, quality and impact, local engagement, siting and maintenance. 

The strategy’s production has been overseen by the Public Art Strategy Steering Group, chaired by Councillor Holbrook (BCC Cabinet Member for Skills, Learning & Culture). Members include the BCC Deputy Leader, representatives from BCC Culture and Visitor Economy, and Planning and Regeneration services; Birmingham Museums Trust; Birmingham City University, Glenn Howells Architects; Eastside Projects, and advice and guidance from Ixia.

Timeline

The strategy is currently in the early stages of the development process. Stakeholders have contributed to shaping the Strategy through both the BCC internal Public Art Gateway Group, and through this Stakeholder Consultation event. This is the first stage of public consultation. The documents discussed at this public consultation are downloadable below, and we are seeking further feedback from those who were not at this event, to feed into the development of the strategy at this mid-term stage. This strategy will go to further public consultation in February 2015 and then to Cabinet for approval by May 2015.

Why your views matter

Why we are consulting, and what are we consulting on?

We are consulting to seek initial views from those who have an interest in the practice, commissioning and siting of public art. Comments received through the event will inform the strategy content.

Delegate’s views about the draft strategy were recorded across break-out discussion tables: do you think there is anything else that needs to be added or changed to any of the following:

1. the strategy’s vision
2. the strategy’s purpose
3. any of the strategy’s objectives
4. what actions might be required to achieve these objectives in the short term (2015), medium term (2015 – 2019) and long term (2019 onwards)?
5. what partnerships and resources might be needed in order to deliver any suggested actions?
6. in what ways can actions be measured to show that these objectives are being achieved?
7. is there anything else you feel is missing from the strategy so far?