Culture-led regeneration in seaside towns

Advice to artists and those responsible for commissioning art

Artist Michael Trainor, who has led projects on England’s North West and East Midlands coasts, offers five key recommendations to artists involved in culture-led regeneration schemes, or those responsible for commissioning or supporting them:

It is never going to go all swimmingly, but if I had to summarise general advice it would be: (1) Have or support a great idea. (2) Talk to and engage with everyone you can about it from the outset – even if they end up not liking it at least they may understand it. (3) Try to get a small team in the local authority to help support the work thorough the various stages. This is what should be in place and provided for the artist from the outset but rarely is and is one of the fundamental failings of public art schemes. (4) If the budget or practicalities allow, try a ‘temporary’ on-site experiment to gauge opinion and garner engagement and support. (5) Keep the media informed at key stages (but only when ready) and invite them to events and openings, give them nice hospitality and never release images of the work before it is fully designed or ready to be issued – thus avoiding mis-interpretation or objection not based on reality).

Finally what is vital for the artist – and it is their sole responsibility that no-one can help with – is to ensure that the art that comes out at the end is worthwhile and not a confection of compromises based on fears and constraints.

Case Studies

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    England’s North West: Crosby

    Acceptance among local people and businesses can take time to win over, and it is often the case that arts and cultural projects need, somehow, to ‘prove their place’, to ‘justify their worth’ in gaining local respect. In small towns, large art projects can cause controversy.
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    England’s South East: Folkestone

    Folkestone Triennial4 includes headline artists and mixes temporary and permanent art in a deliberately small geographic area of Shepway. The Triennial is one part of a larger culture-led regeneration programme led by the Creative Foundation,5 which includes property acquisition and letting for creative and cultural industries and links with education and communities.
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    England’s South East: Margate

    Turner Contemporary6 is a visual arts organisation that celebrates J. M. W. Turner's association with Margate and, through a varied programme of exhibitions and events, promotes understanding and enjoyment of historical and contemporary art. Work is under way to build a permanent gallery which is due to open in Margate in 2011. As many readers will know, the project has not been without its complications over the past several years and lessons learned are generously shared. James Kennell, Senior Lecturer in Tourism and Regeneration, University of Greenwich suggests:7 
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    England’s North West: Blackpool

    The Great Promenade Show8 is a permanent outdoor linear public art gallery – ten permanent installations over two kilometres, commissioned and curated between 2000 and 20033 by a small team of north-western artists as part of a culture and regeneration scheme in the development of Blackpool’s South Shore Promenade. Artist and co-curator Michael Trainor conceived They Shoot Horses Don’t They?, a 20-feet diameter rotating mirrorball as part of the project.9 He comments:
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    England’s East Midlands: Lincolnshire

    Bathing Beauties®11 was conceived by Michael Trainor in response to his appointment as lead artist on the Lincolnshire coast from 2005 to 2008 and part of a series of coastal environmental improvement projects commissioned by Lincolnshire County Council, part funded by the European Regional Development Fund. Bathing Beauties® – ‘Re-imagining the British Beach Hut for the 21st Century’ – was initiated after identifying the potential based on an already existing 15-kilometre stretch of over 500 beach huts in varying states of repair. The project launched one of the most popular international art and architecture competitions in the UK this century – attracting 240 scale model entries from 15 different countries, gaining over 400,000 visitors to the website, and welcoming more than 10,000 additional visitors to the Lincolnshire coast in its first two-day festival in 2007. It has resulted in the commissioning of eight permanent small structures on the coast and additional strands, including a UK touring scale model exhibition and local annual festival. Additional European and other funding is being sought for a second phase. 
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