What is this? In 2015 6 arts organisations in Stoke-on-Trent — AirSpace Gallery, B Arts, Cultural Sisters, Letting In The Light, Partners in Creative Learning and Restoke — mapped the artistic sector of the city. They focused on the needs of artists and organisations and their ideas for how the sector can be made more resilient and effective — how it can better support those who are already living and working in the city, and how it might encourage more artists to remain after studying or move to the city. The six organisations are working for the next four years on art city: a programme of work with the aim of making stoke a better place to live and work in through the arts.
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Who was involved? Birmingham University’s centre for urban and regional studies and Staffordshire University’s creative communities unit worked together to design the research framework and compile the findings. Six arts organisations based in Stoke worked together as cultural researchers to carry out the research.
A collaborative, artist-led contemporary visual arts space and organisation.
An artist and producer-led organisation that has been working for positive change in the city for thirty years.
A creative, participatory and visual arts organisation.
A participatory arts organisation specialising in the Arts and Health sector.
Designers and deliverers of creative learning projects in businesses, schools and communities.
A socially driven performance company that combine dance, music and visual art to breathe new life into forgotten spaces.
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The research was commissioned by B Arts for the artcity partnership and supported by Arts Council England. Cultural Mapping Report
What was the research activity? An online survey was available for 14 days and was completed by 74 respondents, of whom 50% were self-employed artists.
Artists and creative practitioners were separately interviewed by researchers.
Focus groups that were held on themes such as developing the sector for emerging artists.
24 hours of cultural activity on Wednesday 18th March mapped in one hour’s collective research involving Facebook and Twitter surveys; phone surveys of artists and organisations; and a review of media outlets and a review of online ‘what’s on’ listings. Page 6
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The three maps The research was geared around three maps that depicted the cultural landscape of the city: 路 A physical map of arts venues and activities (existing resources). 路 A map of networks and connections between individuals and organisations in the local area that comprises the social capital of the arts community. 路 A map of needs of and opportunities for local arts practitioners.
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Visual
Burslem School of Art Potteries Museum & Art Gallery Spode Museum Trust
Participative
Performance
Dance
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Mitchell Arts Centre New Vic Creative Stoke Royal Shakespeare Company Regent Theatre Brighter Futures
Proson Authorities Youth Justice
Appetite Frontline Dance Ace
Education
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Junction 15 Cultural Sisters Airspace Speight of the Art B Arts Hullaballoo Letting in the Light
Unity Staffordshire County Council Stoke College Consortium Library Service Newcastle College Arts Connect WM Stoke-on-Trent College Creative Catch-up Schools Children’s Centres Special Schools Creative Partnerships Bitjam Regent College Keele University North Staffs Chamber of Commerce Stoke City Council Staffordshire University Newcastle Council PICL
Health
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Art Brazil Combined Healthecare NHS Trust Restoke Hospitals Live Age WMPAF WMAHW Aiming High for Disabled Children SCVS
Proson Authorities Youth Justice
Staffordshire County Council
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What are the barriers? From the interviews and focus groups three main barriers emerged that were holding the creative sector back in the city.
The image of Stoke-on-Trent: Stoke-on-Trent was seen by those elsewhere as an ‘uncultured’ city. Inside the city the arts had a low priority and was not seen as an asset that the city should shout about.
The economy of Stoke-on-Trent: Like artists in many other cities there is not enough funding. but this was made worse by the low incomes of potential audience members and the impact of cuts in the city to the infrastructure artists and organisations are trying to operate in.
The city as a physical barrier: The federated ‘six towns’ nature of the city presented particular problems for artists: in particular concentrating audiences in one town, trying to spread activity across all six towns and the lack of a clear centre for activity.
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What are the key findings? The three main barriers to artist development were the economy of the local area, the image of Stoke-onTrent and the six town structure. The main gaps identified were lack of physical resources in which to create new work, the lack of human resources to provide support, and the lack of a clear arts ‘hub’.
Guidance for arts students who wish to practice in the local area included seeking experience and being confident and dedicated in one’s approach.
Evidence of strong interaction between sectors, although the ‘pure arts’ sectors of visual arts, performing and dance sectors tend to be less well networked and supported.
Guidance for arts practitioners in the local area included enhancing personal development and business skills.
A greater than anticipated range of arts activities being carried out in the snap-shot exercise.
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Options for improving the cultural environment in the Stoke-on-Trent area suggested better signposting of the arts, more accessible spaces for work and performance, and a citywide communication strategy. art city
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Where are the gaps? The lack of resources
Not just physical resources, such as suitable space to work in, but also human resources particularly the shrinking human capacity within Stoke-on-Trent’s cultural infrastructure and the knock-on effect this is having. This reflection on infrastructure was also found in the many observations relating to gaps in local networks, links and support.
The lack of information
The final main theme for gaps relates to the city’s strategic infrastructure as recognised in a perceived lack of mechanisms for the city-wide (and broader) sharing of information and lack of understanding strategically of the wider benefits of the arts.
The lack of access
Many from the focus groups added that there were difficulties in trying to access the cultural scene as a participant and that there was no clear point of access or hub. Page 22
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What do students think about the city? “The arts scene in stoke was completely invisible to me whilst I was a student.�
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More volunteering opportunities
One-to-one mentoring support
A guide to cultural opportunities in the area
Opportunities to live affordably
Access to studio space
Work experience opportunities
Of the six priority options to help retain creative graduates in Stoke-on-Trent identified through the interviews and focus groups the survey respondents ranked them as follows:
What do artists need to develop their careers in the city?
Improved profiling/signposting of artists, organisations and venues
More accessible space in which to work and perform
A city-wide communication strategy
Better strategic understanding of the arts
More access to training and support for arts practitioners
More opportunities for networking
Easier access to professional support
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recommendations The co-produced research process was enjoyable for all, repeatable in stoke-on-trent or in other cities, and manageable within a limited time frame and budget.
The broad set of cultural maps that were developed from the research will help guide the art city project in terms of local priorities.
The research process itself was of value in that it built links between arts practitioners and arts groups, built on existing local knowledge that added robustness to the research, and upskilled the local arts practitioners who were part of the artist research team.
The maps will also contribute to art city outcomes because the research process itself has enhanced the social capital of the arts community in Stoke-on-Trent.
The research found that, for the art city project, there exists in the Stoke-on-Trent area a base of arts practitioners, networks and activities from which to build a stronger cultural environment to support local artists.
Encourage more potential commissioners of cultural work to see arts as an asset that can deliver more than entertainment (i.e. health, education, economic activity, community pride etc.).
The findings of the research support the aims of the art city project and the approach it is adopting in terms of developing further venues for artists and supporting arts graduates.
For the Stoke-on-Trent area, the research has demonstrated that, if the arts are going to play an increasingly important role in the future of the area, the promotion of the arts and of the local area are as important as the artist population and financial and infrastructural resources for arts practitioners.
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“Stoke is full of wonderful surprises, there’s magic here.”
“It’s hard to connect because of the geography of the city.”
“I’ve got no one to go for a coffee with.”
“We don’t shine the jewels that are here.”
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Reflections of the researchers The process itself has been useful—it has got people talking, got people connected, generated ideas, generated activity. The mapping process in and of itself has been of value. The idea that we would end up with a graphic map that captures everything is not realistic. Our initial vision of the famous ‘London tube’ style map is to simplistic to reflect the complexity of the cultural landscape the process uncovered. From an art city perspective, the real strengths of the maps generated is that they represent the idea of a cultural map presented from different perspectives—gaps and barriers, advice to new artists, networks and connection, desires for future etc.—rather than just being a simple representation of geography. The fact that this process has produced recurring themes gives credence to the findings but the different prioritisation given to these themes by the different research audiences (interviewees, focus group participants, the online survey) means further reflection on the results is going to be required. The process led us to the conclusion that the cultural map needs to reflect the social capital of the artists in Stoke, and the process has actually added to their social capital. One of the objectives of the research was to produce a map that could be produced for other cities, so that the cultural maps of different cities could be compared. This has not been possible in terms of final product but we believe it is the process that could be duplicated elsewhere. Our conclusion is that the process is the significant element, and the value of the map is in the process which brings artists together and enhances social capital. A baseline and process has been established that can be revisited in future years to evaluate ongoing impact and progress.
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art city is delivered by a consortium led by B Arts with airspace gallery, The Cultural Sisters, Letting In The Light, Partners In Creative Learning and Restoke with the support of the EsmĂŠe Fairbairn Foundation, Stoke City Council and Staffordshire University.
artcity.co.uk
To make this happen we are opening up spaces in the city that otherwise would be disused; we are supporting creative graduates to start their careers; and we are working with artists to make more art in Stoke-on-Trent.
/artcityuk
Increase arts activity in the city; Keep more creative graduates living and working in Stoke-on-Trent; Attract more artists to live and work in the city.
@artcityuk
art city is an arts programme in Stoke-on-Trent that aims to make the city a more interesting place to live and work. It is an artist-led intervention designed and delivered by the key independent creative and cultural sector organisations in Stoke-on-Trent to:
Download the free art city app for iOS and Android