Conference agenda – Marketing the market towns

What role do the arts have to play in the delivery of economic, social and environmental agendas? Christine Keogh of Chrysalis Arts considers the ways in which the arts can contribute to the regeneration of rural areas.
Visitors to the Yorkshire Dales this summer could be forgiven for thinking that the impact of foot and mouth disease (FMD) and the grim events of two years ago are gradually fading into memory. Farmers have re-stocked their herds and large numbers of sheep continue to graze the hills of Malhamdale. Superficially the landscape seems unchanged, the campsites and bed and breakfasts are again filled with walkers and tourism figures are healthy. To the outsider, the number of ?For Sale? signs suddenly appearing on farmland is perhaps the only obvious indication that all is perhaps not as it seems. In Skipton, the market town for the area of the Dales in which I live, swarms of day visitors pack the High Street on Market Days giving the town an impression of prosperity, but in reality spending virtually nothing. In both town and countryside, change is slow and there is little visible evidence of either major decline or of an emerging brave, new, rural economy.

Regeneration

The need to regenerate and diversify the rural economy, and to breathe new life into the towns which are the hubs and service centres for rural areas, was understood well before FMD came along. Action for Market Towns was the first of a series of national and regional initiatives which aim to highlight the key economic, social and environmental issues to be tackled, to offer new ideas and approaches, new partnerships and facilitate new investment. The Regional Development Agency (RDA), Yorkshire Forward, is currently involved in an ambitious programme to assist the regeneration of market towns across the Yorkshire region and other RDAs are similarly engaged.

So where does the cultural sector fit into all this? Three years ago I attended the first Action for Market Towns Annual Convention, in Ripon. The event was targeted at a variety of interested parties, all looking for new ways to tackle the same key problems. These problems are social (an ageing population and migration of young people from rural areas), environmental (traffic) and economic (a dearth of reasonably paid jobs for local people, declining high streets with diminishing trade and too many empty shops). There was a lot of interest in how to re-brand market towns; phrases such as celebrating local distinctiveness and developing a ?unique selling proposition? were frequently used. Finding ways of attracting new, high-spending visitors and developing sustainable tourism was another key issue.

The role of the arts

At the time, the involvement of artists and creative industries initiatives in delivering regeneration agendas in urban areas, and the acknowledged success of this approach, was not being recognised on rural agendas in any significant way. However, attitudes are changing and local authorities like Craven District Council have recognised that the creative industries are an important part of their economic development strategy and are starting to invest in their development. Despite this, there is a still a need for more advocacy work with decision-makers at all levels to increase their awareness of the ways in which the sector can contribute to the economic growth of both market towns and their rural hinterlands.

If change is to be effected, though, investment will be required in addition to a degree of risk-taking and a huge amount of hard work by local government officers and others with the power to make the argument that support for creative industries is a viable option. It is no use simply trying to transpose urban models into rural areas. We have to develop our own successes and build on our own particular strengths. The Arts and Market Towns Conference, being organised by Chrysalis Arts in Whitby in October as part of its Art Connections project, aims to demonstrate some of the benefits and opportunities that can result from such investment by drawing on both national and international models of good practice. Speakers have been asked to highlight the economic outcomes of projects. If we are to convince agencies like Yorkshire Forward that the sector is worthy of significant investment in rural areas, we are going to have to come up with more facts and figures. We know that there are more than 1,600 creative businesses in North Yorkshire, but it is astonishing how little we know about them.

Alongside the conference, Art Connections is organising an exhibition of work by seventeen local artists from the North Yorkshire Moors and Coast. An image database promoting the work of professional visual artists and makers within the county is currently being developed, as well as a business network of artists and suppliers specialising in working to commission. Ultimately, the aim of this work is to connect the wealth of skills and talent which exists within this huge, rural county with its potential markets. By finding new ways of making often isolated individuals more visible, more valued and better understood, we can enable them to become key players in our rural economy.

Christine Keogh is Development Director with Chrysalis Arts, specialising in artists? professional development and rural creative industries.

This will explore the role of the creative industries in delivering economic, social and environmental agendas as part of the regeneration of market towns. Contact Chrysalis Arts t: 01756 748529 e: [email protected]

Fleece Wheel by Sue Flowers and Bradley Engineering, one of a series of temporary public art installations by Chrysalis Arts for Skipton High Street which were created as part of the Skipton Renaissance Market Towns programme. The work was funded by Yorkshire Forward and Craven District Council and was installed over a weekend to engage local people in ideas of transformation and change for the High Street.