Richard Sharland suggests that the arts aren?t simply a tool for regeneration: regeneration can be a tool for the arts.
For a number of years now, I have been a regular visitor to the party political conferences helping the environmental regeneration charity Groundwork get its message across to those in power. Contrary to many people?s expectations, these conferences can be fascinating events. It struck me this year that all three parties were tussling with the same fundamental, and quite esoteric, issue ? namely, what role the state has to play in helping us increase our ?life satisfaction?. In other words, what makes us happy?
In answer to this question, one particular speaker made a passionate defence of miserabilism on the grounds that being malcontent was the strongest stimulus for artistic endeavour, and, indeed, that happiness was essentially uninteresting. Another argued that the State has no role to play in making us truly happy as the search for enlightenment and fulfilment is a personal quest. Although these questions may at first appear to be the idle musings of a comfortable society, they are actually integral to how we tackle big social issues such as regeneration, community development and social inclusion. And the arts have a key role to play.
It is undoubtedly true that much art is inspired by pain and hardship. At the same time, however, the arts are also capable of contributing immeasurably to the way we feel about ourselves, our community and society as a whole. Community art is an immensely powerful tool for connecting people with each other, for establishing a bond between people and place and for expressing identity. It facilitates dialogue, inspires ideas and provokes comment and action.
Groundwork has been learning from and working with artists to engage people in the process of regeneration for more than two decades. What we have learned in that time is what motivates people to get involved and to act: the local environment is a key motivator; the arts a perfect vehicle to translate thought into deed.
Most people are immensely proud of where they live, no matter how much their estate or neighbourhood is vilified or labelled as ?deprived? or ?disadvantaged?. Most want to rebuild a sense of neighbourliness and re-establish the social ties that are so important in making a place function and feel like home. In our mobile and virtual world, the traditional hubs that used to bind communities together ? the factory, the church, the corner shop and the pub ? hold less sway. This means that those involved in rebuilding community need to seek a new focus. The approach of Groundwork and others has been to engage people in thinking about, improving and managing what they do still share ? the public spaces such as parks, play areas, commons and street corners: places where neighbours can meet, where ages can mix and where different cultures and backgrounds can interact.
Using the arts to enhance or celebrate these spaces can deliver enormous benefits, encouraging people to explore a shared heritage, to learn more about nature or to swap stories and experiences. The process can help highlight different perspectives and address difficult issues, while physical pieces can help create spaces that are distinct, that carry a local identity and that make people feel they belong to a place and it belongs to them.
Of course, this is a very utilitarian viewpoint ? art with a social purpose. The question many people ask is: ?art may be good for delivering regeneration but can regeneration ever deliver art that is any good??. I believe there are many examples to prove the case. One such is Sultan the Pit Pony, Europe?s largest earth sculpture that now lies on the site of a major regeneration project at Penallta, near Caerphilly. Sultan was born of necessity, the need to create an earthwork amphitheatre providing shelter and seating. However, the inclusive and imaginative way in which Groundwork Caerphilly and its partners were managing this particular regeneration project meant that the potential to use this feature to add character and value to the site was quickly realised. The earthwork was born, fashioned and named through a consultation led by artist Mick Petts. It was brought to life on the day the park was opened when the miners, who had been the last to leave the Penallta pit on its closure some years earlier, returned to the site with a piece of anthracite designed to bring a sparkle to Sultan?s eye. The process added richness and resonance to the regeneration process and now creates a spectacular addition to a major community facility.
For many years now, regeneration professionals have been using art in this way to achieve their aims. What we need is more artists seeing regeneration as a way of achieving their own aims ? work that challenges and stretches but that connects directly and emotionally with its audience and contributes to the way we perceive society and experience life.
Richard Sharland is Director of Development at Groundwork UK. t: 0121 236 8565;
w: http://www.groundwork.org.uk, http://www.artandregeneration.com