Housing Percent for Art

Introduction to Housing Percent for Art
What does the service cover?
A brief history of Housing Percent for Art
Useful links and further information
Contact us

An introduction to Housing Percent for Art

Housing Percent for Art is a service located within Bolton at Home, and is also a part of Bolton Community Homes, an umbrella partnership of nine housing associations working in the Borough.

We work with communities to maximise the benefits of regeneration, facilitated by creative arts projects. The scheme objectives are:

To help improve the physical and social fabrics of communities
To develop opportunities with local cultural industries
To encourage closer links between artists, residents and the professionals that shape the environment
To work in partnership to develop Boroughwide arts and culture projects

What does the service cover?

The following gives a guide as to the things that Housing Percent for Art does in practice:

Arts led consultation on existing estates and new developments
Creative arts projects as part of refurbishment or regeneration schemes on existing estates
Physical works or commission of public arts integrated with new housing developments
Celebratory and participatory arts or cultural work for community development
Borough wide or zoned cultural projects and events

A brief history of Housing Percent for Art

Bolton MBC’s Housing Department adopted a percent for art policy in 1997, committing 1% of its annual capital budget to arts activities as part of the regeneration process on Council estates.

The first projects got underway in 1998 with 1 permanent part-time Housing Arts Officer and a second temporary post for an initial 3 month period to help launch the project. The response from residents and tenants was so positive that the temporary post soon became a second permanent part-time post.

In 1999 a third and full-time post was added to the team - an Arts Business and Community Outreach Worker - funded by Bolton Community Homes, BMBC Housing and European Regional Development Fund. For two years this post was responsible for developing projects with the housing associations and strengthening the business base of the local artists involved in the projects.

A fourth full-time post plus a full-time admin support post were added in 2004. With the change in status of the Council’s Housing Department, the team of five now provide a service across all community housing providers in Bolton.

Click on the links below to find out more.

Useful links:

Applying for funding
Frequently asked questions
Information for artists
What kind of projects do we support?
Project case studies - physical and non-physical artwork

Housing Percent for Art Annual Report 2005-2006. Download in Word or PDF format (documents open in a new window)

Contact us:

Housing Percent for Art
UCAN Centre
Hatfield Road
Bolton
BL1 3BU

Tel: 01204 335114
Fax: 01204 335118
e-mail: housingpercentforart@boltonathome.org.uk