Housing Percent for Art: case studies

Flockton Court Art Project

Residents of Flockton Court, Horwich participated in a number of taster sessions in contrasting art forms culminating in communal art work for the Centre.

Residents chose to make a book about aspects of their lives and, working with artists Brian Lewis and Jayne Stringfellow, produced the ‘Flockton Court Book of Song’, compiled from “talk and laughter, reminiscence and knowledge”. A celebratory event was held in June 2006 to launch the Book.

Artists: Suzanne Harulow, Claire Mooney, Mary Rudkin, Ann McArdle, Brian Lewis, Jayne Stringfellow, Images
Housing % for Art Award: £2,565
 

Local Treasures

Housing Percent for Art worked in partnership with Bolton Museums, Art Gallery & Aquarium to deliver a project that aimed to make aspects of the collections housed at the museum more accessible.

Reminiscence boxes containing objects from the 1930’s-1940’s were created and taken out into the local community. A team of local artists worked with hard-to-reach groups to build inter-generational understanding and appreciation of their local heritage.

The project culminated in an Exhibition of artwork inspired by the wealth of stories and personal recollections at Bolton Art Gallery in February 2006.

Artists: FTL Imageworks, Activ8, Norma Hopkins, Les Elvin, Cathy Mathias, John Maycraft, Marjan Wouda, Scott Hibberd Quartet
Housing % for Art Award: £29,000
 

Willows Communications Project

A pilot project aimed at developing social enterprise skills amongst young people on the Willows estate, Deane.

During the production of the first three issues of an estate newsletter, two editorial groups acquired interviewing, photography, design and composition skills.

The pilot has led to the creation of a regular newsletter and opportunities to explore the further use of these skills.

Artist: Cool Canvas
Housing % for Art Award: £8,800
 

Bolton Families Project

A supported housing project working with families to change challenging and difficult behaviour so they can sustain a tenancy in the social rented housing sector.

Artist Wendy Marshall worked with families to design and fabricate creative internal and external features to enhance their new base. Further sessions took place, building on the relationships, skills and confidence developed over past months.

These included landscape painting techniques, family watercolour painting sessions, creating artwork for the project centre, storytelling for relaxation with the children, and positive thinking techniques.

Artist: Wendy Marshall
Housing % for Art Award: £15,105
 

Behind Closed Doors

Behind Closed Doors is a collaborative piece of work between Housing Percent for Art and Barnados Phoenix Project, a community development initiative which provides free and confidential support services to South Asian women, children and young people experiencing domestic violence.

South Asian women in Bolton worked with Poulami Desai, a photographic artist, to convey their experiences using photographic equipment to develop images and messages. The photographic exhibition is toured as part of the Phoenix Project’s developmental, educational and awareness raising work.

Artist: Poulami Desai, Sarah Paulley, Slight
Housing % for Art Award: £3,300
 

Boardman Street Library of Unwritten Books

Housing Percent for Art worked with Blackburn Road Neighbourhood Panel and residents of the Boardman Street area to develop an arts project that would bring the community together.

Artists Caroline Jupp and Sam Brown were commissioned to bring their project ‘The Library of Unwritten Books’ – a unique national initiative to create a collection of ‘imaginary’ books - to Boardman Street.

Residents of the estate and the surrounding area were invited to be interviewed about the book they would like to write or make and interviews were then transcribed, printed and bound. The artists held a celebratory event, to which all the authors were invited to receive a copy of their Book.

Artists: Caroline Jupp and Sam Brown
Housing % for Art Award: £4,000