Percent for Art

A once tired-looking subway in Bolton has been given a bright and colourful makeover by students from Little Lever School, as part of a national campaign to use creativity to help tackle crime.

Social Housing Arts Network (SHAN) is an eighteen month arts and communities project funded by Arts Council England’s Strategic Touring fund and led by Manchester based arts collective Guild.  SHAN aims to establish a touring network for socially engaged artists working on process led projects.

‘If these walls could talk …’ is a community development project with social justice and collective action at its core.  In 2011, the Neighbourhood Management East Team established three weekly women’s groups across Breightmet to address a lack of supportive spaces and networks for women. 

The Big Digital Project was funded by Arts Council England & AGMA as part of a three year initiative to increase arts participation in areas of low engagement.

A creative project was set up in October 2010 to engage women in Breightmet, particularly older women and younger women with children.

Construction of a giant Meccano footbridge over the canal at Nob End, Little Lever began in December 2012, followed by two Meccano picnic benches.  

The project explored the creative application of smart materials with local arts & crafts practitioners and communities.  Smart materials technology was incorporated into artwork by artists commissioned to work with local groups.

Ultimate Holding Company (UHC) – a Manchester based creative collective, has been working in partnership with Bolton at Home to conduct a research and development pilot exploring how artists can most effectively work with staff and residents of social housing and the impact outreach art projects can have on the community. 

In September 2011 we recruited film makers Paul Hine and Mark Haig and writer Louise Wallwein to develop and deliver a proposal to work with young unemployed me in the Breightmet area of Bolton.