Percent for Art

If there was a defining moment for the planting of the seed it has to be when Gerry Fitzhenry, the then Bolton City Challenge Manager, showed George Caswell, then Director of Housing (Bolton MBC), what could be achieved with participatory arts work.

Breightmet Arts was a three-year funded project (1999 - 2002) that aimed to support sustainable regeneration in the Breightmet area.  Work ranged from consultation, participatory, celebratory, performance to public art and physical regeneration. The project was the focus of a longitudinal impact assessment that examined the effect of the activity there.

This medium term dance project took place in three homes for the elderly.

This national two-day conference explored the use of the arts in regeneration.

Residents initiated a process of artist led feasibility and consultation to explore ways of improving their communal garden area. This has resulted in the design of new oak decking, decorative mosaic paving, stone and timber seating and new planting to provide a usable space for residents all year round.

Local Charity DBBC and production staff from the BBC trained 10 people from Oldhams Estate in the skills and expertise to run their own radio broadcast.

A collaborative piece of work between Housing Percent for Art and Barnados Phoenix Project

An area of land was transformed into an innovative play area for a new (Portico Housing Association) housing development in Great Lever.

Residents used an arts based consultation process to inform plans for the park and to promote wider knowledge and involvement in the project by all sections of the local community.

Following a successful Home Zone bid, Oldhams Residents Association, Astley Bridge, sought Housing Percent for Art and Global Grants funding for an intensive process of community consultation.

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.

A project initiated by Eldon Street Residents Association, Tonge Moor. Local residents took part in an arts based consultation with artist Penny Butterworth to identify and address issues concerning the appearance of the area.

A programme of events that took place in the area over June and July. It involved a range of schools and local arts groups.

A project involving residents of Brazley and Claypool Residents Association in Horwich in partnership with Bolton at Home’s Housing Percent for Art, Technical Services and Customer Involvement Teams.

Housing Percent for Art commissioned artists Matt and Rob Vale to research and deliver a proposal for an exciting and innovative large scale art project that would engage our communities and capture the imagination.

In November 2009 Neighbourhood Management Team and Percent for Art Bolton East commissioned a six months Photographer in Residence project, to explore and challenge the way in which Breightmet was seen from both within and outside the neighbourhood.  Photographer Les Monaghan spent two days a week in and around the Breightmet community, engaging with local residents and capturing images that reflected life, work and play in the neighbourhood.

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.

Funded by Bolton at Home, this project has grown out of an earlier pilot project called Shakespeare on the street. Children, young people and adults have been offered opportunities to take part in performing arts and take to the stage at venues local to where they live, and also at the Octagon Theatre in Bolton’s town centre. Sessions included games, performing, singing, dancing, creative writing and stage management. There were also several trips to see live performances in a theatre setting.

Percent for Art has worked collaboratively with the Octagon Theatre and Activ8 since 1998.  In 2013 the two organisations formalised their partnership, and developed a programme of activities aimed at reaching communities not currently engaged, focusing on the following themes:

This 18 month partnership project was led by Manchester based artist collective Guild, with £89,000 from the Arts Council England’s Strategic Touring Fund and contributions from the four project partners: Bolton at Home, Poplar HARCA, South Yorkshire Housing Association and St Leger Homes.

Read more and watch the video here.

Every year since 2014 community groups supported by Bolton at Home have collaborated on Manchester Day Parade.

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.

‘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.