What is Percent for Art?
Our Percent for Art team comprises two officers who are based in our Community Engagement Team and work across all areas of Bolton. Our arts officers work with residents, community groups, partners and other community stakeholders to develop socially engaged arts projects that help to improve our communities and benefit customers.
We commission appropriate artists or arts organisations, to work with the local community, and we manage the project from start to finish.
The Percent for Art service actively encourages individuals and community groups to get involved in schemes that can offer creative solutions to neighbourhood issues.
Ideas for arts projects can come from our neighbourhood teams and they will focus on specific neighbourhood priorities or be developed through conversations with community groups, partner organisations or other community stakeholders. Sometimes local arts projects are developed through wider Greater Manchester, regional or national networks or funding.
Our service also offers advice and guidance to our partners with regard to developing arts projects involving other social housing customers across Bolton. We have also been commissioned by partners to project manage a number of community arts and public / environmental art projects in Bolton.
Projects can be in any medium including visual arts, performance, music, crafts, digital art and film. They can take the form of arts based consultation, skills and confidence building projects, arts in health & wellbeing work, festivals and celebratory arts, as well as streetscaping and environmental arts projects designed to enhance the physical environment.
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1999 Breightmet Arts
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.
Breightmet Social Impact Study was a three year assessment and evaluation focusing on the capacity of cultural activity to empower local communities. It utilised Bolton MBC’s medium term commitment to resource the Breightmet Arts Project as an opportunity to focus primarily on the users who have benefited directly or indirectly from its services. It used qualitative and quantitative data from a range of sources and evidences how and why the arts have impacted on image, social cohesion and opportunities. The report of this unique study notes both actual and potential benefits of the use of the arts in regeneration.
Artists: Les Elvin project co-ordinator, Dolores Logan and others on a project by project basis
Social Impact Study: Gerri Moriarty, B4 Productions
Partners: Community Education, Leisure Services, Youth Services, Creative Industries Team, Breightmet Social Impact Study Research Group, Education and Culture Arts Unit and others on project by project basis