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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2014 Big Digital Project

2014 Big Digital Project

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.

External Galleries were commissioned by Lets Go Global to work with local artists and communities across all 10 Greater Manchester authorities, giving them the opportunity to design and stage their own light show. 

Group photo of people working on Big Digital project Bolton’s contribution to the Big Digital Project was designed by Breightmet’s Mr One Million group working with local film training & production company, thebox.tv CIC.  They created photography, music, video and sound content, and came up with the idea of the ‘Bolfie’ – a Bolton selfie.  Bolton residents were invited to submit their own Bolfies to be included in the light show, which took place in Bolton town centre in March 2014.  All 10 local events were brought together for a combined Big Digital light show at Manchester Town Hall.

"Bolton is my hometown - I was brought up here and my mates are here. The project is awesome." Ellis Birtles, Mr One Million

Projection on to Le Mans crescent in Bolton