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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2007 Oak Avenue Acorn Project

2007 Oak Avenue Acorn Project

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.

Local artist Michelle Sheree was commissioned to work with the elderly residents during a number of consultation workshops to produce designs for the communal garden area, which were developed by the artist and incorporated into the garden. Features include creative washing line posts, fence trellis panels, pagoda, bird table and bird bath/feeder and mosaic-inlaid paving.