Transported

Transported’s aim is to increase the number of people participating in and enjoying high quality arts experiences in Boston Borough and South Holland.

The programme will transport art, artists and activities to remote places, and also bring people to where the arts are being made or presented.

In the longer term, we will encourage collaborations between local communities and arts organisations, museums, libraries and local authorities, with the aim of empowering people and organisations to experiment with new approaches to developing inspiring, sustainable arts programmes that will engage audiences in Boston Borough and South Holland.

The name ‘Transported’ primarily reflects the programme’s aim to bring great art to new people and vice versa, no matter how remote their location: unique, extraordinary or inspiring events and activities creating a sense of wonder will transport people through new experiences and creative journeys.  It also references Lincolnshire’s role in the transportation of goods to and from Europe, as well as echoing the transport routes, railways and rivers across the county that link communities.

Funding has been awarded through the Creative People and Places scheme from the National Lottery through Arts Council England. The Arts Council has invested in areas of the UK where people’s involvement in the arts is significantly below the national average. Boston Borough and South Holland is one of only 18 areas of greatest need that have been awarded the funding and the only programme in the East Midlands in the first round of applications.

Creative People and Places Fund

Transported has a core team of nine permanent members of staff based in Holbeach St. Marks: an Arts Manager, Office Manager, Communications & Relationships Manager, five Arts Engagement Workers, and a general Administrator.

Transported is overseen by a Management Group, a sub-committee of Leisure in the Community, with artsNK as its lead organisation.  artsNK has been delivering the arts development programme for North Kesteven District Council for over 20 years. Their expertise is teaching people how to do amazing things, and then getting them to do more, developing levels of skill and quality as well as extending what is possible, making them ideally placed to advise Transported to have the same effect in Boston Borough and South Holland.  Leisure in the Community Limited (LiTC) is the accountable body for the Creative People and Places grant.

For more information on who is on the Management Group, click here.

Transported stands independently from local authorities, but their extensive knowledge and guidance are greatly valued, so we are very happy that Transported has active support at senior level from Boston Borough Council and South Holland District Council.

Our first stage consultation, during which Transported collected opinions to shape the rest of the programme, took the form of a series of events provided by commissioned artists and companies briefed to navigate the barriers that traditionally have put people off from engaging with the arts, inspiring and engaging people to get involved.

Our approach throughout reflects a belief that people can only comment on what they know – so our initial consultation programme was about providing arts experiences first and then asking what should happen next by way of our committed Community Researchers at each event. It continues to be an artistic and consultative challenge that pushes us to get to the people that haven’t so far been listened to, engaged with or who didn’t feel they had anything to say.

Clearly some people in Boston Borough and South Holland do engage with the arts, and they expect their voices to be heard too, and their opinions and suggestions to hold equal weight in determining what Transported could offer as a programme.  So we need to understand, particularly in this first period, but to an extent throughout the initial three years, that Transported has to focus on those that don’t engage.

After the consultation phase the Transported team analysed the information gathered by the Community Researchers and planned Transported programme accordingly, culminating in a plan for moving forward – Transported Phase II Outline [insert link]

The overriding aim of Transported is to engage new people in the arts in Boston Borough and South Holland.  The Arts Council has said that their view (and therefore the purpose of Creative People and Places) is that the answer to increasing engagement is not likely to be already out there, otherwise the issue would not be there (in Boston Borough and South Holland and other qualifying areas). Therefore, Transported is not looking for the normal answers (those currently offered by sections of the community that do engage).

However, Transported hope that by encouraging more people in the area to engage with the arts through a new approach, existing arts schemes and buildings will benefit from increased interest and participation.

The Transported team are more than happy to undertake discussions regarding any local projects that express an interest in working with us, but they do have to fall within our criteria for us to be able to do so. Creative People and Places aims to increase access to quality arts experience for those that don’t normally engage, which is likely to mean art that doesn’t happen already, or art being taken to new places and people. These things do not imply a criticism of other schemes or approaches: only that this money has to be spent within this specific criteria.

We want to encourage any organisation or individuals that want to develop new public art commissions or projects in the next few years to let us know.

Our plan is to take these people, together with any local artists that are interested in this area of work, to see examples of best practice and begin a discussion about what public art is, what value it can offer and develop understanding about the process. We will also invite artists and project leaders to give talks to contribute to the discussion.

This approach is designed to give us the best chance of identifying the best projects for Transported to support and to deliver Arts Council objectives. It also means the other projects are  more likely to be ambitious and suitable for Grants for the Arts Applications, and that we build understanding about the potential for public art to contribute to other objectives, such as economic development and sense of place.

As Transported’s funding is from the Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places scheme, which specifically invests in areas of low arts engagement, the funding cannot be spent on anything other than delivering Transported’s aims to address this.  Arts Council England distribute National Lottery funding which must be spent on arts based activities – and if the Transported consortium had not applied for this funding, it would have gone to another community to benefit from.

Transported is committed to investing evenly across the two areas to provide access to quality arts for those that don’t currently engage. The team are continuously mapping where Transported events have taken place to make sure new opportunities are developed to fill the gaps.

The initial consultation phase was about getting as many opinions as possible, and in particular from members of the community who do not engage with the arts.  As a result, the consultation phase was programmed to specifically target areas of Boston Borough and South Holland where people met or passed through as a matter of course, eg. markets, community events, family fun days, libraries and car parks.   This meant that we could get opinions from people that would not usually make a decision to attend an arts event if they saw it advertised.

After the initial consultation, we looked at where there are either geographical or demographic gaps, and have made this part of the Creative Consultation strand.

Taking great art to rural areas and transporting people from those areas to great art is at the heart of the Transported programme, so rest assured that if we haven’t been to your village yet – we will!