Transported Consultation projects
Ice Cream Van taster programme
“I was walking the dog when I heard that lovely tune and saw the commotion out- side the school. As I got a bit nearer the roof opened and out popped the ballerina, turning in time to the accordion.”
We will buy, customise and fit out an ice cream van and turn it into a mobile arts centre, travelling from estate to estate and village to village aroundBostonandSouth Holland. The Van will be programmed, decorated and kitted out as a base for a whole range of arts activities; demonstrations, performances, workshops and storytelling. The van will go where people gather, capturing their attention and getting them to say what needs doing, where in their community would benefit from artistic intervention, what skills people want to learn and what sort of performances they want to see.
Artist inspired events
“We were doing our shopping when they started playing music and we noticed an old couple in our aisle abandon their trolley and start dancing. They just flung off their coats. He was wearing a suit and she was wearing a lovely ball room type dress underneath. He put his arms out and they glided down past the baked beans. It wasn’t till then that we realised they were all at it, there were lots of them, all around the shop. There must have been a hundred or more.
Then this very polite lady came and asked me some questions about art, what I’d like to do and see, and she recorded it all, and I’m told its up on the internet. That’s how I came to be here, doing this mosaic.”
Associate artists will be invited to suggest appropriate ways of getting local people to have their say. Local artists on their own patch, is an ideal way of coming up with the right solution and to start to establish long term relationships. Selected artists will be paid to undertake the most appropriate, innovative and eye catching consultation events and interventions. Responses and ideas will be (video and voice) recorded, written, drawn, sent, texted and collated on the web site for all to see.
On your doorstep
“I was asked to help one Sunday to clear the rubbish off the green and then went on a trip to Yorkshire Sculpture Park and that was it, I was bitten. This is the third project I’ve been involved in now”
We want people to understand (and experience) that the arts can have a positive local impact. It’s not complicated and it’s not elitist. “On your doorstep” will enable residents to say where would benefit from artistic input in their area. It might be a performance at a fete, the enhancement of a picnic area, creation of a memorial concert or a school mural. During the 6-month consultation, 10 of the most feasible and appropriate projects will be delivered as a partnership between the local community and artists, as a way of
Introducing participatory budgeting that can be developed further in the main scheme.
Pop Up
“We wandered into the old butchers shop to see what was going on and went through to the back where it had been turned into a cinema showing films about Boston and how it’s changed”
Empty shops on the high street and in the centre of the village, is a sign of decline which the arts can turn round, as the first step of regeneration. We will create a culture of Pop up shops and events, in the spirit of Dan Thompson, using empty shops and unusual spaces, creating enticing and exciting exhibitions and displays that celebrate the “local” neighborhood and its unique character at the same time as helping the arts and wider economy.
Go See
“I was lucky enough to be able to go with them to Barcelona. We saw some amazing things, Gaudi and mosaics and parks, and then we came back and worked with the artist to decide what we could do in front of the village hall and recreation ground”
We will take residents and artists to see inspirational and successful schemes and performances across Europe, bringing back inspiration and aspiration to fuel theBostonandSouth Hollandprogramme.
Transported Main programme projects
Lorries are flexible art spaces that can go from village to estate and back again. We will convert lorry trailers to create specialist spaces or pods fitted out for arts activities – Digital, community design, film making, animation, traditional crafts, glass, mosaic, carving etc and performance – dance, music, sound recording, theatre,
Lorries and Trailers are canvases for art works that travel. We will create Photographic murals on the side of Lorries, the scale of TED prize winning photographer JR. Agricultural and food processing workers are often migratory and usually not linked in to any live cultural activity. They are isolated and removed from their home and all it represents. We will work with them to create large scale portraits of them and their families, to travel the roads ofEurope in recognition of them and their contribution.
Lorries are transport for artists and cultural exchange. We will work with Haulage companies to establish an artist and arts swap scheme that links creative people here with creative people and places across the continent.
Lorries travel daily to bring tomatoes fromSpainto Spalding to be made into salads. We will establish an ongoing link through the haulage company, with the supplying village to explore Spanish Festivals; experiencing the Tomatina (Tomato fight) of Bunol, and learning to make Seman Grande Giant puppets inBilbaowill infuse new energy and skills into the festivals of the area. Councilors, artists and residents will be supported in visiting and bringing back inspiration, along with the tomatoes.
Big Bang Launch and Annual Festival
It is important that the people of South Holland andBostonknow that the Transported programme is going on and is open to them to join in. Boston and South Holland have a proud tradition of festivals which Transported will re-invent and bring up to date, linking to the best companies in Europe, bringing inspiration and skills year after year to build new large scale cultural celebrations.
As the launch platform for Transported, and as the first of what will be an annual event, we will commission a premier company, such as French specialist Malabar, to work with local artists to create a truly spectacular opening event.
Each year we will bring a different company to the area, to share their skills with local artists, building a unique and valuable resource for the county and the region, and giving us the capacity to create spectacular celebrations and to feed into the rest of the Transported programme.
Pop Up
Empty shops on the high street and in the centre of the village, is a sign of decline which the arts can turn round, as the first step of regeneration. We will create a culture of Pop up shops and events, in the spirit of Dan Thompson, using empty shops and unusual spaces, creating enticing and exciting exhibitions and displays that celebrate the “local” neighborhood and its unique character at the same time as helping the arts and wider economy.
Live and local
Opportunities to see live art are limited and require people to travel. We will work with new and existing promoters and venues to curate and commission a broad range of live art events, with a strategic purpose, getting people to smaller scale, local and accessible events with a view to getting them to try larger performances and travel to specialist venues.
On your doorstep
Transported will offer a programme of community enhancement projects that introduce participatory budgeting as a way of getting communities to identify what needs doing and where the arts can make a positive contribution. “On your doorstep” has the potential to bring about significant changes allowing participants to build on their successes as well as build confidence and the belief gained from successful collaborative working.
DIY
The barriers to people taking part fall away quickly once they have a go and achieve something, discovering it can be fun. Craft activities; Knitting, ceramics, carving as well as performance; singing and percussion are proven techniques for people to engage with and to stay engaged. Transported will establish relationships through which we develop independent groups, offering advice and support to sustain them but importantly to continue to drive forward their artistic development.
Open Book
The eight static Rural Libraries already provide local people with access to great art experiences in book form, and more remote communities are served by a mobile library. Transported will create high quality, eye catching, innovative installations and interventions for local residents as well as visitors from further afield , to travel from library to library to view the whole exhibition/work.
Landmark Commissions
High quality public art adds to the visitor’s experience, to existing amenities and even can become an attraction in its own right. The Angel of the North demonstrated how good public art can capture the spirit of a region. The CP&P scheme offers the exciting (unique) opportunity to plan to curate pieces over ten years in order to build a high quality and interesting collection for South Holland andBoston, from the outset: pieces that reflect the place and can be ambitious enough to create a visitor attraction in their own right.
Learning
Transported will work with all schools and colleges in the area to make sure projects benefit from young people’s input and schools access the skills and inspirational experience of artists.
