Experiments in Place Making

Locally based creative practitioners were partnered with a Neighbourhood Manager in order to identify a particular local challenge.

This new partnership presented an opportunity to explore and extend creative practice as a core resource in developing new approaches to place making and in particular, a chance to experiment and develop innovative and collaborative practice.

The Experiments in Place Making case study provides an in-depth look at each of the Experiments and their interaction with local residents.

One thing that makes Experiments in Place Making different from more traditional arts interventions is its genuinely experimental nature. Each project is a different attempt to remodel the relationship between the artist and the citizen and to integrate creative with social practice.

The artist has to create a project design that is sensitive to local needs and that offers more than a targeted workshop approach. Ideally, their intervention should act as a catalyst for social and even political engagement. Although each experiment is small scale, it should serve to show how a more lasting change might happen. It could then, in practical terms, provide something solid for council officers and artists to build on.