6 September 2012

Ian GilzeanArchitecture UnitScottish GovernmentVictoria QuayEdinburgh

Dear Ian,

Architecture Policy ConsultationPAR+RS (Public Art Research + Resource Scotland) is Creative Scotland’s national public art development programme. Public art, or - more broadly and preferably - artists work in public places, is a significant form of activity that contributes to the built and rural environments, architecture and place-making, communities and economies.

We were grateful for the opportunity to be involved in the International Design Summit. The Summit provided us with an opportunity to research and produce Work In Progress, an illustration exploring the involvement of Scottish and Scotland-based Turner Prize nominees and winners in work in the public realm. This group of artists might be assumed to work primarily for gallery contexts. The extent to which they are creating work outwith the gallery and within the public realm is indicative of some of the issues we would like to contribute to the consultation.

Our comments in respect of the Architecture and Place Policy Consultation are as follows:

Artists have key skills that enable them to contribute to public places.

LeadershipTake as an example the role of Scotland-based team sans façon, who are working with the Utilities and Environmental Protection Departments in Calgary, Canada. Their 5 year programme Watershed+ “establishes a foundation for renewing the relationship between the Calgarians and their watershed by bringing creative practice into the world of water management.” This is an important example of the potential for artists to lead on major public sector initiatives.

TeamworkHere examples might include:• artist involvement in the re-imagining of places, for instance through the Scottish Government's

Charette series and through Creative Scotland's Creative Futures residency programme; • artist involvement in developing plans and strategies as part of design teams alongside

architects, landscape architects, interior designers; • artists leading processes of community engagement and consultation. Participation is a key

theme across art and design practices whether it is framed as co-creation or socially engaged practices. Creative Scotland's ArtWorks programme, co-sponsored by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, is developing skills and policies in this important area.

Involving artists at the earliest stages is an important principle. It precipitates more adventurous thinking, it can drive the development of innovative methodologies and ultimately projects. However it is never too late to involve an artist. Sometimes it can be as useful to introduce

someone to work with an existing context or building to explore it 'in use' once it is inhabited and communities are formed.

Engaging communities: Increasingly artists and arts organisations across all disciplines work within the public realm in the widest sense. The launch of the National Theatre of Scotland was built around HOME, a major programme of professional sited theatre created within communities in a number of locations across Scotland. Artists working in the public realm are no longer just visual and applied artists: across all artforms we find people engaged in public work, contributing significantly to place and potentially to the architecture of place.

Place and criticality: Artists are everywhere. They contribute to the distinctive nature of Scotland's places, as underline by Creative Scotland's Place Strategy and Creative Place Awards. Some artists contribute specifically to place-making through their practice. Others contribute to local economies and equalities work. Some artists are particularly skilled at engaging and using culture as a key driver of well-being within places and communities.

Often this work challenges existing public policy, questioning priorities and revealing the overlooked. Not all of it will be supported by or seen as contributing to the formation of public policy, but it is important to recognise its value in the ecologies of places.

Scotland has world-class exemplars of artists work in public places.

Scotland's artists have an outstanding track record of creating important work in rural places. This includes Deveron Arts' 15 year programme 'The town is the venue', Will Maclean's Commemoration of our Land Heroes on Lewis and Dalziel + Scullion's work with scientists and land managers. Scottish Natural Heritage recognises and supports creative practice as a key contributor to the understanding and valuing of Scotland's natural environment. A strong contemporary example is NVA's Kilmahew project, addressing some of the key challenges of the post industrial rural environment, modern heritage and sustainable futures.

Scotland's cities have pioneering examples of artists work in public places, leading to regeneration through built enhancements and community development. This history perhaps starts with the New Towns programme. Historic Scotland have identified Glenrothes Town Artist as having key significance. In Glasgow, A New Path highlights key projects that have enhanced architecture (Toby Paterson's commission for the new BBC building), engaged communities (The Royston Road project) and supported patient pathways (the £2.5 million public art programme associated with NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde's modernisation programme.) The Inverness Old Town Art programme has effectively deployed a range of contemporary public art tactics including master-planning, community engagement, intervention in the public realm and durational projects.

The most significant contemporary urban initiative is VeloCity, a partnership between Glasgow Life and Creative Scotland plus others. This plan seeks to leverage a new phase of culture-led regeneration for Glasgow. It represents a step change in the consideration of what a 'public art plan' might be. It is underpinned by in-depth analysis of a number of public places in Glasgow and, although it is driven by the impending arrival of the Commonwealth Games, it seeks to have a long term and significant impact on the city.

Scotland's Art Schools have made an internationally recognised contribution to the evolution of public art, providing an important space for overlap between the study of architecture & fine art. Long-term engagement with and across all disciplines specifically addressing public places (Fine, Applied and Performing Art Schools, Architecture Schools, Planning Programmes) has yet to be achieved.

Key developmental issues

There is a need to build a more robust collaborative relationship around and with artists work in public places at the level of national public policy bodies. Architecture + Design Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, Historic Scotland, RIAS, RTPI as well as Creative Scotland should be at the heart of this. There is a need also to engage with other sectors (health, education, criminal justice, environment) in order to secure the benefits demonstrated by projects such as Watershed+. Finally, we should be looking to the private sector as important partners.

There is a need to develop more support for training and experimentation in public art practice in order to support & contribute effectively and innovatively to place & architecture initiatives. ArtWorks is an important initiative dealing with participatory working. But the issues of Leadership, Teamwork, Engaging Communities and supporting Critical and Risk-taking practices are critical too. Supporting interdisciplinary learning and development is key to this. Artists working in public places must achieve a wide range of 'disciplinary adequacies', understanding at least the basic language of colleagues working in vastly different fields. Equally, to fully realise the benefits of artists work in public places, those working in non-arts disciplines must understand and have confidence in the artist & his / her processes. We welcome the inclusion of artists in the Scottish Government's Charette programme, and suggest finding further opportunities for interdisciplinary learning as a critical next step.

The development of artists work in public places has been supported significantly by public expenditure over the past 20 years. We are now in a different economic climate and there are major challenges to ensuring that artists continue to make a contribution to the public realm.

As well as issues around procurement, there are challenges around what might broadly be termed maintenance. Existing funding streams tend not to support the maintenance of pieces of art commissioned for public places. The result is that zero or low maintenance regimes are implemented at development stage, massively reducing the potential scope of projects as well as their impact as they begin to weather.

We recognise that Creative Scotland and its national public art development programme have a key role in the onward development of Scotland's Architecture Policy, and we look forward to working with the Scottish Government's Architecture and Planning Units as appropriate.

Yours sincerely,

Chris Fremantle and Suzy GlassCo-Producers