Arts Council England believes:
"the arts have the power to transform lives and communities, and create opportunities for people throughout the country".The Art and Architecture Journal recently wrote in their Art and Regeneration issue that:
"the environmental regeneration of cities is responding to the complex and multiple democratic interests to acknowledge public art’s cultural function. Architectural branding and signature buildings, gateways, landmark features and art interventions are now an indispensable part of any city’s cultural architectural identity".
Art in the public realm can fulfil many social, economic, environmental and aesthetic functions depending on the artist’s, but also the stakeholder’s objectives. Public art can be used as/for:
An Arts Council report ‘The Power of Art’ case studies the impact of regeneration in the visual arts exploring economic, environmental, and social regeneration. This report which you can find at www.artscouncil.org.uk/publications/publication_detail.php?browse=recent&id=527 includes case studies that explore the potential of culture as a regenerative tool. One of the interesting case studies in the report is Gateshead, an area in the North East which has undergone vast industrial change over the last twenty years. The developments were driven by Gateshead council who has run a public art programme since 1986 and during the programmes 25-year history has commissioned over 80 works, the city is now heralded for its use of cultural regeneration. The report details the positive economic developments, investments, and outcomes of projects like the ‘Angel of the North by artist Anthony Gormley which currently boasts some 90,000 viewers per day (its proximity to the A1 and visibility from the East coast mainline railway boosts this figure).
The Angel spearheaded many of the cultural regeneration activities in the area. Public art has been successfully entwined with the regeneration of Gateshead, their artworks have been specifically designed for sites, and relationships with artists developed and explored often on community levels. The Angel of the North is the most famous of the works and stands on a site that was once occupied by a colliery. The work pays tribute to the industrial heritage of the North East. Bryan and Laura visited the Angel of the North on day11 the Gateshead community has taken to the Angel; one of the most poignant visible moments of this acceptance was in its first year when the Angel was dressed in a Newcastle United Football shirt.
The Arts Council Gateshead case study found that visitor figures to the city have risen and the number of residents leaving the city has dropped. The Wonderful North road trip took Bryan and Laura to meet three ex miners in St Helen’s to discuss a future public art project in the area led by Channel 4’s Big Art project. The three men explained how they hope that the piece of public art will put St Helens on the map. The commission was nicknamed ‘the Angel of Merseyside’.