Place Space & Identity Closing Event
9th June 2008

On a beautiful sunny day in June I found myself sitting under a marquee in the middle of Hanley Park, Stoke-on-Trent, enjoying food, wine, new-found friends and most importantly the most beautiful publication I have ever seen.

The event was organised to mark the closing of the successful programme of commissions collectively known as Place Space & Identity and to preview the publication ‘Raw Material’ that accompanies the documentary exhibition by Liz Lock and Mishka Henner.
Following this celebratory lunch the group moved down the road to Staffordshire University where we were to meet for the interactive event, “Know Talk Share”, hosted by Ros Robins, of Arts Council England West Midlands.

This was an opportunity for artists, academics, regeneration professionals and many others to talk together in a professional environment about creative approaches to issues and challenges of regeneration in North Staffordshire, particularly following the Place Space & Identity 2007-08 programme.
Breaking off into four smaller focus groups, we were challenged to consider what questions we should be asking and answering to inform future work.
From the questions that were raised, four distinct areas of concern became apparent. These were:

 1) Influence and advocacy. How art can be used as a fundamental tool within regeneration and how we influence potential funders and partners.
2) Quality and impact. How we ensure high quality projects and best practice in order to achieve maximum impact.
3) How we achieve community involvement.
4) Winning public opinion.

Each group was allocated a specific question to debate and perhaps answer. Of course, no group could produce the magic answer that would completely resolve the issue in question, but through discussion a number of suggestions, thoughts and contributions were made and reported back to everyone for an open debate.
This debate was fast moving but some points were made that particularly stood out for me, the first being the acknowledgement of the fundamental tensions between art and regeneration. Their sense of timescales, key targets and approaches differ vastly from one another but it was felt that through clear briefs, good management and communication the Place Space and Identity programme had become a model for how these tensions can be overcome.
Phil Brundrett from Renew North Staffordshire reinforced this by explaining that within regeneration there is a tendency to become blinkered, focusing on a particular goal. He felt that this process had helped Renew to look at different ways to include art in order to benefit the wider population.

A later point was made that advocating the arts has to begin with an understanding of art and artists’ ways of working. It seemed to be a group consensus that this could be achieved through the placement of an arts organisation at the centre of the process.
Of course this is at the heart of the Longhouse aims and objectives and is being taken forward both by the Longhouse team and the artists they support within the field. AirSpace, for example, is already contributing a huge amount to regenerate the contemporary art scene and to assist in developing Stoke-on-Trent’s cultural outlook.
Looking at the changes taking place already, the discussion groups were asked by Ros to consider the Place Space and Identity programme as ‘compost’. That it was the beginning of something larger and that the contribution made by artists would enrich the regeneration process in the longer term.

Following my eventful day I went back up the road to my home and I began to evaluate on a personal level everything that had been discussed, attempting to formulate my own individual response to it all. I wondered where I, as an artist, go from here. I considered the roles of ‘compost’ and of ‘tools’.
Deciding that I most certainly wasn’t a ‘tool’, I wondered if I was ‘compost’. Essentially of course compost is a mulched down version of its original state that enriches the soil thus producing more colour, vibrancy and growth. So this seems like a good deal for ‘the garden’ but I think as artists we need to avoid falling into the trap of ‘mulching’ to please ‘the gardener’.
We need to be able to follow our own convictions, stay true to our creative integrity and not feel that we need to silence our voice in order to fit with other people’s agendas. When a commissioning body involves regeneration agencies or private investors this can be difficult to achieve. The role of the Artist in resisting or subverting is crucial to opening debate and engaging the public in the issues surrounding us. I think that the regeneration process needs this approach as much as it needs a cohesive vision of unity amongst partners and artists.
Throughout my Place Space and Identity experience I was certainly aware of the need to avoid “biting the hand that feeds me” although I have to say that pressure came from within me, not from any of the parties involved.
These issues highlight the need for more independent opportunities like the Longhouse Action Research bursaries. Where artists can follow their own paths and explore the wider implications and challenges of regeneration without the pressures of necessarily adhering to the utopian vision of renewal.

Rachel Grant