This year’s PAD programme took place in Stoke-on-Trent to run in conjunction with an Arts Council England, West Midlands initiative called Explore. The Explore initiative, managed by Ian Banks, is a dynamic new regional pilot scheme to support the delivery of public art projects in the West Midlands through a series of 12 interrogatory workshops delivered over 2 years.Further details of Explore can be viewed on the Explore Initiative website.
Following on from the Explore workshop held on 11 September, the PAD programme applied some of the key strategic principles identified through the Explore workshop to focus on a more detailed and creative approach to the specific plans for the regeneration proposals in Stoke-on-Trent City Centre (Hanley).
The programme brought together nine artists and two lead artists on a two day residency in which the artists had a unique opportunity to engage with built environment professionals and consider the different ways of working in the public realm.
The artists responded to the site by proposing hypothetical projects which could be used to enhance the identity of the site. There individual responses are listed below:
David Bethell - Water Saves the Drowning
Anna Francis - Aspirations of Stoke-on-Trent
Rachel Grant - Playing for Time
Sandra Hall - Festival of Change
Michelle Lord - Beauty Was There
Trevor Pitt - A Soft Bench in a Hard Landscape
