Training

I regularly give talks, presentations and training courses on public art and aspects of the commissioning process to students, artists, local authority officers, professional bodies and at national conferences. I tailor the training to the clients and participants requirements and invite artists and other professionals to speak to bring other perspectives. I also mentor artists and project managers providing them with support, advice and networking. I am a trained facilitator and trainer for ixia on the evaluation toolkit.

For Artists : Public Art Commissioning Process

These sessions are run as individual ½ day sessions and as a training programme spread over 6 months with a core group of artists carrying out tasks between the sessions.

An Introduction to Public Art
How to Apply for an opportunity.
Proposals
Community Consultation
Legal & Technical
Marketing & Evaluation

Clients:

Cheshire Artists through Cheshire County Council, Crisp, Ribble Valley and the Ist Out Bursary, which ran for three years with graduate artists in the North West who carried out a temporary commission at the same time.

For Project Managers from Local Authorities and Environmental Organisations

The Role of the Artist
Creative Consultation
Animation of Public Space
Evaluation

Clients:

Elevate, Cheshire County Council, Vale Royal Borough Council

For Planning Departments & Developers Agents

Introduction to Public Art
Implementing percent for art Policies and Supplementary Planning Documents

Case Study: Spaces

Working with Cheshire County Council, a series of approaches were developed to raise the profile of Public Art across the departments.

The advocacy tool is Spaces www.spacescheshire.com. Spaces is an exciting new initiative aimed at engaging artists, commissioners and the wider community in the debate about site specific visual arts in Cheshire.

PROJECTSPACE

Features case studies of exemplar projects in Cheshire, including Tatton Park Biennial and Station/Stationary

ARTSPACE

Take part in debates about commissions commissioning

WATCHSPACE

Information about recent projects in Cheshire, such as Torifune Butoh at Tatton Park and Something Beautiful commissions.

FUTURESPACE

We intend for the website to grow over time; to become part of the commissioning process by exhibiting virtual proposals for commissions in Cheshire.

Spaces, in partnership with Parabola, presented a one-day symposium for artists, commissioners and arts organisations exploring commissioning, context and site specific art. Using the first Tatton Park Biennial as one type of commissioning we intended to explore the full range of approaches.

Speakers

Charles Quick artist, Reader in Art in Public Places at the University of Central Lancashire and instigator of ‘In Certain Places’ Preston.

Patricia MacKinnon Day artist, Reader in Environmental Art at Liverpool John Moores University

Jacqueline McCormick artistic director of Cheshire Dance and practicing artist.

Gayle Chong Kwan artist

Case Study: 1ST Out Bursary

The 1ST Out Bursary Scheme was set up in 2000 as part of the Irwell Sculpture Trail (IST) project. The aims are to showcase the best recent fine art graduates in the North West region and enable them to gain the practical skills they need to enter the public art field, and to extend the range of artworks along the IST in order to enhance public awareness and understanding of the environment.

Bursary holders were supported by free use of studio space or a workspace, training sessions on practical aspects of public art led by expert consultants, and support from a project team including an experienced Artist/Mentor, the Irwell Sculpture Trail Projects Officer, the County Public Art Officer and officers of the relevant District or Borough Council. Each year, there were five bursary holders who take up the bursary in September, and present their completed work starting in March the following year.

Presentations on the Bursary Scheme and how to apply for an opportunity were delivered to a variety of art courses in the North West region and applications invited from final year undergraduates or recent graduates. Tutors were asked to support the applications with a reference. From these, five participants were selected by the bursary project team and each is commissioned to produce a temporary or ephemeral work for a location within a defined geographical stretch of the IST.

Find out more about 1st Out Bursary

Case Study: Evaluation and Public Art Training Seminars – ixia

As an ixia consultant I have been involved in developing the Evaluation Toolkit with OPENspace and deliver the toolkit in training seminars and for specific projects. The Toolkit will assist users to:

- carry out an appraisal of the feasibility of a public art commission;
- maximise the potential of a public art commission and identify different goals;
- identify and agree the outcome measures that are appropriate to assess impact;
- agree systems for collecting, storing, analysing and reporting on data gathered.

Two tools have been developed: the Matrix and Personal Project Analysis. Both are designed to be used at several stages in a project: at initiation, to identify objectives and approaches; during the life of the project, to evaluate process and outcome; and after completion of the project to assess impact. In addition, ixia has constructed a database to hold information about the public art commissions evaluated using the Toolkit. ixia will use this data to provide meaningful evidence to all those with an interest in public art.

http://www.ixia-info.com/research/evaluation/