Within this section
- Arts Development Review
- Arts Strategy
- Public Art Guidance
- Regionally Visual Arts Review of Rural Areas
Arts Development Review Over the next few years the Arts Council England (ACE) is withdrawing funding from posts based in Northamptonshire County Council. This affects Northants Dance, visual arts, contemporary popular music and literature posts. ACE therefore agreed to part fund a consultancy into our future direction and the possibility of an independent agency. Francois Matarraso and Fred Brookes have been doing this work. The report is avaliable to download below.
Arts Development Review (PDF 775KB)
A bid was submitted to the Arts Council called Thirve, to develop a new arts agency for the County as suggested by the review. The outcome of bid was partially successful. For further details please download the statement from the Northamptonshire Arts Partnership.
Outcome of Thrive Bid (Word doc 32KB)
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Arts Strategy The Arts Strategy Manager has developed an arts strategy for the Arts Development Team and Northamptonshire County Council. This strategy will act as a service plan for the Arts Development Team and underpin the County Councils work towards achieving the aims of ‘Cultural Pride’, the Cultural Strategy for Northamptonshire.
It has been drawn up following a review during 2004 which included a consultation and discussion with artists, art groups, partners such as the Borough and District councils and Arts Council England, and other services and departments within the County Council.
The strategy gives an overview of the state of the arts in Northants and sets out the vision and mission which provide the focus for what the County Council’s arts service is working to achieve. It makes links with the Community Strategy for Northants and describes the links with NCC corporate priorities and the role of the arts development team. It also sets out the strategic objectives of the strategy and how it will be monitored and evaluated.
The Arts Strategy (Word Doc, 550KB)
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Public Art Guidance Notes Northamptonshire will be accommodating 45% of the Milton Keynes South Midlands (MKSM) growth. 73,000 new homes will be built in the county over the next 25 years.
The growth agenda creates new opportunities for the arts, particularly in the area of public art, together with public spaces for literature, visual arts and creative reading with a proposed Cultural Mile in Northampton, Cultural Crescent in Wellingborough, and Heritage Quarter in Kettering and the River Nene Regional Park.
In terms of public art - the involvement of artists in the built environment has much to offer in terms of adding quality and local distinctiveness. The Arts Development Team has put together a guidance document to advise local authorities in commissioning public art.
Public Art Guidance Notes (Word Doc 226KB)
A document outlining public art theme examples has also been produced however due to the size of the document it is only available on request. Please email
ltyrrell@northamptonshire.gov.uk for a copy
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Regionally Visual Arts Review of Rural Areas
Jason Bowman and Julie Crawshaw have been commissioned by the East Midlands County Arts Officers Group to undertake a regional visual arts review of rural areas.
The two main objectives are to:
- Produce a clear picture of exisiting visual arts rural and community touring activity in the region, nationally and internationally.
- Assess the potential for county wide schemes and developments including recommendations for the development of rural and community touring/exhibition in rural areas.
The Report is now available.
Main Report - Made Visible Rural Visual Arts Review (PDF) 438KB
Appendix 1 - Rich Pictures (PDF) 93.6KB
Appendix 2 - Case Studies (PDF) 603KB
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