Across the entire country, artists are busy working in places with and without cultural infrastructure, with people, within communities, building better places to live and work, affecting long-lasting and positive social change.

For those of us working within the arts this is well-known, but what about for those working outside it, particularly those sitting within economic development, business management and local regeneration teams across the region? Are they aware of the unique, creative alchemy that artists can bring to areas if given permission and opportunity? After a period of research identifying new areas of focus for CVAN NW, we decided to set the record straight with a symposium about the role of culture in place shaping.

The symposium, This is Our Place was held in Warrington and delivered in partnership with Culture Warrington at The Pyramid Arts Centre. We were delighted that it was held on the very day that Director Leah Biddle announced
Place Partnership funding for the town from Arts Council England.

There was a buzz of excitement in the room from locals after hearing this, as John Laverick, Director of Warrington & Co spoke about how ‘Warrington means business’, the history of the development of the new town and how its previous planning success (out-of- town suburbs and shopping districts) had ironically led to the town centre becoming underused and run down. He was working to regenerate the central mile of the town, which was struggling to maintain an interesting and lively high street ‘offer’ – a tale not dissimilar to many high streets up and down the country – and he wanted to know how he could work with arts and culture to engage people with place.

Sarie Mairs-Slee, Strategic Lead for the Northern Place and Culture Partnership, part of NP11, talked about place and strategy, examining the role of culture in the north. She suggested that it was about how we can include matching innovation and ambition across sectors such as culture and creativity, the creative industries, heritage, nature, the visitor economy and inclusive growth.

He explained how ICP was initially established to challenge how we understand place, and how it has gone on to showcase how artists can enable understanding, utilising walking and talking as forms as engagement and valuing history as the bedrock of a place, to becoming intrinsically involved in the DNA of a place through a city-wide cultural infrastructural remodel.

Greville Kelly, Director at Groundwork Cheshire, Lancashire, Merseyside spoke abut the importance of nature to urban recovery and their work with Business Investment Districts in changing places and lives by building connections. He made a genuine callout to artists saying they are needed to add life to projects.

This was demonstrated perfectly by Warrington-based artist Sarah Harris with Leah Biddle, Director of Culture Warrington, who set a creative provocation for the room. The question of how we work regeneratively and develop a collective ambition for placemaking began a creative process of working together to find solutions.

Helen Wewiora, Director of Castlefield Gallery and CVAN NW Director concluded that it is important for everyone involved in place shaping to consider how they view their artists, adding that artists can help to make our towns unique and that studios such as the New Art Spaces established by the gallery can become central to town centre regeneration.

Artists can become the eyes and ears of a place enabling those working strategically to understand communities, not only their problems, needs, and challenges but also their hopes, dreams and aspirations.

If the role of artists in place making was more widely understood and creativity was built into local regeneration plans, I believe we would all be living in happier and healthier communities.