Exeter publishes new art strategy

It wants to be a City of Culture

A new public art strategy aimed at boosting Exeter’s ambition to become a leading city of culture has been approved by councillors.

The strategy proposes that all art for the city, including public art, should meet the key criteria of quality, inclusion and sustainability, and that a shared set of values be adopted by all partners to foster positive collaboration.

It has been drafted by Art Work Exeter and commissioned by Exeter City Council, in partnership with the University of Exeter and Exeter Culture, to make the most of future public art opportunities in a growing city.

Art Work Exeter consulted with artists and makers, curators and commissioners, consultants and specialists, community groups and individuals from across the city and beyond.

Exeter’s aspiration to be a City of Culture is set out in the city council’s new corporate clan. It says Exeter will innovate and lead in the area of environment, wellbeing, cultural literacy, creative making and heritage innovation to build a living city where everyone thrives.

The city applied to become a city of culture in a joint bid with Torbay last year, but fell at the first round.

Now city council deputy leader Cllr Laura Wright, who is lead councillor for culture, says: “Public art plays a key role in helping to define places and gives people a sense of pride in their community and their city. The Public Art Strategy for Exeter sets out how we can best achieve this, and I very much welcome that its recommendations can now start to be implemented.”

The report recognises that Public Art, in essence, is creative work sited in the public realm, in places and spaces that are freely accessible to everyone and can be either permanent or temporary.

It can include visual arts such as murals and street art, sculpture, video, sonic and digital media, as well as performance, music and theatre. It can be a soundscape, a light work, a landscape intervention or an interactive installation, street furniture or an architectural statement.