OUR PROJECTS

BROMSGROVE SCHOOLS PRIVATE FINANCE INITIATIVE (PFI), WORCESTER

As part of the Bromsgrove Schools PFI project, Worcestershire County Council appointed Impact Art to develop an arts funding strategy and deliver a holistic quality programme. The County Council now uses the arts strategy as a model for education, learning and leisure building developments.

The PFI brief
The project involved replacing two high schools, two middle schools and three first schools (plus a public library) on five separate sites in the Bromsgrove area. The County Council saw education as the centre of regeneration for Bromsgrove, and were committed to the idea of using the arts to transform and empower communities.

Arts strategy
All stakeholders shared this ethos, and it was vital that Impact Art worked towards a sustainable arts element with improved participation and community ownership. As a result the arts strategy considered:
the aims and objectives of the County Council’s Children’s Services
opportunities for cross curricular and vertical learning
ways to link with people beyond the schools’ boundaries
staff and students’ development
how to maximise resources
artist commission briefs and specialist areas.

Confident team
The strategy’s large number of commissions was thought to be ambitious. But the close working relationship amongst Impact Art, the County Council, schools, architects and the artists, meant that artists and designers exceeded stakeholders’ expectations.

Staff and students themselves were involved in artist interview and selection, workshops, and Site Working Art Team (SWAT) groups. This process of engagement and delivery led to various artworks (including sculpture, glass, graphics, digital media and surface design) being embedded in the very fabric of the building.

The successful strategy promoted the development of Arts Education, by using the build and public art to stimulate learning. The arts programme also raised the public profile of the buildings, visibly demonstrating celebration, a sense of place and community achievement.

> What we do – education

‘Working with the artist was a wonderful experience which the staff and pupils will never forget. It allowed us to develop an understanding of Bromsgrove’s past and work with materials which we had never considered working with in school…The children learnt a great deal about what it was like to be an artist, about the cultural heritage of their community and how to work collaboratively to develop ideas’
Val Hindley, Teacher, Meadows First School, Bromsgrove

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