Full
checklist

The people

Who needs to be involved?

Stakeholders
Who has an interest in the future of the place through living, working, playing, visiting, providing services or investing here?

Local knowledge
Who has local knowledge?

Finance
Who manages budgets that might be used for public art?

Control, regulation and standards
Who controls, regulates or sets standards here? Who would we need to ask for permission?

Policy
Who draws up policies, plans, briefs and strategies that affect the place?

Opinion
Who shapes opinion locally?

Action
Who makes things happen around here?

Collaboration
How can all these people work together on the Artcheck and beyond?

Your goal

How would you like the art to work in your neighbourhood?

What do you hope to achieve?

• Entertain
• Inspire
• Make the place look better
• Bring life to the place
• Kick-start community activity
• Create a sense of civic pride
• Something else.

Where else could this project go? Could your whole community benefit?
Think about:

• Further community activity
• Education and skills
• Employment.

Art can have a range of purposes, but remember, it cannot rescue an unsatisfactory environment on its own.

Context checklist

What is distinctive about your area? Can the context trigger ideas for art?

Landscape and environment

• Geology
• Hydrology, rivers, streams
• Ecology
• Sky
• Weather.

Local architecture
How would the proposal fit into the surrounding area? Look at local architectural and garden styles.

Materials

• Local
• Sustainable
• Renewable
• Traditional imported materials used in local trades.

History

• Famous people
• Locally significant people
• Historic buildings and sites
• War or peace.

Culture

• Art
• Music
• Song
• Literature
• Dance
• Food
• Trades
• Local communities
• Local skills.

Religion

• Events and rituals

Sport

• Local teams

Practicalities

It is as well to think about practicalities in advance. Who will own it, who will fund it and who will give professional advice? Maintenance, if it is needed, can sometimes be a bigger task than creating the art in the first place.

Maintenance

• Who will install it?
• Who will maintain it?
• Who will repair it?

Aging
Will its function or appearance change over time; for example, through rust, rot, dirt, algae, wear and tear, breakage, vandalism and so on? Will this matter? If it does, organise some security.

Liability and insurance
Who will take responsibility?

Support programmes and projects

How can we make the most of other programmes and community networks?

Council programmes
How can we help the local council to focus its own programmes and resources on improving this area?

Education and training
How can links be developed with education and training programmes locally?

Sustainable development
How can links be made with local authority sustainable development initiatives?

Economic development
How can links be made between economic development and environmental improvement strategies locally?

Grants
What sources of grants are available locally?

Social inclusion
How can links be made with neighbourhood renewal and social inclusion initiatives?

How can we make the most of other resources?

• Community funding
• External funding
• Sponsorship.

Resources

What resources are available locally to help people get involved?

Think about

• Organisations
• Advice
• Venues
• Training programmes
• Grant schemes.

Your network
Programmes and advice on arts and regeneration local to you might be at your:

• Local authority
• Local community arts group
• District authority
• Regional Arts Council
• Regional Development Agency
• Regional Cultural Consortium.

Support
What resources to support people working together are already available (including information and advice services, venues, training programmes, grant schemes and funded initiatives)?

Skills
What skills are available to help create art?

Guidance
What guidance or expertise can the local authority or other bodies provide?

A focus
Is there a centre that can be a venue for meetings; for example, a local school or college, or a religious or community centre?

Sharing visions
Should events be organised to identify common interests, discuss ideas, share information and experience, and enable people to organise themselves into continuing working groups focusing on specific topics?

Artcheck is designed by the Urban Design Alliance for Channel 4.

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