In 2019, the Arts Council England awarded Basildon funding to deliver the BasildON Creative People and Places programme. As part of the programme, the street art activation project ‘Our Towns’ created over 530 sqm of vibrant artwork. Led by a commissioning group of local residents, eight world class artists partnered with local groups to design, commission and create works installed on major buildings.

 

 

Who is on the project team? 

 

Things Made Public

 

Describe the context of this project and its neighbourhood and people?

 

Basildon emerged from the ashes of World War II in 1949, following an impassioned speech from Lewis Silkin, the Minister for Town & Country Planning in 1946. Silkin’s speech expressed a desire to create “a new type of citizen” who would develop through living in the new town “a sense of beauty, culture and civic pride”.

 

Much has changed from the place town planners in the 1940s envisaged. Like many high streets across the country, Basildon’s vacancy rates are high, made even worse by the departure of national names such as Marks & Spencer, Maplin and Toys R Us. The borough appears awash with contradictions, being home to the 15 areas in the most affluent 10% of the country, and 12 in the least affluent 10%. It hosts the most jobs in Essex, but also the most young people not in education, employment or training. There is abundant recreational green space and Olympic-standard sporting facilities, but engagement in organised sport is lower than regional averages. 

 

In 2019, the Arts Council England awarded Basildon funding to deliver the BasildON Creative People and Places programme, a radical cultural experiment, prising the reigns of cultural commissioning from traditional gatekeepers into the hands of local communities, in an area of the country with the lowest levels of arts and culture engagement. 

 

Leading BasildON, Things Made Public have teamed up with the Council, local and national businesses, developers, architects and the community to reimagine and reactivate Basildon, building a creative place with 180,000 creative people.

 

How did you enliven the place? 

 

As part of the BasildON Creative and People and Places programme, the street art activation project ‘Our Towns’ created over 530 sqm of vibrant artwork transforming Basilon’s grey concrete laden ‘New Town’ public realm into a colourful, impactful and most importantly, meaningful canvas. 

 

‘Our Towns’ worked with developers Marson Property, Orwell Real Estate, Sovereign Centros and Basildon Borough Council, to celebrate the most marginalised communities in Basildon. Led by a commissioning group of local residents, ‘Our Towns’ partnered eight world class artists with local groups to design, commission and create art works which were installed on major buildings across the town, representing the voices and experiences of the people so often forced to the fringes of our society. 

 

Partnerships included Erin Holly, a trans artists and trans rights activist working closely with Essex LGBT Youth Group; Michele Curtis, a female artist of Caribbean descent who founded ‘Iconic Black Britons’ working with Women in Bas (a group supporting survivors of domestic abuse from minority background); Aches, an artist of Irish descent working alongside with Crays Hill Primary School (a school with a 95% traveller intake) and Marina Capdevila, a Spanish artist whose work re-evaluates the way we consider the older generation working with Peaceful Place (a charity serving those of working age with early onset dementia). 

 

The largest mural, 180 sqm in size, saw the creation of the largest carbon absorbing mural in the UK in a bid to inspire and encourage conversations around the climate crisis.

 

How did you engage the community? 

 

‘Our Towns’ was funded by Arts Council England, Basildon Borough Council and Creative Estuary

 

Over 530 square metres of artworks, created by 8 internationally acclaimed artists animate Basildon town centre

 

311 local people were involved in the commissioning process of art works including a community steering group and public opinion polls 

 

156 local people worked with artists to design the murals, through the delivery of 51 hours of community workshops

 

146 local people were involved in the installation of the murals, including site visits, artists talks and getting involved in painting the walls themselves 

 

162 volunteers contributed almost 200 hours of time to producing the street art and giving street art tours to visitors 

 

3024 people attended the ‘Our Towns’ launch which included street art tours given by local residents, live painting by local artists and ‘have a go’ street art walls

 

3,539,825 have viewed the artworks since 2021 

 

‘Our Towns’ was featured in local and national press including Colossal, Juxtapoz, Street Art News, Brooklyn Street Art, Street Art United States.

 

In 2022 ‘Our Towns’ launched the UK’s second Voluntary Local Review in partnership with the University of Essex

 

BasildON was the first activation project in a new era of change for Basildon. Future development proposals include new public realm designs, urban greening, land use shake ups including the addition of town centre residential, workspace, smaller commercial and community spaces. BasildON influenced these future development proposals, showing how developments can integrate community and wider arts activities into the Town Centre.

 

Did the project make a positive social and environmental contribution? 

 

‘Our Towns’ celebrated the most marginalised communities in Basildon and in doing so gave a platform for social and environmental change. Whether that be domestic abuse survivors from minority backgrounds reclaiming and improving intimidating and unsafe public space, or the traveller community celebrating their heritage on the 10 year anniversary of the violent battle over Dale Farm, one of the largest unauthorised Traveller sites in Europe; ‘Our Towns’ gave a very public platform for community healing. 

 

As part of the transformation of Basildon’s townscape, ‘Our Towns’ partnered with DCMS funded Creative Estuary to commission the largest carbon absorbing mural in the UK.

 

Inspired by a public vote of over 400 local residents and a Steering Group of local people, internationally acclaimed artist INSA created a monumental art installation celebrating Basildon ecology. The mural embraced the latest technologies, transforming the image into a huge augmented reality experience, enabling the everyday person to access something truly special, watching the piece of art come to life in the middle of the High Street. 

 

This mural is just the start of a much longer conversation in Basildon. In 2022 ‘Our Towns’ launched the UK’s second Voluntary Local Review in partnership with the University of Essex, which will place Basildon alongside the likes of Los Angeles, Helsinki and Sao Paulo in 

 

its commitment to this global conversation. The Voluntary Local Review will assess and report on Basildon through the lens of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.