ixia is pleased to share a suite of four free guidance documents, created to support best practice in temporary and permanent public art commissioning and production.
01 Setting Up for Public Art Commissions
This covers key areas to consider when developing a commissioned project.
02 Public Art Commission Governance
Guidance to ensure your project governance is robust and inclusive.
03 Public Art Commissioning Roadmap
This outlines clear commission stages and how to manage these well.
04 Public Art Examples
A set of inspiring projects of varied scales and contexts across England, that illustrate contrasting artist approaches.
These recommendations were produced following the evaluation of ixia’s Public Art Support Pilot programme in 2023-24 with Barnsley, Darlington and St Helens Councils, developed with and funded by Arts Council England. Together the guidance and recent examples of artist practice in the public realm offer insights and tips into the processes and approaches to successful public art commissioning.
The recommendations include project scoping, artist recruitment, community engagement, funding and scheduling. A variety of approaches are shared, many with diversity, inclusion and social engagement at the heart.
Peter Heslip, Director, Visual Arts and Brighton, Arts Council England:
“England has a rich tradition of public art which make our towns and cities better places to live and work. Public art has the power to uplift and deepen our experience of places and help tell important stories. But with the fast pace of change in the local authority landscape it is more important than ever that our governmental partners can access the best expertise and advice for these projects to come off successfully. Arts Council England was so pleased to support and work with ixia on this project. We hope these new resources that set out robust approaches will support those embarking on new projects.”
More information about the initial pilot programme is here.
Full press release is here