BasildON consortium has won a £1,289,002.00 Creative People & Places grant to deliver a transformative programme, led by creative practice Things Made Public, to engage and inspire Basildon’s residents through culture.
The programme, based on Futurecity’s Cultural Placemaking Strategy, will see the town centre reimagined as a culturally democratic digital creative district. Read more here.
“As a son of Basildon, I am proud of the role Futurecity has played in developing a strategy for Basildon to become a creative digital town. From the outset we said the measure of success of our strategy for Basildon would be an investment by a major art funder. The announcement by Arts Council England of £1.3million funding is a clear sign of confidence in Basildon’s future.”
Mark Davy, Futurecity Founder
Futurecity was commissioned by BTCM Ltd in 2017 to develop a cultural placemaking strategy for Basildon Town Centre. Working with stakeholders including Basildon Council, retail landlords, South Essex College, cultural and community organisations, Futurecity created a strategy to improve the cultural activation and night-time economy of the town centre resulting in a vision for a Creative Digital Town. An 8-year programme of projects and partnerships provided a roadmap for stakeholders to grow a cultural programme. Futurecity outlined a governance structure for the programme, introducing Things Made Public as a partner to initiate cultural activity. This governance model included recommendations for funding sources to help seed cultural activity.
Following the completion of the cultural placemaking strategy, Futurecity supported Things Made Public and town stakeholders to develop the BasildON Consortium. Futurecity acted as an advisory partner to the consortium for the successful application to Arts Council England for the Creative People and Places funding.
Futurecity would like to congratulate
the full BasildON consortium:
BTCM Ltd
Basildon Borough Council
Things Made Public
South Essex College
Foundation of Essex Arts
Bas Arts Index
Art Clubbers
Towngate Theatre
The Edge
Eastgate Shopping Centre
Essex County Council
NEWS
New Town Sounds
Taking inspiration from the rich, musical heritage of Basildon, ‘New Town Sounds’ is an exciting, all day event taking place across Basildon town centre on 31st August 2019. From local, original bands, through to sing-along events, choir performances, Jazz jams and everything in between, the aim is simple; to celebrate the last 70 years in style, giving opportunities to local businesses, providing a platform for our talented musicians and in turn creating a magical day for our community to enjoy. Read more here.
Things Made Public & Culture Club
Futurecity introduced creative practice Things Made Public to Basildon’s town team to deliver cultural activation across public realm, pop-up shops and events. They’ve subsequently been at the heart of Basildon’s cultural rejuvenation creating public events, cultural event spaces and public art commissions, as well as being the driving force of the BasildON consortium.
For New Town Sounds: Basildon, Things Made Public have teamed up with FirstBus to bring art to the people, issuing an open call for wild and wonderful ideas for the creative use of a bus in Basildon on the 31st August 2019. The bus will be located in St. Martin’s Square in the centre of the town.
Basildonia
BasildON is bringing fresh creative talent into the borough through the Creative Pips programme. The project supports community-led cultural projects in underused commercial space in the town centre.
Basildonia, created by Art Clubbers, was the first of these projects transforming a disused shopping unit into a creative space for artists, workshops, events and exhibitions.