A13 Artscape Project

Your questions answered

Where did the project finance come from?

A public arts consultant was employed to create a project that could be presented for funding to Arts Council of England's capital programme.

Geoff Woods of Working pArts was awarded the consultancy and assisted the borough and the Highways Agency in creating a proposal that was awarded £3.895 million from the Arts Council of England.

Added to the investment that the Highways Agency - by now Transport for London and the borough were to invest in local improvements, it meant a scheme of a total cost of nearly £9 million was 'on the table'.

Once the project began and the local residents and councillors were informed of the full impact of the project, many campaigned for the 2 borough A13 subways to be included, at Charlton Crescent and Gale Street.

Transport for London agreed to fund the full refurbishment of these subways, including all artist and contract costs.

This has generated a further investment of some £2 million in the locale.

Why project money could not have been spent elsewhere

The funding was absolutely ring-fenced for projects that were part of the A13 Artscape and because of this, no other community 'needs' could be met with this funding.

The grant from the Arts Council of England was not paid directly to the borough, but has been drawn down at the various stages, provided we have met the criteria at each stage.

Similarly, Transport for London's investment was focused on the road. Therefore, any other needs that a borough council must strive to meet, such as education, health, community development and crime, could not be resourced from the project funds.

Equally the arts educational opportunity had to be centred on arts projects associated with the A13 via location or impact, to ensure that the borough infrastructure for arts was developing along with the actual projects.

Movers Lane junction during construction

Movers Lane|

Contact

Arts Programme and Cultural Development

4th Floor

Maritime House

1 Linton Road

Barking

IG11 8HG

Tel: 020 8227 2482

Fax: 020 8227 3254

Email: artsadmin@lbbd.gov.uk|