Lighthouse has launched an online public survey, community consultations and a series of short films – Let’s Talk Public Art – to encourage residents and communities across Brighton & Hove to voice their opinion about public art in the city.

Commissioned as part of Brighton & Hove City Council’s 10-Year Public Art Strategy, in conjunction with Bridget Sawyers Ltd, the community consultation will inform the framework for the council’s policy, ensuring the city’s diverse residents, neighbourhoods, their narratives, histories and experiences are equally reflected. You can read more about Lighthouse's role in the strategy consultation here.

“Following the coronavirus pandemic, Brighton & Hove will continue to be celebrated as a creative city, with a thriving cultural scene. We want public art in the city to be for everyone and the principles of our Public Art Strategy should be important to people who live and work here, as well as to those who visit. This is an invitation to help us identify a shared vision and a set of values to shape the delivery of art in public spaces across the city over the next 10 years.” – Donna Chisholm, Brighton & Hove City Council

“Public art can often have many purposes or physical forms, whether it’s a statue in a public square or a temporary outdoor installation at a festival. It can also provoke intensely divided public opinion, as we have seen recently with historic statues being removed because of their connections to slavery. These short films feature discussion points such as heritage, inclusion, sustainability and wellbeing so we can delve into how people feel about public art. We really want to hear from people who have never thought about or engaged with public art before.” – Alli Beddoes, Lighthouse CEO & Artistic Director

Digital Campfire was an online public event held on 5 February 2021 to create an open forum to discuss what Public Art could and should be for Brighton & Hove. You can watch the recorded event below, including panel table talk and Q&A session conducted via Zoom. This recording does not have BSL interpretation or captions.

Chair:
Dom Bailey, Co-Chair of the Brighton Experience Group and Co-Founder of Baxter & Bailey

Panel:
Nick Hibberd, Executive Director, Economy, Environment and Culture at BHCC
Atif Choudhury, CEO, Diversity & Ability
Judith Ricketts, Artist

A conversation between artist Nadia Nadarajah, artist Omeima Mudawi-Rowlings and academic John Walker in British Sign Language. They discuss public art, representation, language, history and specifically the histories of Deaf people in Brighton. Artists in Conversation is a specially commissioned panel talk that forms part of Let's Talk Public Art community consultation. This video is in BSL with closed captions.

Panel:
Nadia Nadarajah, Artist and Theatre Director
Omeima Mudawi-Rowlings, Artist, Crafts Maker and Independent Curator
John Walker, University of Sussex Lecturer and Convenor for BSL & Deaf Culture pathway

A trailer for all 5 films with with BSL interpretation and closed captions.

To help you to start thinking about what the best Public Art might be for you and your community, Lighthouse have produced a series of short films with artists, community workers, historians and writers from across the city to discuss five key themes, including sustainability, wellbeing, connectivity, location and heritage.

Films: Places & Spaces (Atif Choudhury and Matt Adams), Heritage (Judith Ricketts and E-J Scott), Community & Connectivity (Amartey Golding and Bobby Brown), A Green City (Claire Potter and Amie Rae), Wellbeing (Emma Frankland and Elsa Monteith).

Lighthouse is committed to providing a safe and inclusive environment for all. This includes safeguarding children, young people and all other participants across our activities, and a zero-tolerance of any behaviour that constitutes discrimination, bullying or harassment of any form.

It is our aim to create safe, supportive and nurturing online spaces for all, free from harassment, bullying or hate. We ask all attendees, speakers, hosts and team to work together in achieving an online safe space, to help us all do this we ask that the code of conduct is followed.

Please click here to read Lighthouse's full statement.

This project is produced in partnership with Brighton & Hove City Council and Bridget Sawyers.

Speakers:

Matt Adams, Blast Theory

Atif Choudhury, Diversity & Ability

E-J Scott

Judith Ricketts

Elsa Monteith

Emma Frankland

Claire Potter, Claire Potter Studio

Amie Rae, O N C A Gallery

Amartey Golding

Bobby Brown

Films:

Thirty 10 Arts

Design and photography:

Erin James