As the UK economy turned to recession in the last two quarters of 2023 and challenges continued into the start of this year, we read reports of local authorities facing bankruptcy and arts funding cuts across the country, plus housing developers who were also struggling with access to land and profits falling.

In February last year, we published a podcast conversation with Caroline Hicks at Dartford Borough Council where we reminisced about ‘the days when local authorities still had money’ – we were half-joking, as of course many councils continue to invest in the arts, but it is certainly true that there are fewer arts development officers today than when we started our careers and budgets continue to diminish.

We are pleased to report that it is not all doom and gloom however, as we move forward with an exciting publicly funded project such as with Dartford Council, who have commissioned a tribute to much-loved local legend and professional ballroom dancer Len Goodman

We are delighted to partner with forward-thinking public sector organisations who understand the value of investing in the public realm. In addition to the economic value that public art can create, such as by increasing the sale price of property and increasing footfall for high street retail and hospitality businesses, there is of course other social value that can be added such as through community engagement and through improved built environment which in turn contributes to better quality of life.

You can read more of our insights on this in What Value Does Public Art Add? – the fourth in our series on Demystifying Public Art, which is available to download free of charge from our website.

In addition to our ongoing partnerships with local authorities, we continue to work with several private sector property developers, who also see the value in commissioning high quality public art to complement the housing schemes they are building. We have two such projects in Maidstone. Rosewood, working with Bellway Homes where we have commissioned two English Oak sculptural seats by artist Walter Bailey and Monchelsea Park, working with Redrow Homes where sculptor Jason Mulligan is due to install a trio of blue limestone sculptures.

As we have highlighted before, there are real risks associated with defunding the arts in terms of loss of jobs and opportunities, and social decline within an area while there are huge opportunities for those are bold enough to continue to make the investment, even when times feel tough.

Looking ahead to the future, we must continue to the learn the lessons of what has worked well (and what hasn’t) in the past and continue to seek new ways of working in partnership to make places better for all to enjoy.