Filwood in Motion: Public Art Strategy for Filwood Broadway with artists Linzy Na Nakorn and Rachael Clerke. Image by Ibi Feher.
Synopsis
Bristol City Council, in partnership with local community and stakeholder groups, has developed plans to create positive change in Filwood. The goal is to transform Filwood into a creative, vibrant, and thriving area where people want to dine, shop, and play.
Integral to this process is an overarching approach to public art, delivered through the ‘Filwood in Motion’ programme. All build elements are pooling public art contributions and resources, with the whole of Filwood Broadway viewed as a cultural zone, rather than a set of different projects. The public art planning conditions will be met by embedding artist/s to work across Filwood Broadway for one year, making artwork in and with the community. This will ensure local people can come together during the construction and test out new ways of being together in public space for a lasting legacy.
Importantly the approach places community first and purposefully does not have a predetermined outcome.
‘Young people need to be at the heart of these creative projects, as they’ll be custodians of that space going forward’.from local engagement sessions as part of Transforming Filwood Broadway
By working with the local community and stakeholder groups, Bristol City Council developed the Knowle West Regeneration Framework and Filwood Broadway Framework, which identified key projects for transformational change to regenerate Filwood.
In January 2023, Filwood was awarded £14.5m of funding from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund, and with £1.72m of Council funding, this investment is enabling a number of projects identified in the Filwood Broadway Framework to be brought forward.
Bristol City Council’s Arts Development team have been supporting the Housing team since 2022 – supporting the Levelling Up bid process along with local cultural partners Filwood Community Centre, Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC) and Filwood Alliance, and now supporting the delivery of the ‘Transforming Filwood Broadway’ programme which delivers to the community vision: ‘Restore Filwood to its former glory and showcase the creative vibrant community that lives here. Make a neighbourhood in which locals and visitors can thrive’.
The £14.5 million award is investing in six capital projects on Filwood Broadway: a re-imagined and retrofitted Community Centre, new Library, public realm, Multi-use Games Area (MUGA), high street activation and improvements.
The project includes an overarching approach to public art through the Filwood in Motion programme, led by Knowle West Media Centre and supported by the council’s Arts Development team, which will engage local people and inform the physical changes that are coming.
The programme includes the appointment of artists Linzy Na Nakorn and Rachael Clerke as artists in residence for Filwood Broadway throughout 2025 as the Filwood Broadway programme moves into the construction/transformation phase.
Linzy & Rachael are friends, co-workers and collaborators who have known each other since 2016. They work together on playful, participatory projects that support communities to engage with complex themes and have their voices heard. They value learning by doing, serious play, big ideas and the right of everyone to be creative.
The pair will be working on Filwood Broadway as it physically transforms. They will be in residence in an empty shop on the Broadway, creating opportunities for the community to connect socially, to share stories, dreams and hopes of change through a community-led podcast and to practically test out new ways of being together on the High Street through public events and pop-ups. They will do this as the capital programme moves into the construction/transformation phase of works throughout 2025 which will see the road layout amended to create more space for people, revamping Filwood Community Centre, expanding play opportunities for young people, and building new homes.
‘Let’s give an opportunity for the community to accept change in a positive way.’from local engagement sessions as part of Transforming Filwood Broadway
