Art at the centre

Investing in communities
Maidstone District Council

Maidstone set out to realise its ‘alternative cultural experience’ through the following objectives:

To create the opportunity for more cultural businesses in the demarcated area
To raise awareness of the quarter’s opportunity / potential amongst cultural businesses
To change the public perception / image of the demarcated area
To hold more events to create, capture and prolong a ‘buzz’ and to engage visitors
To establish a visual identity to encourage way-finding within the area

Establishing a cultural ‘buzz’ in the town has required project coordinator’s Laura Francis and Louise Knight to work closely with a range of arts and business partners and to engage with a full spectrum of project activity, from desk-based research and art interventions, to networking opportunities and new commissions.

With 28 new pieces of work and 19 networking events commissioned since the project’s inception, this approach has helped to bring the vibrancy of the creative sector in and around Maidstone to the fore. New work has included Artists’ Quarter Quarterly - a biannual publication highlighting the artistic and independent business sector within the town, Bizarre Bazaar – an affordable arts and crafts market that showcased products made by local residents, and Creative Maidstone – a billboard, publication and gallery exhibition featuring 30 environmental portraits of individuals from the area with a view to exposing creative activity that might otherwise remain untapped. Latterly, Creative Maidstone has been augmented by the film piece Artists Don’t Bite, in which local artists share their vision for an artists’ quarter in the town centre.