Hosts & attendee organisations: The Art House and IPM
IPM are currently in discussions with The Art House to co-develop a nationwide action research project that creates a strategic and national approach to business rates mitigation. An approach which puts culture, creativity and community at the centre of placemaking and regeneration, and also catalyses effective place partnerships through creative meanwhile use.
Good progress is being made on identifying an exciting new action research project that will measure the ability of local arts organisation to activate high streets through ‘meaningful meanwhile’ as well as play a more central role in partnerships that lead and manage the longer term viability of centres.
The Art House believe that their model for interim-use space management, established in Wakefield as ‘Makey Wakey’, has the potential to be the gold standard for rates mitigation schemes for empty shops in other high streets and shopping centres across the country.
Unlike other schemes which ‘centralise’ knowledge and expertise, this pilot project will equip local arts organisations with the skills, tools and support needed to operate their own meanwhile schemes, reinventing retail spaces in specific locations, while also generating new income streams for arts organistions, making regeneration gains for Local Authorities, creating social impact for the community and financial savings for landlords.
As well as operating successfully in Wakefield, the concept is also running in Salford, in partnership with IPM Senior Fellow, Paul Wright of WhatIf.
In addition to measuring the ‘quick wins’ which accrue from ensuring that vacant properties are occupied by a diverse range of creative and community organisations, IPM is interested to learn if the model has the potential to ‘seed’ new effective place partnerships that evolve to manage the vitality and viability of specific locations (e.g. town centres, shopping centres etc,).
A further research aim will be to see if the schemes can add much needed place management and leadership capacity and capability to existing partnerships, where they exist.
“We are really excited about the potential of this project to identify place leaders from the creative sector and support them to create new place partnerships or strengthen existing ones”.
Professor Cathy Parker, IPM Chair, who is currently leading the development of the project.
“We chose IPM to partner us on this project as we already have evidence that local arts organisation can and do play a central role in regeneration – working with the professional body in the sector will allow us to ‘scale up’ something that we believe has the potential to transform places across the country”.
Sydney Thornbury, CEO, The Art House.
Discussions are fairly advanced and IPM will be putting out a call for potential pilot locations in the near future.
If you are interested in knowing more, please email ipm@mmu.ac.uk so we can update you with developments.