Training for Real

Individual training and mentoring support was offered to six artists via a 40 day programme of paid placements with Chrysalis Arts in 2004 to gain live experience of the companies public art and regeneration projects. This included a series of seminars related to artists practice, professional development, marketing, promotion and issues associated with gaining and carrying out public art commissions.

"I believe artists' skills are transferable and that the creative process learned for one art form can be the basis of understanding for others. Artists working in public art need a broad base of understanding as they encounter so many different situations in the course of creating the artwork. There is no substitute for learning on real projects with the support of experienced mentors to draw on." Kate Maddison, Director, Chrysalis Arts

Living Street - Bradford

As part of the Bradford New Deal for Communities Regeneration Programme, Chrysalis Arts were commissioned to develop a public art strategy for the first part of a new pedestrian and cycle route through Bradford called the 'Living Street',

To inform the strategy, Chrysalis undertook a project with five artists on placement with the company to create a series of temporary artworks. Placement artists Jackie Hunt, Lynne Kirby, Joan Newall, Nikki Ruse and Frances Taylor worked with Helen Turner of Chrysalis to develop a temporary art project. The aim was to foster an interest in art as a means of expressing the ideas and aspirations of local residents and to raise awareness and positively promote the Living Street concept. Each artist found different ways of engaging with the community, leading workshops that enabled the participants to express their own ideas and create a variety of artworks from mosaics through to fabric banners and photography.