Empty Shops Network

It’s only a couple of weeks until I host the first national Empty Shops Conference.

Now conferences all look a bit big and scary, but this is organised on a shoestring (which has been jointly funded by Worthing Regeneration and The Meanwhile Project – but is still only a shoestring). My business, the revolutionary Arts Group, is doing all the admin, marketing and running the day. We have a few volunteers…

It’s going to be a practical one-day event, with a DIY/ workshop ethic. People from across the UK coming together and we’ll find out what works and what doesn’t, looking at projects across the UK; look at what funding is available (we have a funding expert booked for the day) and most important have lots of chance to network and share ideas, inspiration and advice.

I’ll be talking about the history of the empty shops movement, and I’ll be referencing Keith Haring’s ‘Pop Shop’ and Tracey Emin & Sarah Lucas Bethnal Green ‘Shop’ which both appear in Tate Modern’s oh-so-controversial ‘Pop Life’ exhibition right now. And I’ll be looking at the current situation, using Coventry and their council’s work to develop a Void Space Strategy as an example. I’ll talk about why local councils should be supporting the sector, and the real benefits it can deliver to people who live, work and invest in our towns. We have a few delegates attending from local authorities, so it will be interesting to see their take on the work that’s happening.

We’ll also hear from Dougald Hine, whose London-based Space Makers are looking at co-working spaces, hack labs, arts spaces, social centres, community cafes and similar uses of space – and Katie Fewings from national group Action for Market Towns will talk about how empty shops have a big effect on smaller towns

The Empty Shops Conference is on Monday 19th October, at the Richmond Rooms, Stoke Abbot Road, Worthing. The event runs from 11am-4pm, and includes a light lunch and lots of time to network. Places are limited, so advance booking is essential. It’s £10 for arts and community groups and individuals, and £20 for larger organisations, businesses and local authorities.

Email me – [email protected] – or call on 01903 526268 to reserve your place.

You might assume – from the lack of blogging here – that I’ve done nothing all summer. Of course, it is the opposite. Visits to Central St Martins, the E17 Art Trail, Coventry, Portsmouth, London and projects in Worthing.

And of course, writing for the an Knowledge Banks, Mailout community arts magazine, and this month’s New Start regeneration journal.

While writing an Empty Shops Workbook, funded by the Department of Communities & Local Government through the Meanwhile Project.

And updating www.artistsandmakers.com/emptyshops on a weekly basis, as temporary projects come and go.

It’s a boom time for empty shops. And it’s just been revealed that the figures for August show spending is down on the high street, so be ready for more empty shops before Christmas. Green shoots have withered in this late summer.

There's a clear line becoming apparent in the emerging empty shops movement.

On one side there are artists and organisations who have been engaging with empty spaces for a long time. Often, there's no clearly stated reason – but some people are going back to empty shops, old warehouses, derelict offices again and again.

These people are excited by the fact that the space is empty, and recognise the benefits of working on short, temporary projects in buildings that have character and history to respond to.

And, particuarly since Hazel Blears announced the Empty SHops Network's ideas as policy, on the other side of the line there are a growing number of people who have an existing project (often in a very loose, early stage of thought and development) and want to shoehorn it into this latest government agenda.

'We want a gallery, we want studios, we want an arts centre…' Well, we'd all like those – but empty shops may not be the right place. Not every project is an empty shop project.

I've been writing a Manifesto for Empty Shops, an attempt to document what sets them apart from other artist-led projects:

“Using empty shops is about celebrating the local, engaging with the character of empty spaces, exploring new ideas and exciting the community.

It may lead to a successful business, but that's not the first and only aim.

The success of empty shop projects may be measured in many ways, from increasing local footfall to raising the profile of a community event.

When it's done well, everyone wins – landlords, local councils, arts, business and voluntary groups, near-by shops and of course – local communities.”

That's not all I've written since my last post here: there was an article for the mighty an magazine, 1600 words for Mailout, and a proposal to create a network of organisations wanting empty shops in the Revolutionary Arts Group' hometown of Worthing.

And meetings in Coventry, with AIR in London, and with GVA Grimley in Worthing – they're leading a study into the town's retail sector and helping us develop an empty shop policy.

Oh – and emails. Lots of them, from all over the country. Five so far today, asking for help and advice. And this is a project with no backing, no secure funding; just a lot of experience and a great idea.

So – the next thing I have to write is a funding application.

Well, who says artists never talk sense? And who says government never listens?

A few weeks ago, I had a call from a civil servant, wanting to know what the Empty Shops Network was all about. And – persuaded that it had some real benefit – he wanted to know how government could help. We bounced a few ideas around, and both laughed at the idea that we might actually be seeing evidence of the civil service working hand-in-hand with artists.

And then … well, you probably know the next bit. Hazel Blears MP has announced government support for empty shops projects, with £3 million pounds given to local authorities to give as £1000 to artists, groups and other community organisations wanting to use empty shops. It's one of the ideas we discussed.

Seems the Empty Shops Network is being listened to.

So yesterday, I headed for the grim north and spent a day in Coventry*. It's an amazing city; rebuilt in the 1950s and 60s, after being decimated in World War Two. It's an interesting mix, big tower blocks and small streetscapes following (I guess) the layout of the original medieval city.

I love 1950s architecture, all red-brick, post-war optimism and chunky signage. The 70s and 80s stuff not so good…

But with a whopping 30% of town centre shops owned by Coventry City Council, it's a prime site for artists and empty shops. Coventry Artspace are already using two, but we're now discussing a bigger project, using shops in key locations to bring life to the city centre.

And it can work; the vibrancy of the Canal Basin is testimony to that. It's a big building, the second biggest listed building in Coventry behind the bombed-our cathedral, and it's full of artists, new media industries, successful small businesses and exciting designers. The canal, a five-mile dead end from the main Birmingham Canal, is alive with traditional boats.

And more shops have been built opposite the main warehouse building. Our guide was film-maker Dom Breadmore, enthusiastic and passionate about the Canal Basin and fighting to get the area leading up to it redeveloped.

And how did this big creative hub, with a turnover now of millions of pounds a year and employing probably 200 people, all get started? Well, there was this empty commercial building and this bunch of artists who wanted to use the space…

*We're in Worthing; over the Downs? You're up North.

It's gone … the Pop-Up Gallery has done it's thing. It stirred things up, created a buzz (both online and in the real world), fired people's imaginations and then slipped quietly away late on Sunday afternoon.

It won't be forgotten; there's a gallery at artistsandmakers.com
a picture in the local paper, and a forthcoming feature in the Sunday Times Magazine.

Meanwhile the Empty Shops Network has featured on the RSA Arts and Ecology site, in this week's New Statesman and is in a forthcoming an magazine.

Empty Shops – low cost*, high impact.

*For the Pop-Up Gallery, five days in the Guildbourne Centre cost £9.64.