Public art and design

Often known as public art, it promotes an integrated, collaborative and strategic approach towards art and design in public places.

The programme encourages artists, design, planning and construction professionals to come together at an early stage in development projects to influence and create a shared vision for architecture, public space, planning and high quality design. It also promotes consultation with communities to create a sense of place for both local people and visitors to Wiltshire.

Public art provides new arts works made by an artist, arts practitioner or craftsperson and located in publicly accessible spaces and places. It could be sculpture, photographs, street furniture, painting, projection, text, lighting, music, cultural events or the internal fabric of a building, its furniture or flooring.

Role of the arts service

We want to encourage developers to look at an integrated approach to art and design. In order to achieve overall design quality in architectural and landscape terms, developers should involve artists in the design process from the earliest stage, rather than being commissioned to make something for a site after it has been completed.

We encourage those developers making an application for a site of a significant scale to include a strategy for art and design within the design process. This encourages the engagement of specialist public art consultants/advisors to develop this framework for art and design in the public realm. 

The arts service liaises with developers as well as commission art works directly within council developments.

The guidance notes in the download section are designed to assist in the development of public art strategies/plans in the public realm.

We held a symposium on public art and design. The summary of key issues can be found in the download section.

Becoming commission ready

We ran a training session for arts practitioners and organisations which focused on what artists need to be aware of in order to become commission ready.

The notes, presentations and glossary resource pack from the training session can be found in the download section.