Kirklees Council are working with arts organisation BEAM to gather views on their plans for public art in Huddersfield Town Centre. These views will then be used to develop a public art plan for how art will be integrated into the town centre. This plan will focus on permanent and temporary visual arts. This could be anything from sculptural pieces, to art embedded into the fabric of public spaces such as paving, walls and windows. It could also include artist designed lighting and furniture. It also covers temporary artwork such as pop up structures and performance or interactive installations.

Cllr Rob Walker Cabinet Member for Culture said: “Huddersfield town centre is about to undergo major regeneration and this provides a fantastic opportunity to embed the arts into our public spaces.

Art not only makes a place more attractive, it also plays an important part in celebrating the unique identity of a place by taking inspiration from its cultural heritage, which in turn leads to increased pride in an area which encourages people to respect and look after it.  Good art in itself can be an attraction to draw in visitors which in turn increases footfall.  Our ambition is to create an environment where we can involve more people from a broad range of communities in arts activities, so getting this right is really important.

Anyone who would like to share their views can drop into the Old Grangers Game Unit in the Piazza on Friday 17 January 2020 between 12:30pm and 6:30pm.  There will be free refreshments for everyone who drops by.  Alternatively, you can share your views online at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/XKXGJXQ.

You can read more about the Huddersfield Blueprint online at  www.kirklees.gov.uk/huddersfieldblueprin