By Arts Council England
Story curated by LeftCoast
Who is LeftCoast?
LeftCoast is a team of six creatives whose collaborative practice is socially-engaged, socially-useful and artistically ambitious. Established in 2013, it delivers Blackpool’s Creative People and Places programme to help more people choose and take part in arts and culture.
What we do (2019) by Claire GriffithsArts Council England
What is socially-engaged practice?
"This practice includes art forms that involve people and communities in debate, collaboration or social interaction. The participatory element of socially-engaged practice is key, with the artworks created often holding equal or less importance to the collaboration" - TATE
Why we do it 2 (2022) by Lucy HunterArts Council England
LeftCoast's mission
LeftCoast uses socially-engaged practice to elevate people’s voices, explore, play, and make a difference on a personal and community level. The work ensures neighbourhood communities get involved in creative projects and become more active in community decision-making.
LeftCoast co-create high-quality arts engagement and participation programmes in Blackpool's neighbourhoods. The team broker conversations between communities and artists to co-commission and produce high-profile work with social impact. To fund the company's work, and effect strategic change within the town, LeftCoast fosters active and effective partnerships with like-minded local (and national) organisations.
How LeftCoast builds relationships
LeftCoast has honed different ways to seek out genuine community representation and empower communities to shape the artistic programme. The team go into neighbourhoods, talk to residents on their doorsteps and in their spaces, and build activity from there.
The Upside Issue 1 (2021) by Cait McEniffArts Council England
LeftCoast and Artists
An integral part of LeftCoast's impact comes from working with outstanding artists and practitioners. There is an alchemy that happens when an artist and a community become enchanted with each other and mutual possibilities emerge. LeftCoast willingly facilitate this connection.
Banquet (2012) by Ki PriceArts Council England
LeftCoast's funders
The work delivered by LeftCoast is made possible with grants from Arts Council England and The National Lottery Community Fund. This financial leverage helps to elicit match funding from other local and national organisations to broaden LeftCoast's reach and deepen impact.
BTS dancing outside Pleasure Beach (2021) by LeftCoastArts Council England
LeftCoast's partners
LeftCoast collaborates with local partners such as Blackpool Coastal Housing, Blackpool Council, Groundwork, and Blackpool & The Fylde College. They bring routes to new audiences, artists, volunteers and participants as well as sharing resources for production and evaluation.
Wash Your Words - library (2022) by Claire GriffithsArts Council England
Wash Your Words
One of LeftCoast's most recent projects is the community build, Wash Your Words – a pop up library and laundry room on Mereside estate. In 2023, it was shortlisted for the RIBA Journal MacEwen Award, celebrating architecture for the common good.
Working alongside residents
LeftCoast commissioned architects Lee Ivett and Ecaterina Stefanescu to collaborate with residents when designing and building the space.
Library and laundry room community build
Through community design, the Laundry Room questions and explores what role a multipurpose build embedded in a community can hold. It is not only testing a community ownership model but testing how neighbours can share facilities for both environmental and social benefit.
Art B&B 3 (2019) by Claire GriffithsArts Council England
The Art B&B
The Art B&B is the brain-child of Michael Trainor, the company’s first Artistic Director. Art B&B is constituted as a community interest company (CIC), which re-invests its profits into local creative ventures. Its guests are literally ‘supporting the arts while they sleep.'
Carnesky's headboard (2019) by Claire GriffithsArts Council England
The Art B&B artists
Each room has been designed by a specially commissioned artist while the ground floor ‘B-Space’ and the court yard garden are available to hire for seminars, performances, workshops etc
SOS Van 5 (2022) by Garry CookArts Council England
SOS Van
By welding a vintage Bond 875 three wheeler to the roof of a Renault Master van, automist Andy Hazell created the Save Our Stories vehicle. This was a great resource during Covid, delivering and collecting exhibition items and encouraging people to dance on their doorsteps.
Front Door
In 2018, artist-in-residence Ocean Farini worked with young people in Fleetwood on a streetwear project celebrating, questioning and talking about identity through clothes, photographs and words.
Lightpool photo (2017) by Claire GriffithsArts Council England
10-year anniversary
In November 2023, LeftCoast celebrates 10 years of bringing more high-quality art, artists and culture to Blackpool; now embedded in local, non-traditional venues and green spaces, as well as on its illuminated town centre streets.
10-year Anniversary (2018) by Claire GriffithsArts Council England
The next decade
LeftCoast will embrace new and innovative artistic formats to broaden appeal in hub communities and further diversify the co-creation of its programme. LeftCoast will continue to learn by doing, and champion socially-engaged practice as a legitimate artistic endeavour.
LeftCoast website: https://leftcoast.org.uk/
Wash Your Words: https://leftcoast.org.uk/wash-your-words/
Art B&B: https://artbb.org/
Title slide credit: Ollie Radford
The story was curated by LeftCoast as part of Arts Council's Northern Stories collection.
