Big Art: is enthusiasm burnt out?

7:15am Tuesday 6th May 2008

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Liz Whittaker, Chair of Menter Aberteifi's Community Arts Committee traces the story so far...

When Cardigan was first notified that the town had been selected out of over 200 applicants to be one of the six winners in the C4 Big Art Project, most people were euphoric.

A major piece of artwork being sited in our town was a wonderful idea. But the initial delight with which we greeted the news of our win seems to have melted away as the practicalities have overtaken us and public opinion has become less than positive.

Those of us on the focus group, drawn from the town, welcomed the arrival of the first film production team from C4 with genuine enthusiasm. The cheerful interviews to camera, the general sense of anticipation of a wonderful piece of artwork, courtesy of the television company, had everyone involved on an electric high. And it was not only the promise of the artwork itself that brought such a positive response, it was the additional assurance that C4 would produce a programme about Cardigan, as one of the winning towns, a programme that might well get the message across to a UK wide audience of what a lovely town ours is, and could do wonders for our visitor numbers.

Looking back it seems we were perhaps a little naïve to expect such a major proposal to run smoothly, and to slip into place without some major hiccups, and it is probably fair to say we had no understanding of the practicalities involved. We were given no details, despite questions asked, about the financing of public art and how it would be brought into being, but we cheerfully faced the cameras on more than one occasion and gave our opinions with very little awareness of what the whole thing would entail.

The general opinion at that stage seemed to be that a sculpture on Prince Charles Quay would be the outcome, but it soon emerged that this was not to be the case, as a second funding award was already in place for a sculpture on that site, the one by Joss Smith which is now in situ. So the potential site became an issue almost from the word go. If it could not go there, where could it go? Public art needs a truly public place and since the upgrading of the riverside had been part of the bid, it seemed some thinking had to be done.

We were then allocated an arts curator from Cardiff who began negotiations to find a satisfactory site, and crucially it became apparent around about this time that the focus group were needed less than the professionals. So when the focus group next came together to select one of a limited number of options for the artist, and were presented with names they had never heard before, they made their choice under guidance from the professional.

This is not to say that those who made the selection were not impressed by Rafael's work - they were - but even then there were concerns raised that his previous work had been in large cities, rather than tiny towns. Communications with the focus group were becoming minimal by this stage. Our Cardiff curator appeared briefly to host meetings now and again which we were often not informed about until the last minute, making it impossible for some to attend. Channel 4 seemed to have disappeared entirely, and the focus group dwindled as they were told less and less about the progress of the project, and their input seemed of no importance. Unsurprisingly the initial excitement disappeared and enthusiasm waned.

No public project can survive and be successful without people feeling passionate about seeing it succeed, and whether anyone does still have that burning belief in the excellence of the project is uncertain. Many people in the town are either against it or are lukewarm, and those of us who jumped up and down with the euphoria at being winners of something wonderful have simply disappeared into the background, wondering whether our involvement in the project was of any importance at all. It remains to be seen if it can happen without that strong commitment in the community and in the end why should it? If we, the people of the town, are not full of enthusiasm for it, then in whose interest is it to see it succeed?