Grand Union's Placemaking Strategies

• by Jack Tsai
• Organisation: Grand Union
• Keywords: Small Arts Organisation, Placemaking, Grand Union, Art Intermediaries

Small Arts Organisations (SAOs) are small-scale art spaces and institutions that create and share art. Their small-scale operation model is reflected in space, funding, and staff numbers, and this can make tasks such as allocating exhibition space, running workshops, and putting on seasonal events challenging compared to larger institutions. Despite this, there are several benefits to the small-scale structure of SAOs. It allows organisations to develop closer and more focused relationships with artists, curators, and audiences. This closeness has led many SAOs to conduct their contemporary art practices within their local areas, collaborating with local people. Consequently, the emergence of SAOs has catalysed contemporary art interventions in communities. From greening neighbourhoods to advocating for local groups, SAOs have become a cultural phenomenon in the global contemporary art scene.

According to Ana Bilbao’s research on SAOs, these art institutions, which have seen a continuous increase in number since the 1990s and have become significant phenomena in contemporary art culture, have emerged as crucial spaces for local artists to connect and engage in dialogue with the global art world. [1] Examples include The Showroom in London, Khoj in Delhi, ruangrupa in Jakarta, Pool in Seoul, and Ashkal Alwan in Beirut.

SAOs are increasingly being established around city centres, particularly forming art clusters in peripheral areas where rent is relatively low and the landscape is less appealing, often struggling with issues such as pollution, poverty, unemployment, and crime. [2] As a result of their local connections, over time many SAOs have transitioned from being solely art institutions to becoming collaborators in, and enablers of, civic resilience. This transformation has meant that they have become art intermediaries between communities and governments, using their practices to regenerate local areas and reimagine the future. The impact of SAOs on local communities is not just significant but also hopeful, as they contribute to the resilience and vibrancy of these areas.

Grand Union is an SAO based in Birmingham in the district of Digbeth. The gallery started its journey in 2010, with the mission of cultivating art communities in the heart of the city; building on Birmingham’s long history of art intermediaries engaging with the public and government. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Birmingham City Council exhibited robust facilitative leadership, spearheading a substantial culture-led regeneration project near the city-centre which contributed to considerable redevelopment. [3] Since then it has become customary for Birmingham City Council to actively collaborate with emerging groups of artists, producers, and cultural organisations, working together to shape the urban environment. [4] Grand Union, as an intermediary for Birmingham’s art scene, embodies these values of public cooperation and placemaking and is committed to creating an inclusive environment in Birmingham.

How does Grand Union foster local communities in Digbeth?

Grand Union has made a notable effort to foster an artistic community in their local area of Digbeth. Digbeth is a post-industrial district with a mix of industrial and residential buildings. It is known for its lively nightlife, bustling daytime industrial activity, and culturally diverse young population. However, due to a low number of residents, it can be challenging to establish a strong sense of community within the area, an issue Grand Union have attempted to rectify. Since their establishment in 2010, Grand Union has received attention from the local government and Arts Council England and has benefited from wider concerted efforts to transform Digbeth into an alternative cultural hub. Before Grand Union’s establishment in 2010, Digbeth only had two SAOs, Friction Arts (1992) and Eastside Projects (2008). However, after Grand Union’s arrival, a number of other SAOs were founded, including Vivid Projects (2012), Stryx (2012), Centrala (2014), Recent Activity (2015), and Cheap Cheap (2019). [5]

The timely establishment of Grand Union, just before this flourishing of the Digbeth local art scene, has granted the organisation a significant cultural standing and allowed them to attract considerable attention and resources. In 2010, the gallery launched its artist-in-residence programme, offering workspaces to twenty-two local artists and opportunities to exhibit artwork and participate in public programmes. [6] The gallery has also collaborated with several local Universities. Since 2016, the gallery has worked with postgraduates in the Art History and Curating MA programme at the University of Birmingham, launching an exhibition every year with students as co-curators. [7] Meanwhile, in 2017, Grand Union partnered with Birmingham City University to offer young artists and designers a gradual entry into the art scene through their artists’ workspaces. [8] Such collaborations not only help Grand Union gain more visibility but also provide the gallery with opportunities to work with research agencies and explore sustainability and regeneration issues in-depth.

In addition to cooperating with universities in contemporary art production, Grand Union actively engages in social practice and collaborates with third-sector organisations. Upon obtaining charity status in 2019, Grand Union began developing more enduring community plans. One notable example is The Growing Project, a long-term initiative involving collaboration with various organisations such as Modern Clay, St Anne’s Hostel, Crisis Skylight, SIFA Fireside, and Spring Housing Association. These organisations are committed to revitalising the city by empowering local groups, creating local small businesses, and working to tackle homelessness. Collaborating with these organisations allows Grand Union to address local issues and gain a deeper understanding of the community’s needs. This collaboration has broadened Grand Union’s impact, marking a shift from being solely an art institution to an SAO deeply committed to the growth and well-being of local communities.

The Growing Project: Growing and Cooking Greens in the City Centre

The Growing Project is one of the most notable projects from Grand Union’s collaboration with third-sector organisations. First established in 2019, this project aims to create green spaces within the city space and encourage ‘greening’ to combat the social isolation and loneliness suffered by vulnerable-housed people and those experiencing crisis. There are currently seven Growing Project sites in Birmingham: St. Anne’s Hostel, Minerva Garden, Common Field, Floating Garden, and three sites in partnership with Spring Housing, which are Hagley Lodge, Hestia House, and Richmond House. [9]

The Growing Project aims to use ‘art making, gardening, cooking, and simply being together as a way of offering support and friendship to people passing through difficult times.’ [10] It provides a distinctive opportunity for residents of the organisations above dealing with homelessness to cultivate crops, harvest them, and share in the feast at the dinner table. [11] From gardens to tables, the process rebuilds relationships among people involving the project and offers homeless individuals a sense of purpose beyond basic survival. Through growing and harvesting greens, the project seeks to promote communication, social well-being, understanding of homelessness issues, and open discussions for a more inclusive and sustainable environment.

The Growing Project not only addresses homelessness issues but also supports the local women’s community. The Minerva Garden Group, a gardening collective formed by women, is central to this effort. Created in partnership with women’s support organisations in the West Midlands, the Minerva Apothecary Garden aims to increase awareness of gardening and healing practices and to create connections between plants and people. In 2021 and 2022, the Minerva Garden Group worked with artist Alberta Whittle to produce tea bags using herbs grown in the garden. This collaboration resulted in a healing and women-focused event as well as Whittle including the teabags produced in her exhibition at the 2022 Venice Biennale. [12] This partnership showcases the therapeutic and community-building aspects of gardening and demonstrates the project’s influence on contemporary art.

‘Community building’ has been one of the most essential keywords for Grand Union and The Growing Project, with founder and director of Grand Union, Cheryl Jones, noting that ‘the key thing about the project has been making a way to connect with our neighbours.’ [13] Building connections not only helps Grand Union collaborate more effectively with local communities and third-sector organisations to address local issues, but it also ensures that Grand Union continues to gain attention and exert influence. In this context, the sustainable development of the organisation and the sustainable development of the local area become intertwined and mutually influential issues.

The current collaborative programme director of Grand Union, Jo Capper, stated that The Growing Project did not start as an art project but rather as a response to Birmingham’s urban regeneration and current social issues. [14] Capper noted, ‘we are not like a gardening company that just comes in and redesigns the space. It’s a very democratic approach to enable the residents to build relationships with their space, with the plants and wildlife that exist.’ [15] For Grand Union, this democratic approach means not leading the project but advancing it in a community-led manner. They first asked hostel residents what plants they wanted to grow to green the environment. [16] After discussions with the residents, they began planting edible crops and herbs, leading to subsequent plans for shared meals and harvest dinners. The project’s development has been organic, continually growing, expanding, and evolving, just like its name suggests.

From growing to harvesting, Grand Union has expanded its small-scale guerrilla greening initiatives into more comprehensive food production sustainability efforts. Besides partnering with local housing organisations, The Growing Project has strengthened Grand Union’s ties with Birmingham’s local food network initiatives. This network aims to raise awareness of community food justice and promote a fairer food system through participatory action research and learning. Grand Union stated, ‘Working together, this network of community groups, organisations and agencies aim to tackle the unsustainable social and environmental aspects of our food system within Birmingham.’ [17]

Another crucial issue, from greening to cooking, is the safety of the food produced. Given Birmingham’s industrial history, much of the soil along its canals contains heavy metals, making crops grown there unsafe for consumption. To address this, The Growing Project began collaborating in 2021 with artist Asad Raza and the University of Birmingham to remediate toxic soils. [18] This initiative further showcases Grand Union’s role as an SAO, emphasising its potential as an art intermediary to address and transform local issues.

Grand Union aims to be a good neighbour in the community, and The Growing Project is their means to achieve this goal. The Growing Project focuses on vulnerable groups facing crises, as well as on the natural environment. The issues it addresses are interconnected within Digbeth, forming a web of challenges. Art has become the method to tackle these problems, providing a holistic approach to community support and environmental sustainability. Through collaborations with various stakeholders, The Growing Project leverages art to foster community resilience, healing, and engagement.

SAOs in the Current Economic Climate

It has been 15 years since Grand Union’s establishment. Within this period, the gallery gained attention from stakeholders in Digbeth and established a community of artists who valued local society and the environment. In short, the reasons why Grand Union can create local communities in a post-industrial area can be attributed to the fact that when Grand Union was founded, many resources were invested in Digbeth to transform it into the cultural centre of Birmingham. Moreover, Grand Union has always been transparent about their goal of fostering an artist community, aligning with Arts Council England’s objective of supporting the local art scene.

However, despite Grand Union’s success, it and many other SAOs still face a number of risks. These include the transient existence of many young people who make up the local communities they serve. This problem is exacerbated by the current economic environment, where job opportunities in the arts and cultural sector have decreased, forcing individuals to move elsewhere. Despite Grand Union’s efforts to cooperate with various organisations and provide job opportunities, economic difficulties and environmental changes thus threaten to disintegrate the community Grand Union has worked so hard to create. This community is essential to Grand Union’s placemaking strategies, and without it, they lose the basics to continue to address social and environmental issues.

Like many city centres in the post-industrial era, Birmingham has become increasingly divided between those who have and those who have not. [19] Some people benefit from wealth and privilege, while others struggle to survive. SAOs like Grand Union can either worsen this division through art and cultural activities or help unite local communities and preserve regional uniqueness through anti-gentrification art practices. In areas like Digbeth, which is seeing increased investment interest, the presence of such organisations is essential precisely because they can have both positive and negative effects.

Meanwhile, the recent declaration of bankruptcy by Birmingham City Council in September 2023 has increased the urgency of finding ways for art intermediaries to support local communities. With the HS2 high-speed railway nearing completion and set to traverse Birmingham in the coming years, there are questions about whether Birmingham will prioritise becoming a huge shopping mall or a culturally vibrant city that supports artists. These events compel us to consider the city’s future development, including issues such as gentrification, public space, and environmental and social justice, particularly from the perspective of art intermediaries.

Grand Union is actively addressing current economic and urban planning challenges by tackling the negative impacts of large-scale commercial development, particularly through initiatives to mitigate the challenges posed by the HS2 project. The recently formed Digbeth Access Group is another example of this aim from Grand Union, comprising local art agencies and the City Council. They are currently devising a lighting and way-finding scheme for pedestrians from the city centre to Digbeth. [20] This scheme aims to preserve connectivity for organisations and businesses affected by the HS2 project, ensuring continued accessibility between these areas amidst forthcoming infrastructure changes. Once again, Grand Union refuses to accept the consequences of large-scale construction and economic developments, instead focusing on strengthening connections within local communities in a bottom-up approach to combat gentrification.

SAOs like Grand Union, play a critical role in enhancing community resilience in post-industrial cities through cultural engagement, social cohesion, environmental sustainability, and economic empowerment. Grand Union exemplifies these principles with initiatives like The Growing Project and collaborations with the Digbeth Access Group, addressing economic challenges and urban planning issues such as the HS2 project. By nurturing local art scenes, promoting environmental stewardship, and supporting community dialogue and collaboration, SAOs strengthen community identity and vitality in places like Digbeth. Their efforts help reduce the impact of external developments and empower communities to thrive amidst change, highlighting the essential role of SAOs in building resilient communities.

Endnotes

[1] Ana E Bilbao, ‘From the Global to the Local (and Back): Curatorial Strategies in Biennials and Small Visual Arts Organisations’, Third Text, 33(2), 2019, 179-194.

[2] Volker Kirchberg and Sacha Kagan, ‘The roles of artists in the emergence of creative sustainable cities: Theoretical clues and empirical illustrations’, City, Culture and Society, 4, 2013, 137-152.

[3 ]Lauren Andres and Caroline Chapain, ‘The Integration of Cultural and Creative Industries into Local and Regional Development Strategies in Birmingham and Marseille: Towards an Inclusive and Collaborative Governance?’, Regional Studies, 47(2), 2013, 161-182.

[4] Birmingham City Council, Imagination, Creativity and Enterprise: Birmingham Cultural Strategy 2016-19, 2017. (accessed January 2024)

[5] Adrian Murphy, ‘Late night art shows at Digbeth First Friday’, Birmingham Museums Stories, 2023.  (accessed May 2023)

[6] Grand Union’s Collaborative Strategy (2022)  (accessed January 2024)

[7] Grand Union website(accessed July 2024)

[8] The BCU Graduate Residency Studios project, created by Grand Union and Birmingham City University, selects four recent BCU graduates every year through an open call. The selected graduates are provided free 24-hour access to a shared studio space and mentoring sessions throughout the year. The mentoring sessions are conducted by Grand Union Directors, exhibiting artists, curators in residence, and established Grand Union studio holders.  (accessed July 2024)

[9] See further details about The Growing Project’s seven gardening locations (accessed January 2024)

[10] The Growing Project (accessed May 2024)

[11] Jenny Peevers, ‘The Growing Project Evaluation report of year 1’ (2022) (accessed July 2024)

[12] Ibid.

[13] The Growing Project: Growing Inclusive Communities (2021)  (accessed July 2024)

[14] Peevers, ‘report of year 1’ (2022)  (accessed July 2024)

[15] The Growing Project: Growing Inclusive Communities (2021)  (accessed July 2024)

[16] The Growing Project: Hagley Lodge Portrait (2021) (accessed July 2024)

[17] Grand Union’s Collaborative Strategy (2022) (NLA, accessed November 2023)

[18] Common Field is set in the centre of Birmingham’s post-industrial landscape, alongside the Digbeth Branch canal.  (accessed July 2024)

[19] A community-led growing scheme with Grand Union (2022) 

[20] Cathy Wade, ‘What’s Next for Birmingham’s Cultural Institutions and Galleries?’, Frieze, 2023.  (accessed July 2024)