Artist sought to deliver public artwork for Lydney Harbour in the Forest of Dean
An artist will be recruited to deliver two landmark public artworks for Lydney as part of the £2.1million Destination Lydney Harbour project, funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government's Coastal Community Fund.
The project team is seeking applications from professional artists for this commission that will further enhance the visitor experience of the harbour, linking the town with its important industrial history.
Rose Farrington, Community Projects Leader, Forest of Dean District Council said:
“We are looking for an artist who can create a site-specific installation that draws attention to Lydney’s unique heritage, making connections between the history and context of Lydney Harbour and the surrounding area both physically and conceptually. We wish to commission an artist who has worked on similar heritage projects in the public realm, or in non-traditional art space contexts.”
Artists interested in applying for the commission can do so by visiting the Forest of Dean District Council’s procurement portal: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/publicagroup
Forest of Dean District Councillor, Bernie O’Neill said:
“The public artwork is an intrinsic part of the harbour redevelopment; it will welcome visitors to the area, invite people to visit the harbour and in doing so help them to learn about this nationally important scheduled ancient monument.”
Devised by the Lydney Coastal Community, The Destination Lydney Harbour project will create safe, attractive transport routes into Lydney Harbour and develop the area as a recreation and tourism destination. The old mortuary and store buildings are currently being upgraded and will become the new accessible toilets and heritage information point, mooring and seating points will be installed and improvements made to cycle and walking routes, highway, and station approach. Signage will be improved, and a new walking trail will be installed. Lydney Skiff, a community rowing boat building project is also underway – bringing this traditional craft back to Severnside.
This is a rare opportunity to submit a tender to create a substantial artwork in response to a unique location. And what a wonderful location it is.
Contact Information
Forest of Dean Communications Team
Notes to editors
The Destination Lydney Harbour bid was submitted to MHCLG’s Coastal Communities Fund and the project awarded funding in September 2019. The project consists of a number of elements which cover the area from the A48 roundabout on Harbour Road to the docks and harbour and serve to improve connections between these areas and the town centre. They can be broadly categorised as Improvements to Access Routes and Wayfinding, Enhancements to the Landscape, Enabling Increased Use of the Canal, Docks and Harbour.
The DLH project includes the refurbishment and conversion of the Harbour Store and Mortuary buildings to provide a heritage information point and toilet facilities respectively plus the installation of a modular café unit.
The Lydney Coastal Community Team (LCCT) is a multi-partnership group with membership representing interests at the local, district and county level. It was formed in 2015 as an open forum, anyone with an interest in the docks and harbour is welcome to attend. The next meeting is to be scheduled shortly. More information can be found on the District Council’s webpage: Lydney Docks & Harbour.
Coastal Communities Fund
The Great British Coast has enormous economic potential and this government is determined to see it thrive all year round.
That’s why by 2020 the Government will have invested over £200 million in our much loved seaside areas through dedicated programmes like Coastal Communities Fund to help in generating jobs and boosting businesses.
So far, analysis has shown that this has been money well spent with every £1 invested having the potential to create an up to £8 boost to our coastal economies. To find out more visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coastal-communities-fund