Catalyst for change or artistic apartheid?

The New Art Exchange in Hyson Green has recently won another award, scooping a design ‘oscar’ in RIBA’s 2009 awards. Coming on the first anniversary of the opening of this impressive building, it must be very good news for those associated with the project.

However, the New Art Exchange is much more than an iconic building. It is also a showcase for African, Caribbean and South Asian art; one of the only such facilities in the country. It is also meant to be, in the words of the Evening Post: “A catalyst in the regeneration of Hyson Green”.

New Art Exchange: Jewel in the crown or sore thumb?

“This ’striking black cube’, says the Evening Post (quoting, I suspect, from RIBA), “is built in tough black engineering brick with an arrangement of multiple windows enabling local people to see much of the activity going on inside. In turn, people inside have views looking out at all angles, connecting them to the streets outside, helping to forge stronger links with the local community.”

And the RIBA judges said: “The challenge was to bring together two rival arts organisations, one Afro-Caribbean (sic) and the other Asian. The building has clearly established a lively exchange and collaboration between the two communities.”

But are any of these things true… or does the New Art Exchange actually represent a sort of cultural apartheid where black art is consigned to a ghetto gallery in one of Nottingham’s most deprived and disadvantaged areas with the more mainstream – and probably mainly white – art  being showcased at the much higher profile Nottingham Contemporary, due to open next week in the city centre?

In an area with huge cultural diversity but where the majority population is still white, has the New Art Exchange actually helped to forge stronger links within the community or acted as a catalyst for regeneration?

 There have been some very impressive exhibitions at the NAE and it is certainly being used and visited by more people, both local and from other parts of the country (and, apparently, from other parts of the world). But has it really brought about the sort of economic or social change in Hyson Green that the investment of large sums of money by organisations like the Arts Council, Nottingham City Council, Greater Nottingham Partnership, East Midlands Development Agency and New Deal for Communities were intended to stimulate? More importantly, is it really capable of doing so without being part of a much more cohesive and properly planned strategic development of the area, which it doesn’t really seem to be?

And has the NAE, in the words of its director, Skinder Hundal in an interview with Nottingham Visual Arts succeeded in bridging the gap between Hyson Green and the wider city and in making the venue relevant to local people?

Nottingham Contemporary: Will the NAE be an equal partner or poor relation?

Mr Hundal told NVA: “It is important that local people engage with us as a venue: the venue undoubtedly needs that local engagement in and with local communities.  But the wider Nottingham community is absolutely important as well.  Essentially we are looking to connect greater Nottingham with the inner city, and beyond that we want to look at the huge issues facing the world community.  It is important that greater Nottingham engages on a real level, to connect the mono-cultural with the diverse-cultural, so that there is a shared value base between young people, old people, families and different communities.”

He went on: “We’re conscious that we want to represent unheard voices, culturally diverse expression, and we’re also conscious that – being based in this location – we reflect as best we can the cultural diversity of the location.”

Many would say that this is art-speak; cultural gobbledegook mixed with regeneration rhetoric and jargon that will mean little to people in Hyson Green where most are still poor and more pre-occupied with crime, litter, anti-social behaviour and urban decay than they are with ‘culturally diverse expression’.

Which is not to say that art and culture are not important in people’s lives; of course they are. But this is a gallery specifically dedicated to ethnic minority art in a poor area on the edge of the city, facing, I would argue (despite Mr Hundal’s talk of co-operation) competition from Nottingham Contemporary and trying to convince a relatively small potential audience that the New Art Exchange is not only relevant to their lives but can actually improve them both materially and spiritually.

The building is iconic and the project ambitious but awards for architecture will not be the measure of the NAE’s success. The genuine engagement of the people of Hyson Green and of Nottingham will be and the degree to which such a facility can enrich and improve their lives. And if this doesn’t happen, it will be hard to defend the whole project against the allegation that’s it’s just a cosy, self-interested indulgence for the local art glitterati and a high-profile and expensive way for the public funders involved to demonstrate their equal opportunities credentials.

Civic Trust award for New Art Exchange

Notice Nottingham reports that the New Art Exchange in Hyson Green has received a Civic Trust award for being one of the best new buildings and renovations in Britain. The Gregory Boulevard venue was designed by Hawkins Brown and is devoted to black and Asian arts with gallery, studio and rehearsal spaces. Judges praised it for being a “sophisticated and welcoming addition to an urban neighbourhood.”

Whilst the building itself may indeed be a ’sophisticated and welcoming (should that be ‘welcome’?) addition to an urban neighbourhood’, I wonder – as I said in my blog on 17th April – whether the people of the area actually feel that they are welcome to go inside it and if the splendid building is supported by the sort of grass-roots community work necessary for this facility to become more than a bone china milk jug which serves only to make the chipped jumble sale mugs around it look even shoddier.

I hope I’m wrong and that the residents of Hyson Green and Radford have taken the NAE to their hearts and value it as a community facility consistent with its multi-million pound price tag. Perhaps any of them reading this would like to give me their opinion?

Bringing culture to the masses… or not?

The New Art Exchange in Hyson Green was always an ambitious project. Building a brand new gallery in one of Nottingham’s most disadvantaged and deprived areas and one with a reputation that has, at times, rivalled Moss Side and Toxteth, was either brave and visionary or incredibly stupid and pretentious. And it seems that the jury is still out on which of these is the most accurate description of the decision by the Arts Council and others when they agreed to fund this project.

The vision for the New Art Exchange (not sure what they actually exchange there: ideas, philosophy, DVD’s?) in their own words,  is to “deliver an innovative and exciting programme of contemporary multi-cultural arts development in visual and performing arts.” This seems a very worthy ambition (although it doesn’t go as far as to say what the point of this might be…) and one which this area should be able to embrace and support, being, as it is, one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse in the city.

Yet, each time I have visited the NAE (sounds like an airline for some reason) and each time I’ve passed by, it has been virtually empty. It seems to have more staff than visitors. Which is a pity, because some of the recent exhibitions have been excellent. The Sokari Douglas-Camp show was visually powerful, challenging and though-provoking and the Floating Coffins of Zineb Sedira is a stunning installation.

But for the NAE to succeed, it surely has to engage more with the people of the area it is based in and I see no sign of this happening. It’s all very well for those ‘in the know’; the art aficionados and creative movers and shakers, to visit the gallery from all corners of the region (or indeed the country) but if the building, and what goes on inside it, does not genuinely engage the people of Hyson Green - and those like them across the city – and add something to their lives, it’s vision will ring increasingly hollow and it may be destined to be an expensive waste of many people’s money.

Give my regards to Broadway

The Broadway Cinema is one of Nottingham’s cultural gems… and one of its best kept secrets.

Patronised by those in the know, the cultured, the adventurous, those who are disillusioned with the mainstream movie pap that the Showcase offers and those who got lost on their way to somewhere else, it shows the very best in old and new cinematic fare, in an atmosphere that is relaxed, sophisticated and just invites you to not only watch a film but to come in and linger.

Film festivals, workshops and special events abound, making the Broadway a centre for creative visual arts as well as an excellent cinema. And, as if all this wasn’t enough, the decor of one of their auditoria was designed by local lad Paul Smith.

The only down side is that their coffee is sometimes not fresh and not very strong (got to be some negatives, eh?).

Give the Broadway a try… but don’t expect re-runs of Lethal Weapon or Rambo… unless they feature them in the  ‘Very Bad Films We Have Loved’ season.