Fisherton Street Gateway Project, Salisbury
Public Art Strategy

Identified as an area of unrealised potential, Fisherton Street is the main thoroughfare that links Salisbury’s railway station with its historic city centre. Lined with historic terraces and adjacent to major cultural venues such as the Salisbury Playhouse, Fisherton Street is renowned for its independent, niche shops, businesses and creative SMEs, as well as a wide range of coffee shops and restaurants.

Wiltshire Council sought an holistic approach to the rejuvenation of Fisherton Street and appointed a multi-disciplinary team led by design and project management consultancy Atkins to pursue its transformational vision for the area. As part of this multi-disciplinary approach Studio Response was appointed to develop a Public Art Strategy for Fisherton Street.

As a practice we believe that local people must be allowed the opportunity to shape any development of their own spaces and places. Engagement and consultation were therefore vital to the development of the strategy as we sought to garner an understanding of what Fisherton Street meant to local people, as well as their thoughts on the opportunities for art in the public realm. We engaged with the local community and Salisbury’s strong creative community in a number of different ways to make ourselves as accessible as possible.   This included face to face consultation events at which we were joined by illustrator Laura Sorvala who graphically recorded the feedback we received.

Whilst the brief focused on the creation of permanent artworks, we also considered opportunities for temporary and socially-engaged projects that can bring added value, underpin the scheme’s tangible benefits and contribute to the legacy of creative place-making and cultural place-recognition for Fisherton Street.

The completed Public Art Strategy will inform Wiltshire Council’s bid to the UK government’s Future High Street Fund for the implementation of the Fisherton Street Gateway Project.

 

Image courtesy of Emma M. Price.