Following the festival in June 2018 and the first council commission by Zabou we now have many works around town and Beeston is fast becoming a top destination in the UK for visitors to tour street art. Click HERE to open a printable .pdf of the map below

The next council commission on the precinct (paid for by the remaining money in the art fund inherited from Henry Boot Plc) is currently being chosen by Broxtowe’s party leaders from the many exciting submissions we received. We also plan to raise more money so we can invite as many artists as possible to bring their inspired designs to town on private walls should they not be chosen for this position. Do join our group on Facebook to keep up with the project!

A CALL TO ACTION!

As you are no doubt aware, Broxtowe Borough Council is in the process of selling the Town Hall to Cornerstone Evangelical Church.

The decision is flawed on many levels, and possibly unlawful and by selling to this particular Church it is almost certain the Town Hall will not be as freely accessible to the local public as it would with the Community Bid.

Broxtowe’s first commissioned mural in Beeston, Nottingham was completed by street artist Zabou on the 18th October 2018; it has been very well received with much local, national and even international press.

They now have a sum of £2000 remaining from the art fund they inherited from Henry Boot Plc and would like to invite artists to submit costed designs for the wall/s to the left of the precinct delivery entrance on Station Rd (to the left of Zabou’s work).  There is a possibility that Broxtowe may be able to add to this fund for the right proposal.

The wall/s:

The dimensions of this section are numbered 4, 5, 8 and 9:

This/these walls are opposite Tesco in Beeston Centre on Station Rd.  Please do submit your costed design proposals to beestonstreetart@gmail.com if you would like to be considered for this next commission – the council will make a decision in the new year.

Many thanks!

We were delighted to help organise this commission by international street artist Zabou for Broxtowe Borough Council as a continuation of the street art festival Jeanie Barton organised in June with much appreciated assistance from members of the Beeston Street Art group on Facebook!  Jeanie meets with the Council again next Tuesday the 13th November to plan what we are going to do with the remaining fund – they are even considering investing more!  These vibrant art attractions and the resulting local, national and even international press should help secure the creative investors the council requires for the phase 2 development.

Here is a guide of the artworks around town updated as of 06/11/18

Come and meet us at these informal gatherings at The White Lion 🙂 BDCC Coffee Mornings Poster all dates

We will be based at Bartons all weekend, here is the full schedule of attractions across the area: final HOD booklet 2018

Beeston Town Hall also opens to the public this Friday: Town Hall HOD Poster Friday.

There is also a Heritage walk on the 16th September: Heritage walk 16 Sep Poster JIM

Jeanie Barton led this project for us and much was achieved over the festival weekend 16-17 June; the action has continued with artists returning to complete their pieces plus more artists starting subsequently.  We raised around £3000 through sponsorship and a crowdfund in order to make it all happen and the flurry of activity garnered much publicity with the BBC, Nottingham Post, Breeze Magazine plus many online publications and social media posts praising the art works (which are very varied – hopefully providing something for everyone).

Below is the most recent program/guide published for Beeston Carnival a few weeks ago.  You can see completed works and download a .PDF of this brochure from this Dropbox folder.

Our festival prompted Broxtowe Council’s leader and deputy to look at the costed design commissions we presented last year and their Finance and Resources Committee voted on 12^th July to spend their ring fenced £8k art fund on Street Art!  Their first commission will be portraits of Sir Paul Smith, Edwin Starr and Richard Beckinsale by Zabou on the Station Road precinct walls leading down from Birds to the delivery entrance.  This will happen after the summer.

We also have some funds remaining from our festival and look forward to Elliott Caine painting the side of Fred Hallam’s in a design featuring fruit and plants, plus Carrot Boy is going to do the store building in between Barnsdale’s and The Sewing Box and The Hive on Union Street will have bees and flowers by Qubek (we also hope to get him another wall later this year) not forgetting RJ77 Urban Stencils will return to paint a portrait of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet on the front of The Star Inn (another series filmed there).   We have our eye on other prominent dull walls, some of which are currently going through probate and others for which we are awaiting freeholders’ permission.  We are going to try and make the council’s £8k stretch as far as possible (it can be spent within 85 meters of the phase 1 buildings).  If your business would like to become a sponsor and feature in the guide booklet that will be produced for tourists later this year, please do contact beestonstreetart@gmail.com.

Many thanks so far to; Affinity Photo (Serif), Beeston Round Table, Beeston Nursery, The Star Inn, Tesco Beeston, Fred Hallam Ltd, Nottingham County Council and Northgate Vehicle Hire.

We are proud to be supporting the community/facebook group Beeston Street Art Festival this year.  We have set up a Crowdfund page to help cover the costs of visiting artists who want to create attractions around our town.  Do please give what you can – the FREE event begins at our coffee morning on National Civic Day at the hub in The White Lion, continuing with live music plus exhibition pieces inside and out and painting in the grounds as well as elsewhere around town.  This festival will encourage socialising, culture, wellbeing, creativity and learning in Beeston as well as attracting trade and investment during and after the festival weekend.

One work by Rob Jackson (RJ77 Stencils) will commemorate the centenary of the Chilwell Explosion with a portrait of Canary Girls at work on the front wall of the Victory Club on Station Road. So far 7 other freeholders of buildings around town want an art attraction – we have many internationally acclaimed artists wanting to visit, so let’s see if we can make this year’s festival as big as possible!

Many thanks in advance and see you there.

There will be three heritage walks over the summer:

28 June 2018:
Attenborough

Park on Long Lane and walk to the church. Assemble in the churchyard at 6.30. Approximately 2 hours.

This evening walk is one of the events commemorating the centenary of the explosion at the Chilwell at the Chilwell Shell Filling Factory (now the Chetwynd Barracks compound) on 1 July 1918. The walk will include a visit to the church, and to the Strand, as well as an opportunity to view, and hear about, the Environment Agency’s flood scheme.

23 July 2018:
Education and Entertainment

2.30 p.m. from the podium, Beeston Square

This two hour walk will take in some of the sites and, where they survive, buildings linked to Beeston schools and also to places of entertainment. Beeston once had many more schools, and also cinemas and other forms of entertainment, quite apart from pubs and clubs.

16 September 2018;
Beeston Heritage Trail

2.30 p.m., from the podium, Beeston Square

This 2.5 hour walk will begin and end in Beeston Square and will provide a brief introduction to the history of the town. Beginning with an outline of the structure of the town, walkers will then circle the centre of Beeston to take in the remaining mills, the High Road, Middle Street, new developments either side of Station Road, and old Beeston (West End, Church) before returning to the Square. The hope is that those who come on the walk learn something about Beeston and will be challenged to find out more!