Two vacant shops in Bath are becoming exhibition spaces for local artists and offering free art activities to the community, including family craft sessions, a school uniform swap and a toy library.
The units at numbers 106 and 107 Twerton High Street – a former tattoo parlour and a laundry office – have just been leased and will now become affordable making and exhibition spaces for artists, including students and art graduates from local colleges and Bath Spa University.
The former shops are already welcoming the community to take part in a series of free creative activities including projections, robotics, coding, making and mending, art lunches and family craft sessions.
The shops are being brought back into use through a partnership between Bath and North East Somerset Council, Bath Spa University and Little Lost Robot Community Interest Company (CIC), with funding from the West of England Combined Authority.
The project aims to make the spaces more welcoming and attractive, and is being led by a local team including Twerton residents. It is being funded by the West of England Combined Authority’s Love our High Streets Fund and the High Street Recovery Fund, with in-kind support from Bath Spa University.
Councillor Mark Roper, cabinet member for Economic Development, Regeneration & Growth, said, “The repurposing of these two empty units as spaces to support local artists and encourage local residents to create their own art is the first step of our plans to improve Twerton High Street. The shops will also act as a base for further art activities for the community that will be part of the high street improvement project.
“Bringing vacant shops back into use will begin to boost the appearance of the High Street, bringing benefits to local retailers, businesses, residents and visitors alike.”
Twerton High Street is also among four high streets in Bath to have been awarded £488,000 funding for a Local High Street Improvement Project announced earlier this year. The council recently ran a consultation on suggested improvements to the high street including street furniture, cycle storage, art installations, planting and pop-up uses in vacant shops.
Ruby Sant, Director at Little Lost Robot, said, “We are excited to be working with people living in Twerton to collaboratively design an arts and community space that is welcoming, free to access and supports the needs of local residents. We will be combining arts, crafts and digital skills activities with a range of other free activities including a people’s front room, school uniform swap, a toy library and a free shared lunch on a Friday. Please do pop your head around the door if you are walking past, we are always happy to see you! We will be taking the boards off the windows as soon as we possibly can – so watch this space!”
Metro Mayor, Dan Norris, added, “Community spaces are so important not just in providing a safe and familiar place for local residents to support each other but in promoting a sense of pride among locals which enables neighbourhoods, like those in Twerton, to thrive and flourish. So I’m pleased a £79,000 cash injection from the West of England Combined Authority means the people of Twerton can enjoy not one but two brand-new spaces where everyone can pick up a brush and get creative! When it comes to supporting our high streets and town centres, the West of England Authority is delivering.”
The free creative activities all include free refreshments and run until the first week of December:
- Make and Mend: Scrap to Sculpture – make art for fun and mindfulness, 10am to 12pm on Thursdays.
- Robot Your High Street – try out new skills including, mechanical design, robotics, animatronics and 3D printing, 3.30pm to 5pm on Thursdays.
- Art Lunch – try out t-shirt printing, portraiture, painting and more, 12pm to 2pm on Fridays
Full details can be found here: https://lostrobot.org/creativepeople/