Project

The Market Estate Project invites artists, designers and residents of a soon-to-be demolished 1960’s housing estate to transform vacant flats, corridors, staircases and facades into a unique art project.

Situated in an unfamiliar corner of Islington, London, this landmark regeneration project culminates in a one-day celebration on 6 March 2010. The public will explore art inspired by and created for the event in a festival atmosphere, days before the buildings are bulldozed.

A local community project, the Market Estate Project directly engages  with the local community, current and former residents, and has run a number of activities both on site, in local schools and community centres. Ideally, the project office will become a permanent resource for the local community.

Why was it created

We saw this large vacant space as an opportunity to experiment. Coming mostly from Arts backgrounds, we are well connected in the creative industries, and clocked the potential for an unique exhibition. This idea snowballed when we approached Southern Housing Group and learned of their need for community regeneration during a decanting of residents from the abandoned estate. We decided to collaborate to create a project and event that would benefit both the Arts and Local Community, and start a process of enduring impact.

Partners (individuals or organisations) that make it happen

Tall Tales was set up by Gadi Sprukt, Giulia Sala and Helmut Feder. Nathan Lyons, Elli Resvanis and Christian Nyamapeta complete the team of six full-time volunteers. Vicki Lewis from the Big Art Trust is employed as Project Manager.

Funding and assistance was forthcoming from Southern Housing Group, Islington Council, Higgins Construction and the Arts Council.

Points where the project looked threatened, how was this overcome?

We were struggling to involve local youths who hang out on the estate, and frequently cause disruption to the artists and the general running of the project. It has been difficult to find a way to involve these teenagers. A street artist, Boyd, working on the facade of Flat 1 was approached by the kids - he encouraged them to get involved. Amazingly, they picked up paintbrushes and got stuck in with the creative work. It was so satisfying to finally connect.

The best story to come out of it (so far?)

We won a temporary radio license from Ofcom, now broadcasting under 1278 AM, Market Radio. This is the soul of the project, and we interview artists and residents live on air, along with an enjoyable music program. We are recording the entire output and this will form a key resource for evaluating and remembering the project. The wonderful final event is yet to happen, and we expect some great stories!

Measuring the impact

We will be archiving and cataloguing the process and event. We have attendance figures for all our community events, and listener statistics for our project radio station. We also have interviews with residents and officials. Our website has attracted 10,000 unique views, and we have a Facebook group with over 1000 members. To date, we have registered 1300 attendees for the final event, and we expect the total number to exceed 2000.

Budget/costs explanation

Budget comes from external funding (details below) and all of the monies are invested into arts and community activities. A full budget can be made available from our Project Manager.

We receive Rate Relief from the Council for the office at 25 North Road and some assistance with Electricity.

At the moment we are paying costs out of our pockets, pending successful opening of a bank account.

Income details

Not applicable yet, but Southern Housing Association has pledged some
money and the Arts Council awarded £5,000.

Market Estate North Road N7 9DZ

For more info visit www.marketestateproject.com
on Facebook: Market Estate Project (group)

Or contact Nathan Lyons nathan.lyons@gmail.com