ArtCycles ™

The South West Region is known for its creativity, green agenda and progressive urban transport approach. By combining forces, the City of Bristol and Unitary Authority of BaNES (Bristol and Bath) demonstrate regional strength and differentiation with other LEPs through collaboration in developing the region’s USP for Brand Britain.

The theme of the proposed initiative plays on the notion of ‘City as a Customer’ experience and provides a framework for the many diverse sub themes within the West of England LEP (WoELEP) skills development requirements. It acts a unifying ‘silver bullet’ marshalling public, charitable and private resource to ensure leadership for the region in developing skills that support the region’s USP.

Under the themes, CREATIVITY, SUSTAINABILITY and MOBILITY the initiative is called: ArtCycles TM.

What is it?

We will invite the commissioning of 100 sponsored ArtCycles TM to tour a selection of cycle trails and civic areas for 100 days covering 100,000 miles along a ‘A Trail of Two Cities’ drawing attention to the initiative and engaging with the public, businesses, schools, academia, cyclists, aspirant cyclists and visitors to the region alike.

- Creativity means art, culture, design, film, animation, gaming, marketing, digital, technology

- Sustainability means doing things smarter with minimum impact and greater efficiency and longevity at their core thereby promoting health and happiness for now and future generations

- Mobility means multi-modal travel, infrastructure and doing joined up things ‘on the move’

Combined they help ‘future proof’ the region and develop a sense of place, purpose and prosperity that is people and community centric.

All require strategy, investment and skill development in a global economy.

ArtCycles TM serves as a high profile, multi-layer and unifying activity that achieves the need to provide an iconic action that emboldens, evokes and engages the targeted LEP sectors with a public face and provides a point of reference that also has wider, regional and broader sector benefits. It has a strategic fit with the LEP, it crosses the targeted sectors, will promote growth and greater social inclusion, aligns with other regional policies and will contribute a strong GVA plus wider socio economic benefits by helping to join up the Economic Areas and Zone identified within the region along existing cycle paths.

ArtCycles TM is an evocative celebration of everything that is great about the Bristol and BaNES region.

Why the contribution is important

The initiative is important because it will promote:

1.     Growth and innovation for the ‘Media Hub’ (the ‘unsquare ‘mile) with art, culture, technology and digital media at its heart

2.     The whole Region’s green agenda and Bristol’s Green City 2015 sustainability initiative

3.     Joined up thinking (connectivity, mobility and multi-modal transport)

4.     Quality of life  - ‘Fit is the new thin’ - cities surrounded by country with great communications

5.     Bristol and BaNES Community Collaboration (a key tenet for the creative industries)

6.     Visitor and investment attraction and enhancement into the region

7.     Impetus for Bristol’s goal of being in the top 20 of European cities by 2020

8.     The region as ‘Cities of Cycling’ and encourage cycling and, in particular, more female take up

9.     Cycling is ‘Cool for School’ with cycle maintenance education as a part of the experience

10.  Sustrans’ national objective of making 8 out of 10 local journeys to be by cycle by 2020 by providing them with a lead initiative that is sustainable, scalable and transferable

11. Help support Bristol's objective of doubling cycling from 16,000 (4%)

by user551526 on November 19, 2013 at 03:53PM

Current Rating

Average rating: 2.6
Based on: 6 votes

Comments

  • Posted by user952345 November 20, 2013 at 16:31

    Wow. That is a buzzwordy pitch. How would it be funded?

  • Posted by user251846 November 28, 2013 at 13:19

    Well-intentioned, perhaps, but the proposal is so obfusticated by jargon and waffle that it needs a mind-machete to hack through. Essentially, what is suggested is that it would be nice to cycle around on artily-decorated bicycles. No doubt it would, and no-one's stopping anyone from doing it. It just doesn't need any public money wasting on it.

  • Posted by user247141 December 02, 2013 at 11:06

    I gave up trying to understand this. The campaign for plain English needs to translate this idea for me. And which 100,000 miles between Bristol and Bath are you talking about?

  • Posted by user412750 December 23, 2013 at 22:15

    Unfortunately, I agree with the above comments. The idea is lost in a blizzard of buzzwords. This prevented me from understanding how it would achieve what it says it would achieve. I would also like a plain English translation, please, before I feel I can vote on it.

  • Posted by user551526 January 05, 2014 at 16:12

    I see some positives in the comments so far!
    Funding would come from corporate sponsorship, civic contribution and business entry fees.
    The scheme would inspire cycle design, involving technology and art, not just 'artily-decorated bicycles (as that clearly wouldn't work). Routes around and between the Two Cities during the summer of 2015 would bring attention and engagement with onlookers to the initiative. 100 days at 10 miles per day per cycle (100) adds up to 100,000. Simples! Curation of this interaction could be by bike cameras showing images on large screens at Temple Meads and Bath Spa stations thus drawing attention to the collaborative efforts to promote creativity, sustainability and mobility. Better? oh doomsayers, mud slingers and armchair wordsmiths?
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