Lead artist Jo Chapman was selected at a public selection meeting in March. She launched the project on May bank holiday 2010 and since then has been doing small projects and workshops around the village to get to know the community. See the Past Events section for more details.

As part of her brief, Jo is bringing in artists in other disciplines to put on workshops. You’ll find poetry workshops over the year and visiting artists on site in ARTIVAN over August. Jo will be producing a final permanent work. What this work will be we don’t yet know! Jo wants to know your ideas of what you’d like to see in the nature reserve, any pieces of local history you’d like referenced etc. Use the Have your say section to give your feedback.

Where is the project happening?

Stockbridge Meadows Riverside Park Nature Reserve. The parish council looked at possible options and sites for the project and Riverside Park seemed an ideal site. It’s a public area, where workshops, trails or some kind of art installation could fit in. The site also reflects a lot of Melbourn’s heritage with the River Mel, fruit orchards and archaeological remains.

See the Riverside Park website for details on the nature reserve and its location in the village.

Where is the money coming from?

South Cambridgeshire District Council has a public art supplementary planning policy. This basically means that developers donate money specifically for public art as part of their planning agreement, for more information see
http://www.scambs.gov.uk/documents/retrieve.htm?pk_document=907698.

In this case Camstead Homes opted for a public art donation for their development at Rupert Kneve Close.

Any questions, comments, suggestions or even concerns?

Kirstin Bicknell, Arts Development Manager based at Melbourn Village College will be managing the project. Contact her for more information.

Telephone: 07770 643165,

Email: Kirstin@start-arts.org.uk