Art in unique spaces: June Russell invites you to Saltaire Arts Trail 23 – 25th May…
Saltaire is unusual as a World Heritage Site. Well, every WHS is of course unique, by definition, and there’s huge variety; other UK sites include Blenheim Palace, Canterbury Cathedral, Stonehenge, The Giants Causeway, the Dorset & Devon coast… but Saltaire is still unusual in that in many ways it’s such an ordinary place.
There’s only one other in Yorkshire, and that’s Fountains Abbey, a National Trust property with visitor centre, dedicated souvenir shop, restaurant, displays and tours, permanent interactive exhibition and an interpretation centre at St. Peter’s church.
In contrast Saltaire has the designation but no funding or infrastructure to go with it. It’s a living place, not a museum. Every one of the buildings is in use. The houses are owned or tenanted by ordinary people and the shops still serve residents rather than tourists. The Salt Building, Mill Building and Exhibition Building belong to Shipley College and are, well, a college, with students. Salts Mill, home to permanent works by David Hockney and excellent temporary exhibitions, pays its way by renting space to shops and businesses and New Mill houses Bradford District Care Trust. The lovely United Reformed Church and Victoria Hall continue to function as they did when they were built, as centres for faith and community activity.
Apart from the small Visitor Information Centre, there is no tourist “offer” in Saltaire, and this has both benefits and drawbacks.
On the whole, Saltaire residents like it that way; it’s a real place, not just a “destination” and yet they are at the same time hugely proud of the village, keen to praise it and to encourage visitors to come and see. A very large number of the most glowing reviews of Saltaire on Tripadvisor are from people who actually live there, or very close by. A much smaller number of less glowing reviews are from visitors who came expecting a ‘Saltaire Experience’, an Interpretation Centre, or at the very least a souvenir shop, and were confounded and disappointed to find none.
The inherent interest and beauty of the architecture, the links to Yorkshire’s textile heritage and to the history of industrial philanthropy and town planning are what gave the village its WHS designation. But the village also has a more recent history of association with the arts and with artists. During the 70s and 80s it provided cheap rented housing for students and graduates who chose to stay in the Bradford area, and developed a creative community something like that which grew up in Hebden Bridge during the same period. More recently it has become attractive to those starting out in the new creative industries; easy access to the centre of Leeds has encouraged this – it is actually one minute quicker by train from Leeds to Saltaire than it is from Bradford!
Saltaire Inspired, which produces both the Saltaire Arts Trail and the Saltaire Living Advent Calendar was set up in 2007 by local artists and aims to open up the unique spaces of Saltaire, both public and private, to visitors and to turn them, for one weekend a year, into a village-wide art gallery with over 100 exhibitors. It isn’t always easy to balance keeping it local and real with bringing the best of UK visual art to the event, but that’s what we try to do.
In the artistic programme, we try to echo the mix of local community pride and international interest that makes the village unique. So, for example, this year we have a strand of the Open Houses which involves artists who live and work in the village curating their own homes, as well as one which showcases work selected from a national open call and is hosted by non-artist residents. We include on one hand creative activities for all ages designed by local provider Sponge Tree, and on the other, commissioned performances by international artist Silvia Ziranek.
Crucially, we curate the work in such a way as to open up the unique spaces of the village that outsiders don’t usually get to see.
The Open Houses are the star of the show not just because of the art, but because of the chance to get in and see what residents make of their Grade II listed cottages, and what it’s like to live behind those neat Victorian facades. This year we’ll be opening up the sensitively renovated classrooms of the Salt Building, too. They are still used daily for teaching, as originally intended – but at the Arts Trail they’ll serve as exhibition space for a national touring exhibition of heritage craft by Highlights North. Finally, there’s the splendour of Victoria Hall where we place our highly regarded bi-annual Makers Fair. This now attracts some of the best designer/makers in the UK; unique work in a truly unique space.
Saltaire Arts Trail is still largely volunteer-run, and depends for its success entirely on the goodwill and enthusiasm of residents and local businesses who work together to fill their village with art for long weekend every year and invite the world in. Imagine turning your house into a mini gallery and seeing up to 900 visitors tramp through every day of your Bank Holiday! We’re never short of houses though – this year we have 21, plus a Short Boat moored on the canal – so tour hosts must enjoy it.
Producing the Trail is exhausting and exhilarating, a white-knuckle ride every time – so I’m told. This is my first as Chair of Saltaire Inspired (though I’ve exhibited in past years) and that’s certainly how it feels to me so far. It’s a big beast of an event to manage, but will be worth every bitten nail if it’s anything like as good as it has been in the past eight years.
We think it’s one of the best opportunities you can get to see Saltaire as a community and as a world class destination. Do take advantage of it.
June Russell