Why Should Artists Want to Get Involved?
Street Stories helps to sell vacant shop units to new businesses by promoting local artists’ work. By making the unit eye catching and exciting, we capture people’s imaginations and reveal the possibilities for the space. But why should you want to get involved as an artist who doesn’t own the unit?
Paying UK Artists for Their Work
Partnering with Street Stories has direct benefits for UK artists. Landlords and property owners benefit from Street Stories, but they don’t pay for the installation. The projects are paid for entirely by local BIDs as part of their placemaking strategies to improve city centres and boost commerce.
We pay each involved artist a £200 fee to use the artwork and don’t claim ownership, letting you retain the rights while also providing a new platform and audience to you and your work.
It’s Great Exposure for an Artist
Each artist is given a section in the window installation to include a bio and any links and resources to help people find out more. This is then replicated across the Street Stories website with a digital map to help people find the installation in real life, or to find out more once initially visiting. If you sell your art or are looking to create a following, having thousands of people walk past your work and links every day is sure to get you noticed.
Online, we promote your work in articles, on social media, providing backlinks and valuable exposure for your art. The project shines a light on UK artists and we do our best to honour the work in every way possible.
Street Stories has also garnered both regional and national attention, so viewers of UK news will see the featured artists and may be inspired to seek out your work.
Finally, the BIDs and other companies behind the project promote Street Stories to their audiences and run marketing campaigns to promote each new art trail. So, your artwork is given extra exposure without you having to pay for it or put in the hours.
Augmented Reality Artwork
We’re not only inviting people to see your work but to actively engage with it. Through augmented reality, we expand upon your piece. It’s brought to life in motion and tells its story through a modern, captivating medium. These short video artworks are then shared on the Street Stories site, giving even more reach to you as an artist.
Street Stories Creates Town Pride
First and foremost, if you let us install your art into a vacant unit, it will make the space look more desirable. An empty space isn’t inspiring and creates a negative feeling in towns and cities alike. Eye-catching art and unknown stories get people thinking. And when people are inspired, they have all sorts of new business ideas. You would directly be helping to improve your home area and bring a boost to the community.
You’re Giving Back to the Community
Artists, business owners, landlords, installers, printers, BIDs, pedestrians, visitors, locals . . . the list of people who benefit from Street Stories is potentially endless. If successful, the entire community can enjoy a calmer, more attractive and vibrant place to live.
Art Reignites the High Street
If you’re tired of graffiti, broken windows and seeing local businesses close their doors, this is your chance to help. The theory behind Street Stories is that high streets can become attractive and vibrant places to spend time. If the high street becomes a destination, all of the local visitors, tourists, businesses, and eateries will benefit.
Captivating public art brings people out, gets them moving through the city centre and keeps them engaged with the place. Telling the city’s story boosts pride of place. Why break a window when its content is already making a powerful statement? Why graffiti an empty shop when it’s already a vibrant mural?
Local Economic Benefits
As mentioned, one aim is to let or sell vacant units. But in a broader sense, a stagnant economy and flagging high streets serves no one. UK residents have felt the squeeze of having a weakened economy over the last few years. Britain’s artists will know better than most how lean things can get. The UK reportedly lost 6,000 storefronts in the previous five years. By creating a safe trail to walk through your town, you can help us promote commerce and stimulate the local economy.
Safer Footfall in Your Hometown
We can all do our part to improve our hometowns, and this is your opportunity. Each Street Stories trail is intended to guide people along a safe path through the city centre. Numbers mean safety. The more people are out enjoying the art, the more people are around to prevent trouble, invigorate the town and the effect snowballs into a thriving economy. That’s the dream, anyway. And we can’t achieve it without support from UK artists.
Art helps us get through uncertainty and strife. Get in touch and help us implement this change to your local town or city today.
