#WhoseFuture
City wide, Bristol, UK
Artist Rising Arts Agency
Client Bristol City Council (in partnership with Out of Hand Bristol.)
My Role Commissioner as Public Art Officer, Bristol City Council
Date Spring /Summer 2020 (13th July – 10th August 2020)
Delve Deeper Watch a short film, explore the location map, learn more about the artists, read press reviews and support the movement via Rising’s website.
The project
37 CREATIVES
370+ POSTERS
A LOT TO SAY
Bristol, were you listening? #WhoseFuture was a huge billboard and poster campaign that spilled out across Bristol’s streets in Summer 2020. Enabled by a partnership with Out of Hand Bristol, over 370 poster sites were taken over by over 37 artists, managed and curated by Rising Arts Agency – a powerful, collaborative community of young artists and creatives mobilising for social change.
Commissioned by Bristol City Council in the wake of the George Floyd murder and the context of the first Covid-19 lockdown, #WhoseFuture gave young artists and creatives the space to address some of the issues Rising has been grappling with head on including racism, access issues, the climate crisis, leadership and young people’s hopes for a secure and empowering future. Recent events amplified the urgency and importance of this project, but #WhoseFuture was also a question, a challenge, and a provocation to the city. The project presented a unique opportunity for the city to listen, reflect and act, and for our young people to be heard.
Rosa ter Kuile, #WhoseFuture Campaign Manager Rising Arts commented:
“As an arts agency, our mission has always been to champion the unheard voices of creative young people and to fight for a fairer society. Recent events have shown us that our work has never been so important. #WhoseFuture is about challenging the status quo, bringing Bristol’s young creative community forward and celebrating a different vision for the future.”
The artists
Rising is a powerful, collaborative community of artists and creatives mobilising for social change. Rising’s community is made up of activists, producers, facilitators, illustrators, installation artists, filmmakers, and more. They bring together everyone from young people at all stages of their careers to collaborating organisations to industry professionals excited to share knowledge and expertise. Led by young creative thinkers, Rising advocate for sector and cultural change through campaigns, research projects, industry consultation and our creative agency services.
#WhoseFuture showcased the work of 37 Rising creatives. Read more about each contributing artist here. The campaign was managed and curated by Rosa ter Kuile. You can read more about Rosa’s experience in an interview about the project.
#WhoseFuture is a reflection of what happens when we come together, each with our own unique voice and a powerful message to share. This is OUR future. It is ours to be disruptive, to claim spaces as ours. To be so political that the whole landscape across all industries are forced to take action.
Emma Blake Morsi,
Artist and Rising Non-Exec Director
My Role
As Public Art Officer for Bristol City Council Georgina works collaboratively across City Design Group and Arts Development teams to identify opportunities to embed culture into our city’s public spaces and support Bristol’s arts ecology through the planning system. The UK was two months into lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the effects on the arts & culture industries had been devastating. Bristol knew that our young people were some of the worst hit, yet their voices and experience were not being heard. With the role of the public realm taking on an even greater importance as people’s place of daily exercise and experience, the empty space was noticed – blank poster sites that once shouted news of upcoming cultural events. Georgina and her colleagues identified a time based opportunity to secure an in kind partnership for use of this space, not for advertising city wide, but for art. #WhoseFuture was born.
With Thanks
#WhoseFuture commission was made possible by Bristol City Council using Section 106 developer contributions funding for Public Art, secured through the planning system. It was produced by Rising Arts Agency in partnership with Out of Hand Bristol. With special thanks to Plaster PR, Burg Arts and The Chocolate Factory for additional support.
Photo courtesy Shamphat
