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Empty shops network
When artists use empty shops, everyone wins - artists, town centre managers and local authorities working together are proving that.
Around the UK and beyond, empty shops are becoming galleries and studios, cinemas and community spaces. Some are blatantly commercial, blending into the high street, others provide an edgy, exciting interruption to a clone town. Some last days; some may be around for years. It's nothing new, as the sixties saw empty buildings taken over, leaving buildings like London's Roundhouse as part of the cultural landscape. City Racing took over an empty betting shop in 1988, and ran a successful gallery for ten years. But with forty-five years of practice, using empty shops still has no handbook and is always a juggling act. Artists want freedom. Town centre managers want to 'increase footfall', especially as other shops fail. But landlords want their buildings let long-term, and many agents want an easy life. However, from Nick and Carlo's Empty Shop in Durham to Renew Newcastle (that's Newcastle, Australia), artists are forcing change. In Margate, Limbo Arts is using the powerstation that drove the Dreamland Amusement Park as studios. And Northampton Arts Collective is using a 1930s fishmarket to provide shops, studios, two galleries and a caf'. Around thirty groups who've joined the...
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