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Celebrate poet WB Yeats in Bedford Park!

Funded on Spacehive 19 July 2021 Delivered 6 September 2022

Impact data and claims within this report are provided by the project creator and have not been independently verified by Spacehive.

Celebrate poet WB Yeats in Bedford Park!

The WB Yeats Bedford Park Project By The WB Yeats Bedford Park Project

Create a major public artwork near Nobel-Prize-winning Irish poet WB Yeats's London boyhood home celebrating both Yeats & Bedford Park, the Bohemian garden-suburb that fostered his literary genius!

Hounslow Delivery stage

375
backers
£134,216
raised
funded icon
This project was funded on 19 Jul 2021!

Nobel-Prize-winning poet, WB Yeats, inspired by Irish legend, landscape & longing, actually grew up (from age 2) among the roadways & 'pavements grey' of his much-loved poem, 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree', written here in Bedford Park, describing the exile that shaped his writing, a Celtic Revival, & the course of English Literature. Most of those years were in Bedford Park, the world’s first garden-suburb, whose diverse, Bohemian community fostered the young Irish poet’s unique creativity Yet the only Nobel-Prize-winning poet brought up in England has no monument in England! Help the local community, organisations, schools, migrant communities (including London-Irish), & poets & artists everywhere install a sculpture celebrating Bedford Park's progressive spirit & Yeats’s poetic genius!

What we'll deliver:

  • Install, nr. Yeats's boyhood Bedford Park home, 'Enwrought Light' a major Yeats-inspired artwork by Conrad Shawcross RA.
  • Install info panels about Yeats & the unique role played in his life by the local artistic Bedford Park community
  • Include links to our website with info on Yeats-linked Bedford Park locations nearby.

Why it's a great idea:

The artwork will: CELEBRATE Yeats’s poetry & drama HONOUR a local schoolkid who became a major international literary figure HIGHLIGHT Bedford Park’s role in fostering Yeats’s genius INSPIRE local young people to participate in poetry, drama & visual arts ENCOURAGE community pride in the area’s unique cultural/arts heritage PROMOTE contemporary art IMPROVE public space ENHANCE the environment ATTRACT visitors SUPPORT the local economy RECOGNISE the mutually valuable Irish-British cultural interaction exemplified by Yeats’s life/work ACKNOWLEDGE migrant communities’ vital role in creating/enriching Britian’s arts/culture while benefiting from London as a cultural hub in which to develop their own art, ideas & identity REMEMBER Yeats’s own cross-cultural interest in Hinduism, Buddhism, & Eastern teaching & spirituality UNDERLINE Bedford Park’s historic significance as a progressive artistic community, the world’s first garden suburb, & a model for holistic housing development worldwide

Steps to get it done:

  • Commission Conrad Shawcross Studio to commence creation of artwork
  • Confirm installation engineers/contractors from tender/quote process
  • Groundwork plus base installation
  • Artwork installation
  • Installation of interpretive information panels
  • Unveiling, public celebration, media coverage etc

As well as improving amenity, local parents & schools see the artwork as focus/inspiration for their students, (including local theatre school); Bedford Park Society see the project attracting public attention to the garden-suburb's unique progressive spirit; for small businesses it will bring local & international visitors to the shops & cafe area around Turnham Green Station; London-Irish organisations see the project highlighting Irish cultural status in London by honouring someone who contributed massively to British & Irish culture/life & who 'belongs' to both; the local Buddhist community supports the project as highlighting Bedford Park's & Yeats's late 19c interest in Eastern spirituality; & local people generally are happy to see their area's cultural/creativity/artistic status celebrated & the environment enhanced. Writers & artists support the project not simply because of its advocacy for the arts but because it will inspire culture & creativity for generations to come!

Location Hounslow

About the space

On the green triangle where Woodstock Rd (the young Yeats lived 50yds away) meets The Avenue (Bedford Park's main thoroughfare), to be visible from Turnham Grn Stn, Acton Green, St Michael & All Angels, the Tabard Inn, the old Bedford Park Club (London Buddhist Vihara), the Art School (now ArtsEd theatre school) & from District & Piccadilly Lines!

Council

London Borough of Hounslow

How will the money be spent?Total £134,116

'Emwrought Light' Artwork inc. VAT - £93,500 (70%)
Groundworks & base in stallation inc. VAT - £15,484 (12%)
Stone Base inc. VAT - £9,068 (7%)
Brass lettering and engraving/fixing on-site - £6,720 (5%)
Informaton/Interpretative panels/signane re WB Yeats & Bedford Park inc. VAT - £2,362 (2%)
Other - £6,982 (5%)

Costs Breakdown

This shows how money raised for the project will be spent. These costs have been confirmed by the project's Delivery Manager and verified.

70%
'Emwrought Light' Artwork inc. VAT
£93,500
12%
Groundworks & base in stallation inc. VAT
£15,484
7%
Stone Base inc. VAT
£9,068
5%
Brass lettering and engraving/fixing on-site
£6,720
2%
Informaton/Interpretative panels/signane re WB Yeats & Bedford Park inc. VAT
£2,362
5%
Other Read More
£6,982
  • Spacehive fees
    £4,926
  • Transaction Fees
    £1,071
  • VAT
    £985

Overfunding

This project is enabled for overfunding. If the project hits its funding goal before the end of the campaign period, any extra funds raised will be spent (in order of priority) on:

  • Creating events around installation/unveiling to celebrate & attract publicity
  • Creating a smartphone app version of 'Guided WB Yeats Bedford Park Literary Walk'
  • Paying forward for future maintenance & insurance

Total £134,116

Our Volunteer List

We're currently looking for people to offer skills and time to develop our project! Check out the list of what we need below and then use the 'Volunteer' button to the right to get involved.

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