Open Eye Gallery is excited to be working with Chester and Prescot, two of six sites selected to participate in Historic England’s three-year project ‘Picturing England’s High Street’. The project will see a photographer in residence commissioned to engage with local communities and organisations to create a contemporary portrait of the high street from now until 2024.

The heart of the historic city of Chester is The Rows, a unique and distinctive feature of the city’s heritage, that have survived and evolved for over 600 years. The Rows are a huge heritage asset with a visible history to be told. These two-level shopping areas are part of Chester’s unique high street. 

The photographer-in-residence will work with local communities to reimagine the high street, producing images which will become part of the Historic England archive. They will be selected via open call beginning in March 2021. 

Chester

The heart of the historic city of Chester is The Rows, a unique and distinctive feature of the city’s heritage, that have survived and evolved for over 600 years. The Rows are a huge heritage asset with a visible history to be told. These two-level shopping areas are part of Chester’s unique high street. The residency will be supported by Open Eye Gallery, Cheshire West and Chester Council and Chester High Street Heritage Action Zone with high street users and the community developing content with the selected photographer.

Councillor Louise Gittins, Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council said: “We’re excited to be chosen as one of just six cities and we will now be working with a second photographer in residence as part of the Heritage Action Zone Cultural Programme.  This national project will enhance our cultural programme and will greatly increase the opportunities to work with residents celebrating what is important to them and the local communities.”

Prescot

For Prescot, this project will coincide with the opening of The Shakespeare North Playhouse which is currently under construction in the town. Prescot was selected as one of the 68 high streets to benefit from the High Street Heritage Action Zone project in 2020. In Prescot, the £3.1 million heritage-led regeneration programme will see major investment from the Council and Historic England into a number of key projects. This includes the repair, restoration and conversion of Prescot’s first cinema – including its surviving auditorium from 1912 – and the transformation of a Grade II Listed townhouse (formerly Prescot Museum) into a ‘makerspace’ for new and small businesses in creative, arts and digital sectors. In addition the funding will be used to provide grants to restore other historic buildings, transform disused land in the town centre and engage with the local community in the run up to Knowsley’s year as the Liverpool City Region Borough of Culture in 2022.

Councillor Tony Brennan, Knowsley Council Cabinet Member for Regeneration & Economic Development commented:

“It’s another great boost for Prescot to be chosen to take part in this exciting project. The next three years and beyond will be so important for the town. Alongside the opening of The Shakespeare North Playhouse, we also hope to see many more businesses and visitors coming into the town. To be able to visually capture some of these major moments will be wonderful and to be able to have a visual record of our high street, for current and future generations, is fantastic.”

About the project

The national photography project is led by Photoworks in partnership with the country’s leading photography organisations to deliver this ambitious three-year project. Working closely with Grain Projects, Open Eye Gallery, Photofusion and QUAD/Format the project will select six photographers to be part of the six photographer-in-residence programmes working closely with local communities in Coventry and Stoke-on-Trent (with GRAIN Projects), Prescot and Chester (with Open Eye Gallery), in London (with Photofusion) and in Leicester (with QUAD/ FORMAT). 

An open call will be seeking photographers whose practice is socially engaged to become photographer-in-residence at each of the six chosen high street locations across England. Artist mentoring and a digital nationwide mass participation project will be launching in 2022 will also form Picturing England’s High Street. 

Quote from Shoair Mavlian, Director, Photoworks

“We are very pleased to be leading Picturing England’s High Streets – an ambitious programme which provides exciting opportunities for photographers and local communities across High Streets in England. We will work with a range of arts organisations to facilitate this three-year project and look forward to engaging with communities across the country.”

 Find out more about this opportunity here: https://photoworks.org.uk/opportunities/.