Public Art
The aim of the Percent for Art scheme is to encourage the development of a high quality, well designed environment for people who live and/or work in East Lothian. To this end, we require developers to commit to the scheme. As a condition of planning consent, developers must:
- allocate a percentage of their capital spend to fund public artworks and involve an artist in any building project as early as possible.
- submit their proposal for Percent for Art to the Arts Service to ensure its quality and suitability.
The Arts Service then works closely with planners to offer advice about how this artistic involvement can be used to influence building design or landscaping features.
Recent public art installations
Musselburgh Archer
Artists Svetlana Kondakova and Maja Quille have created a life size, sculpture of an archer, representing layers of local history. The artwork will be completed with a series of stainless steel arrows installed at different locations around Musselburgh. The arrows form a trail around the town to areas of cultural, historical, natural and community significance.
Our Arts Service brought representatives from Musselburgh Area Partnership, Community Council, Musselburgh Conservation Group, local people from the community, Council Officers and elected members to create a working group to select and commission this work. The artwork is funded by Tesco Ltd as part of our Percent for Art Policy.
Download more information on Musselburgh Archer
The Musselburgh Archer Arrow Trail
The Musselburgh Archer is a striking public artwork, located by the Roman Bridge, River Esk, Musselburgh. Created by artists Svetlana Kondakova and Maja Quille, the life size figure represents layers of local history including the Roman invasion in AD 80, the battle of Pinkie Cleugh in 1547, and the Musselburgh Silver Arrow, dating back to 1603. The artwork is accompanied by a series of arrows installed at locations around Musselburgh, forming a trail around the town. Members of the Community have helped create three digital treasure trails to download and guide you along the trail. Explore these pinpointed areas of cultural, historical, natural and community significance. If you live locally this trail is open to explore now. Printed maps will be available to all once guidelines advise that further travel is allowed.
The Mussel, Musselburgh
Sculptor Michael Johnson has created a 12 feet high, stainless steel sculpture of a mussel shell, sited at Murdoch’s Green at the west end of Musselburgh.
Our Arts Service brought representatives from Musselburgh Area Partnership, Community Council, Musselburgh Conservation Group, local people from the community, Council Officers and elected members to create a working group to select and commission this work. The artwork is funded by Tesco Ltd as part of our Percent for Art Policy.
Download more information on The Mussel
River: East Linton public park
Joel Baker (mosaic), Kate Henderson and Anita Pate (glass) and Robin Wood (wood) have created an artwork for East Linton, with funding from Miller Homes, in collaboration with a working group from Dunpender Community Council. The artwork has been constructed from Douglas Fir, cast glass and pebble mosaic.
Download more information on River