Why transform basketball courts? To renovate urban spaces, fusing art with architecture and sport.
"Sports playgrounds are one of the essential amenities of any city planning. However, these playgrounds are often laid-out as typical and standard-concrete-platforms. Basketball courts have been in the limelight for refurbishing a city’s identity." Aditi Doshi for designwanted.com
The Orchard Park Project is an urban regeneration initiative which aims to positively impact the local community through art and sport.
Our aim is to breathe new life into forgotten basketball courts and rejuvenate neglected public spaces – driving urban regeneration as well as encouraging communities to be active in an uplifting, safe and positive environment.
Existing space(s) will be transformed: re-worked, re-imagined and re-presented to (and by) the community as something to be proud of, with a focus on engaging Portsmouth’s diverse population.
We want to empower, motivate and engage those living, working and visiting Portsmouth, enhancing this lively and vibrant community driven city.
Our Approach.
As a society we undervalue public spaces, yet we know the improvement of these spaces enriches and improves people’s lives. Inviting and attractive neighbourhoods promote wellbeing and we want to create spaces that local people can be proud of and want to spend their time in.
Active engagement in basketball (sport) has wide and well established benefits including:
- Providing a high intensity workout giving all round muscle development
- Teaches the importance of good sportsmanship
- Improves social development and teamwork skills
- Increases self-confidence
- Teaches respect and discipline
Providing a colourful, safe and playful (art) environment has been found to:
- Increase physical activity in children
- Reduce depression, anxiety and increase self-esteem
- Encourage social re-engagement with the wider world
- Amplify empathy, cross-cultural exchange and respect of differences
- Reduce anti-social behaviour and increase sense of community ownership in shared public spaces
______________________________________
Time & Money.
Our Orchard Park urban regeneration project will be funded and executed over a number of phases:
** PHASE 1 IS NOW FULLY FUNDED **
Orchard Park Project: Phase 1 'Promoting Play’ – COMPLETE!
Launching our first fundraising campaign at the beginning of April, we raised over £30k in 8 weeks (just 57 days!).
This has secured the community:
- BB court complete re-surfacing with sports industry standard Macadam tarmac
- New line mark painting, new court fencing, new backboards and fixed equipment repair
- Portsmouth’s BB Heritage Timeline design and installation on site next to court
- Tidy existing flower beds and relocate plants/shrubbery to new freestanding planters - designed by Portsmouth's own Garden Angels - to help with ongoing maintenance and provide integrated spectator seating to watch the courts from
- New pedestrian entrance on Goldsmith Ave side (next to zebra crossing) to increase access and tackle anti-social behaviour in currently under-used areas of the park
For full information about Orchard Park Project: Phase 1 and associated activities please visit: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/orchard-park-project
** PHASE 2 IS NOW OPEN AND UNDERWAY **
Our focus is now to add a very special layer of WOW! to our beautifully re-surfaced basketball court and put Portsmouth on the map with a custom designed, one-of-a-kind, unique to the city large-scale public artwork.
We are now raising money to:
- Employ professional production team Absolutely Studio to execute a bespoke Hattie Stewart artwork and apply to the newly resurfaced sports industry standard Macadam tarmac basketball court (funded in Phase 1).
- Artwork applied by a professional production team, with the correct paint, to the correct surface, means the colour vibrancy and condition will withstand lots of lovely play-related wear and tear – with a life expectancy of up to 10 years.
Creative courts around the world:
And NOW, Portsmouth's very own...
Hattie Stewart Basketball Court:
Example Artwork #1
Hattie Stewart Basketball Court:
Example Artwork #2
Hattie Stewart Basketball Court:
Example Artwork #3
* The above visuals are to SPARK OUR IMAGINATION! and not a final design. The applied artwork will be informed and inspired by Portsmouth's community.
Artwork inspired by Portsmouth children
This project is for the community and we believe, should be informed by the community. So we're delighted to say, that the final court artwork will be inspired by Portsmouth school children!
'Colouring in Courts' will be made available for ALL schools, groups, workshops and homes in the Portsmouth area which would like to get involved. Completed colouring-in-pages will be collected in mid July and entered into a competition to be judged by Hattie Stewart and Darren John of Absolutely Studio - with the winning design used to inspire the final artwork.
Please contact us if you would like a copy of our 'Colouring in Courts' PDF and we'll be sure to share one with you.
______________________________________
Project Location.
Address:
Goldsmith Avenue, Southsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire. PO4 8QU
View here on Google Maps
More info:
Goldsmith Avenue/Orchard Park Southsea is in the South East region of England. The site sits across two Portsmouth City electoral divisions: north of Goldsmith Avenue is within the Milton ward, and Orchard Park in the constituency of Portsmouth South.
______________________________________
The Team.
Hattie Stewart
Artist and Illustrator
Hattie Stewart is a London-based artist and illustrator with a varied portfolio. With a vibrant, tongue in cheek visual identity, she is a self-proclaimed ‘professional doodler’ with a unique and playful illustration style that extends itself through the worlds of advertising, animation, art and fashion.
Since 2010, she has enjoyed increased notoriety due to ‘Doodle-Bombing’, an aptly titled personal project in which she draws over the covers of influential fashion publications such as Vogue, Interview, Dazed and Playboy. Part homage, part satire, the project continues to this day today as illustrated interruptions of well-known faces and pop culture icons.
In recent months Hattie has begun exploring the more intensely detailed illustration works - A call back to the drawings of her early professional years, these artworks are the fully realised creations of her illustrated world.
Avoiding a more conventional illustrative style, her work is bold and experimental in application, enabling her to eschew the more traditional boundaries within the field of illustration.
Previous clients include Adidas, Google, MAC, Apple, Samsung, MTV, Nike, Lee Denim, Nike, Pepsi, Badoo and Bimba Y Lola.
______________________________________
Absolutely Studio
"A London mural team making productions both much easier and more enjoyable. We provide a no nonsense approach to getting things done well. We’re on a mission to provide a better future for the arts by paying fairly and supporting artist projects.
We are a highly experienced, independent art studio dedicated to artistic practice and application. We’ve more than a decade working the art circuit – commercially and independently.
We endeavour to uphold cultural, moral and professional standards in our practice, a breath of fresh air amidst the agency-artist industry today, which seems to have lost its way."
instagram.com/absolutely_studio
Lead Artist – Darren John
Darren is a London based contemporary artist, painter and creative ambassador.
"I believe that when we lead with curiosity and playfulness, we have the power to truly expand our worlds."
This mindset is at the core of everything he does and his artworks seek to revive and energise the infinite possibilities of the unchained imagination.
Darren has been producing public artworks and murals, internationally for over 10 years. He’s worked alongside many of his peers, producing his own works and also the artworks of others.
Artist & Project Manager – Nick Blaney
UK based contemporary artist, painter and illustrator.
While he has exhibited both nationwide (UK) and internationally, much of Nick’s projects are site specific and are often either painted works or illustrations relating to his past, present thoughts and experiences. Abstract form and typography plays a key role within his work, by which letters are stripped down to their simplest form; while the essence of graffiti remains a focal point and influence. Underlying themes of Life and Loss are consistently represented within his work but more recently, both the city and nature have played a heavier role in his works, inspired by the contrasting worlds of city living and spending time in forests and nature.
instagram.com/good_night_vienna
______________________________________
FORM+FUNCTION
Director – Annabel Innes
Annabel is a curator, designer and creative with over 15+ years experience in the creative industry. Born in Portsmouth she moved to London as a teenager where she spent the next 12 years learning, working and making mistakes.
Since returning to the south coast she has initiated and facilitated a number of local community projects including COVID-19 Art Ads, Safe to be SPOOKY! and the sometimes.shop (all profits of which go to Portsmouth based domestic abuse and stalking charity Aurora New Dawn).
She founded social enterprise organisation FORM+FUNCTION in late 2020 to coherently engage her ever growing ‘little black book’ of local, national and international creative collaborators - for the benefit of those living, working and visiting Portsmouth.
As My Dog Sighs recently commented, she’s a woman who ‘gets shit done’.
Previous clients & agencies include:
Nike, Rihanna FENTY + Puma, Converse, Sonos, Patagonia, Swatch, Uniqlo, CALM, Activision, Nokia, Lego, Harrods, The Design Museum, Whitechapel Art Gallery, YCN, EURO RSCG KLP, Rosie Lee Creative, HarrimanSteel Ltd.
Relationship Manager – Jamie Wilds
Jamie has extensive experience perfecting the art of relationship building both personally or professionally, which has paved the way for a well established career in both construction and recruitment. This experience proved such a resounding success that she founded and started Wildwood Recruitment back in 2016 and sold the company in 2020.
Although she has now decided to go it alone in the professional world, with her new Sales & Marketing Company Wildcat Marketing Jamie is a real foodie at heart and regularly journals about her plant-based and gluten free way of life.
Jamie has many strings to her bow including extensive experience in social media management, developing and sustaining key relations including public relations and client relations, account management and people management.
______________________________________
Chain Net Apparel
Founder – Craig Hughes
Several years ago Craig was reading an article regarding funding cuts to GB Basketball. The idea of people not wanting to aspire to play basketball in this country or the sport declining as a whole didn’t sit right him so from there he started to plan how he could potentially make a difference and show people what beauty basketball can bring and also show how this can positively impact people’s physical and mental well-being.
In 2018 Chain Net Apparel was created as a clothing brand but more importantly as a hub for UK Basketball. So far the brand has been able to sponsor several major basketball events in this country, raise money for charities, increase exposure for Portsmouth basketball by setting up market stalls and speaking to the community about where their local facilities are and also where they can go for an organised session. Chain Net Apparel now has two brand reps, Ashley Hamilton who is a professional player in the British Basketball League (BBL) and also represents Team GB at an international level. Craig is now pleased to welcome a new brand rep Melita Emanuel-Carr who is also a professional player playing in the Women’s British Basketball League (WBBL) and represented England in the Commonwealth Games, Australia 2018.
Craig qualified as a Level 2 Basketball Coach in 2020 and currently coaches the Portsmouth Under 16 team. His teaching focus is basketball, but just as important is teaching youth players important life skills such as confidence, respect and teamwork which, when combined with physical activity, has invaluable results.
The next steps for Chain Net Apparel are to contribute to improve outdoor facilities and ensure the courts are filled with ball players.
______________________________________
Project Partners.
Willmott Dixon, HOP Architects, Basketball England, Portsmouth City Council, Absolutely Studio, Hattie Stewart, Victorious Events, Portsmouth Creates, Pride Portsmouth, Black Anchor Films, Garden Angels, WildCAT Sales & Marketing, Alice Coffey
Alongside the above partners and sponsors, we're also excited to collaborate with (and thankful to) Victorious Events who've generously donated £20k worth of ‘in-kind’ help to the project. And, in the run-up to Portsmouth's first light and street art festival 'We Shine' in November, FORM+FUNCTION will be lending our expertise to Portsmouth Creates – sharing and developing a mutual passion Portsmouth’s vibrant cultural scene.
______________________________________
For any more information or enquiries please contact:
FORM+FUNCTION: [email protected]
Chain Net Apparel: [email protected]
Or send a message via the Crowdfunder contact form