Beam

01/06/2026

Beam40 5 - Laying the Foundations 🌟

Across our 40 years, Beam has always been passionate about investing in the people who make public art happen, across career stages and disciplines.

From artists looking to work in a socially engaged way in Barnsley through Engage/Create, to the UNBOUND programme supporting Wakefield and West Yorkshire artists to develop their practice in public spaces.

From careers talks with College students, and live projects with Universities; to young people seeing their work exhibited in a town centre for the first time.

From arts and cultural professionals placed in creative organisations in Madrid, Cordoba and Seville through our Arts Across Borders programme; to emerging artists having the opportunity to shadow real life public realm projects, and support for local authority officers looking to commission public art and more.

We work across disciplines - with artists, architects, planners, developers, local authorities and communities.

We work across career stages - from students considering public art as a possibility, to established practitioners pushing their practice further.

Inclusive, successful public art doesn’t happen by accident, it happens when the right people are supported, connected and given the chance to activate their creativity.

We believe that public art moves forward when people are supported to lead it.

27/05/2026

Remembering Tess Jaray

1937 - 2026

We are very sad to hear of the recent passing of distinguished artist Tess Jaray. Beam (then Public Arts) was lucky enough to work with Jaray in the late 1980’s and early 90’s on large-scale public artwork which reimagined Wakefield’s Cathedral precinct. Her impact on Wakefield city centre, on Beam/Public Arts, and on demonstrating the power of embedding artists early on as an integral part of design teams, cannot be overstated. She will be greatly missed.


The following information about the commission with Jaray was researched from Beam’s archive by curator and researcher Kerry Harker as part of a wider exploration of the archive.

“In 1989 Public Arts was asked, by the Transportation Engineering Department of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council, if ideas could be found to help regenerate the city centre pedestrian zones in Wakefield. On Public Arts’ advice artist Tess Jaray was appointed to lead the design team for the Cathedral Precinct at the heart of the city

Tess Jaray, an artist of international reputation with experience of successful inter-disciplinary work and major public art projects in Birmingham (Centenary Square) and Moscow (new British Embassy), took the Cathedral as her starting point and set about devising a scheme in which the Cathedral would play a more prominent role in the city centre.

To achieve this she removed a low stone wall which effectively cut the Cathedral off from its surroundings, and replaced it with a flight of stairs which double as occasional seating for over one thousand people.

Jaray also designed a patterned floor-scape, a series of stone seats with integral lighting and a range of street furniture.

The project was commissioned by Wakefield Metropolitan District Council and won several national awards including the Jerwood Prize and Working for Cities Award.”

08/05/2026

Excited to be presenting as part of this event next week about our work with partners, developing a new Public Art Action Plan with

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Spend two days with us exploring public art and how it shapes place.

FORGED: Public Art in the Tees Valley takes place 15-16 May, bringing together artists, fabricators and commissioners to explore how public art is made and experienced.

Friday 15 May includes the launch of the FORGED Public Art Action Plan, a practical resource developed over three years of working across the Tees Valley, and the unveiling of a new sculpture by Alia Gargum, ‘What I Remember about Libya’, commissioned with support from the Henry Moore Foundation. Lunch provided. 12pm-6pm.

Saturday 16 May is a drop-in day with creative activities, a chance to meet commissioners, and open conversations around public art and place. 10.30am-2.30pm.

📍The Auxiliary, 31 Station Street, TS1 1SR

🔗 Spaces are free but limited, register via the link in bio.

23/04/2026

- People Making Places 💪

As part of our 40th anniversary celebrations we talked to former director Robert Powell about a formative project in Beam’s history, ‘People Making Places’ - a Yorkshire-wide creative programme we delivered between 2002 and 2004.

Over two years, more than 25 events, workshops and temporary street transformations took place across the region, bringing together school children, residents, planners, artists and councillors around a simple but radical idea - that imagination and creativity isn’t a luxury in urban design, it’s essential to it.

From street transformations across Yorkshire, to workshops, seminars and multi disciplinary summer schools at The Orangery in Wakefield, People Making Places was an early expression of something we still believe deeply, that the best places are made when everyone has a seat at the table, and when creativity is valued as a process, and not merely as decoration.

Twenty years on, the questions ‘People Making Places’ asked feel just as urgent. Who gets to shape the places we share? What happens when artists, communities and professionals think together? And what does genuine imagination in the public realm actually look like?

28/03/2026

Don't miss Twist & Shout - the amazing projection on The Market Hall by Illuminos from 7-8pm tonight
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28/03/2026

Join us today for the Spring Market with Barnsley Council Dearne Area Team in . Artist Ruth Dyers has created some beautiful colouring boards to celebrate the Goldthorpe Tows Fund projects

27/03/2026

27/03/2026

- The Art of Temporary 🌊

Our third archive post reflects on the power of the temporary - the idea that some of the most impactful public art was never designed to last.

Artists responding to a temporary brief for projects and interventions - in town centres, public spaces, places in flux - have the freedom to test ideas, shift perceptions and open up conversations without many of the constraints that may be required of a permanent artwork.

Public art might not be permanent or even a physical object - it may be an event that changes how a place feels for a day, a week, a season, it could be sound, words, music, a digital moment.

What matters is the imprint left on memory, on community, on the way people think about where they live and the opportunity to explore the ambitions for its future.

Artists play a vital role here - holding space for dialogue in places during periods of change, playing with possibilities, and working alongside communities to imagine possibilities.

Incline, by artist Trudi Entwistle, was one such project delivered in Scarborough in 2002 as part of ‘People Making Places’ funded by the Yorkshire Forward Urban Renaissance Programme. Incline temporarily transformed a public road into a sculptural green space and provided a stage for performance, projection and cinema. It became a magnet for all ages to sit and enjoy the music in the last of the summer sun, and it’s a powerful example of what the temporary can do.

In this series of images Trudi reflects on the thinking behind Incline and what she learned from the process. Alongside Trudi’s reflections, we’re sharing a selection of just some of the temporary Beam commissions across four decades and multiple artforms - proof that artwork doesn’t have to last forever to have meaning and impact.

Temporary 40Forward

Image and artist credits in the comments.

25/03/2026

It was a pleasure to attend the official launch event for phase one of The Seam Digital Campus in Town Centre on Monday.

Over the past 12 months we have supported as Creative Producer, working with creative and technical lighting design studio .in.light , who were commissioned to create a lighting, animation and soundscape for the Yorkshire Roses launch event.

Huge congratulations to the Artin Light team including Stuart Alexander, Luke Artingstall, Jamie House and Matthew Williams (Hazard Media) who produced a spectacular show that brought the roses to life - a striking symbol of Barnsley’s new Tech Town status.

The evening also included wonderful performances by Barnsley Youth Choir and Limit Zero.

Over the next few weeks the Yorkshire Roses will be programmed each evening with light and soundscapes taking place from 7pm to 10pm. The roses will also be activated for key events and national occasions such as Remembrance Day, Bonfire Night, Bright Nights, Christmas and New Year.

20/03/2026

Calling all artists! 📣📣

Are you passionate about creating inspirational artworks in public spaces for everyone to enjoy? Do you love engaging communities in your design process?

If so, we need your creative skills to join a team of artists creating unique artworks as part of our 𝗠𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸 project - a programme of socially engaged public artworks across the Wigan borough, delivered by on behalf of

We currently have 𝟮 𝗺𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 in Swinley and Mosley Common (we are looking for 2 different artists to each deliver one commission).

𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁: All-inclusive fee of £12,000 per commission (inclusive of VAT if applicable)
𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲: April-Nov 26
𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: 12pm Monday 20 April 26
𝗢𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀: w/c Monday 4 April (date to be agreed)

Find full details and how to apply https://www.beam.uk.net/events/made-you-look-wigan/