Project grants/Public art in the City of Westminster/report
Completion
- Is your project completed?
- Answer YES or NO or OPEN ENDED for long term projects.
- YES—I was able to get pictures of all of the works artworks of which I was aware when I made the grant application.
- Have you submitted all receipts for any expenses paid?
- Answer YES, NO or N/A.
- YES
Activities and lessons learned
This section describes what the grantee did, and what the grantee learned from implementing the project. This section should be useful to others implementing similar projects and is an opportunity for the grantee to reflect on the project's performance.
Activities
- Provide a brief list of activities performed to complete this project, and descriptions of these activities. This section should also include links to pictures, blog posts, or videos from the project or event if appropriate.
- Between 16 and 19 May 2014 I stayed in London in order to take photographs of public artworks in the City of Westminster, which I then uploaded to Wikimedia Commons (see the gallery below). The aim was to fill in all the gaps of which I was then aware in the article, which I would then submit to Featured List Candidates. I used two of my own cameras (one for backup), though the WMUK office had offered its own equipment for my use. Due to the tight schedule I thought it best to use cameras with which I was familiar, but I would certainly consider using WMUK's equipment for similar projects in the future. The project grant covered the coach fare from Cardiff and back, and accommodation in a youth hostel.
- As I expected would happen, I found one extra work which I had not included in my schedule—the memorial to George Lansbury at Hyde Park Lido.
- A staff member at WMUK with membership of the Zoological Society of London offered to take photos of sculptures in London Zoo for me, which cut down on costs, reduced the number of photos I needed to take and freed up time in the schedule—so it was very helpful indeed.
- I was also able to take a number of photos of listed buildings in the area covered by the grant for the Wiki Loves Monuments competition; these were uploaded in September 2014.
- New images of public artworks (47)
The Arch, Kensington Gardens
Aspiration, Curzon Street
The Awakening, St John's Lodge Garden
John Law Baker Memorial drinking fountain
Boys with armorial shields, St John's Lodge Garden
Bust of George Basevi, Belgrave Square Gardens
Chalice, Buckingham Palace Road
Dell Megalith, Hyde Park
Memorial to Diana, Princess of Wales, Hyde Park
Elephant, Curzon Street
Europea 1/2, Paddington
The Family, Sheldon Square
Granite Sculptures, Curzon Square
Great Flora L, Chesham Place
Helix, Curzon Street
The Helmsman, Pimlico Gardens
Hercules, Ormonde Place
Hyde Park Gate
Hylas and the Nymph, St John's Lodge Garden
Little Nell, Hyde Park
LP4, Cardinal Place
Memorial plaque to George Lansbury, Hyde Park Lido
Memorial to Anne Sharpley, St John's Lodge Garden
The Messenger, St Mary's Hospital, Paddington
Nexus, Seymour Street
Esme Percy Memorial, Kensington Gardens
Monument to Richard Powell, St John's Wood Church Grounds
Paddington and St Marylebone Boy Scouts War Memorial
Pavement plaque, Regent's Park
St Govor's Well, Kensington Gardens
St John the Baptist, St John's Wood Church
Search for Enlightenment
Sporting figures relief, Lord's Cricket Ground
Stag, Albert Gate
Statue of Captain James Cook, The Mall
Statue of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Grosvenor Square
Statue of George III, Pall Mall
Statue of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Orange Square
Statue of William Pitt the Younger, Hanover Square
Statue of Ronald Reagan, Grosvenor Square
Statue of Queen Victoria, Victoria Square
System No. 12, Maida Vale
Taichi Spin Kick, Old Park Lane
Trumpet drinking fountain, Kensington Gardens
Untitled, New Cavendish Street
War memorial at St John's Church, Hyde Park Crescent
War memorial at St Mary Magdalene's Church, Rowington Close
Lessons learned
- What lessons were learned that may help others succeed in similar projects? Consider the following questions and respond with 1–2 sentences.
- What went well?
- I was very lucky with the weather; on the evidence of this project May is a good month for photo-taking projects in London.
- What did not go well?
- The list did not pass FLC as it emerged during the review that that there were many more works in the City of Westminster which had not been added, and finding information about these proved to be difficult. One reason for this is that sources which go into the necessary detail for artworks outside the West End are hard to come by; another is that these issues did not come up at Peer Review, where they could have been addressed before I applied for the grant.
- What would you do differently if you plan a similar project in the future?
- I intend to re-submit the article at FLC at a future date, but I have narrowed its scope to something more manageable (the City of Westminster as it existed before a merger with two other boroughs in 1965). I've also set up a of the to foster collaboration with other users interested in this topic, which should result in more participation in future review processes.
Expected outcomes
This section should reference the expected outcomes and measures of success described in the approved grant submission.
- Provide the expected outcomes here.
- Photographs taken of all the artworks on my schedule.
- The article would be promoted to Featured List status in time to appear as Today's Featured List during Wikimania 2014.
- Did you achieve the expected outcomes? How do you know the outcome was achieved?
- All works were photographed, though those in London Zoo were taken by a WMUK staff member.
- Unfortunately the article did not pass FLC as many more artworks came to light during the review, and it proved difficult to find adequate sources to cite on these.
Impact
This section ties this project to Wikimedia UK's broader goals, and shows what the project accomplished.
- What impact did this project have on WMUK's mission and the strategic goals?
- This project brought Wikimedia's coverage of public artworks in this area closer to completion, thereby improving both the quality and quantity of open knowledge available about this topic.
Reporting and documentation of expenditures
- Did you send documentation of all expenses paid with grant funds to the office? Answer "Yes" or "No".
- Yes
Final comments
- Include any final comments you may have.
- This project grant was without doubt necessary to bring the article in question closer to featured status, and I would like to thank WMUK for making the trip possible and for taking the photos in London Zoo on my behalf. Setting a specific deadline for achieving featured status was, I think, a good idea, even if it proved impossible to meet this one due to the number of extra works which came to light in the FLC review. I still hope to bring the list to featured status in the near future.