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community news  AIDS Memorial ballot resultsMonday, 24 September 2007 Press Release from the Brighton & Hove AIDS Memorial Consultation Group: A high turnout in the public ballot to pick the concept for Brighton & Hove's AIDS Memorial has overwhelmingly chosen Romany Mark Bruce's sculpture as the people's choice for the project. With 887 valid votes cast, the results of the ballot are: The ballot gives the sculpture 'preferred status', which means that the artist will be offered a small grant of £300 to develop the idea into a final design. It is hoped that the design and development stage will be completed by World AIDS Day 2007 on 1st December 2007, with the project completed and the artwork installed by World AIDS Day 2008. The organisers would like to thank people for voting in the ballot. The ballot was run independently by REALBrighton.com. The votes were cast between September 3rd and 23rd. Six comments were also posted on the REALBrighton.com message boards. In addition, the organisers received one request to re-open the shortlist and a further one request to have a 're-open the shortlist' option on the voting page. The Argus ran an online poll on the issue and found that approximately 62% of people were in favour of the project. The organisers would like to thank all three artists who gave their time to propose their ideas. Also, they would like to thank REALBrighton.com and all the supporters of the project for their continued support.
Chair of the AIDS Memorial Consultation Group, Simon Burgess, said; "There is plenty more work to do on the technical side but I'm so pleased that the community has spoken loud and clear in support of a memorial, and for one concept in particular. It's terrific to see this bottom-up approach enthusing people - well done to all those who raised the money and have put so much time and effort into this project, not least the three design proposers." Paul Elgood said: "When we opened the voting we said we wanted a public debate on the issue, and we certainly got that! It has been an exciting process and we believe that Romany Mark Bruce's design will provide a basis for the project to move to the commissioning stage. There is considerable development work still to be done as we were only picking a concept at this stage. We would like to thank all three artists for their ideas and creative thinking." "Above all we would like to thank people for taking the trouble to vote. There is no doubt that this project has captured the community's imagination and I think we are on track to produce something very special." Brighton & Hove City Council have expressed their support for the project. Head of Arts & Creative Industries, Paula Murray, said: "We congratulate the Brighton & Hove AIDS Memorial Group on their success to date in raising the funds for the establishment of a memorial and such a degree of positive public profile around their proposal." "This memorial is proposed for a public place in a designated conservation area in the city. As such, there are a number of detailed issues that the Council will need to resolve in partnership with the Brighton & Hove AIDS Memorial Group before seeking planning permission" "We are confident we can work with the Memorial Group, responding to the clear mandate from the public to establish this memorial, in developing sufficiently robust and appropriate designs for the proposed site." |
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The Rainbow Chorus
The final design will be subject to planning consent, council permission and any final consultation with local people or residents adjacent to the proposed site. Discussions have already taken place with the City Council on how the project moves forward from here and the project organisers will work with the Council's public art specialists to ensure that a suitable final piece of public art is commissioned and installed.