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Mayor for the Day

‘Mayor for the Day’ was an arts project developed by KWMC and lead artist Dane Watkins.

In May 2012 it was decided by popular vote that Bristol would have an Elected Mayor, instead of its current Council Leader. But it turned out that voting itself wasn’t so popular… 24% of Bristol residents went to the polls in the referendum and less than 10% of people voted in Filwood, the ward where KWMC is located. This was the worst of all wards in the Bristol area, with neighbouring Hartcliffe itself only registering 11.6%.

During the summer of 2012 we collaborated with Dane to develop an engagement campaign to encourage more people to cast their vote and represent their community in the November election.

An interactive online survey was developed that posed a series of questions about leadership and local priorities. These included: if you were the mayor, what are the issues you’d tackle first? What kind of leader would you be?

We also shared mayoral stories from around the world over the course of 50 days through a Facebook application and Twitter account @MayorForTheDay. A blog was set up to share our analysis of statistical data gathered from the tweets of the candidates standing in the election.

A live blog was also used to document the Mayoral Question Time events that took place around Bristol. Dane and the KWMC team also visited local shopping centres and supermarkets with touch-screen tablets to speak to people about the forthcoming election and invite them to try out the survey.Postcards were circulated around the community and 6,500 were inserted into community newsletter the Knowledge.

Mayor for the Day aimed to increase awareness of democratic issues and increase the turnout at the Bristol Mayoral Election.

Mayor for the Day

Contact Us

Knowle West Media Centre
Leinster Avenue
Knowle West
Bristol
BS4 1NL
+44 (0) 117 903 0444
enquiries@kwmc.org.uk

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