16.03.17
Greenlight given for £1.5m GM Arts and Heritage funding
Around £1.5m worth of funds will be put towards transformative Arts and Heritage projects in Greater Manchester, as it was announced that the region had been selected as a national pilot area for Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery Fund and Historic England’s Great Place Scheme.
The scheme will hand £1,489,255 – the maximum amount permitted – to Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), and go towards a project called ‘Stronger Together’, which seeks to make GMCA a “culturally democratic city-region without borders”.
This project will see the 10 Greater Manchester districts collaborate to cause a shift in how the region approaches culture, by “ensuring greater parity of provision throughout the 10 boroughs, improving engagement and access, developing and diversifying our cultural workforce, encouraging greater movement between the ten boroughs and improving health outcomes for our residents”.
Cllr Alex Ganotis, GMCA lead member for culture, arts and leisure, said: “I’m delighted that Greater Manchester has been selected as one of the national Great Place pilots. Arts, culture and heritage are part of Greater Manchester’s DNA and this funding will ensure they are part of our future story.
“We want to maximise the impact of our rich arts, culture and heritage offer across the whole city-region. With so many fantastic museums, galleries, facilities and historic sites across our city-region we’re brilliantly suited to the task.”
He added that the award will allow the authority to work with arts, culture and heritage organisations to benefit individuals and communities in each of our towns and cities.
“We’re going to demonstrate that through intelligent and collaborative working, culture creates real economic and social benefit for our whole city-region, said Cllr Ganotis.
Have you got a story to tell? Would you like to become a PSE columnist? If so, click here.