In Brief: Culture Shops & Creative People and Places

Culture Shops Central Drive Initiative Expressions of Interest

Blackpool Council’s Arts Service has called for expressions of interest from local artists or arts organisations who would like to be involved in their Culture Shops initiative. This time round the Culture Shops initiative will be focusing on vacant premises in the Central Drive area of Blackpool and there is £500 of grant funding on offer for organisations who are successful in their bid, with a total of 10 opportunities available.

The Culture Shops initiative aims to reinvigorate and improve the visual appearance of areas of the town which have been affected by the recession and the down turn in high street shopping. Over the course of the project Blackpool Culture Shops has provided funding to 28 artists, 2 arts collectives and 7 community organisations who developed 33 new commissions for display in vacant town centre shops in turn providing the public with 510 exhibition days.

For more information or to download an expression of interest form visit the Culture Shops blog.

Creative People and Places Frequently Asked Questions

Back in August altblackpool reported that Blackpool had been successful in securing £3m in Arts Council funding through the Creative People and Places Programme. The programme focuses on parts of the country where people’s involvement in the arts is significantly below the national average and takes a new approach by using communities and grass roots organisations to play a leading role in inspiring others to get involved in the arts.

The Blackpool consortia who are administering the fund have produced a Frequently Asked Questions sheet which gives more information about what the project is for, who is managing the project, how the funding will be spent and how people can get involved. Click here to download the full FAQ document.