Local News

As the town goes through to the final four in the City of Culture 2029 competition we find out what local people who helped shape the bid want from it.Blackpool has been shortlisted for UK City of Culture 2029, joining Wrexham, Sheffield and Milton Keynes in the final four of the competition.The announcement follows the Expert Advisory Panel’s assessment of the longlisted bids. Its chair, Sir Phil Redmond, praised Blackpool’s “highly creative and compelling bid”, highlighting its vision and concept and its commitment to community engagement among its strengths.He noted that the bid embraced a broad definition of culture, and…

As Stanley Park celebrates 100 years this Saturday with a day of fairground rides, food, heritage tours and a drone show, young people will be taking over the Skate Park to launch the Cultural Passport – Blackpool's first app connecting them to the town's creative life. Stanley Park turns 100 this weekend with a full day of celebrations on Saturday 3 October, featuring fairground rides, street food, a makers market, roaming performers and heritage tours, all ending with a spectacular drone show over the park. Blackpool's young people are a huge part of the event, hosting their own youth-led mini…

As the finishing touches go on Blackpool's bid for City of Culture 2029, Blackpool Social Club joined a Risograph workshop at Aunty Social to ask people living and forging creative careers in the town what winning would actually meanUpstairs in Aunty Social’s Topping Street home, a Risograph press is churning out creative designs in lurid pink and blue, and a dozen or so Blackpool creatives are hunched over tables, cutting, sticking and chatting – about fonts, designs and techniques, yes, but also about one big question. This workshop is intended to facilitate a Culture Chat and the question on the…

Five creative projects have become the first to receive seed funding through Creative Blackpool, marking the start of a new investment programme designed to support artists, producers and cultural organisations developing new work in the town. The funding, made possible through Arts Council England investment secured to begin delivering Blackpool's Cultural Strategy, is intended to help projects move from early ideas into production while strengthening the town's independent cultural sector. The first recipients span theatre, visual arts, storytelling and community-led practice, reflecting the breadth of creative work already taking place across Blackpool. Among them is LIV, a new immersive nightlife…