£1.5million cash injection into Gloucester’s culture scene

Gloucester has secured £1,489,300 funding from the Arts Council England and Heritage Lottery Fund’s Great Place Scheme to help put art and culture at the heart of the city. 

This grant will support an ambitious project led by Gloucester City Council. It’s purpose is to make the city a great place to live, work, play and visit by promoting health and wellbeing, developing civic pride and making the most of the area’s rich heritage.

The funding will be used to address some key social and economic challenges in the city, notably the need to provide opportunities for young people and ensure no one is left behind.

A focus for this funding will be to make sure that communities are at the core of the projects. The public will be asked what activities they’d like to see happen in the city, making sure they follow their cultural interests, passions and vocations.

Cllr Lise Noakes, cabinet member for arts and culture at Gloucester City Council, said: “Gloucester is proud of its past and ambitious for its future and this fantastic vote of confidence from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England and Historic England is a real boost.

“There is a huge amount of popular, creative and innovative work going on in Gloucester – artistic, cultural and heritage-focussed – this significant grant will help us do more, do it better and do it quicker than we ever hoped when we launched the City’s Cultural Vision and Strategy a year ago.”

Phil Gibby, Area Director, South West, Arts Council England, said: ‘This is a brilliant result for Gloucester’s cultural, community and civic organisations.

“It is well-deserved recognition for their determination to transform their individual offers into a powerful shared voice that will help make a step change in how they work together in order that arts, culture and heritage contribute more to meeting local, social and economic objectives.”

Nerys Watts, Head of HLF South West, said: “Full of historic landmarks, beautiful spaces and creative communities, Gloucester’s culture is an integral part of everyday life. Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, the city’s proud past is set to inspire a strong and ambitious future for economies and tourism and open up opportunities for people of all ages to improve their wellbeing, prospects and sense of place.”

Gloucester is one of 16 places across England to receive a grant from the Great Place Scheme, a £20 million initiative inspired by the Government’s Culture White Paper.

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