Hundreds of creative freelancers from across Bristol and the West of England will get support under a new £1m scheme that will also give young people work opportunities in the sector alongside access to cultural experiences.
The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) and Bath Spa University have secured funding for Culture West, a two-year region-wide programme which will support and provide work for 425 freelancers as well as engaging more than 109,000 people in arts and cultural experiences with live audiences of more than 270,000.
The programme, designed to give every child and young person in the region access to a cultural experience each year, will also commission two new festivals
Culture West has been co-created with more than 150 regionally-based creative and cultural organisations, creative freelancers, cross-sector partners, including health, education and environment and the region’s four unitary authorities to establish a series of priorities for the region.
Bath Spa University is the only university working with WECA, alongside Bristol City, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Bath & North East Somerset councils, on the programme.
It will support the delivery of a new regional creative agency – a network of employers and training providers that will support creatives at every point in their career, increasing opportunities for young people to enter and thrive in the creative sector.
New arts spaces and places will open across North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset and through a new arts membership model, including Bath Spa University campus buildings.
Spa University vice-chancellor Prof Sue Rigby said: “Over the next two years, our shared ambition is to create a step change for the region by increasing access to arts and culture in every place for all communities and creatives.
“Through this, we aim to improve lives, support local economies, help regenerate neighbourhoods and bring people back into work in the creative industries, post-pandemic.
“Thanks to a £1m grant from Arts Council England, added to the £1.5m investment already promised from WECA – plus a further £640,000 from local partners – we have the opportunity to reignite the West’s creative and cultural offering, and it couldn’t come at a more crucial time.”
