A unique partnership to use culture to help drive the future prosperity of Nottingham is set to be launched.
The Nottingham Culture Board will go live in the next fortnight and has come about thanks to £30,000 funding secured from Arts Council England. This has been matched by additional contributions from the city’s key cultural organisations.
The aims of the new board are:
- To develop Nottingham further as a creative place with exciting things to see, and enhance the reasons for people to choose to live here or visit
- Better enable the city to attract and retain its cultural and creative talent, providing career paths and more jobs for local people and graduates
- Develop partnerships to bolster a stronger shared vision for culture across the region
- Find new ways of funding cultural venues, events and organisations in the face of reduced budgets
A search for a chair for the new independent board is about to start, along with the recruitment of a director for the Nottingham Culture Board to help build on Nottingham’s already-celebrated cultural profile.
Peter Knott, Area Director for Arts Council England, said: “Culture has a powerful effect in improving lives and wellbeing, developing communities and unlocking the economic potential for towns and cities.
“Nottingham has firmly established itself as an international city and we look forward to seeing the impact the Cultural Board and the development of the Cultural Compact will bring to Nottingham as it builds effective networks across a broad range of partners.”
This development will explore new ways in which culture can be supported and ensure it is better embedded in emerging new strategies and policies nationally and regionally for the City.
Projects such as the Nottingham Castle transformation scheme, now well advanced, along with a new Central Library, Nottingham Trent University’s high-tech performance and production studios at Metronome, show that investment in culture is now being seen as an important part of the city’s future economic priorities.
The establishment of a Culture Board represents an important next step to raise ambition and further ensures Nottingham continues to compete as a vibrant international city, making it a better place for residents and welcoming visitors from all over the world.
Councillor Dave Trimble, Portfolio for Leisure, Culture & IT at Nottingham City Council, said: ‘‘We know that Nottingham has a brilliant cultural landscape but we want to do more to help unlock this. The City already works well in partnership and through the establishment of this new Board we expect this will further open up new opportunities to discuss culture and the ways in which we can develop the profile for the City moving forward.”