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Published today, Arts Council England’s three-year Delivery Plan sets out a detailed roadmap to implement the vision of its strategy – Let’s Create. The vision set out in Let's Create offers a clear pathway to supporting communities in their recovery from the pandemic. To make it a reality, the Delivery Plan names 54 Priority Places across England, 11 of which are in the South West Area, on which Arts Council England will focus its staff resources and financial investment over the next three years.
The Priority Places in the South West are:
- Gloucester - Gosport
- Isles of Scilly
- Isle of Wight
- New Forest
- North Devon
- North Somerset (with a focus on Weston-super-Mare)
- Portsmouth
- Rushmoor
- South Somerset (with a focus on Yeovil)
- Swindon
Each of the Priority Places is ambitious to drive positive change through culture. Priority Place status recognises the need for increased development time from the Arts Council to grow cultural investment in the area and is intended to give more people the opportunity to enjoy excellent cultural experiences in their communities and neighbourhoods.
In the last decade, the Arts Council has significantly shifted its investment outside of London. The aim in Let’s Create is to increase focus on specific places underserved in the past. Priority Places are just one of the ways in which the Arts Council is committed to the targeted strengthening of cultural and creative opportunities.
Investment will increase in a range of other locations through other Arts Council programmes such as Creative People & Places (budget for 2021-22: £23 million), the new Place Partnership fund (budget for 2021-22c £7 million), and the Government funding streams that Arts Council supports: UK City of Culture (the City of Coventry has received nearly £21 million in cultural investment for 2021), and the Stronger Towns Fund (a £1.6 billion fund from 2019 to 2026).
The publication of the Delivery Plan follows the Government’s £1.96 billion Culture Recovery Fund, administered by the Arts Council and other bodies. Driven by the Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, with the backing of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak, the Culture Recovery Fund is the biggest one-off investment in culture from the Government in history. It has provided a vital lifeline for the cultural sector, and helped organisations prepare for reopening.
Darren Henley, Chief Executive Officer, Arts Council England, said: “Artists, arts organisations, museums and libraries have found creative new ways to serve their audiences and communities since the start of the pandemic. Our new Delivery Plan shows how we’ll work with them to build on that spirit of imagination and innovation as our society reopens. It’s particularly exciting to be focusing on our 54 priority places over the coming years. We’re looking forward to nurturing dynamic new partnerships with local people and organisations in each of these locations.
Cllr Mark Canniford, North Somerset Council’s executive member for Placemaking and Economy said: “I’m delighted that Weston-super-Mare and North Somerset have been selected by ACE as a priority place. We recognise the power of arts and culture to transform lives and are proud that the potential we see in Weston and beyond is also recognised by ACE.
"We have an ambition to make North Somerset a distinctive place for arts and culture and this is now firmly embedded in our placemaking plans for Weston. It will also be reflected in our plans for our other towns.
"We have gained a huge amount from our partnership with the regional team and are looking forward to working with ACE over the next three years to deliver even more for our residents, our visitors and for our creative sector.”