We have announced the first commissioned grants from our Creative people and places programme, which is designed to empower communities to take the lead in shaping local arts provision.

The seven consortiums below, made up of arts organisations, museums, libraries, local authorities and commercial organisations, working in collaboration with the local community, grass roots organisations and the amateur sector, have been awarded a total of just under £16 million over three years. 

East Midlands

Grant recipient: artsNK
Other consortium members: South Lincs CVS, Lincolnshire Artists Forum

Grant offer (over three years): £2,592,183

Places: Boston and South Holland

Transported will develop inventive ways of getting people involved in the arts where they live, meet and work, providing inspirational experiences and empowering local people to take the lead in shaping their own arts provision. The innovative programme covers Boston and South Holland in Lincolnshire, bringing together partnerships of community groups, haulage companies, employers and artists to ensure that every village, estate and community has access to high quality arts.

As part of the project lorries and vans will be transformed into flexible artwork and arts spaces, touring to local festivals, schools, workplaces, towns and villages, providing opportunities for people to get involved with art on their doorstep. 

London

Grant recipient: Studio 3 Arts
Other consortium members: Arc Theatre, A New Direction, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, Christ Church Thames View

Grant offer (over three years): £838,500

Places: Barking and Dagenham

Studio 3 Arts' project, The Market, builds on the consortium's deep knowledge of the borough's various communities and involves a series of nine commissions of varying scales from local, national and international artists. By facilitating dialogue between communities and commissioned artists, the project will enable a constant flow of ideas and creativity between residents and artists, based on an exchange of teaching and learning.

North East

Grant recipient: Woodhorn Charitable Trust
Other consortium members: Queens Hall Arts, Northumberland College, NHS North of Tyne, Northumberland County Council, Connect4Change

Grant offer (over three years): £2,461,400

Places: Wansbeck and Blyth Valley

Woodhorn Charitable Trust had led a consortium bid to bring arts provision to South East Northumberland. Stage and screen writer Lee Hall (Billy Elliot, The Pitmen Painters) is the artistic sponsor for the project, inspired by the real life Pitmen Painters, the 'Ashington Group' of miners who produced world class paintings, and whose main collection is now exhibited at Woodhorn. The programme proposed by the consortium will seek to bring new and engaging art to the area, working with the local community and national and international artists, after an initial public consultation on what South East Northumberland considers to be 'great art'. 

North West

Grant recipient: Blackpool Coastal Housing Ltd
Other consortium members: Grand Theatre, Merlin Entertainments Group Ltd, Blackpool Council, Wyre Borough Council

Grant offer (over three years): £3,000,000

Places: Blackpool and Wyre

Blackpool and Wyre Consortium (made up of Blackpool Coastal Housing, Merlin Entertainments Limited, Blackpool Council, Wyre Borough Council, and the Grand Theatre, Blackpool) will deliver transformative experiences for the people of Blackpool and Wyre. Building on Blackpool's identity and entertainment heritage, Playground of Wonders, Daring Delights will enable people to experience high quality arts events and activities. As well as addressing inequalities in cultural participation, the programme will enable local arts organisations to become more sustainable - creating magical experiences for audiences and supporting the visitor economy.

South East

Grant recipient: Swale and Medway Consortium
Other consortium members: LV21, Leysdown Rose tinted, Swale CVS, Medway Voice, Kent Architecture Centre, Artlands North Kent, Creek Creative, Fellow Creative, Swale Borough Council, Medway Council, Kent County Council

Grant offer (over three years): £1,476,000

Places: Swale and Medway

The Swale and Medway consortium wants local people to shape the cultural provision of where they live; through a spirit of creative experimentation and the art of doing, together. 

Focusing on their project as a set of research hypotheses and working with partners including Royal Opera House Bridge Organisation, South East Dance and Kent County Council Libraries and Archives, they will showcase and test new arts activities, support local people to develop their own creative ideas, help strengthen existing arts provision and celebrate what's great about the arts.

This is the start of a developmental process for the consortium, and the first six months will be about listening to people and developing the programmes. You can sign up to their mailing list for further information about how to take part here.

West Midlands

Grant recipient: Stoke-On-Trent and North Staffordshire Theatre Trust Limited
Other consortium members: New Vic Theatre, Partners in Creative Learning, B Arts, Staffordshire University, Brighter Futures

Grant offer (over three years): £2,999,431

Places: Stoke-on-Trent

APPETITE is a 10-year vision to whet Stoke-on-Trent's appetite for the arts. Using a food metaphor the consortium including arts and community organisations and Staffordshire University will aim to deliver 'an expanding menu of cultural sustenance to people in Stoke-on-Trent'. It will include a travelling tea room with a programme of participatory action research that will run alongside an initial taster menu of arts opportunities. This will enable local people to identify where their tastes lie. It will be a journey to engage communities across Stoke-on-Trent to be empowered to take an active role in commissioning artistic activity for the city. 

Yorkshire

Grant recipient: Doncaster Community Arts (DARTS)
Other consortium members: Doncaster Culture and Leisure Trust on behalf of Doncaster Performance Venue, Doncaster Voluntary Arts Network (DVAN)

Grant offer (over three years): £2,570,924

Places: Doncaster

darts (Doncaster Community Arts) led the bidding process on behalf of a small consortium with Doncaster's brand new Performance Venue and Doncaster Voluntary Arts Network. The consortium will develop iconic and experimental 'Arts Bases' in five communities with activity being led by community champions and 'Arts Supporters'. A central professional Arts Base (a partnership of current arts providers) will programme new work informed by and responding to community opinions. Arts activities will be woven into the rhythms of weekly routines from the intimate and every day, to spectacular once in a lifetime events. Community members and artists will now have the chance to explore and experiment, to create and commission relevant and innovative work.