Over £111 million new Arts Council investment in the South West

More than £111 million of funding for arts, culture and creativity across the Arts Council’s south west area, ensures more people, in more places can have access to fulfilling opportunities on their doorsteps.

Through our 2023-26 Investment Programme, 117 organisations will receive a share of over £37 million per annum for the next three years, this includes £6 million per annum for Levelling Up for Culture Places.

Arts organisations, museums, and libraries in every corner of the south west - from Bodmin to Bristol, Ilfracombe to Isle of Wight, and Watchet to Weston-super-Mare will benefit from this public investment.

Theatre Orchard - Weekend of Wonders. Photo credit Paul Blakemore

Of the 117 organisations, 33 organisations join the south west 2023-26 National Portfolio for the first time. Here is a glance into some of the fantastic organisations in the new portfolio.

We are welcoming organisations in pockets of the region where engagement in culture and creativity has been too low for too long – with newcomers Gloucestershire Libraries who will bring more opportunities for people with its network of 31 libraries across the county, Quay Arts the arts centre who hosts creative events and activities and celebrates the life, culture and heritage of the Isle of Wight, and North Devon Theatres with its packed programme of live performance and raft of cultural engagement programmes at The Queens Theatre in Barnstaple and The Landmark in Ilfracombe.

Also joining for the first time, pioneering entrepreneurs in market and coastal towns, Ventnor Exchange, Contains Art and intoBodmin will get funding to continue their work in inspiring community pride through creativity and culture.

Celebratory outdoor arts that reach millions each year will receive continued support, including organisations such as St Pauls Carnival who will receive an investment boost, Activate Performing Arts, renowned for its biennial Inside Out Dorset festival, and Art Asia Trust in Southampton who deliver the popular annual Mela festival, celebrating the art and culture of South Asia, and bringing together the local diaspora communities in Hampshire.

Investment goes to a richly varied mix of organisations from the fantastic Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter, Awards for Young Musicians, who bring performances and support young musicians facing social and financial barriers across the country, and Theatre Royal Plymouth will be joined by newcomers as eclectic and exciting as Trigger Productions, who brought their popular large-scale dragon, The Hatchling, to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee procession and Shademakers, who set up Department, a flagship redevelopment project of a former Ryde high street department store and is the UK’s leading music festival delivering spectacular carnival experiences in the Isle of Wight. We have also newly funded St Barbe Museum & Art Gallery in the New Forest, as well as a raft of art centres from The Phoenix in Bordon to The Plough in Torridge.

Meanwhile, we renew our commitment to globally renowned Paraorchestra and Friends, who are revolutionising orchestral music in the UK and internationally, and Bristol-based The Good Literary Agency, who have been breaking down the barriers faced in mainstream publishing in the UK.

KARST - I Am My Own Primal Parent. Photo credit Dom Moore

More children and young people will benefit too, with backing for organisations such as The Island Collection, which strengthen the cultural infrastructure on the Isle of Wight, SoCo Music Project, that offers inclusive music making opportunities for people across the Solent area, and Open Up Music who are leading the way for music development regionally, and across the country.

Together, these organisations form the backbone of the nation’s cultural infrastructure, and are bringing opportunities and experiences to people in towns, villages and cities in the south west and across the country – no matter where they come from or what their circumstances, we all deserve the chance to be inspired and take part in publicly funded arts and culture.