Arts Council England has today announced that a total of £7.89million will be invested in eight Creative People and Places projects in the Midlands over the next three years - made possible thanks to National Lottery players - to deliver more grassroots-led cultural experiences in areas across England where involvement in arts and culture is below the national average.
An iconic building in Newcastle town centre has reopened its doors to the public following a refurbishment.
Residents, shoppers and visitors are once again accessing services from a community and voluntary sector hub at the historic Guildhall now that remodelling works are complete.
The Council has used funding from Newcastle’s advanced Town Deal to create versatile meeting space on the ground floor of the Grade II listed building – making it more suitable for multiple uses – in order to increase its attractiveness to organisations.
The Staffordshire Moorlands Arts Grants programme for 2021-22 is now open, offering grants of up to £500 for individuals and £1,000 for community groups and organisations, for a broad range of arts and cultural activities.
This grants programme is funded by Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, and administered by Support Staffordshire, with an independent volunteer grants panel, made up of local people committed to helping the local arts scene to be the best it can be, making the decisions about the awards.
Well friends, plans are now progressing apace for the restoration of our old church Tower. We have now set up the Friends as a charity, raised sufficient funds, obtained planning permissions and a lease, and have a start date of 16th August for the renovation and preservation of the Tower. Of course, fund-raising will continue to loom large in our lives to provide for the future use and maintenance of the Tower.
Launched in 2017, the South West Peak Landscape Partnership is a group of organisations working together and with volunteers to restore, protect, and improve the landscape of the South West Peak area.
With the Peak District National Park as lead partner and the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund this 5-year partnership (with benefits reaching far beyond that time) works with local communities to build stronger connections with the landscape and with each other.
The Office for Civil Society is changing name to the Civil Society and Youth directorate of DCMS, a simple description of the policy work that we do. This name change reflects that we are a directorate within DCMS and is aligned with the names for other DCMS directorates.
So, we will gradually change our name to Civil Society and Youth directorate. Please be aware that we will be making a gradual change over from now on and it is just a simple switchover to a name that reflects exactly what we do.
It’s Autumn, the leaves are changing, acorns are falling and spiders are seeking sanctuary in our houses - well trying to!
It’s time for me to unearth my woolly hat, my wellies, and pack a spare pair of socks in my work bag. As Wildchild Officer, I will be in the Trent Valley landscape delivering fun, nature-themed events this October.
The Wildchild project is dedicated to providing events for families to engage with nature on their doorstep. These events provide great opportunities to learn about wildlife, be creative and work with natural materials.
It has been fantastic to welcome so many of you back to our libraries as our phased re-opening began in July.
We re-introduced item requests from Thursday 1st October.
We also have ‘Grab and Go’ so you can pick up a pre-selected ‘lucky dip’ bag of books from your library.
You are still able to ‘Order and Collect’ titles as well.
You are welcome to browse in our libraries - our library colleagues will support you with this when you visit.
We are all adapting to the new world and guidance is being released all the time on what we should/shouldn’t be doing. Keeping on top of it all can be quite a challenge.
Have you ever seen a pillbox? If you’ve driven around the country the answer is probably yes. Many roads pass these little concrete bunkers left over from the wall.
Do you know what pillboxes are? Many of us know these were places for soldiers to shelter from gunfire while being able to shoot back.
Do you know why they were built? Often the clue is in the location of a pillbox, overlooking a road or abridge, even a river or railway; the pillbox would have been to stop the enemy from going any further.
