Cabinet to hear about future plans for acclaimed arts project

Article date: December 11th 2024

The Cabinet will vote next week on whether to submit a bid to extend the project for a further year when the current programme ends in 2025/26. The bid could bring a further £236,000 in funding to continue to provide quality art projects across the borough.

St Helens Borough Council's Arts in Library Project is one of Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations (NPO) and it received funding to continue to deliver its work over three years from 2023 to 2026.

It delivers a diverse range of events including exhibitions, music, drama, workshops and family events across the borough and its driver is to bring culture to all.

In the first year of the current funding the Arts in Libraries Project delivered:

· 100 events have been delivered with more than 40 aimed at children.

· 7,760 audiences and participants have engaged, of which 40 per cent were families.

· 113 artists and creative practitioners have delivered a programme of performances, exhibitions, festivals, screenings, talks and workshops.

· 99 per cent of all audiences rating activities as good or very good.

· More than 35 per cent of artists were from the Borough and more than 60 per cent from the Liverpool City region.

A report to Cabinet states: "St Helens Borough Council has a long tradition of investing in arts focused community projects. The Arts in Libraries programme is funded to deliver activities as part of an Arts Council England (ACE) National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) funded contract. (NPOs) provide a backbone of creative and cultural provision across the country.

"The council is viewed nationally by ACE as having a pathfinder library service for its Arts in Libraries Project and is often asked to lead on national events to share good practice.

"People from across the social spectrum have engaged, including from the most deprived communities who are less likely to otherwise engage with arts and cultural activities and who represented a third of all audiences and 41 per cent of new audiences."

Cabinet will decide on the bid to extend at its meeting on Wednesday 19^th December at 4pm.