Decision ref
0013 2022/23
Decision date
05/08/2022
Portfolio
Culture and Heritage
Wards
All wards
Title
Authorisation to apply to National Heritage Lottery Fund (NHLF) for funding for the Creative Underground St Helens programme of work
Summary
The proposed funding application to NHLF is being planned to coincide with St Helens Borough of Culture (BoC) in 2023. BoC is a Liverpool City Region (LCR) scheme that rotates around each Borough, with a key objective of highlighting the unique character and distinctiveness of people and places. The proposal will provide communities with a unique opportunity to participate in the rich cultural heritage of St Helens, shining a light on the plethora of creative individuals and groups, past and present.
Purpose
St Helens Library Service with project partners the World of Glass and Re-Dock CIC will deliver this ambitious project.
St Helens has a long history of creative activity, with over 100 amateur arts clubs across the Borough, many with a long history including those linked to industry (e.g. Pilkington’s Operatic Society); a strong 1980s music and youth arts scene, particularly at the Citadel Arts Centre; and hundreds of students that passed through the Gamble Institute Art College. However, much of this heritage is undocumented.
Launched during 2023 BoC, residents will be invited to uncover and celebrate this heritage through:
The Houghton Project: Revisiting this 1988 seminal youth theatre project Outcast Theatre, young people and disadvantaged communities will consider how St Helens has changed over time. The investigation will be informed by the original video documenting the Project (held within St Helens Archive) and through oral histories collected from original Outcast Youth Theatre members. St Helens College theatre students in collaboration with original Outcast Theatre Director, Roger Hill, will play a central role in engaging other young people and deprived communities in this exploration, examining the changing creative and social landscape of St Helens and issues young people faced then and now. Community workshops will result in a film, exhibition, and most significantly will culminate in a new large-scale performance across deprived areas of the Borough in May 2023.
Creative Roots: A large-scale exhibition at The World of Glass will celebrate artists past and present, exploring the heritage of those that went on to pursue careers in the Creative Industries following their art education. St Helens has a rich heritage of the visual arts, but this heritage is largely undocumented. Research will reveal the success stories of creative individuals from the Borough, presenting it to the public through this engaging exhibition, including workshops and exhibition tours.
Community Grants: Voluntary sector groups will explore the heritage of the amateur arts sector and celebrate St Helens’ wider heritage through creative collaborations. Ten grants of £5,000 will be awarded, resulting in a Creative Heritage Festival across the Borough to coincide with Heritage Open Days, September 2023.
Volunteers will be supported to unearth, digitise and archive printed, photographic, video and audio material from the Borough’s past and to share this heritage via St Helens Community Archive.
Creative Underground St Helens will preserve this heritage, raise the profile of St Helens as a cultural location and inspire future artists and young people.
The outcomes will include:
1. Successful delivery through professional heritage/ cultural freelance staff and fully-costed project budget.
2. Community Group engagement via Grant Programme
3. Audiences reached through marketing and access budget
4. Documentation of unearthed heritage through digital outputs
5. Heritage Officer post, to underpin all delivery, building a heritage network and harnessing enthusiasm of new and existing audiences, leaving a substantial legacy.
Background
Application will be submitted to NHLF following authorisation of this DED.
Conclusion
Archive material linked to the cultural life of the Borough has been identified as a gap in the Archival Collections Plan and this project, focusing on key aspects of St Helens’ creative past will uncover a wealth of heritage and preserve it for the future. The Project also responds to aims set out in the Heritage Action Plan:
1. Empower the Borough’s heritage groups and interested individuals
2. Respect and celebrate the Borough’s different identities and places
3. Achieve a reputation for celebrating heritage through the arts and culture
The passion to remember and celebrate the Borough’s creative past was revealed by the 60 participants attending the community engagement sessions in preparation for St Helens BoC 2023, leading to the development of the ideas within this application.
Interest in this heritage is further evidenced from the analysis of the 734 responses to the online consultation in May 2022 which strongly demonstrates a breadth of interest in the project across age groups and communities but particularly amongst our target audiences of young people, deprived communities and the local creative sector.
Anti-Poverty/Human Rights/Agenda 21 Implications
N/A
Risk Implications
Please see attached risk rating document in background papers
Measures to Redress Risk
Please see attached risk rating document in background papers
Declarations Of Interest
None
More information
Please Contact Kathryn Boothroyd - Ext 7486 for more details.
