Cross artform

Six areas across England are to be awarded a share of £10.9m to scale up hundreds of creative industry businesses.

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer announced the expansion of the government’s Creative Growth programme during the WeCreate conference at Manchester’s Aviva Studios yesterday (14 November).

The expansion doubles the areas covered by the programme. Creative businesses in Nottinghamshire, Hull and East Yorkshire, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, Devon and Hertfordshire will now be eligible to access private investment and scale-up advice.

The amount of funding each area will receive is not set and depends on the individual area’s business needs and the number of businesses that apply for grants and support. 

Since launching in 2022, the Creative Growth programme has delivered £28.4m. It is estimated the programme’s expansion will take the total number of creative organisations supported by the scheme to 1,800.

The programme was developed to support government ambitions to grow the creative industries by £50bn by 2030.

Speaking in Manchester yesterday, Frazer said: "We’re already making progress towards the ambitious goals set out in our sector vision, unveiling millions in new funding to drive growth in our grassroots and scale ups and banging the drum for creative careers."

A £2.3m arts and culture centre has opened in Derry/Londonderry as part of an initiative funding projects in five urban areas of Northern Ireland (NI).

Funding for the New Gate Arts & Culture Centre comes from the Urban Villages Initiative, which is overseen by NI’s Executive Office.

The scheme offers funding for projects that develop thriving places where there has been a history of deprivation and community tension.

The new arts centre, located in the Fountain area of Derry/Londonderry, features a performance space, art and tuition rooms and a dance studio.

A spokesperson for Derry City and Strabane District Council, which managed the development, said the centre will “assist in fostering positive community identities, building community capacity and improving the local physical environment”.

Joan O’Hara, Director of the Executive Office’s Urban Villages programme, added: “This is a fantastic regeneration project for the Fountain area of the city and across the region to provide a shared cultural space right in the heart of the local community”.

“The centre will invigorate the area and encourage the community to come together to celebrate their culture and backgrounds in a space that will use the arts to create new experiences and friendships.”