Partners
Hampshire Cultural Trust
Touring Network Partner
Hampshire Cultural Trust (HCT) was established as an independent charity in 2014 to promote Hampshire as a county that offers outstanding cultural experiences to both its residents and visitors. They have recently been awarded National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) status which will enable them over the next three years to:
•Increase the quality of provision in three of Arts Council England’s priority places in Hampshire: Gosport, Rushmoor and New Forest
•Coordinate greater partnership working in each of the priority places, bringing together partners from across sectors to increase provision and impact
•Support artists, groups and organisations to develop the skills needed to drive a thriving and sustainable arts and cultural sector
Find out more about Hampshire Cultural Trust
Amy Whittlesea - Cultural Development Manager
Creative Basildon
Touring Network Partner
Basildon Creative People and Places is a radical, new cultural programme for people living, working and socialising in Basildon borough.
Find out more about Creative Basildon
Birmingham Hippodrome
Touring Network Partner
Birmingham Hippodrome is one of the UK’s busiest and most vibrant theatres welcoming over 500,000 visitors every year to see world-class musicals, ballet, opera, contemporary dance, comedy and pantomime. They also engage many more through our ambitious programme of festivals, community work and transformational learning projects. In 2019, they celebrated their 120th year.
Find out more about Birmingham Hippodrome
Ben Pickering - Festivals Producer
Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts
Touring Network Partner
Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts (DOCA) is a registered Charity on a mission to bring high-quality arts to Devizes and the surrounding area. They present professional outdoor arts experiences, creating participatory opportunities working with local, national and international artists.
DOCA’s annual programme sees some of the best artists from a multitude of art forms coming to Devizes to present outdoor arts at their most thrilling and uplifting. From street theatre to contemporary dance, visual art to puppetry, pyrotechnics, street music and circus – they aim to create inspirational events that everyone can engage in.
Find out more about Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts
Barnsley Council
Touring Network Partner
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council are a local authority which has, in recent years, made an additional commitment to its Culture and Tourism Service, and an aspiration cultural vision for the borough. Alongside the cultural vision, there has been an exponential increase in the service, with additional positions that strengthen the knowledge and ambition for events and festivals within the Borough.
Find out more about Barnsley Council
Matthew Mitchell - Arts and Events Manager
matthewmitchell@barnsley.gov.uk
https://www.barnsley.gov.uk/services/love-barnsley/visit-barnsley/whats-on/
Festival of Thrift
Touring Network Partner
Festival of Thrift (FoT) is the UK national festival of sustainable living, positioning artists as inspirers to action and encouraging change through workshops, exhibitions and performances, giving families the confidence to create while having fun on a budget.
Reaching new audiences from all over the UK year on year, the focus has always been on how we as individuals can make those small changes, the shift to thrift, that will add up to a big difference for the future of our planet, and encouraging others to join in.
FoT having just celebrated 10 years, continues to grow from strength to strength both in numbers of visitors and position on the cultural calendar.
The climate crisis is growing and combined with a cost of living crisis there has never been a more relevant time for this message. Be part of the solution not part of the pollution!
Find out more about Festival of Thrift
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council
Touring Network Partner
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council are a local authority which has, in recent years, made an additional commitment to its Culture and Tourism Service, and an aspiration cultural vision for the borough. Alongside the cultural vision, there has been an exponential increase in the service, with additional positions that strengthen the knowledge and ambition for events and festivals within the Borough.
Find out more about Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council
Lisa Storey - Cultural Development and Programmes Manager
Flux Rotherham
Touring Network Partner
Flux Rotherham is one of 39 programmes being developed across England as part of the Creative People and Places programme. Creative People and Places is an Arts Council programme which focuses on parts of the country where involvement in creativity and culture is significantly below the national average. Each project is completely unique to its area and communities, testing how to grow arts provision in ways that are relevant and lasting.
Their mission is for Rotherham to be established as a dynamic cultural democracy, ensuring that everyone has regular and frequent opportunities to experience high quality culture and to explore and express their own creative ambitions, heritage and identity.
Flux Rotherham co-create arts with communities. Enabling everyday creativity, generosity of ideas, transformation of experiences and places.
Vision Redbridge Culture & Leisure
Touring Network Partner
Vision Redbridge Culture and Leisure is a Leisure Trust based in the London borough of Redbridge, a registered charity and non-profit organisation where any surplus made is reinvested for community benefit, to improve the quality of facilities and services offered to Redbridge residents. As a social enterprise, Vision RCL is committed to working in partnership with the London Borough of Redbridge to deliver a wide range of leisure and cultural services to the communities that they serve.
Find out more about Redbridge Outdoor Arts
Sam Goodey - Culture Team Leader
Theatre Orchard
Touring Network Partner
Theatre Orchard’s flagship festival, Whirligig in Weston-super-Mare, is a vibrant, one-day event in the heart of the town that presents a mix of local, national and international outdoor arts. Theatre Orchard also involves local organisations such as XR, Weston Pride and Weston College in associated creative activity on the Festival site in order to embed Whirligig firmly in the heart of the community.
The festival is playful and family-friendly, and Theatre Orchard look for content that challenges, surprises, inspires and entertains. They proactively programme work that encourages people to think about social issues experienced through a creative lens. They also proactively programme work that demonstrates cultural diversity.
Rochdale Feel Good Family Picnic
Touring Network Partner
Rochdale Borough Council delivers public services to over 220,000 residents in Rochdale, Heywood, Middleton and the Pennines.
Rochdale’s new festival & events strategy reflects the borough’s dynamic and distinctive heritage and diverse population, with ambitious, innovative programming bringing together Rochdale’s own regional creative talent alongside international creatives. Children and young people will be key to the programme, with a focus on new skills and training, building a strong creative sector for Rochdale’s future.
Rochdale Feel Good Family Picnic design builds on the success of the family zone previously programmed as part of Rochdale Feel Good Festival, but creates space for the ambition to grow with a dedicated programme that features world-class touring work as well as co-created work with local groups and partners, embedded participation activity and collaboration with partners across the borough.
Find out more about Rochdale Feel Good Family Picnic
Darren Grice - Deputy Chief Executive
Lancashire Encounter
Touring Network Partner
Lancashire Encounter is a headline event in Preston’s cultural calendar bringing the finest outdoor arts and music to the city centre alongside our key commissions and iconic torchlight procession.
2023 will see 60,000 people visit Lancashire’s central city as audiences, participants and artists.
First Art
Touring Network Partner
First Art will inspire more people from Ashfield, Bolsover, Mansfield and North East Derbyshire to shape and experience great art.
First Art is the Creative People and Places programme for in this area and is supported through funding from Arts Council England.
First Art is a consortium programme led by Creswell Heritage Trust in partnership with City Arts, Junction Arts, Prince’s Trust and Ault Hucknall Environment Action Group. First Art puts people first in everything we do, providing first-hand quality experiences which allow local people to recognise the value of the arts and the role the arts can play in their own lives.
Arts by the Sea
Touring Network Partner
The Arts by the Sea festival is an annual celebration of culture, people and place, bringing an intriguing, exciting and carnivalesque mix of the arts to the beautiful outdoor spaces of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. Arts by the Sea is managed and produced by BCP Council, and funded by BCP Council and Arts Council England. The festival is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation and 2023 will be its 13th year.
The festival supports local talent development, celebrates our diverse communities, and promotes sustainability. BCP Council aims to increase opportunities for people for participate in the arts and enhance a sense of community while showcasing work which makes a real impact on the audience and on the area.
Basingstoke Festival
Touring Network Partner
Basingstoke Festival is an annual arts festival designed to showcase the best of the arts locally, nationally and internationally. From music to dance, visual art to theatre, the festival aims to bring the very best arts to audiences and those wishing to take part, by presenting experiences in the most unusual places.
The aim of the festival is to encourage both residents of Basingstoke and visitors to the borough to be more curious about the arts, engaging those who would not normally think they were interested in cultural experiences. With the banner theme of ‘Art in Unusual Places’, they aim to surprise and delight with high-quality arts encounters and meaningful participatory events during the 3 weekends of the festival, each year in June and July.
The festival is produced by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.
Find out more about Basingstoke Festival
Our Future Starts Here (The Culture House)
Touring Network Partner
Based in Grimsby, The Culture House aim to engage, excite and inspire by bringing more culture to more people. It develops and produces a full range of exciting and inspiring cultural projects, in partnership with artists, local communities and other stakeholders.
It contributes to increasing engagement and participation in culture and aims to positively impact on everyday life by presenting work in a wide range of indoor and outdoor local spaces.
Our Future Starts Here is a brand new project being in hosted in Grimsby in 2022, exploring pressing issues of our time through an innovative arts and culture programme. Edition One takes place at the end of May and Edition Two will take place in November.
Charlotte Bowen - Director & Festival producer
Cheshire Dance
Touring Network Partner
Founded as a charity in 1976, Cheshire Dance creates opportunities for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds to access dance and to use the artform to live healthier and happier lives. From delivering dance classes in the community, to providing professional development and training to emerging artists and hosting events and festivals, they seek to remove inequalities and co-create opportunities for people from all walks of life to experience the power of dance.
Cheshire Dance is also co-founder of Dance Consortia North West, a democratic partnership focused on artist, audience and market development involving 30 dance organisations, venues and promoters, Higher Education Institutions and a 100+ strong network of dance artists.
Cheshire Dance is a National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England, delivers Service Level Agreements with Local Authorities and other public and voluntary sectors and works extensively in partnership across the dance, arts, public, voluntary, health and education sectors.
Cheshire Dance produces Now Northwich, a new outdoor international dance and street art festival each October. It runs an extensive programme of dance across Cheshire, including professional development that attracts dance artists from across the country and inclusive dance engagement deeply embedded in community, health and education networks locally.
Oldham Council
Touring Network Partner
Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England.
Have a closer look at Oldham Council.