Cornwall is to get a £340,031 grant from Arts Council England and VisitEngland that will put culture at the heart of the county’s billion pound visitor economy.
The grant will assist to money an enthusiastic 3 year project to build new partnerships that include value and attract visitors, bringing sustained growth to the local economy.
Cornwall’s vital arts and cultural companies will be dealing with the tourism sector to create a special identity for the county that promotes the amazing cultural wealth available. Commemorating the people, the location and the weather condition of Cornwall in all their wildest kinds, it is hoped that visitors will come particularly to enjoy the arts and culture year-round in addition to drawing in vacationers already coming for summer holidays.
The companies involved are:.
– Cornwall Arts Centre Trust.
– Kneehigh.
– Miracle Theatre.
– Leach Pottery.
– Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange.
– Tate St Ives.
– Wildworks.
– Hall for Cornwall.
– Real Ideas Organisation.
– Cornwall Council.
– Visit Cornwall.
– CoaST– Cornwall Sustainable Tourism Project.
– For Cornwall Museums Partnership.
Arts Council England and VisitEngland announced the honor with the Cultural Destinations program, a £3 million initiative which forms part of the 3 year collaboration between the 2 companies. The aim of the Cultural Destinations program is to enable arts and cultural companies working in collaboration with Destination Management Organisations to enhance their reach, engagement and durability through working with the tourist sector.
The successful funding quote was led by Cornwall Arts Centre Trust.
Ross Williams, Director of ACT said: “As managing partner for Cornwall’s Cultural Consortium, we are really delighted to have been successful with our bid to this scheme which will help us to put culture at the heart of the visitor economy. Cornwall has both a distinctive strong tourism brand and a wealth of cultural assets and activities, but until now these have operated largely in isolation from each other and we are very enthusiastic about the opportunity for our two sectors to work more closely together to everyone’s benefit.
“Our partnership includes most of the key Cornish arts organisations and museums as well as Cornwall Council, Visit Cornwall and tourism bodies. We believe that over the three year life of the project we will see significant increases in cultural engagement by visitors as well as benefits to Cornish residents resulting from the greater prosperity of the cultural sector and from economic growth spread more widely across Cornwall.”
Phil Gibby, Area Director, South West, Arts Council England, said: “This is an outstanding result for Cornwall’s cultural and destination organisations and well-deserved recognition for their determination to transform their individual offers into a powerful shared voice, one that celebrates the extraordinary wealth of Cornish culture and will attract even more visitors to the county. ‘More people every year are enjoying the arts and culture in local destinations and this is helping to drive the growth of the visitor economy. The increased income leads to greater sustainability and resilience both for cultural organisations and tourism businesses. This type of investment by Arts Council England shows our commitment to working in partnership with local authorities and local partnerships to support this growth in innovative and exciting ways.”
To read more about the Cultural Destinations programme visit the Arts Council’s webpage at http://www.artscouncil.org.uk. For Cornwall tourism information visit www.visitcornwall.com