Historic England announces today (Wednesday) that two towns on the Isle of Wight join other High Streets Heritage Action Zones (HSHAZ) who will receive substantial grants going for local arts organisations to create and deliver community-led cultural activities on their high streets over the next three years.
Grants of up to £120,000 have been awarded to fund cultural activity on over 60 high streets totalling £6 million.
Newport : £90,000
From a children’s festival, a public art project, art exhibitions, museum displays, heritage talks to a rolling programme of concerts and workshop, Renew Newport cultural programme will offer a transformative programme of culture-led regeneration.
The consortium is made up of eight organisations led by cultural charity Independent Arts.
Ryde: £95,000
Ryde’s cultural programme will consist of two major projects both of which focus on Ryde’s tradition of outdoor arts.
Waving the Flag is a three-year project designed to strengthen and develop Ryde Carnival to ensure its sustainability for the future.
Stories of our Streets will bring to life Ryde High Street’s personal, commercial and entrepreneurial histories. The project will engage new audiences in the heritage of the High Street through creative commissions that draw on newly collated secondary and primary research into ten premises. Both projects will use the physical space of the High Street and established cultural traditions to renew civic pride in the town.
Abi Wheeler, Creative Director of Ryde Arts CIC said,
“Ryde Arts CIC are delighted to be leading the Waving the Flag project on behalf of the newly formed Cultural Consortium.
“We have a strong network of local partners who will be working together to combine an enormous wealth of knowledge and expertise with Outdoor Arts activities.
“After the disappointing setbacks of the last year, Ryde Carnival will be coming back to Ryde in 2022, stronger than ever.”
Building on success of pilot
The funding builds on the success of a series of pilot cultural projects that have run since last August across 43 High Street Heritage Action Zones.
Ryde’s pilot project, Spring Windows, engaged local organisations Network Ryde working with artists Teresa Grimaldi and Sarah Vardy, New Carnival Company and Shademakers UK to create window installations that explored aspects of Ryde’s commercial and cultural heritage.
TWIN TOWNS: Isle of Rydesgate
Historic England is unofficially ‘twinning’ towns, through a programme of creative commissions that see artists working with local people to uncover what they have in common.
The artworks will explore themes of identity as well as the communities’ collective hopes and challenges, culminating in a series of installations, performances and digital work.
Artist practice Mooch are working with local residents, and students at Broadstairs College for their project, Isle of Rydesgate, a fantasy town that twins Ramsgate in Kent and Ryde on the Isle of Wight.
In June, local people will be sent “craft kits” to decorate scale models of historic high street buildings, and from July to August there will be exhibitions of the model high streets in town centre shops in Ryde and Ramsgate.
Take part today
Fancy drawing a model building for the fantasy Island? If you would like to join in making a template, you have until 21st May to send in your drawing of one of our buildings. Use the Mooch instructions to help draw your building template of one, or more, buildings from the list.
Regenerating historic high streets through conservation and building work
Emily Gee, Regional Director, Historic England in London and the South East, said:
“The High Streets Cultural Programme is such an important – and exciting – way of bringing people back to their cherished high streets in need of love.
“We are working together to regenerate historic high streets through conservation and building work, and this community-led cultural activity programme will draw people back to enliven and shape these special places for the future.”
Dinenage: Help transform high streets into thriving cultural hubs
Culture Minister Caroline Dinenage MP, said,
“High streets are often the heart of our communities and should be places we all want to engage with and enjoy.
“These grants will help transform high streets into thriving cultural hubs, encouraging us to embrace all the joys our town centres have to offer.”
High Streets Heritage Action Zones’ Cultural Programme
This is part of the four-year-long High Streets Heritage Action Zones’ Cultural Programme, led by Historic England, in partnership with Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The Cultural Programme aims to make our high streets more attractive, engaging and vibrant places for people to live, work and spend time.
One of biggest-ever networks of cultural community organisations
With several hundred organisations involved through cultural consortia across over 60 high streets, the grant scheme involves one of the biggest-ever networks of cultural community organisations to come together under the same funding.
Wilson: Community-led cultural work that helps people to enjoy their high street again
Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive, Historic England, said,
“The high street cultural programme is a step change in the way we think about bringing high streets back from the brink.
“As we start to see these important historic spaces become regenerated through building work, it is the community-led cultural work that helps people to enjoy their high street again and also have a say in what the future of their high street might be.”
