Oxford Inspires successful in bid for £600,000
to fund cultural projects
Mon 26 Jun, 2004
Oxford Inspires is today celebrating
the success of its bid, on behalf of Oxford, for £600,000 of lottery
money to fund a variety of cultural projects in and around the city. Additional
funding from other organisations, including pledges of £50,000 from
both Oxford City Council and Arts Council England, South East, will bring
the total value of the programme to more than £1.5 million.
Oxford’s bid, submitted under the title ‘Evolving City’,
was for 28 projects and events to take place throughout 2005. The projects,
which range in scale from weekend events to programmes taking place over
several months, will involve around 150 organisations in Oxford and Oxfordshire
and cover arts, science, environmental and learning activities. The programme
is designed to benefit a diverse range of communities and to promote and
celebrate the central role of culture in the social and economic regeneration
of Oxford.
The Chief Executive of Oxford Inspires, Robert Hutchison, said: “This
announcement is great news for the city and county and for all those organisations
with projects in the Evolving City programme. We were confident that we
had put together a first-class bid, reflecting the extraordinary creativity
and diversity of Oxford’s cultural life, but we also knew that we
faced serious competition from the other cities that submitted bids. We
now look forward to working with all the organisations in Evolving City
to bring the programme to life.
“Oxford Inspires hopes to build on this success and, if possible,
to include additional projects that will make the Evolving City programme
even bigger and better. Our message to local businesses is: You have an
opportunity here to fund worthwhile projects that will have a significant
impact on the quality of life of people in Oxford and Oxfordshire.”
The award to Oxford was made under the Urban Cultural Programme. 19 urban
areas in all will benefit from grants totalling £19.5 million distributed
by the Millennium Commission and Arts Council England. Felicity Harvest,
Executive Director of Arts Council England, South East, said: “This
exciting partnership between us and the Millennium Commission builds on
the momentum of the excellent work undertaken by Oxford Inspires in their
bid to be European Capital of Culture 2008. Through this programme we
can continue to build on the creativity of the ideas they have developed,
which will benefit communities for generations to come.”
Although most of the projects in Evolving City will be taking place in
the City of Oxford, Oxfordshire County Council has played an important
role in developing some countywide projects, including a Youth Arts Festival
to be held in 2005. Evolving City will also be an important milestone
on the way to the major countywide festival Oxford Inspires is planning
for 2007.
Notes:
1. For a full list of the projects, showing the amount of the individual
grants, click
here (Word document, 39 kb).
2. To read what people had to
say about the award please
click here (Word document, 31 kb).
3. For a copy of the summary
of the Evolving City bid please click
here (PDF, 3.74 Mb).
4. The Urban Cultural Programme,
which was announced at the beginning of March, is for cultural projects
in urban areas across the UK, offering a minimum individual grant of £500,000.
The awards under the scheme were made by the Millennium Commission and
Arts Council England.
Millennium
Commission press release
Arts
Council press release
back
to news archive...
|
