A culture strategy has been developed for Bury which aims to make the borough ‘the best place in Greater Manchester to be an independent creative’.
The move comes in the wake of Bury being the inaugural Greater Manchester town of culture from December 2019.
The recognition was retained for two years, because of the impact of the pandemic, during which time a programme of culture and events was held.
Events over the two year period included Bury Art Museum (BAM) exhibitions, on-line live music and performance led by the Met alongside community
driven projects like Prestwich Arts Festival, Bury Pride and events hosted by East Lancashire Railway and other independent artists and creative organisations.
A report on culture strategy and Bury’s time as Greater Manchester town of culture by Coun Charlotte Morris, cabinet member for culture and economy for Bury Council, has been published.
She said: “As an outcome of the celebrations and recognised potential economic opportunity, a culture strategy was commissioned from a partner
called Curated Place.
“This work also explored the opportunity to put cultural investment centre stage of the delivery of ‘levelling up’ schemes in Bury and Radcliffe.
“Curated Place have proposed a strategy and associated investment requirement with the vision to make Bury the best place in Greater Manchester to be an independent creative.
“A programme of priorities and investment is proposed for the council to take forward.”
The strategy proposes several ‘time critical’ investment requirements, including a minimum 10 per cent of levelling up budgets which should be dedicated to culture to support leadership and training, audience and programme development to ensure the new assets are fit for purpose from opening.
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It suggests a three-year outline cultural programme should be in place for the Bury Flexi Hall and Radcliffe Hub to ensure both buildings are well used from day one. Section 106 funding from developers should be used for programme delivery, skills development investment and affordable creative start-up spaces
The strategy suggests the provision of workspace to new creative businesses and artists in Radcliffe as the ‘engine of production’ around the new town centre.
The proposal also includes the physical reconfiguration of Textile Hall, BAM, Bury Library and Fusilier Museum into Bury’s Creative Campus
as a new ‘cultural quarter’ to ‘reignite’ Silver Street and drive further investment.
The report said delivery of the strategy would require an additional indicative annual events budget in the region of £500,000 and equivalent additional investment in the staffing structure. It also acknowledges issues surrounding funding of the strategy.
Coun Morris said: “Budget is not available within council revenue funding streams to respond to Curated Places’ proposals to expand the team and, more widely, the scale of revenue budget challenge presents significant limitations to further investment.”
The report is due to be discussed by the council’s overview and scrutiny committee before being considered by the cabinet in due course.
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