Arts and culture highlighted in planned new strategy
A strategy is being drawn up which will help shape the future direction of arts, heritage and culture in North Yorkshire.
Music, museums and the creative arts, among other areas, are known to enrich lives, increase health and wellbeing, support skills and employment development, and can be the catalyst for regeneration.
We are working with community organisations, partners, visitors, participants, and colleagues to create the strategy, which will set out our role and responsibilities in this key sector.
The introduction of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority earlier this year is bringing new opportunities for arts and culture and the chance to attract more funding and follows other recent developments, including:
- The Arts Council’s designation for the Selby area as a priority place and funding of £1m for two years of community-led redevelopment work.
- The Long-Term Plan for Towns investment in Scarborough.
- Working with communities and partners in the health sector to progress Creative Health initiatives which recognise the wellbeing benefits that culture can bring to people.
Executive member for culture and the arts, Cllr Simon Myers, said: “North Yorkshire has a rich cultural heritage which is not only important to the people who come from far and wide to visit, but also those who call the county home.
“But it is not all about the past. As England’s largest county we also have an incredibly diverse arts and cultural sector behind some of the most imaginative and thought-provoking projects around.
“The importance of arts and culture, in terms of wellbeing for all our residents, unlocking creative talent in our young people and building on a vibrant and diverse creative sector with well-paid jobs cannot be understated, which is why I believe the implementation of a coordinated strategy will be a significant development.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that “the arts are uniquely suited” to provide wide-ranging health benefits for people taking part in cultural and leisure activities, adding: “In recent decades, we have come to understand the intrinsic health benefits to artistic and leisure activities.”
Last year, a government report following a question in the House of Lords to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, stated that music and the performing and visual arts added £11.2 billion to the national economy in 2022, with further contributions from museums, galleries and libraries totalling £1 billion and crafts a further £0.4 billion.
A public consultation on the cultural strategy, in which residents are being asked for their views, finishes on 23 August.
The survey is asking people what they believe to be the priorities for cultural services in North Yorkshire, what should be included in the strategy, and how success should be measured.
Recollections of memorable cultural experiences, such as visits to a gallery, involvement in a workshop or taking part in a public art programme, are also being used to provide case studies of best practice for the final document.
The results of the consultation are set to be presented to the council’s overview and scrutiny committee in September.
A final version of the strategy is scheduled to be discussed in October in the hope it will be adopted and then launched in November.
Recently, we were awarded an Arts Council England grant of £1.2 million as part of an ambitious, national programme to provide high-quality music education for all children and young people.
In May, executive members unanimously accepted £947,000 in funding to subsidise partial or full discounts in music lessons and other musical experiences for children as well as £311,000 to buy new musical instruments after being announced as a winning bidder to work with partners to provide music education across York and North Yorkshire.
In another boost for the county, Craven Museum at Skipton Town Hall was awarded £15,000 as one of five finalists for the National Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024, the largest museum prize in the world.
Other finalists were Dundee Contemporary Arts, Manchester Museum and National Portrait Gallery in London along with the winner, Young V&A – Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
The coast has also been the focus of several cultural festivals, including a revitalised Scarborough Fair which has seen events such as Scarborough Lights, Scarborough Art and Scarborough Fringe staged to popular acclaim.