Great Yarmouth High Street Awarded £120,000 For Cultural Programme
30 June 2021
Great Yarmouth HSHAZ Cultural Consortium is delighted to reveal we have been awarded a £120,000 grant from Historic England as part of the Great Yarmouth High Streets Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) to create and deliver community-led cultural activities on the high street over the next three years.
Great Yarmouth HSHAZ is one of more than 60 high streets to receive a share of £6 million for their cultural programme. Grants of up to £120,000 have been awarded to local arts organisations for cultural activity on each high street.
The HSHAZ cultural programme in Great Yarmouth will look to explore and celebrate the town’s high street history and its unique character as a historic and nationally significant centre for circus and entertainment over a three year period.
Collaborations between local communities and professional artists will create unique cultural interventions including activities such as workshops, heritage learning, performance and skill development. Creating a more vibrant, engaging place to live, work and visit.
The project is a partnership between the Great Yarmouth HSHAZ Cultural Consortium, which consists of Out There Arts as lead partner, Norfolk Museum Services and Time & Tide Museum, Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust, GY5 Artist’s Collective, Freshly Greated – Creative People and Places, St George’s Theatre, and Great Yarmouth Town Centre Partnership.
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.
“High streets are often the heart of our communities and should be places we all want to engage with and enjoy”
Tony Calladine, Regional Director for Historic England in the East of 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.”
Joe Mackintosh Chief Executive of Out There Arts said: “We are all absolutely delighted to receive this support from Historic England to bring creative life to Great Yarmouth Heritage Action Zone and High Street. Communities and creatives will collaborate in exploration of the town’s rich history including its very important circus and entertainment history. Using key town centre spaces and shop fronts for activities, events and installations will mean thousands of people will get to see them and join in.”
Jonathan Newman, Town Centre Manager at Great Yarmouth Town Centre Partnership said: “On behalf of the Town Centre Partnership I am delighted that Great Yarmouth has been awarded these funds and I look forward to working with the other project partners, artists and our town centre businesses on some exciting cultural activities and events in the coming months.”
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.”
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. They have not only helped high streets offer cultural activity during lockdown, but also discovered what local people would like to see happening on their high streets.
A SUMMER OF CULTURE
As well as the grant-funded cultural activity taking place on high streets over the next three years, Historic England is curating a programme of cultural commissions to get people back to high streets:
HIGH STREET SOUND WALKS THIS SEPTEMBER
Historic England, the National Trust and Heritage Open Days have commissioned Sound UK to create a series of new ‘High Street Sound Walks’ available on six High Streets Heritage Action Zones that will be launched as part of Heritage Open Days (10-19 September). The walks are each co-created with local artists – or artists with a connection to each place – and the community, in association with local arts organisations. The result will be distinctive, immersive soundscapes to inspire people to look again at their high streets.
Great Yarmouth: Oliver Payne aims to capture the charm of enigmatic, contrasting and diverse Great Yarmouth. Creating an authentic portrait of the street, from stories of local people that have witnessed its changes or studied its rich history, alongside those who have recently made it their home or are not yet settled. These narratives are reflected in the sounds of the place itself, through the gentle resonance of a medieval row, to the loud and vibrant music heard from outside a barbershop. Produced in association with originalprojects and Norfolk & Norwich Festival.
ENDS
To find out what is happening in your area and get involved, please follow @HistoricEngland / @HE_EoE #HistoricHighStreets and visit: www.HistoricEngland.org.uk/HighStreetCulture