Tees Valley Arts is celebrating after being awarded a grant of £150,000 over three years to support its work as an arts development agency.
The grant will help the Middlesbrough based charity develop and coordinate new programmes of activity under three themes:
- A Heritage and Environment Programme will look at developing sustainable partnerships and collaborations; linking and joining green spaces, heritage attractions and related tourism priorities. GREEN TV has forged an initial partnership between Tees Valley Arts, Tees Valley Wildlife Trust and Groundwork Tees Valley. GREEN TV is about environmental education and increased awareness and access to natural heritage of the Tees Valley through participation in cultural activity.
As part of GREEN TV, the Green Hearts scheme aims to develop and deliver a young peoples’ environmental education programme that uses visual art, creative writing and music to interpret wildlife habitats in the Tees Valley. The material generated will be used to interpret a series of family guided walks and form the basis of a resource for schools. - A Cultural Diversity Programme will build on previous partnership project work in celebrating and supporting the growth and development of culturally diverse art forms and groups across the Tees Valley. Bringing international excellence to the Tees Valley and supporting the Tees Valley Tourism agenda will be central to this programme, as will be its recognition of the need to support the mainstreaming of marginalized artists and art groups.
The Cultural Diversity Programme includes the annual WinterFest festival which brings in the best of world music and culture and celebrates the new diversity in the North East. The Cultural Diversity Programme will build on the work of the You Are Here scheme which was an arts and integration project working with refugees and people seeking asylum in the Tees Valley that commenced in 2003.
- Regeneration & Creative Resources will develop a central point of ‘resourced’ support and Continuing Professional Development for artists and creative practitioners within the Tees Valley. This programme will manage a work based Arts Management Trainee scheme, a programme of CPD events for artists and project coordinators working within the cultural education sector as well as supporting small enterprise start up (in collaboration with Business Link and the Local Authorities) for artists and designer-makers in the Tees Valley. There will also be a comprehensive programme of major public art initiatives; the first of which is the prestigious Middlesbrough A66 Urban Gateway initiative which is being delivered in association with RIBA and Christian Barnes Visual Arts Projects.
Rosi Lister, Director of Tees Valley Arts commented: “We are delighted that The Northern Rock Foundation’s grant will support the organisation’s work for a further three years with the creation of three new jobs, during an important and exciting period in the region which will also see the opening of mima and the development of other opportunities to promote cultural activities in the Tees Valley”