In 2013 we secured £2 million from Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places programme for a three year partnership project to help establish the Leeds & Liverpool Canal corridor through Pennine Lancashire as an exemplar of socially engaged arts, reflecting the area’s rich cultural diversity and creativity.
Ten years later we are still co-producing projects with communities along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal in partnership with our consortium comprising the Canal & River Trust, Youth Works, Pendle, CVS Hyndburn, Blackburn Food Alliance and Creative Spaces Burnley and supported by the four local authorities along the stretch; Blackburn with Darwen Council, Hyndburn Borough Council, Burnley Borough Council and Pendle Borough Council.
The Canal & River Trust is the guardian of 2,000 miles of historic waterways across England and Wales. The Trust is building on a historic and fruitful association between the arts and waterways through its Arts on the Waterways programme. The programme is enabling talented artists and producers to slow down, reflect and present great art across the waterways cared for by the Trust.
Creative Spaces Burnley (Burnley) was founded in Burnley in 2017 a Community Interest Company, run & owned by artists. It is their mission to provide great spaces for artists to work from – & somewhere for everyone to experience art.
Blackburn Food Alliance (Blackburn with Darwen) operates as an independent charity whilst working closely with Blackburn with Darwen Public Health, local businesses, organisations & the public to become healthier & more sustainable. The food alliance started off as an evolution the the Food Bank in 2018 to support people coming out of crisis, providing resources for people to become self sustainable covering community skills in cooking/growing, reducing food waste, improving our local supply chains, reducing food poverty, eating wholesome, educating communities & celebrating our diverse food culture. They are a people & partner inspired movement, which means everyone has a place & role for collaborative change.
Youth Works, Pendle (Pendle) is the youth & community department of the school. Their specialist team carries out a range of youth work activities ranging from designing & running empowerment projects to forest school work as well as community engagement with parents & community organisations. “Youthworks exists to provide an island in the sea of school stuff, we share laughs, provide peace & enable enrichment of the soul. We are led by the imagination & passion of our young people.”
Hyndburn CVS (Community Voluntary Support) support the charities, small groups, faith and voluntary organisations that operate for the communities of Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley by strengthening the governance of groups and organisations, through advise and support with constitutions, governance, policies and procedures and by offering support on volunteering and funding. We aim to ensure the voices of our organisations are being heard at the right strategic meetings so that we can be proud of our strong communities and happy residents.
