Arts and culture in Crawley to get £1million boost from Arts Council England

Manor Royal Business Improvement District, Crawley LGBTU+, Crawley Town Community Foundation, Diverse Crawley and The Hawth will form the core consortium to govern the project and Creative Crawley is the lead delivery partner.

This ambitious project will support local people to engage in high quality arts and culture in Crawley as audiences, participants, makers, producers and curators. Local people will work with a team of experts to develop their skills, engage in a wide range of different types of creativity and make decisions about what art and culture takes place in their town in homes, work places, community venues, outdoor areas and public spaces.

The project will employ artists, production managers, marketing, PR and audience development specialists, evaluation specialists, producers, community specialists and more and will involve a range of voluntary opportunities too.

Creative workshops, shows, gigs, exhibitions, digital projects, outdoor art and festivals covering a range of art forms from local, national and international artists and arts organisations will be at the heart of the project.

A series of monthly, creative meet ups will take place in a range of locations across Crawley where participants will make decisions on what creative activity happens in the town. Focussed work will take place in a variety of neighbourhoods in Crawley with a view to engaging people across the whole town.

It is intended that the £1 million investment from Arts Council England will lever another nearly £600,000 for the project over the three years with 40% of that income already confirmed from partners including Crawley Borough Council, Crawley Town Centre Business Improvement District and Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival.

Speaking about the investment, Steve Sawyer, Chair of Creative Crawley and Executive Director of Manor Royal Business Improvement District says: “This is very welcome and exciting news for Crawley.

"It’s a testimony to the hard work put in by Creative Crawley and the consortium that brings together different sections of the community to build a reputation for our town as a place where creativity, imagination, experimentation and culture are celebrated and can thrive.

"This announcement is a huge stimulus to some very exciting plans that I am thrilled we will now – collectively – have an opportunity to bring to life.”

Louise Blackwell, Creative Director of Creative Crawley says: "This investment is a game-changer for the arts, culture and people of Crawley. I’m honoured to be one of the leaders driving the programme forwards and I can’t wait to explore Crawley as a creative playground with our partners and others who live, work and study in the town."