Preston City Council has approved three major funding initiatives aimed at supporting grassroots arts and cultural activities in the city centre.
The investment follows an independent study carried out in 2024, which found that Preston was falling behind other UK cities in terms of its cultural offering.
An independent study by Berlew Design Studio in October 2024 ranked Preston as the worst-funded city for creatives in England scoring just 3 out of 200 on a combined index of Arts Council England (ACE) funding and local council arts grants.
This equated to roughly £2 per person in Preston, compared to £52 per person in Manchester and highlighted the need for more grassroots creative funding.
The Council has formed a Cultural Forum, made up of various voices from across the cultural sector. Working in partnership to directly address the levels on external investment into arts and culture, identifying key priorities and setting out a pathway towards Preston Guild 2032.
Shared Arts Space – two-year pilot programme given the green light:
Cabinet members at the October meeting, approved funding to support a two-year pilot of a new shared community arts centre in the city centre. The new arts and culture space, that will be available to use by the independent creative community for a wide variety of grassroots arts projects, will be established over the first and second floors at the former Snapes Printworks building on Bolton Court.
The funding of up to £200,000 (subject to the finalisation of a grant funding agreement)1 has been awarded to Post Post CIC, a not-for-profit organisation established in 2014, made up of University of Lancashire artists and media graduates who run The Birley Artist Studios, a contemporary arts space and project hub on Birley Street.
Post Post CIC will manage the space independently of the Council with full ownership of the lease, and responsibility for any new staff required, such as a new studio manager, to successfully run the pilot programme and Birley Studios.
Working with the Council’s policy team, an additional programme that will run parallel to the main project, will be developed to work with the artists involved to explore the potential for a future operating model for the space in line with the Council’s commitment to Community Wealth Building and support for a democratic economy worker cooperative model.
The funding support is also an important strategic step to support the development and sustainability of a key cultural organisation that can apply for further revenue funding from Arts Council, National Portfolio Organisation later this year.
Councillor Anna Hindle, Cabinet Member for Arts and Culture said:
“We have been in discussion over the past 12 months with local artist groups, creatives, and cultural organisations (through a newly established Cultural Forum), keen to find affordable shared studio space for exhibitions, performance, workshops and storage for some time.
“We are delighted that we can support this worthwhile initiative to boost the arts and culture community and feel we have found the right home for this project. This pilot programme will give the cultural sector the means to strengthen its resilience and independence, strategic development and infrastructure, skills and learning. It’s important that we continue to support grassroots projects like this one to make the arts more accessible and visible in the city for everyone to enjoy.”
This group includes representatives from October Salon, Preston City Mela, Preston Carnival, Encounter Festival, 104 Collective, and Brewtime Collective.
Rob Mullender Ross from Post Post CIC, added:
“The proposed new shared creative space brings back into use one of the city’s heritage buildings. The owner of Snapes Printworks has also proposed further investment at the property to ensure the building is fit for immediate occupation. The improvement works include: a new goods lift, repair and restoration of timber window frames, roof repairs and insultation upgrades, new toilet facilities, fire protection works, redecoration, new electrics, new heating and hot water systems, new lighting throughout new fire alarm and alarm and CCTV systems.”
Gulab Singh MBE DL, Mela Consultant Advisor, said:
“Mela is looking forward to the shared arts space at Snapes, which has the potential for Mela to explore new arts forms, training and tutoring.”
Funding for Brewtime Collective:
The second element of funding is a grant of £9,000 with Brewtime Collective, to support the group’s organisational development.
The group is a self-organised network of independent creative practitioners, artists, writers, and arts organisers based in Preston. The funding will help towards the group’s organisational development so that it can act as an umbrella group for Preston’s independent cultural sector.
Brewtime Collective is currently constituted but unincorporated2 and the funding will help it to become a corporate organisation, recruit board members and to explore the best type of governance for an organisation of this type. The group needs legal status in order to work effectively in the wider cultural networks across Lancashire and the wider North West region and to attract inward investment in the arts and culture scene in Preston. Open membership will include independent artists and arts organisations.
Bernie Velvick from Brewtime Collective said:
“We welcome the Council and Arts Lancashire’s support to help the Brewtime Collective along this journey. We’ll be bringing together Preston’s Independent Arts sector so that we can all encourage each other’s work to build Preston’s cultural life."
Arts Lancashire Consultancy Role and Bid Writing Services:
Preston City Council has agreed to enter into a partnership with sector advocacy organisation: Arts Lancashire Ltd for up to £30,000 to provide consultancy support to Brewtime Development project and to support the opening and running of the new creative shared space at Snapes Printworks.
Arts Lancashire will also assist the team to provide professional bid writing services to help establish strategic partnerships, establish a more robust cultural infrastructure in the city, and provide some organisational capacity in the early stages of the new pilot programme.
This will be important when bidding for future funding streams, namely the development of an Expression of Interest for an Arts Council England Place Partnership3 for Preston.
Alex O'Toole, Director of Arts Lancashire said,
“Arts Lancashire is delighted to be working with Preston City Council to support the continued development of Preston’s cultural sector and help turn the city’s long-term cultural ambitions into reality. This work is about building the foundations for a thriving, sustainable and connected cultural ecosystem, strengthening networks such as Brewtime, and supporting the creation of a new sector-led arts space at Snapes Printworks.
“It also includes exploring opportunities to bring vacant buildings back into cultural use and developing a strategic partnership bid to attract greater investment from Arts Council England.”
Councillor Anna Hindle, continued:
“We want to help strengthen the partnership working within the arts community and bring everyone together to help build and shape a shared vision for the future. If we want Preston’s cultural sector to flourish, now is the time and a real opportunity to build some momentum, unlock investment and grow the local skills we need as we approach the next Preston Guild 2032 and ensure culture plays a central role in the city’s future.”
