Gloucester recognized as one of Arts Council focuses

Written By Philip Walker, Gloucester City Council’s Head of Culture

It’s fantastic news that Gloucester is recognized as being one of about places in the UK for the Arts Council to focus on in the coming years. Whereas the city has seen substantial physical regeneration of the Quays, Bus station and elsewhere for too long Gloucester has been side-lined and under-invested in terms of its arts and culture, when compared to places like London, Cardiff and Bristol.  Fortunately, this has started to change in recent years with Arts Council England Great Place scheme when Gloucester became one of several cities to benefit from substantial investment – and the progress that’s taken place in the past few years has been nothing short of exceptional. This funding came soon after the formation of the Gloucester Culture Trust and the creation of a Cultural Vision and Strategy for Gloucester in 2016. In the space of a few short years, new cultural shoots have begun to grow. It’s exciting and the change is tangible!

There’s been the phenomenal success of the Gloucester History Festival that builds audiences and profile year on year, as well as the establishment of new festivals – such as Kings Jam and Rooftop Festival – both of which are appealing to younger and more diverse audiences – and producers. The city is getting better at networking and seizing new opportunities. During lockdown a collaboration by a number of cultural and heritage organizations resulted in an award-winning project called Looking Up, a new commission Of Earth and Sky by Gloucestershire-born artist Luke Jerram and the start of another new winter light festival – Bright Nights – not to mention both Gaia and then the Museum of the Moon at the Cathedral. The city’s only arts organization that gets regular funding (known as a National Portfolio Organisation or NPO) is Strike a Light, who do exceptional and ground-breaking work of national significance and impact - we’re so lucky to have them in the city, but they often find themselves working in a vacuum. It would be fantastic to see more emerging organisations become future NPOs – and so they can shine a national spotlight on Gloucester, building on the trail-blazing activity of Strike a Light.

What I hope happens is that with this renewed focus on Gloucester will result not only in increased investment into our city’s theatres, cinemas, clubs, museums and festivals – but also help nurture new forms of arts, culture and audiences. Gloucester’s got such a rich and varied population – with something like 90 or more nationalities living within it, wouldn’t it be great to see that great diversity of people and art forms flourish in Gloucester in future? With a revamped Kings Square and extraordinary high-quality new facilities for music production in Kings House, with the Music Works and artists studio spaces at Jolt, the city is poised for becoming an incubator for future talent – that could launch the careers of the next generation of artists, musicians, producers and creatives.

The Arts Council recognize that there’s an energy and ambition now in the city – a spark has ignited Gloucester to believe in itself and be proud to show off its talent and that’s prepared to take risks and try out new things. Cities don’t remain the same and should be prepared to adapt and be forward looking. I love the fact we’ve got so many fabulous heritage spaces and world-class heritage, but I particularly love these spaces when I see them animated with people and experiencing them in a new way – or perhaps for the first time. Last week I was the Gloucester Guildhall, with a packed room buzzing with people attending the launch of the City Voices programme – many of whom had never stepped foot inside the building before. That needs to change, we need to ensure that everyone in the city has a stake in culture – so our cultural assets and activities become welcoming, inclusive, accessible, relevant and meaningful for everyone.