City Arts secure increased Arts Council funding for the next four years

Nottingham charity City Arts has secured Arts Council England funding for the next four years.  City Arts will receive £413, 632 over the period, which runs from April 2018 to March 2022. Annually, this represents a £50,000 increase to the organisation’s regular funding – a 94% increase in our arts council funding.

The charity will continue to be an Arts Council England funded National Portfolio Organisation (NPO). NPO’s receive regular funding from the Arts Council and represent some of the best arts practice in the world.

Tim Challans, City Arts Chair, said:

“I’m delighted that Arts Council has decided to support City Arts for the next four years. The increase in our funding recognises the vital work we do bringing great art to the diverse communities of Nottingham. We are looking forward to giving even more people the opportunity to enjoy, create and take part in the arts.”

City Arts’ Creative Director, Madeline Holmes, explained how the organisation will use the funding:

“City Arts offers something unique to the city of Nottingham and we have big plans for the next few years. We will work with local and national partners to create spectacular events. We’ll explore how technology can inspire creativity in people who are, too often, excluded from the arts. Through our talent development programmes we will support the next generation of community artists.”

Peter Knott, Area Director, Arts Council England, said:

“Creative talent is everywhere but opportunity is not, which is why we’re delighted to be increasing our investment for City Arts to build on its work with local communities in Nottinghamshire, bringing people together through the arts. It’ll be great to see them reach new audiences and continue to engage people with art and culture, no matter what their background over the next four years .”

City Arts has been a National Portfolio Organisation since 2012, when the scheme began. The organisation targets those who are least engaged in the arts. It has used the funding to bring the arts into the lives of thousands people in and around Nottingham. Recent projects include: creating an inclusive and accessible troupe for Nottingham Carnival, featuring mobility scooter floats for older and disabled people; producing opening and closing ceremonies for the Cerebral Palsy World Games; and, leading the flagship arts and older people programme Imagine, which takes art and artists into Nottingham Care Homes.

Over the past three years City Arts helped to bring over £1 million in arts funding to Nottingham & Nottinghamshire.

In 2014, the charity moved in to new premises in Hockley offering a programme of public events and exhibitions created with community groups and vulnerable people. The organisation will celebrate its 40^th anniversary this year, starting September 2017.