A £3 million joint fund called Celebrating Age has been created by Arts Council England using National Lottery funding and the Baring Foundation, a decades-old fund that tackles discrimination.
Celebrating Age addresses the issue of engaging older people in arts and culture, following a study which has shown that participation drops significantly in those over the age of 75.
Amongst the sixteen nationwide grants are Winchester-based Hat Fair and South East London's Albany.
Primarily known for the annual Winchester outdoor arts event, Hat Fair has a year-round programme of events and this funding will enable a Hampshire–wide tour of last year's Four Score Years And Ten, a production based on the stories of six Winchester 90-year-olds.
Hat Fair will also work with Core at Corby Cube to create The Recycled Silent Movie using film held at Hampshire Records Office; the new silent movie will have a specially composed soundtrack by Jonathan Best.
The Albany arts centre in Deptford will be developing its Meet Me at… project which began three years ago with Entelechy Arts as an alternative to daycare, aiming to help vulnerable older people to create and experience art and now includes dance projects, a film club and cultural trips.
In partnership with housing association Lewisham Homes, ‘pop-up’ versions of Meet Me at… were piloted and this funding will support the development of the Meet Me at Lewisham Homes programme, including commissioning 18 artists to work on the programme over three years.
Other theatre–based award recipients are Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire Theatre Trust, Leeds Theatre Trust Limited, Farnham Maltings Association and Live Theatre Winchester Trust.
Other funding announced is that £2.34 million from Arts Council England's National Lottery funded Ambition for Excellence programme will be shared between four organisations.
These are:
- Corn Exchange (Newbury) Trust, South East, £747,250—this funding will support and develop the work of 101, the UK’s principal centre for the creation of outdoor arts
- Pop Up Projects, South East, £341,883—an international exchange mentoring scheme focused on the work of young visual artists will be funded from this programme
- Liverpool City Council, North, £750,000—this funding will commission Heading for Home, a programme involving world renowned artists and home grown creative talent
- Jerwood Charitable Foundation, London, £498,555—this funding will help create a peer network of 40 organisations and 40 talented graduates from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds across the UK
ACE envisages that over 80% of Ambition for Excellence funding will go outside of London; its overall target is that a minimum of 75 per cent of National Lottery funding is committed outside the capital by 2018.