Northampton wins £20,000 funding to boost town's cultural offering

Ten partners, including the borough council, Royal & Derngate and Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust helped to submit the bid for cash.

A group of ten partners, brought together by Northampton Borough Council, submitted the bid for 'Cultural Compact' backing, which will fund a role to assist in the development of an 'ambitious vision' for the town.

The cultural board wants to make Northampton a destination of choice in which to live, work and study, and with the continued development of the Cultural Quarter, to attract 'world-class' creative talent and promote the town as a visitor destination.

It will support other initiatives already underway, such as Northampton Forward, which could attract some £25 million worth of funding to improve the centre.

Jo Gordon, chief executive of Royal & Derngate, added: “This initiative will see key representatives from education, heritage, the visitor economy, and the creative industries work in partnership with Northampton Borough Council and other private and public stakeholders to forge a bold vision for our often overlooked town, helping us to reposition Northampton as a major creative centre, where talent, ideas and enterprise come together.”

The newly formed culture board will shortly be seeking an 'exceptional individual' to help it drive its activities with further details of the role and selection process to be announced in the near future.

Councillor Anna King, Northampton Borough Council Cabinet member for community engagement and safety, said: “We have significant assets in this area – from Royal & Derngate to The Deco theatres, an unrivalled shoe collection at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery to the fantastic Rennie Mackintosh house at 78 Derngate.

“This provides an extremely strong base to build on and with the expertise and enthusiasm involved in this project, I have no doubt at all that we have the capacity to create something really special in Northampton.”