It has been an exciting time for us over the last few years and partly through our initiatives, I am happy to say that Glossop is a more creative place than ever.
As it states on our homepage, we aim to to harness this energy and passion of the creative community and to use it to support the economic development of the town. I believe that over the last couple of years, and with the development and launch of Glossop Creates we have delivered.
With this in mind, I thought it worth devoting a post to looking at what has been achieved since we started working with what became the Glossop Creates team on the project in 2019. In that time we have:
- Worked with local creatives and placemaking consultants to develop the Glossop Creates Strategy
- recruited Ant Bullivant and OTF creative who developed the Glossop Creates brand on our behalf.
- Supported the writing and securing of the Arts Council England bid, and secured funding form HPBC to support the launch of the project
- Recruited a community Community Producer who has gone on to become a full time place maker in the area
- Worked with the Kin.Der team to secure their new home at Glossop Gasworks, and supported their first few months in their new home to help them get established
- Through all this our partner Claire Tymon had the opportunity, alongside working with us to develop the Glossop Creates initiative, to start her own place making consultancy Local.
Having launched Local, it seemed appropriate that this new organisation, focused on the use of Culture and the Arts in creating a sense of identity n Glossop and across the region, should become new home of Glossop Creates to take it forward.
So what of the future?
For Local & Glossop Creates, they have secured additional ACE funding, which will build on the work that the team have already done, and we look forward to continuing to work with the team on the project going forward.
For us, in 2023, we are looking to focus Live music, as this was an area that was somewhat overlooking by the Glossop Creates programme. In the coming year we hope to work with local musicians, promoters and venues to revitalise the live music scene in the town, that has been so devastated by the events of the last few years. To kick this off, we are working with the local Round Table group (Organisers of the Manor Park Fireworks, and last years Heritage Weekend festival) to bring back the Town Hall Sessions Music Festival in 2023. Whilst we are still finalising funding for the event, we would hope to be able to make further announcements in the coming weeks
In addition, we will continue to play our part working with organisations like, The Victoria Arts Centre team and High Peak Borough Council championing the development of Glossop’s public halls into a resource that we hope will become the cultural heart of the town.
The last few years have been Challenging , but at the same time rewarding, and we look forward to playing our roll in the next chapter in the next chapter of Glossop story.
I started the organisation that has now become The Glossop Create Trust over ten years ago. One of my key aims in creating the organisation was to promote Music Arts and Culture and to ensure that it was central to the identity of the town going forward. Whilst this is still a work in progress, I think the current direction of travel, and the events of the past few years suggest we are on the right track.
