ESSEX County Council, Arts Council England and Heritage Lottery Fund are coming together to stage an event on 28th June aimed at stimulating activity in the Heritage, Culture and Arts across Essex. This major initiative will include workshops aimed at voluntary groups involved in such activity, helping them understand what sources of funding are available and how best to apply.

The event will take place at the Essex Record Office, Chelmsford on Tuesday 28 June where there will be representatives from the Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery, Big Lottery, SHARE Museums East and Museums Essex who can offer advice and guidance on applying for funding through their organisations.

Cllr John Spence, Essex County Council Cabinet Member with responsibility for Heritage, Culture and the Arts, said: “Having lived in Essex for 36 years I have come to understand what a brilliant and diverse county it is. So often we underestimate the scale of our heritage, ranging from Colchester and St Peters chapel in Bradwell through our medieval towns and villages to the great symbols of human achievement such as optic fibres at Harlow, radio in Chelmsford and the Stow Maries airfield. Our intensely active culture and arts sectors add to the richness of the county and all of these help make Essex a better place in which to live, work and play. So it is critical that we do everything to understand how those directly involved can gain the resources to help their organisations prosper.”

“I’m proud to say that there is now a very strong network of creative, intelligent, hard-working people who are experienced in developing projects and successfully attaining funding and it is time we harnessed that. It is imperative that we get these inspirational people together in one room and see how we can take further advantage of this excellent opportunity.”

Hedley Swain, Area Director, South East, Arts Council England, said: “We are really pleased to be able to develop our partnership with Essex County Council and it will help to further our ambition to reach more audiences across Essex. Working together we can explore how our collective investment, along with support from other stakeholders across the county, can better support artists, arts and cultural organisations in Essex.

“We know that local authority budgets remain under considerable pressure and so we welcome this commitment to supporting arts and culture from both Councillor Spence and Essex County Council.”

The Maximising Cultural Partnerships, Ideas and Opportunities event will run from 4pm until 6.30pm on Tuesday 28th June at the Essex Record Office, Chelmsford.

Individuals and organisations responsible for identifying and applying for arts, heritage and cultural funding are encouraged to attend so as to take advantage of the expert advice on offer.

If you’d like to learn more and request attendance email [email protected]