Capital and culture: £20m boost for your favourite venues

Turn the pages of this edition of The Shuttle, and you’ll find it packed with stories celebrating culture.

The incredible National Festival of Making, the brilliant British Textile Biennial, the work of Uncultured Creatives, our beloved museum – now in its 150th year – the new home for The Bureau, DECADE in Darwen, the Museum of the Moon at the Cathedral… the impressive list goes on and on.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Phil Riley says, proudly, 

I bumped into a visitor at the Festival of Making, and they told me our borough is becoming the place for culture. 

With the high street and town centres evolving, the shift towards regeneration through culture is a key part of the council’s ambitious £1bn growth plan – recently boosted by £20m of new government funding.

This will bring much-needed investment in:

• King George’s Hall – the jewel in the crown of Blackburn’s new Cultural Quarter and the largest performance venue in Lancashire
• Tony’s Empress Ballroom – the historic dance hall with famous connections to the Northern Soul movement
• The Exchange – an iconic Grade II-listed building, best remembered as the old cinema, now home to groundbreaking art installations and the international adidas Spezial exhibition
• Imperial Mill – a grand former cotton mill, recently acquired by the council to help safeguard its future
• The Making Rooms – read all about its exciting expansion plans on pages 20 and 21

Councillor Riley says, 

We’re incredibly proud of our rich culture and historic buildings. 

This new funding will provide a fantastic boost, delivering benefits for our towns and communities.

Blackburn with Darwen is also renowned for partnership working, and some of the best examples can be seen in how we’re regenerating our towns through culture – a real team effort that is truly making a difference.

In addition, an impressive £760,000 has been secured through Arts Council England’s (ACE) Place Partnership grants – strategic, place-based investments designed to make a long-term impact on the cultural and creative life of local communities.

Proudly, Blackburn with Darwen is already home to four Arts Council National Portfolio Organisations: Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, the National Festival of Making, the British Textile Biennial, and Culturapedia, as well as the Super Slow Way Creative People and Places programme.

As for the £20m investment, work is already underway on the biggest project at King George’s Hall (pictured), which will be closed for renovations throughout 2025.

You can follow the progress by checking out King George’s Hall on Facebook.

In the meantime, there’s a packed programme at Darwen Library Theatre — another venue set to benefit from new investment