Mid Pennine Arts announces Project Pride artists

NEWS RELEASE: 20.04.11


Mid Pennine Arts announces Project Pride artists

Innovative arts programme to enhance civic pride in Accrington, Burnley & Nelson

MID Pennine Arts has this week announced the names of the artists who will be creative facilitators for Project Pride - the ground-breaking scheme that focuses on the heritage of Burnley, Accrington and Nelson.

The major new project is being supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund Young Roots programme, and organisers hope that research conducted over the next few months will help young people to interpret the heritage of three Pennine Lancashire towns for the local community.

In Burnley, theatre practitioner Paul Hine and filmmaker Gino Evans will be re-animating the heritage of Burnley’s Weavers’ Triangle with a piece of unique multi-media promenade theatre. They will be assisted by young people from Blessed Trinity RC College who are going to help set the scene, as audiences are transported back in time with smoke, mirrors, and some ultra modern technology!

In Accrington, Textile artist Lisa Watson is working with young people from Hollins Technology College. They’ll be creating a large-scale set of banners that will be hung in Accrington Market Hall echoing the history of the building and the stories of the shoppers, workers and stallholders that have passed through the building during the last century, with words and images on a colourful textile background.

In Nelson, creative facilitator and artist Karen Alderson will be working with a group of girls from Marsden Heights Community College. They’ll be looking at how Nelson has evolved over the years and the changing nature of trade in the town centre. The group will create an artwork for display in the ACE Centre and the exhibition launch will coincide with celebrations that are planned for the re-opening of Manchester Road through the town centre.

Lucy Green, Mid Pennine Arts’ project coordinator for Project Pride, said: ”Young people from Accrington, Burnley and Nelson are leading this project and are helping to redefine what makes their area unique. We hope that this process and the artwork that is produced will help encourage the community to celebrate their local area. “

Lucy added: “Ultimately we want to help inspire everyone involved in the project to think differently about our towns. There’s such a lot to be positive about across the towns of Pennine Lancashire and this project will tap into the latent civic pride that we all share about the towns where we live! ”

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Notes to Editors

If you require further information, images or would like to interview Lucy Green from Mid Pennine Arts - please call Julian Jordan from BrandSpankin’ on 01282 878 301 or email julian@brandspankin.co.uk.


About Mid Pennine Arts

We are a driving force for the arts, recognised nationally and internationally for devising and delivering integrated programmes that inspire, surprise and delight. We work in some of the most deprived communities in the UK yet have a longstanding track record of powerful, high quality work, demonstrating profound social and economic impacts. Our portfolio includes prize-winning public art for breathtaking landscape settings. Commissions of bold, contemporary work combine dynamically with exemplary programmes of creative learning and creative community engagement. Strong relationships with extensive networks of local partners have been consolidated over decades.

Our mission: we bring art, people and places together to transform perceptions and change lives.

Mid Pennine Arts Charity registration number 250642

http://www.midpenninearts.org.uk/project-pride