In 2015 the Forres area won a Creative Place Award in recognition of its creative activity, cultural events and destinations. The award was led by Findhorn Bay Arts and enabled us to develop and deliver a range of projects:
Culture Day Forres 2015 & 2016 (£5,000)
Culture Day had previously showcased over 100 organisations with events taking place in town centres and local community hubs. The Creative Place award helped build on previous work, offering an enhanced programme of activity and promotion beyond Moray to draw visitors to the town.
Culture Café (£3,000)
Regular Culture Cafés will be hosted by local arts organisations, cultural venues and local food producers. Events will be held at different locations across Moray, focussing on network and development functions in Forres. The Creative Place award supports the costs towards 6 Culture Café events over the course of the programme.
Findhorn Bay Festival 2016 (£30,000)
Building on the success of the inaugural Findhorn Bay Arts Festival in 2014, Findhorn Bay Arts will produce a high quality biennial arts festival for 2016 – The Findhorn Bay Festival 2016. The Creative Place award will support some of the costs associated with local artists participating and enhance the core marketing activities of advertising and distribution out with Moray to attract greater numbers of visiting audiences to the area.
Findhorn Bay Arts also developed a number of local marketing initiatives with partners: contributing to and developing Forres Web to include arts and culture activities; signage at various venues for arts and cultural activities; Creative Place plaques at cultural venues; notice boards for arts and culture activity advertising
ProjectARTS (£20,000)
ProjectARTS supported the creation of a wide range of public art and creative work which connected with local businesses, community organisations and local residents to engage new audiences and pave a local creative legacy. Funds were allocated through an awards process over the course of the Creative Place programme.
ProjectARTS aimed to foster closer working practices between artists, business and community groups in the Forres area through developing creative projects or activities together and is now accepting applications and offers funding from £200 up to £2,000 for projects developed in the Forres area. Supported through Creative Place Award Winner 2015 funding, ProjectARTS ran from February 2016 until May 2017.
We continue to work to highlight and promote the Forres area as an all year round creative and cultural destination for locals, visitors and tourists to explore, experience and enjoy.
To find out more about the Forres area and the wider Moray Speyside region please visit www.visitforres.com and www.morayspeyside.com.
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