Hull’s preparations for its year as City of Culture in 2017 received a welcome boost in May, when its team won £3m in funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
According to Martin Green, the chief executive of Hull City of Culture, the organisation is confident it will exceed its fundraising target of £18m by the end of the year.
“We’re into production now,” he says. “We had broadly the whole year’s programme by Easter and we’re now setting about making that rock-solid.
“We are in a perfect storm of circumstance. There is a broad appreciation that having a national cultural quadrennial is a good idea.
On this occasion, we’re in the north when the Northern Powerhouse narrative is very strong. A lot of people saw this as the opportunity to make some cultural investment.”
The first part of the programme for 2017 will be announced in September.
“It’s the full programme for the first season, Made in Hull, which lasts for
three months,” adds Green.
“We’ll also announce some highlights for the rest of the year to give everyone an idea of the shape of the year.”
What is already known is that Hull New Theatre will reopen next summer, following a £16m refurbishment programme.
Hull University, one of Hull 2017’s strategic partners, has a new exhibition space at Brynmor Jones Library that reopened in 2015 following a £28m redevelopment.
The city’s Ferens Art Gallery, which will reopen next year following a £4.5m refit, will host next year’s Turner Prize exhibition from September 2017.
Simon Green is the cultural services director for Hull Culture and Leisure, a company created in 2015 to run Hull City Council’s leisure services, including libraries, museums and parks. He says the Ferens will reopen with a rehang, followed by an open submission exhibition.
“It’s really popular locally, so we know people will travel and submit,” Green says.
A 14th-century painting by Pietro Lorenzetti, bought in 2013, will return from the National Gallery, where it has been undergoing conservation work. “One of the things we’re going to try to do more of is tell the story of the Ferens,” says Green.
Regional initiatives
He is also involved with regional initiatives planned for 2017, including exhibitions at museums outside Hull. “It’s about saying ‘go and look at some of the great things in East Riding and north Lincolnshire and then come back and look at more stuff in the city’,” adds Green.
In May, Arts Council England announced that a proportion of a £1.3m funding pot would help the City of Culture support artistic touring productions across different communities. This is in addition to a £750,000 grant announced the same month for Hull to support “the delivery of outdoor spectacle and site-specific work”.
The arts council says the award “will help to increase the quality and ambition of the outdoor arts sector, particularly across the north”.
Hull is also in the process of revitalising its maritime heritage offer. In May, Hull City Council launched a public consultation over its regeneration strategy, Hull: Yorkshire’s Maritime City, which could overhaul attractions including the city’s Maritime Museum, museum ship the Arctic Corsair and the Spurn Lightship. The process is expected to take two to three years, before any final decisions are made.
www.hull2017.co.uk
According to Martin Green, the chief executive of Hull City of Culture, the organisation is confident it will exceed its fundraising target of £18m by the end of the year.
“We’re into production now,” he says. “We had broadly the whole year’s programme by Easter and we’re now setting about making that rock-solid.
“We are in a perfect storm of circumstance. There is a broad appreciation that having a national cultural quadrennial is a good idea.
On this occasion, we’re in the north when the Northern Powerhouse narrative is very strong. A lot of people saw this as the opportunity to make some cultural investment.”
The first part of the programme for 2017 will be announced in September.
“It’s the full programme for the first season, Made in Hull, which lasts for
three months,” adds Green.
“We’ll also announce some highlights for the rest of the year to give everyone an idea of the shape of the year.”
What is already known is that Hull New Theatre will reopen next summer, following a £16m refurbishment programme.
Hull University, one of Hull 2017’s strategic partners, has a new exhibition space at Brynmor Jones Library that reopened in 2015 following a £28m redevelopment.
The city’s Ferens Art Gallery, which will reopen next year following a £4.5m refit, will host next year’s Turner Prize exhibition from September 2017.
Simon Green is the cultural services director for Hull Culture and Leisure, a company created in 2015 to run Hull City Council’s leisure services, including libraries, museums and parks. He says the Ferens will reopen with a rehang, followed by an open submission exhibition.
“It’s really popular locally, so we know people will travel and submit,” Green says.
A 14th-century painting by Pietro Lorenzetti, bought in 2013, will return from the National Gallery, where it has been undergoing conservation work. “One of the things we’re going to try to do more of is tell the story of the Ferens,” says Green.
Regional initiatives
He is also involved with regional initiatives planned for 2017, including exhibitions at museums outside Hull. “It’s about saying ‘go and look at some of the great things in East Riding and north Lincolnshire and then come back and look at more stuff in the city’,” adds Green.
In May, Arts Council England announced that a proportion of a £1.3m funding pot would help the City of Culture support artistic touring productions across different communities. This is in addition to a £750,000 grant announced the same month for Hull to support “the delivery of outdoor spectacle and site-specific work”.
The arts council says the award “will help to increase the quality and ambition of the outdoor arts sector, particularly across the north”.
Hull is also in the process of revitalising its maritime heritage offer. In May, Hull City Council launched a public consultation over its regeneration strategy, Hull: Yorkshire’s Maritime City, which could overhaul attractions including the city’s Maritime Museum, museum ship the Arctic Corsair and the Spurn Lightship. The process is expected to take two to three years, before any final decisions are made.
www.hull2017.co.uk