Healthy living
Emma Anderson tells Simon Stephens why wellbeing is at the heart of Southport’s Atkinson arts centre
Southport’s motto of “salus populi”, meaning the health of the people, makes sense for a seaside resort that was developed for recuperation during the late 18th century.
More than 200 years later, health and wellbeing are still vital for the town but today it is related to its cultural offer.
The person overseeing this is Emma Anderson, the director of The Atkinson, a multi-use centre in Southport that combines a museum, art gallery, library and two theatres, including a cinema screen. This is Sefton Council’s flagship cultural venue and the borough’s arts development activities are also run from here.
The Atkinson opened in May 2013 follow- ing a £17m redevelopment that transformed the 19th-century building. The final phase of the scheme saw the opening of the museum in October 2014.
Wellbeing also defines the foundation of The Atkinson as its buildings were fund- ed by a wealthy wool merchant, William Atkinson, who spent time in the town with his ill wife. The art gallery and library he funded opened in 1878.
Anderson says that the centre aims to place health and wellbeing at the heart of everything it does. Its Creative Alternatives art-on-prescription service offers creative activities to adults in the area who are suffering from stress, anxiety or depression.
“We have a really, really strong arts and wellbeing programme but we want to expand that, so we focus on making sure everyone who comes through the door leaves feeling better in some way,” says Anderson, who joined Sefton Council in April 2013.
A focus on wellbeing makes particular sense in Southport, which, like many other coastal towns, has an ageing population, with many people acting as carers. Cuts to adult social care are having a big impact on people such as this and Anderson says it is vital to respond.
“We have to know how to open up our offer and open up the building so that people feel that if something they’ve been going to has closed, or is open less often, they can come here instead and feel welcome, comfortable and safe.”
Being a coastal resort, it’s not just about local residents, as Southport attracts about eight million visitors a year. As a result, the family market and cultural tourism are also important to Anderson.
“We are recognised as being the cultural hub for the borough and the centrepiece of the cultural tourist offer in Southport. We have to develop that cultural tourism offer and the challenge for us this summer is for people to come off the train, start their visit in the museum and then make their way down to the dunes or the beach. That inside- outside experience is something that we have started and need to keep pushing.”
Sefton has a lot to offer but it can be over- shadowed by bigger population centres, particularly Liverpool. The borough covers a long, thin strip of land that includes the well-known Antony Gormley Another Place sculptures on Crosby Beach and Aintree racecourse, home of the Grand National. Many people associate both these with Liverpool, although Anderson is philosophical about this.
“There’s no point getting upset about it but we have an opportunity to shout a bit louder about what we’ve got,” she says.
“So this year we want to celebrate a decade of Another Place, and we’re working with Antony Gormley on a project that will look ahead as well as celebrate the fact that it’s probably one of the most popular pieces of public art after his Angel of the North.”
Many of the stories about Sefton are told in The Atkinson’s museum, in the Between Land and Sea galleries, which include the history of the Grand National and South- port’s development as a coastal resort centred on health and wellbeing.
They are also displays about Bootle Docks, which were heavily bombed during the second world war, and Formby Beach, where animals and people have left semi-fossilised footprints that are up to 7,500 years old. Sefton also has the Goodison collection, a small but important collection of artefacts from ancient Egypt.
The collections were brought together as part of the creation of The Atkinson. The museum and art gallery are now run by Anderson alongside The Atkinson’s other cultural offerings. “We don’t know if there’s another local authority venue that combines a library, museum, art gallery, two theatres, including a cinema, and the cafe and the shop, as well as arts development and learning programmes. For a local authority to run all of that in one venue is very interesting.”
Anderson has had a varied career that she says has prepared her well for the challenges of setting up the new structure needed to run The Atkinson. She has worked at the Royal Festival Hall and the Serpentine Gallery in London and The Lowry in Salford. She was also a partner- ships manager at Renaissance North West based at Manchester Art Gallery.
“It is an extraordinary role to have now, that brings together all these different threads, so I can go back and mine all the experience I’ve developed,” she says.
Anderson says she has often had to set up projects from scratch and has worked across different disciplines at her previous organisations. She has also benefited from the experience of fellow arts professionals, including Virginia Tandy (a former director of Manchester City Galleries), Tristram Besterman (a former director of Manchester Museum) and Gordon Watson (the chief executive of Lakeland Arts Trust).
“I’ve learned an awful lot from watching people over a really long time, and now I can do it. And that was the feeling I got when I started here – I knew exactly what I needed to do. It sounds a bit arrogant, but it’s not. It’s just that it’s not that difficult, you just have to be really clear.”
Nevertheless, creating a new structure that has effectively combined five organisations into one has been hard on staff, as Anderson readily acknowledges.
“I don’t like it when people in my role say: ‘Oh yes, I have to make terribly difficult decisions.
"It’s not that difficult. When you are the director it’s very clear that you’re not going to lose your job, so you shouldn’t make a big deal out of it. You’re paid to make difficult decisions. It’s the people who lose their jobs – they’re having a really rubbish time.”
Anderson says she has tried to make the process as painless as possible and has listened to people’s concerns and suggestions during the consultation process. She has also tried to protect the lower-level and entry-level posts.
Nine posts have been lost and there are now 43 staff at The Atkinson. The management structure has been reduced from six to three.
“In comparison with places such as Liverpool and Manchester which have such critical mass, there’s almost nothing left to cut here.
So that’s why I had to think: ‘Well we can’t just fiddle about, we have to completely rethink this.’ So there’s the negative of doing that in the context of having to make quite significant savings, but the positive is getting the structure that we need.”
To help make sure that The Atkinson is a financially sustainable organisation, Anderson has spent considerable time developing a fundraising strategy, including setting up an independent trust to oversee this work.
The opening of the museum was marked with the launch of founder patrons and a membership scheme is also planned. Anderson says funding has already been secured from a number of sources, including Arts Council England, the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the Esmée Fairbairn/Museums Association Collections Fund.
Anderson now feels she has a structure in place where The Atkinson can move for- ward and develop its programming across all the artforms it offers.
“I came here loving opportunities to pro- gramme across disciplines, and maximise audiences across disciplines. We need to be ambitious. I don’t want anything to stop us being the best we possibly can be.”
The Atkinson opened in May 2013 following a £17m redevelopment that transformed a 19th-century building into a multi-use cultural venue. The final phase of the scheme saw the opening of the museum in October 2014.
The centre, which is owned by Sefton Council, combines a museum, art gallery, library and two theatres, including a cinema screen.
The museum has two exhibitions: Between Land and Sea – 10,000 Years of Sefton’s Coast; and Discover Ancient Egypt.
The Atkinson also has almost 5,000 works of art from the 17th to the 21st centuries. The Atkinson employs 43 staff.
Emma Anderson became the director of The Atkinson arts centre, Southport,
in April 2013. She was Renaissance North West’s partnerships manager, based at Manchester Art Gallery, from 2004 to 2013. Before that she was senior curator: exhibitions at The Lowry in Salford.
From 1996 to 1999 she was visual arts and photography officer at North West Arts. She has also worked at the Royal Festival Hall and the Serpentine Gallery in London.
Photographs by Phil Sayer
More than 200 years later, health and wellbeing are still vital for the town but today it is related to its cultural offer.
The person overseeing this is Emma Anderson, the director of The Atkinson, a multi-use centre in Southport that combines a museum, art gallery, library and two theatres, including a cinema screen. This is Sefton Council’s flagship cultural venue and the borough’s arts development activities are also run from here.
The Atkinson opened in May 2013 follow- ing a £17m redevelopment that transformed the 19th-century building. The final phase of the scheme saw the opening of the museum in October 2014.
Wellbeing also defines the foundation of The Atkinson as its buildings were fund- ed by a wealthy wool merchant, William Atkinson, who spent time in the town with his ill wife. The art gallery and library he funded opened in 1878.
Anderson says that the centre aims to place health and wellbeing at the heart of everything it does. Its Creative Alternatives art-on-prescription service offers creative activities to adults in the area who are suffering from stress, anxiety or depression.
“We have a really, really strong arts and wellbeing programme but we want to expand that, so we focus on making sure everyone who comes through the door leaves feeling better in some way,” says Anderson, who joined Sefton Council in April 2013.
A focus on wellbeing makes particular sense in Southport, which, like many other coastal towns, has an ageing population, with many people acting as carers. Cuts to adult social care are having a big impact on people such as this and Anderson says it is vital to respond.
“We have to know how to open up our offer and open up the building so that people feel that if something they’ve been going to has closed, or is open less often, they can come here instead and feel welcome, comfortable and safe.”
Being a coastal resort, it’s not just about local residents, as Southport attracts about eight million visitors a year. As a result, the family market and cultural tourism are also important to Anderson.
“We are recognised as being the cultural hub for the borough and the centrepiece of the cultural tourist offer in Southport. We have to develop that cultural tourism offer and the challenge for us this summer is for people to come off the train, start their visit in the museum and then make their way down to the dunes or the beach. That inside- outside experience is something that we have started and need to keep pushing.”
Sefton has a lot to offer but it can be over- shadowed by bigger population centres, particularly Liverpool. The borough covers a long, thin strip of land that includes the well-known Antony Gormley Another Place sculptures on Crosby Beach and Aintree racecourse, home of the Grand National. Many people associate both these with Liverpool, although Anderson is philosophical about this.
“There’s no point getting upset about it but we have an opportunity to shout a bit louder about what we’ve got,” she says.
“So this year we want to celebrate a decade of Another Place, and we’re working with Antony Gormley on a project that will look ahead as well as celebrate the fact that it’s probably one of the most popular pieces of public art after his Angel of the North.”
Many of the stories about Sefton are told in The Atkinson’s museum, in the Between Land and Sea galleries, which include the history of the Grand National and South- port’s development as a coastal resort centred on health and wellbeing.
They are also displays about Bootle Docks, which were heavily bombed during the second world war, and Formby Beach, where animals and people have left semi-fossilised footprints that are up to 7,500 years old. Sefton also has the Goodison collection, a small but important collection of artefacts from ancient Egypt.
The collections were brought together as part of the creation of The Atkinson. The museum and art gallery are now run by Anderson alongside The Atkinson’s other cultural offerings. “We don’t know if there’s another local authority venue that combines a library, museum, art gallery, two theatres, including a cinema, and the cafe and the shop, as well as arts development and learning programmes. For a local authority to run all of that in one venue is very interesting.”
Anderson has had a varied career that she says has prepared her well for the challenges of setting up the new structure needed to run The Atkinson. She has worked at the Royal Festival Hall and the Serpentine Gallery in London and The Lowry in Salford. She was also a partner- ships manager at Renaissance North West based at Manchester Art Gallery.
“It is an extraordinary role to have now, that brings together all these different threads, so I can go back and mine all the experience I’ve developed,” she says.
Anderson says she has often had to set up projects from scratch and has worked across different disciplines at her previous organisations. She has also benefited from the experience of fellow arts professionals, including Virginia Tandy (a former director of Manchester City Galleries), Tristram Besterman (a former director of Manchester Museum) and Gordon Watson (the chief executive of Lakeland Arts Trust).
“I’ve learned an awful lot from watching people over a really long time, and now I can do it. And that was the feeling I got when I started here – I knew exactly what I needed to do. It sounds a bit arrogant, but it’s not. It’s just that it’s not that difficult, you just have to be really clear.”
Nevertheless, creating a new structure that has effectively combined five organisations into one has been hard on staff, as Anderson readily acknowledges.
“I don’t like it when people in my role say: ‘Oh yes, I have to make terribly difficult decisions.
"It’s not that difficult. When you are the director it’s very clear that you’re not going to lose your job, so you shouldn’t make a big deal out of it. You’re paid to make difficult decisions. It’s the people who lose their jobs – they’re having a really rubbish time.”
Anderson says she has tried to make the process as painless as possible and has listened to people’s concerns and suggestions during the consultation process. She has also tried to protect the lower-level and entry-level posts.
Nine posts have been lost and there are now 43 staff at The Atkinson. The management structure has been reduced from six to three.
“In comparison with places such as Liverpool and Manchester which have such critical mass, there’s almost nothing left to cut here.
So that’s why I had to think: ‘Well we can’t just fiddle about, we have to completely rethink this.’ So there’s the negative of doing that in the context of having to make quite significant savings, but the positive is getting the structure that we need.”
To help make sure that The Atkinson is a financially sustainable organisation, Anderson has spent considerable time developing a fundraising strategy, including setting up an independent trust to oversee this work.
The opening of the museum was marked with the launch of founder patrons and a membership scheme is also planned. Anderson says funding has already been secured from a number of sources, including Arts Council England, the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the Esmée Fairbairn/Museums Association Collections Fund.
Anderson now feels she has a structure in place where The Atkinson can move for- ward and develop its programming across all the artforms it offers.
“I came here loving opportunities to pro- gramme across disciplines, and maximise audiences across disciplines. We need to be ambitious. I don’t want anything to stop us being the best we possibly can be.”
The Atkinson at a glance
The Atkinson opened in May 2013 following a £17m redevelopment that transformed a 19th-century building into a multi-use cultural venue. The final phase of the scheme saw the opening of the museum in October 2014.
The centre, which is owned by Sefton Council, combines a museum, art gallery, library and two theatres, including a cinema screen.
The museum has two exhibitions: Between Land and Sea – 10,000 Years of Sefton’s Coast; and Discover Ancient Egypt.
The Atkinson also has almost 5,000 works of art from the 17th to the 21st centuries. The Atkinson employs 43 staff.
Emma Anderson at a glance
Emma Anderson became the director of The Atkinson arts centre, Southport,
in April 2013. She was Renaissance North West’s partnerships manager, based at Manchester Art Gallery, from 2004 to 2013. Before that she was senior curator: exhibitions at The Lowry in Salford.
From 1996 to 1999 she was visual arts and photography officer at North West Arts. She has also worked at the Royal Festival Hall and the Serpentine Gallery in London.
Photographs by Phil Sayer