Great news this week as Arts Council England announced the 10 destinations across England which have been successful in securing funding from a new ACE/VisitEngland Cultural Destinations programme: a joint proposal from Bath and Bristol has won £350,000 to be spent on creating cultural collaborations across the area.
The grant will help to fund a three year project aimed at bringing together the tourism industry and the arts and cultural attractions in both cities.
A coordinated approach by Bath and Bristol will help put the region on the map for cultural tourists, who do not necessarily appreciate how close the two cities are.
Bath Festivals, the Holburne Museum, the American Museum in Britain, the Bath Preservation Trust, the Cultural Forum for the Bath Area are amongst the organisations taking part in the initiative.
This is great news for the visitor economy of Bath and North East Somerset. This project will lever greater economic impact from existing visitors to Bath and Bristol, encouraging them to stay longer and discover further cultural experiences and, alongside this, will present the critical mass of the two destinations to potential new cultural markets.
It is a major step change in collaborative working between the cultural and tourist sectors and the two cities.
