A Cultural Programme for the High Street
The High Streets Heritage Action Zones Programme is a nationwide initiative designed to secure lasting improvements to our historic high streets for the communities who use them.
The High Streets Heritage Action Zones Programme is funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and run by Historic England.
One of the major aims of the programme is to help people feel proud of where they live. The Cultural Programme is a key part of this.
Historic England is leading the Cultural Programme in partnership with Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which is awarding £3 million. The partnership has made £7.4 million available to fund four years of cultural activities to engage communities with their local high streets and celebrate the role and importance of these historic areas as hubs of the community.
The High Street Shuffle
Lincoln Cultural Arts Partnership (LCAP) was successful in achieving a £85,000 grant from Historic England for a 30-month programme of public arts and civic engagement along Lincoln’s High Street via the national High Street Heritage Action Zone Cultural Programme.
Lincoln’s High Street Shuffle is a two and a half year programme of public events, creative commissioning and capacity building to celebrate the place of the High Street in the city’s regeneration. With close involvement of local residents and the creative community, LCAP has planned linked interventions to highlight the renewal of the High Street now under way, and to reinforce its place in the city’s historic core.
‘The High Street Shuffle’ will provide family-friendly and accessible opportunities for cultural participation in the open air and celebrate and engage in the city’s rich heritage and support the regeneration of the city’s historic High Street and promote the safe re-opening of the High Street post-Covid19.
Major events will extend their reach in the High Street, creating Covid-secure dispersion of the crowds that attend. New events will come in to the city with renewed focus on the High Street and the local community. An innovative creative commission working with 1000 local young people will invigorate the High Street with a contemporary interpretation of its history and its future. The Shuffle will reach more than three hundred thousand people with the message that the High Street is coming back!
Frequency Festival 2021
Frequency Festival is proud to be a highlight in Lincoln’s cultural calendar. Since 2011, it has been bringing the city to life in creative ways. The High Street Heritage Action Zone cultural programme supported the tenth anniversary of Lincoln's popular Frequency Festival.
Below are a selection of photographs taken from the event:
Photo Credit: Electric Egg 2021 (courtesy of Frequency Festival)
Photo Credit: Electric Egg 2021 (courtesy of Frequency Festival)
Photo Credit: Electric Egg 2021 (courtesy of Frequency Festival)
Photo Credit: Electric Egg 2021 (courtesy of Frequency Festival)
Building cultural capacity in Lincoln
Lincoln has a burgeoning grass-roots creative ‘scene’. With a growing number of creative graduates within the city there is a lot of local and distinctive cultural activity, small events and early start-ups emerging that would benefit from early-career incubator support to retain young talent and innovation.
The High Street Shuffle’s capacity building programme aims to strengthen this network, skill-up future cultural change-makers and talent and encourage a pipeline of cultural business development for the future by supporting capacity-building within the city.
Lincoln Mashup will produce a range of training and development opportunities for local artists and creatives. The programme will act as a pilot for wider creative enterprise support and development aligned with Lincoln BIG with a focus on bringing productive activity back into underused High Street buildings.
Development of digital giving infrastructure common to all events in the public realm and capable of re-skinning to suit each, it is envisaged that this project will enhance sustainability of events by generating income, produce methods of encouraging visitors to explore the city more widely.
Bringing the Christmas market onto the lower High Street
Plans are well advanced for a significant new lighting feature to be commissioned for the High Street to extend the area of the Christmas Market area southwards.