Grant funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund will help create a new heritage arts trail across Chesterfield town centre – to allow residents and visitors connect with the town’s history.
‘A Sense of Chesterfield’ has been awarded almost £80,000 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, made possible thanks to National Lottery players. With additional funding from Chesterfield Borough Council’s Animate Chesterfield programme a tactile heritage trail will be created with new heritage information boards, digital content, and public artworks.
Councillor Tricia Gilby, leader of Chesterfield Borough Council, said: “Chesterfield has a rich history, and this project will help bring that to life for both visitors and residents. Thank you to The National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery players for supporting this project because it will help draw visitors in and create new things to see in our town. I look forward to working with a wide range of partners to develop this project and ensure that we can tell the story of Chesterfield in a fun and engaging way.”
There are several organisations that will work together to develop this project, including community groups like the Chesterfield Civic Society, Chesterfield and District Local History Society, Chesterfield Canal Trust and Derbyshire Victoria County History.
Howard Borrell, Chair of Chesterfield and District Civic Society, said: “I am very pleased that funding has been obtained by Beam to develop ‘A sense of Chesterfield’ that will see the creation of a tactile heritage trail with linked information boards, digital content and artwork. It will be great to see work to develop the Chesterfield story get underway. The town has a great history – it just needs conveying innovatively in ways that will connect with both visitors and locals alike.”
Members of the community will also be able to help shape the trail through a series of workshops and visits to schools and community organisations.
The tactile trail will include the creation of new artworks, funded through the Animate Chesterfield programme, to help enhance the trail and make it more fun and engaging for a wider audience.
Animate Chesterfield is a public art programme which will create new artworks and activities for visitors throughout the regeneration programmes happening in both Chesterfield and Staveley.
It is organised by Chesterfield Borough Council and delivered by Beam, a leading cultural development organisation.
Funding for the public art project was secured through planning agreements as part of the council’s percent for art scheme, which was part of the previous Local Plan (and now continues on a voluntary basis), and the funding must be used for the delivery of public art.
To find out more about Animate Chesterfield, visit: www.chesterfield.gov.uk/animate
