Preston City Council have announced today (Thursday, 15 April) that they have been successful in securing a £841,647 grant from the DCMS Cultural Recovery Fund, and will soon be announcing a full line up for the brand new Preston Live Arts Festival which is due to take place in the city 21-30 June.

The festival will celebrate arts, culture, and homegrown talent in Preston.

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Preston Live Arts Festival will be delivered by renowned theatre producers Selladoor Worldwide and will include family entertainment, live theatre, dance, music, contemporary art and comedy hosted at landmark venues across the city.

Adrian Phillips, Chief Executive of Preston City Council, said: “Receiving the DCMS Cultural Recovery Fund grant is fantastic news for Preston and will support the Covid recovery of the city and the journey towards re-opening and welcoming visitors back.

“This will be welcome news for the cultural sector and Preston’s artists and performers who have been greatly affected by the pandemic.

“The Preston Live programme will attract visitors to the city and build consumer confidence, having a positive impact on local businesses who have been hardest hit by the pandemic.

“We are pleased to be working with Selladoor Worldwide to rebuild a live performance programme and audience for Preston and position arts and culture as a key catalyst for the growth and development of the city.

“We are grateful to the DCMS and Arts Council England for the investment to deliver this exciting programme.”

David Hutchinson CEO of Selladoor Worldwide said: “We couldn’t be happier to be working with Preston City Council to deliver an exciting programme of cultural events this summer to celebrate arts and culture in this fantastic city.

“As we all know it has been an incredibly tough year across the creative industry and we hope this programme will help to kick start the re-emergence of the live arts as we move out of lockdown whilst also offering the people of Preston some exciting, imaginative and much-needed live entertainment.”

As part of the festival Selladoor are looking to collaborate with local creatives and will be commissioning work from artists across the spectrum of Drama, Dance and Spoken Word with the aim of curating three Scratch Nights centred around the theme of ‘Lockdown Stories’, alongside work from local visual artists as part of their ‘Preston Awakens’ programme.

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There will be more news on headlining acts and a full programme of events soon.

To find out how you could be involved, submit a commission or to join the mailing list for the latest news on Preston Live Arts Festival visit www.preston.live and follow at @PrestonArtsLive #PrestonLive.

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