The ‘Grand Tour’ will take place across Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire after a successful application for £350,000 of arts funding.
Nottingham Contemporary and partners were one of ten applicants to benefit from the £3 million Cultural Destinations investment pot to increase tourism engagement.
The Cultural Destinations programme is part of the three-year partnership between the Arts Council and VisitEngland, the national tourist board.
The programme will enable arts and cultural organisations, working in partnership with Destination Management Organisations, to increase their reach, engagement and resilience through working with the tourism sector.
Nottingham Contemporary has joined forces with Derby Museums, the Harley Foundation, Chatsworth House Trust and local tourism partners, Visit Peak District and Experience Nottinghamshire, to offer an innovative project based on the notion of a modern ‘Grand Tour’.
Visitors will be offered the opportunity to see previously unseen works of art from the Baroque and Enlightenment periods, alongside the work of leading contemporary artists.
At least £856 million of annual spending by tourists visiting the UK can be attributed to directly to arts and culture, but there is plenty of unexploited potential in the sector to do even more. The ten successful awards will run from March 2014 for a maximum of three years.
The successful application was helped by D2N2, the Local Enterprise Partnership for Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
Chief Executive David Ralph said: “Through revenue from our Growing Places Fund, we were able to give funding to the development of the business plan and the application.
“This allowed local cultural stakeholders to lead this bid and concentrate on the most effective programme which has helped result in this successful outcome, which is great news for the whole area.”
Alan Davey, Chief Executive, Arts Council England said: “The Cultural Destinations programme is one of a number of steps which Arts Council England and VisitEngland is taking to stimulate domestic tourism as well as helping draw increased visitors to these shores for the benefit of the sector, local communities and critically, to help grow the economy.
‘It will be great to see the development opportunities which these initiatives will provide; we believe in the value of cultural tourism and we are confident that the successful applicants will rise to the challenge of engaging the public on a national, as well as international scale.’
Culture Secretary Maria Miller said: ‘We know our arts, culture and heritage is a huge draw for the millions of international visitors and domestic tourists who choose to holiday in Britain each year. This programme is a fantastic example of the two sectors working even more closely, to ensure the huge variety of cultural and artistic events on offer throughout the length and breadth of the UK encourages even more visitors, boosting economic growth.”
