Government culture chief visits Pendle

Sajjad Javed with Alson Goode and Andrew Stephenson

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Sajid Javid, was in both Brierfield and Colne to see two local buildings involved with the local arts scene.

In Brierfield, he visited the town’s library, one of two in Pendle to have undergone a big refurbishment in recent years – the library had a £500,000 refurbishment in 2012.

There, he and Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson met with local arts group InSitu, who received a £90,000 Arts Council grant in 2013, to discuss their current work.

This includes projects with international artists from Pakistan and Mexico, as well as art installations at Brierfield Mill.

From there, he visited the Muni Theatre in Colne. The Arts Council doesn’t fund the Muni directly but it is working with Pendle Leisure Trust to expand the programming at the venue (£153,638 in January, 2015). At the Muni, he discussed Arts Council funding and other programmes including the touring Theatre Tax Credit scheme with Alison Goode and other representatives of Pendle Leisure Trust.

Mr Stephenson said: “I was delighted that the Secretary of State took time out of his busy schedule to visit Pendle.

“We have a thriving local arts scene with numerous groups doing fantastic work across Pendle, so it was hard to choose which projects to show him.

“I know he was really impressed by what he saw and hope he can support the work of even more of our local groups.”