Seven consortium applications were successful and have been awarded a total of just under £16 million over three years. The consortium bid led by Lincolnshire’s ArtsNK will bring £2,592,183 over three years to develop arts provision in South Holland and Boston.

The other recipients are:

Woodhorn Charitable Trust North East £2,461,400

Blackpool Coastal Housing North West £3,000,000

Darts (Doncaster Community Arts) Yorkshire £2,570,924

Stoke on Trent and North Staffordshire West Mids £2,999,431

Theatre Trust Ltd

Studio 3 Arts London £ 838,500

Swale and Medway South East £1,476,000

The Creative people and places programme focuses on parts of the country where people’s involvement in the arts is significantly below the national average* and takes a new approach by allowing communities and grass roots organisations to play a leading part in inspiring others to get involved with the arts.

The projects all employ innovative ideas for reaching new audiences. Transported will develop inventive ways of getting people involved in the arts where they live, meet and work, providing inspirational experiences and empowering local people to take the lead in shaping their own arts provision. The programme covers Boston and South Holland in Lincolnshire, bringing together partnerships of community groups, haulage companies, employers and artists to ensure that every village, estate and community has access to high quality arts.

As part of the project lorries and vans will be transformed into flexible artwork and arts spaces, touring to local festivals, schools, workplaces, towns and villages, providing opportunities for people to get involved with art on their doorstep.

Alan Davey, Chief Executive, Arts Council England said: “I’m excited by the possibilities of this programme and by the vision of the successful applicants.

“All the projects have the potential to make a visible and lasting impact on the places where the work will happen and, very importantly, they all share the ambition to unite increased access with excellent art.”

Peter Knott, Director, Arts Council England, said: “We’re looking forward to working with the consortium as they develop their ideas for creating and sharing great art for everyone – which is crucial to the vitality of the communities involved and makes a real contribution to people’s quality of life.

“We were impressed by the innovative and engaging vision of this project. They plan to give communities a voice in a very imaginative way. The range of artistic opportunities they are suggesting shows they have a real understanding of getting great art to people who otherwise might not think to take part.”

Peter added that South Holland and Boston are areas of low engagement with the arts and this scheme is designed to address that issue.

Elaine Knight on behalf of the consortium said: “Our consortium is looking forward to working alongside arts and cultural partners to make a real difference for local people through this investment. We want to inspire people to think about and get involved in the arts and to take the lead in making choices about future arts activity.

The successful applicants will now receive a small percentage of their award in order to develop their plans. Receipt of the full award is dependent on the Arts Council approving each consortium’s full business plan. Round two of the programme will open to applications in September 2012.

The Creative people and places programme is one of a number of initiatives designed to help the Arts Council achieve its goal of more people experiencing and being inspired by the arts – as set out in Achieving great art for everyone, the Arts Council’s ten year strategic plan.