Library service delivering exciting new Culture Offer during Shakespeare Week – 12-18 March 2018

Shropshire Libraries are joining with other library services in the West Midlands to launch an exciting new Culture Offer during Shakespeare Week – Monday 12 March – Sunday 18 March 2018, from libraries across the region. This will build on the excellent work already happening in libraries to bring new and diverse cultural experiences to local communities.

Culture Offer

Public libraries offer opportunities for adults to try out and learn new creative skills. People can experience performance, visual arts, digital arts and meet actors, dancers and writers who excite, inspire and challenge.

The Culture Offer, from the Society of Chief Librarians (SCL) and its partners, including Arts Council England, will help libraries use their high footfall to engage with all library customers, including those who might not otherwise experience art and culture.  This complements other universal offers for public libraries —health, reading, information, learning and digital.  Library staff will be trained to become confident ‘cultural champions’ for their communities, and SCL will provide resources for libraries to maximise partnerships with local and national arts organisations.

Lezley Picton, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for culture and leisure, said:

“It is good to see that all the great creative work that libraries already do to bring arts and culture to every community is being reinforced by the Cultural Offer.  We look forward to new and exciting partnerships with libraries and the cultural sector in Shropshire.”

Neil MacInnes, President of SCL, said:

“We are delighted to be launching the Culture Offer at a time when libraries are playing an ever stronger role in the cultural life of the nation.  We know that the cultural offer will play a significant part in libraries’ development over the next four years and we are looking forward to the new partnerships and creative opportunities that it will provide.  This offer will give libraries the resources to expand their partnerships with local culture organisations and provide more ways for customers to get involved.  We want to attract new library customers through arts and culture, and help people who don’t engage with art to develop a love and appreciation of it.”

Arts Council England said:

“The Arts Council’s support for the Society of Chief Librarians in delivering the universal offers reflects our commitment to the development of libraries in all they do.  The development of the Culture Offer provides a distinctive opportunity for the Arts Council and SCL to collaborate in supporting libraries to maximise their potential as creative, making spaces. We recognise that libraries reach people and places which can be challenging for arts organisations, and the Culture Offer will see libraries provide fresh opportunities for people to engage with and enjoy the arts and culture in new and interesting ways.”

To find out about events and activities in your local library visit the library website at https://shropshire.gov.uk/libraries and more information about the Culture Offer can be found at http://goscl.com/culture-offer.

Further information:

In 2012 Arts Council England became the development agency for libraries and this became the catalyst for library services to further explore the potential for arts and cultural activities within libraries.  Further information is at: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/supporting-art-and-culture/supporting-libraries

The Culture Offer recognises public libraries as welcoming places where children and adults can immerse themselves in every form of art: learn from local artists; create their own art; watch theatre, music and dance performances; and learn about art and culture through books and reading.  The benefits of art and culture are well documented. Almost 60% of people are more likely to report good health if they have attended a cultural place or event in the last 12 months.  Libraries are often the first place that children and young people experience art and culture, through books, free taster sessions and library events. Library staff are catalysts for activity and exploration, often making suggestions that customers wouldn’t have thought of on their own. With 772,000 visits per day, every day—282 million visits per year—people visit libraries twice as often as football matches, theatres, A&E and churches combined.

The Society of Chief Librarians has recently become a Sector Support Organisation for Arts Council England.  Further information on the Culture Offer is at:  http://goscl.com/culture-offer/ and on the universal offers as a whole can be found at: http://goscl.com/universal-offers/