Arts, Culture & Sport

Introduction

Arts, culture and sport play a vital part in delivering successful and attractive new communities. Cambridgeshire Horizons is working to deliver a range of projects to provide arts and sports facilities for new communities and to enhance the facilities of existing communities. Arts, culture and sport contribute to economic prosperity and health and well-being. A strong cultural identity also provides learning opportunities and helps with community development. Master plans for major developments are required to include arts, cultural and sports facilities.

Arts and Culture

An Arts and Culture Strategy was produced in 2006 to identify Cambridgeshire's future needs in terms of arts and cultural facilities. The strategy outlines the possible funding mechanisms to support the provision of arts and cultural facilities in new communities and considers the economic benefits to the region in providing high quality arts and culture facilities. Read the full strategy here.

The new Cambridge Central Library has now opened, offering local people access to not only a wide range of books, music and films, but also the opportunity to view over 1,500 complete films from the British Film Institute in the new Mediatheque.

Major new facility

A key recommendation from the Arts and Culture Strategy is to consider the feasibility of a large-scale arts and conference centre for Cambridge, which could provide a range of facilities for the growing local community.

Improved concert facilities are seen as integral to supporting the development of future communities with the appropriate level of arts and culture facilities. Demand for a conference centre is partly driven by population growth, and partly by the profile of Cambridge as a centre of excellence. There is potential to co-locate a conference centre with a concert hall and hence this study also considers the potential for a large-scale facility of this type. A new conference centre could also create a significant economic impact and could enhance the image of the area as a leading business and cultural destination thus fitting with the aspirations of the local area.

Horizons are working closely with the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) and the local authorities to consider how best the aspirations for such a facility can be delivered.

Sports

High quality sports facilities are an essential part of all communities. The Cambridgeshire Horizons Major Sports Facilities Strategy aims to create a network of high quality community and specialist sports facilities to enhance the quality of life in new and existing communities. The strategy identifies four key priorities for Cambridgeshire: a community football stadium, an ice rink, a multi-lane rowing facility, and a 50 metre swimming pool. Horizons are working with partners to assess the feasibility of a community stadium for Cambridge, looking at options for a community stadium.

An initial feasibility study looking at options for a community stadium was undertaken in 2008. Read more about the feasibility study here.