Investing in Yorkshire's culture brings benefits worth celebrating: Pete Massey

It turns out I’m far from alone in my love for the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP).

Around 400,000 visitors head there each year, drawn by the inspiring mix of art and nature, as well as innovative education and community projects.

The YSP’s ability to wow national and international visitors – and provide local people with enriching experiences – helped them scoop the inaugural Culture Award at the Yorkshire Post Tourism Awards in December amid tough competition.

Arts Council England was proud to support this new award, which spotlights culture’s contribution to tourism.

The award’s brilliant finalists highlight what those of us lucky enough to live here know: Yorkshire’s rich cultural heritage and creative present make it a place well worth exploring.

The depth and breadth of our cultural assets play a vital role in the region’s resilient visitor economy with nine of the top 20 free visitor attractions in Yorkshire being supported by Arts Council England.

Visit England’s 2022 Attraction Survey showed a 36 per cent increase in visitor numbers in Yorkshire and the Humber compared to 2021- the second quickest in England to recover from the pandemic.

These figures sit within the broader context of England’s tourism sector contributing £106 billion annually to the British economy.

Meanwhile, a recent report showed arts and culture spending by overseas tourists was directly worth £1 billion annually to the UK.

Research has also highlighted that for every full-time job in arts and culture, at least another job is supported in the wider economy.

And while our fantastic cultural attractions help draw more tourists to the region, visitor expenditure in turn helps sustain those same organisations, allowing them to offer new and diverse programming to be enjoyed by local residents.

All of which underscores how a strong cultural sector brings real dividends for people’s lives and livelihoods. And its with this in mind that we will invest £160 million into arts organisations, festivals, museums and libraries based in Yorkshire and the Humber over the next three years.

This increase of £14.3 million a year from the Arts Council will help cultural attractions to generate even more benefit to the region’s visitor economy.

The organisations we fund embrace our national Let’s Create strategy. With them, we are committed to providing everyone – irrespective of background – with access to exceptional cultural experiences on their doorstep.

Another of the Culture Award finalists was the Huddersfield Literature Festival, which we’ve proudly supported with National Lottery Projects Grants funding.

Since 2006, this major fixture on the town’s cultural calendar has provided residents and visitors with fantastic events, from talks by high-profile authors to wellbeing projects.

The festival has inspired community partnerships and local pride. With many free and low-cost events, plus a focus on accessibility, it has also spread the joy of creativity with an ever-wider range of people.

The same is true of another award nominee and my local theatre, the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield. Last financial year, they welcomed 70,000 people into their 200-year building and helped 1,000 local young people develop confidence and performance skills.

Then there’s the Northern School of Contemporary Dance (NSCD), which also made the award shortlist.

As the only place in England outside London to offer conservatoire-level professional dance training, NSCD nurtures the creative talent of the future while also drawing audiences to its striking performances in Chapeltown, Leeds.

What’s more, its community classes help children and adults express themselves, connect with others as well as improve their fitness levels.

With cultural organisations and activities having the potential to bring such an array of benefits, we are mindful of the need to focus on areas where investment has previously been too low.

Newcomers to our national portfolio include the innovative dance organisation Gary Clarke Company, based in Barnsley, as well as Kirklees Museums and Galleries and Rotherham Museums.

We are also increasing our funding to Rural Arts North Yorkshire, based in Thirsk.

This support will help them bring inspiring workshops and performances to schools, village halls and community settings across rural North Yorkshire.

As we saw from Hull’s time as UK City of Culture in 2017, large-scale cultural programmes can provide opportunities for residents and build reputations for creativity, nationally and internationally.

I’m therefore excited to see how Bradford’s ambitious plans for its year as UK City of Culture 2025 are taking shape.

And to help realise those aspirations and ensure a lasting legacy, we’re investing in new capacity within the city. It will be an extraordinary yearlong celebration and a perfect illustration of why it remains important to invest in culture to help create vibrant places with serious ambitions to grow.

The country has been through some difficult economic times. But Yorkshire’s cultural and creative assets can help us champion our region and build a more prosperous future – and allow us to find joy and connection in the places and landscapes we love.

Pete Massey is Arts Council England’s Director for Northern Economy and Partnerships and Director, Yorkshire & the Humber