Meeting of the Liveable Exeter Place Board 10th December 2020

Members gathered together on 10th December 2020 for a virtual meeting of the Liveable Exeter Place Board.

The meeting marked the first anniversary of the Board’s inaugural meeting and Chair, Sir Steve Smith reflected on the collective achievement of the Board in coordinating the city’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, over-sight of the recovery plan, successful support for funding bids and advocacy for the city. Sir Steve also thanked members for their continued support especially during what has been a challenging year.

Dom Jinks, Director of Exeter Culture, presented an update to the Board on the city’s Cultural Strategy and shared that Exeter City Council and Exeter Culture have been successful in their bid to the Arts Council for a City of Literature Project Grant. The grant allocated is for just under £100,000 and will fund many of the objectives of Exeter’s cultural strategy in addition to some of the asks detailed in the ‘Building Exeter Back Better’ recovery plan.

Dom Jinks thanked the Liveable Exeter Board and those of the wider City of Literature Steering Group for their support and advocacy for City of Literature, noting that their support has helped to make the case to the Arts Council about the priority for culture and the centrality of the UNESCO City of Literature designation to the city’s plans.

Lady Studholme said “This is excellent news! It’s such an important signal of support for, and commitment to, the city and its creative industries - well done.”

The value of culture as an important piece of the city’s placemaking agenda was noted, with strong support from members on the need to ensure that culture is diverse and inclusive and woven into the city’s fabric across the board. For example as support for excluded communities, developing young people and supporting homeless people.

To find out more about the Liveable Exeter programme and how it’s supporting the city’s recovery from Covid-19, please <click here>