Wakefield, Grimsby, Plymouth win share of £20m culture fund

The £35m Hepworth Wakefield is named after sculptor Barbara Hepworth who lived in the West Yorkshire city

Wakefield, home to The Hepworth Wakefield gallery, is one of five areas in England that will benefit from a new £20 million Cultural Development Fund.

Grimsby, Kent Thames Estuary, Plymouth and Worcester will also receive a share of the money to invest in culture.

Wakefield, which also has the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, has been given £4.4 million to help turn it into an internationally renowned location.

Regions had to bid for up to £7 million for local projects.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright, who announced the winning areas, said the fund would help people build careers in the arts and culture locally but "also boost wider investment and diversify the creative economy".

He said: "Creativity, arts and heritage make our towns and cities unique and our communities better places to live.

"The Cultural Development Fund will support tailored local plans that use culture to create jobs, boost tourism and ultimately regenerate communities."

The five areas:

• Wakefield - £4.4 million: To bring together major and cultural organisations including Yorkshire Sculpture Park and The Hepworth Wakefield, and turn Wakefield into an internationally renowned location promoting the UK's world-class creative industries.

• Grimsby- £3.2 million: To fund a new programme of international events and public art to revive the town centre and to create new production facilities.

• Plymouth - £3.5 million: To develop the use of immersive and digital technologies and fund the cultural programme to mark the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower ship's pioneering voyage.

• The Kent Thames Estuary - £4.3 million: To help develop a globally-significant creative production corridor.

• Worcester - £3 million: To regenerate the railway arches into affordable creative workspaces and support a festivals programme.