Friday evening saw Stalybridge come to life with the announcement of its new status as 2022 Greater Manchester Town of Culture. The programme celebrates the cultural distinctiveness of one town each year, selected from the ten districts of Greater Manchester. It provides an opportunity to raise local ambitions for cultural provision, a night-time economy, and increase pride in a place. The award represents numerous opportunities for the creative sector in Stalybridge to develop ideas, plan events and collaborate on ambitious projects that will both surprise and intrigue visitors and residents alike.

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The festivities launched, coinciding with the first Street Fest of the year, with an eclectic mix of food, drink and performances on offer in Armentieres Square and around the lovely Huddersfield Narrow Canal that runs through the town. The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, was in town to officially launch Town of Culture. He addressed an audience in bustling Civic Hall, with a message of optimism and hope around the opportunities that the award presents. Councillor Leanne Feeley formally announced Town of Culture, praising the hard work of the teams involved in the bid and enthusing upon Stalybridge's prime location at the foot of the Pennines. There were performances in The Civic Hall from Sarah England School of Dance, Stalybridge Old Brass Band and Global Grooves performed a robotic, percussive dance and light show on stilts! Astley Cheetham Gallery opened its doors for a late night viewing of the new exhibition Making In Tameside: The 2022 Collection. The exhibition showed four artists from the region who have developed artworks in response to Tameside's urban and rural aesthetic. Their original pieces have been made into affordable merchandise, which you can purchase at www.intameside.co.uk soon. The exhibition runs until June 11th 2022. There will be exciting exhibitions throughout the year at Astley Cheetham so take a look next time you're in town.

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So what does the year ahead look like? Expect to see more activity in the heritage buildings around the town, highlighting the stunning architecture of the town and what is possible when they are open to the public. There will be artist residencies, exhibitions, public art, events and an arts programme that celebrates and showcases the virtues of the town with a series of community-driven campaigns to promote slow art, slow food, slow movement ideas, enabling communities to initiate conversations and ideas around climate, equality, access, health and identity. As you can tell, there is no rush, Town of Culture is just the start of a long term, sustainable approach to culture in the town, harnessing the heritage that made the town fantastic, to build an approach to creativity that will have a real and tangible legacy.

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The programme will engage local people of all ages and backgrounds with global issues and allow everyone to get involved and become change-makers in their community. Most importantly of all, vibrant and eclectic things will be happening throughout the year and beyond, realising Stalybridge's potential and showing just what the talented people in the area can do.

Keep an eye on our events listings and sign up to the mailing list for further announcements!

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