National Portfolio Organisation Status Awarded To Writers' Centre Norwich

Press Release
For Immediate Release
Wednesday 30th March 2011

Arts Council England awards Writers’ Centre Norwich a 78% increase in funding to support its successful and ambitious work with writers and readers.

Today’s announcement of a new National Portfolio of funded organisations from Arts Council England sees a huge vote of confidence in Writers’ Centre Norwich and good news for the writers and readers of  Norwich city, Norfolk county and the whole East of England region.

The increase in funding (£365,000 per year for three years from April 2012) will enable Writers’ Centre Norwich to consolidate its work with writers and readers in the region, develop its national and international reach through its UNESCO City of Literature bid, extend its commitment to the Norwich City of Refuge programme and further an ambitious plan to create an International Centre for Writing in the city.

Writers’ Centre Norwich was founded in 2004 and in recent years has developed a series of successful and innovative programmes with writers, readers and artists across all forms of writing. From 2012, WCN will become a National Portfolio Organisation and develop a strategic role for literature development on behalf of Arts Council England.

Chris Gribble, WCN’s chief executive, said:

“Writers’ Centre Norwich (WCN) is a relatively young organisation, but over the course of the past seven years we have established ourselves as one of the UK’s leading literature development organisations. Working to explore the artistic and social impacts of creative writing and reading WCN is leading the bid for Norwich to become England’s first UNESCO City of Literature. We have also established Norwich as the first and only UK City of Refuge for exiled writers; helped some of the brightest new talents develop their work; engaged thousands of young people each year in a range of in and out of school activities and have welcomed a vast range of talented writers from around the world to Norwich to celebrate the best in world literature.

We are very excited about the coming years. In a challenging economic climate, Arts Council England support will be key to our continued development, and the funding we have been granted for 2012-15 will enable us to consolidate our local, national and international work with partners, audiences, writers and readers alike. We could not work as we do without the commitment of our other key stakeholders, University of East Anglia, Norwich City Council and Norfolk County Council, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their support."

Helen Lax, Regional Director, Arts Council England, said:

"We are delighted Writers’ Centre Norwich will form part of our new National portfolio. Our investment will allow the organisation to further build its activity and profile, including its international collaborations and work with children and young people.

"Our aim with the new portfolio is ensure as many people as possible have access to world-class arts activity, with organisations working collaboratively to make the most of the available funds. We are delighted to continue to support Writers’ Centre Norwich in the valuable work it does."

www.writerscentrenorwich.org.uk

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Editor's Notes

For further information please contact:

• Katy Carr, Marketing Manager: katy.carr@writerscentrenorwich.org.uk  / 01603 877177 / mob 07919 312155

Writers’ Centre Norwich seeks to lead on the exploration of the artistic and social power of creative writing through pioneering and collaborative projects with writers and other partners, regionally, nationally and internationally.

Address: Writers’ Centre Norwich, 14 Princes Street, Norwich, NR3 1AE
T: 01603 877177 F: 01603 625452 E: info@writerscentrenorwich.org.uk
W: www.writerscentrenorwich.org.uk