Funding awarded to arts charity

A local arts charity has been awarded funding following the latest round of grants given out by local councillors as part of the county council's locality budget scheme.

Councillor Andrew Stevenson (Ind, Hertford All Saints) awarded a grant of £2000 from his budget to Hertford Arts Hub, a registered charity based in Hertford which, through the legacy of local artist, Alan Davies’ work, aims to educate and engage the public in contemporary art.

Cllr Stevenson said: "The arts are facing huge challenges as a result of the pandemic and Hertford has a strong arts community. I am supporting this grant to provide the matching funding for an Arts Council England award for a COVID recovery visual arts festival DAVIE 100 - which it is hoped will help the re-opening of art galleries and activities for the public. The arts also contribute to community mental wellbeing and over the last year activity has had to be virtual. The competition for artists will help re-invigorate the community."

The funding will be used to support an Arts Council application.

Cllr Stevenson has previously awarded the organisation £13,000 over four years, allowing the charity to stage an art festival and exhibition, establish a 12 month artist in residence programme, and to fund a website promoting local arts organisations.

Hertfordshire County Council's locality budget scheme has funded thousands of worthwhile projects since its launch in 2009.

County Councillors work closely with local communities to identify local issues and have £10,000 each year each to spend on projects in their area.

Hertford Arts Hub is run by Hertford Arts Hub Ltd , of which Cllr Stevenson is a director. As such any grant has to be signed off my another councillor - in this case Cllr Terry Douris, Executive Member for Education, Libraries & Localism.

Commenting on Cllr Stevenson's connection with the charity, Labour's candidate in the forthcoming county council election, Rob Pinkham said: "While we appreciate the need to fund local arts projects, especially after the Government’s failure to support those in the arts throughout the pandemic, Andrew Stevenson’s decision to allocate money to an organisation with which he is personally associated as a director raises real questions. It is essential that locality budgets are allocated in a fair and open way, which clearly benefits the community and where any potential conflicts of interest are not kept out of the public eye.

"The locality budgets allocated to County Councillors in Hertfordshire are a small step towards empowering local communities but this can only happen if local people are involved in deciding how these budgets are spent."

Cllr Stevenson has previously awarded grants to Citizens' Advice East Herts, Courtyard Arts, Folly Island Association, Future Living, food charities Hertfood and Jedidiah, Hertfordshire and Middlesex Wildlife Trust, Molewood Residents Association and Mudlarks.