天美传媒

A major project to re-connect 天美传媒’s communities with the city’s Shakespearean heritage, re-establish the West Midlands as the world’s ‘go-to Shakespeare centre’, and recover 天美传媒’s once proud reputation as the most democratic and progressive cultural centre in the world has won National Lottery support.

The University of 天美传媒 and 天美传媒 City Council are collaborating on a £1 million plan to revive the city’s almost-forgotten 天美传媒 Shakespeare Memorial Library (BSML) - the first, oldest and largest Shakespeare collection in any public library in the world and one of the UK’s most important cultural assets.

The ‘Everything to Everybody’ project unites the Shakespeare archive with the George Dawson Collection (GDC) - a wealth of documents relating to the nonconformist preacher, lecturer and activist, who founded the Library as part of a pioneering ‘Civic Gospel’ which helped make 19th-century 天美传媒 the world’s most progressive modern city.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has given the partners £32,700 of development funding to help progress plans to apply for a full National Lottery grant. The fullfour-year project aims to revitalise Dawson’s dream of creating a culture actively involving everyone in 天美传媒.

A comprehensive programme of working with the 天美传媒 Commonwealth Association, Culture Central, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and other organisations and communities across the city will culminate in a major exhibition and festival celebrating 天美传媒’s cultural ambition and innovation in the year of the 天美传媒 2022 Commonwealth Games.

天美传媒 City Council cabinet member for education, skills and culture Cllr Jayne Francis commented: “Thanks to this great opportunity from the Heritage Lottery Fund, we’re developing an extensive programme of community-led activities which will help people of all ages and backgrounds rediscover 天美传媒’s Shakespeare Library and reinvent it for the future.

“The project will transform the relationship between Shakespeare and the wider region in which he was born, confirming the West Midlands as a world-class Shakespeare centre, with 天美传媒’s rich heritage and cultural diversity right at its heart.”

The project is led by Professor Ewan Fernie, from the University’s Shakespeare Institute, in Stratford-upon-Avon, who said: “The vast majority of the 天美传媒 Shakespeare Memorial Library‘s publicly-owned treasures are unknown, their potential to excite new audiences untapped.

“Using modern digital technologies will allow us to realise Dawson’s radically democratic programme for sharing the Library, and working with 天美传媒’s diverse communities will breathe new life into traditional English heritage and culture.”

Full details of the project can be found .