Community Rail Lancashire (CRL) and the East Lancashire Community Rail Partnership (ELCRP) are pleased to be able to announce that they have been successful in securing a grant from the Community Rail Network’s Community Rail Development Fund (CRDF) for an art project in Blackburn station subway.
The art project is an expansion of the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Tackling Loneliness with Transport (TLwT) initiative. Making Connections is the generic name CRL has given to the various projects being undertaken as part of the TLwT initiative which includes an art-based project that will be displayed in the bland subway at Blackburn railway station. This project is being led by Arts2Heal (see: http://arts2heal.org/), who run a local community-based arts centre in Blackburn.
The additional funding will cover the extra staff time, materials and installation costs of the art work at Blackburn Railway Station for the young people from Nightsafe who take part in this project. Through this, more young people will be helped to make new contacts, friends and help them to reintegrate into society. Arts2Heal will deliver the additional sessions with the young people from Nightsafe.
The end result will be a colourful art display made by these young people that will adorn the subway at Blackburn Railway station. The station is used by well over a 1m passengers each year all of whom have to use the subway so this will brighten up the start and end of their journey. The subway is also used by people wanting to access the adjacent cinema and other recreational facilities close to the station. At the same time the young people will have had the opportunity to work collaboratively with their peers and to hopefully forge new friendships and found ways to become better integrated into wider society.
The Community Rail Development Fund is a pot of money provided by the Department of Transport and managed by the Association of Community Rail Partnerships and helps by providing funding for projects on community rail lines across the country.
