AN ambitious new project is offering grants to communities to promote hidden gems across the county.

The project, called Herefordshire's A Great Place, will launch the Hidden Gems scheme in spring and will give away grants of up to £12,000.

Communities can nominate a local heritage asset (a hidden gem) and if they are successful can win a grant to work with artists, film makers, heritage specialists and marketing professionals to produce creative and digital interpretation for their ‘gem’ and plan how to get local communities and visitors involved.

The grant scheme is just one aspect of the Great Place project, which is funded by The Arts Council England (ACE) and Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), and is one of 16 pilot projects running across England.

Project manager Michael McBratney said: “There is opportunity for more people from all communities to get involved in – even redefine – how arts, culture and heritage make Herefordshire a Great Place to live, work and visit; opportunity to profile innovative multi-sector partnerships, seeing arts, culture and heritage work together in the interests of community health, wellbeing and enterprise; and opportunity to change the way we communicate, coordinate and collaborate to make arts, culture and heritage central to the social and economic sustainability of the county in the long term.”

The project is being delivered by Hereford-based Rural Media on behalf of the Herefordshire Cultural Partnership.

A total of £748,000 from ACE and HLF was awarded to Herefordshire Cultural Partnership in spring 2017 and with additional local funding the project totals £933,000. It will run until March 2020.

The Great Place aims to get more residents to experience and be inspired by arts, heritage and culture and to make sure the county's arts, heritage and cultural organisations will be more resilient.

There will also be an annual conference, supported by the Elmley Foundation, that will provide support for communities, colleagues and volunteers to explore and challenge thinking around rural culture.

In partnership with the Hereford-based Brightspace Foundation, Great Place will deliver an open data research programme – the first time Herefordshire’s cultural data has been mapped and shared for the benefit of all.

The team will work with Herefordshire Council to support successful community takeovers of places or spaces that can be used for new creative and/or cultural activities, and collaborate with people who are passionate about Herefordshire’s tourism, education, health and wellbeing.

To keep up to date with all of the Great Place activity and opportunities, join the mailing list at bit.ly/GreatPlace_newsletter.

Follow the project on social media and use #HfdsCulture to be part of the online conversation.

You can contact the team directly at greatplace@ruralmedia.co.uk.