Mark Doyle, Director of Arts, Heritage and Wellness at YourTrust in Rochdale talks about the cultural renaissance taking place in the borough
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00:00At the moment, as a team, we're kind of, you know, we're busy kind of focusing on what we need to do
00:06for touchstones and for that particular building. But we, you know, and also I should say that
00:12our trust is also redeveloping one of our other sites as well, Hayward Civic.
00:18So we've got quite a lot on our plates, just concentrating on those two buildings. But yeah,
00:25it's all part of some of the, you know, investment that's starting to come into
00:30Rochdale that, you know, hasn't, I guess, in the past had very much
00:37investment into culture and heritage. So it is part of that wider development that's going on
00:43at the moment. We're a priority place with the Arts Council, which means they've acknowledged
00:48that historically we haven't perhaps had as much money from them to develop the cultural
00:54infrastructure as perhaps some other places have around the country. So we've got that status,
00:59we're taking full advantage of that. As a borough, not just your trust, we're part of,
01:04you know, all those wider conversations. So yeah, priority place, we've got that kind of spotlight,
01:12we need to take full advantage of it. The money that we had from CDF is for touchstones and the
01:18capital redevelopment, that that is just one part of it. There was also money to look at a
01:25cultural compact. So a kind of bringing together all the kind of cultural leaders across the borough
01:31to look at where the gaps are in provision and try to address some of that stuff. There's also
01:38loads of changes going on to Rochdale Town Centre, you know, as part of that funding.
01:44So that's all really, really exciting. And then probably you're aware as well, the Town Hall, which
01:53is across the way from touchstones, has just reopened after major capital redevelopment as
02:00well. NLHF funded and Rochdale Borough Council funded project. Yeah, so there's obviously that
02:09building that's just reopened, which is absolutely magnificent.