Fort Burgoyne announced as Dover's Pioneering Place

The Land Trust site at Fort Burgoyne is set to receive over £100,000 of funding as part of the national Great Place Scheme, supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund, with Historic England.

The grant will support Pioneering Places, an ambitious project that will make East Kent an even better place to live, work and visit by exploring heritage, developing civic pride and connecting artists and communities.

Four exemplar projects in Folkestone, Ramsgate, Canterbury and Dover are led by cultural organisations to influence policy makers, and encourage diverse people to bring in change and become great place-makers. The project is being delivered through a partnership between Turner Contemporary, the Creative Foundation, Canterbury City Council, The Marlowe and The Land Trust, overseen by the Kent Cultural Transformation Board.

At Fort Burgoyne Pioneering Places: East Kent will provide a range of new and inspiring ways to engage the public with the fascinating East Dover landmark.

The funding will go towards new activities at the site which will include historical research, development of interpretive materials and an expansion of the community engagement programme.

An additional grant of £10,000 from Artswork, will engage young people with the project. The funding will directly support three schools in the local area to secure Arts Award status through participation in learning activities focused on the arts and heritage.

Overall £1,489,200 of investment has been made to put culture and heritage at the heart of communities in East Kent as it has been chosen as one sixteen places across England to receive a significant investment as part of the £20 million Lottery funded Great Place Scheme.

Beyond these specific projects, the organisations will collaborate to share their learning, research the impact and social value of the programme and develop new models that impact on future planning development structures.

The three-year project will leave a legacy of influencing policy makers in the region, showing how culture makes for great place-making.

Chris Valdus, Fort Burgoyne Heritage Project Manager for the Land Trust, said:
“We are absolutely delighted to receive this funding from Pioneering Places:East Kent and believe it will have a significant impact on the future transformation of Fort Burgoyne into a dynamic multi-use space, to be enjoyed by local communities and visitors to the area.
“Fort Burgoyne has a long and proud history and this injection of funding will help us achieve our ambition of ensuring that this historic site has an equally bright future.”