The Turner Prize is just the start of Blackpool’s cultural ambitions

Arts leaders in Blackpool are working with the local authority to draw up a five-year Cultural Plan - so now is the right time to set out big aspirations.

First published on 30 January 2024

Could Blackpool host the Turner Prize? This is the ambition of two major players in the town’s contemporary art scene - Garth Gratrix, queer artist and owner of independent space Abingdon Studios, and Paulette Brien, curator of the Grade II-listed, council-run Grundy Art Gallery.

It sounds like a pipedream, but is it? Ba…