Why we’re giving £100,000 apiece to a horse box gallery, high-street drop-in and Midlands museum

Culture is part of how we rebuild communities – these awards by the Freelands foundation recognise organisations promoting creativity and opportunity at grassroots level

If politicians are serious about rebuilding our communities, they need to recognise that art and creativity are not the finishing touches. They are part of the foundations.

Andy Burnham recently said that culture is too often dismissed as a distraction, a “nice to have”. Yet, as he put it, “it’s about making sense of your own reality”.