Making Places

Think of a place.

It’s more than a pin on a map.  More than natural features or a group of buildings.

It is where communities of people live, interact and create.  For places, therefore, art and culture is not a luxury but their very foundation.

The Alliance has the strapline “Britain’s Universities for Cities and Regions” because most of us are formed from institutions – including Institutes of Art and Design – that were created to meet the needs of the industries developed by the first industrial revolution and the cities that grew up around them.

The Creative Industries are an even more important economic sector today.  We still provide creative companies with talented graduates, access to resources and support for innovation.   More than this, we recognise that if we want to attract students and staff to our universities, we must work with others to make our towns and cities exciting and vibrant places to live.   Many of us sponsor arts organisations.  Some have even taken over local museums and galleries.  We all work with community arts groups and charities.

We hope the case studies below give an idea of the excitement we feel about the creative arts and design – and about using them to make places where everyone wants to live.