Steve Dunn, Manager of the Old Fire Station in Carlisle, has now been shortlisted in the Best Local Authority Arts Champion category in the National Campaign for the Arts awards.

The Old Fire Station was extensively damaged soon after its opening in the floods of Storm Desmond. Steve took a lead role in the initial development of the OFS, and then in refurbishing it and re-energising its profile following the disaster.  We were delighted to hold our May meeting at this excellent venue before the floods, and to see it back on its feet thanks to the hard work of Steve and his team is such a positive development.

Another of our members, Hardwicke Circus, played here in their homecoming gig after an exciting year including playing at Glastonbury.  To be nominated for National Award is a huge achievement. You can read more detail in this press release from our member organisation CN Media here [ngg_images source="galleries" container_ids="3" display_type="photocrati-nextgen_basic_thumbnails" override_thumbnail_settings="0" thumbnail_width="120" thumbnail_height="90" thumbnail_crop="1" images_per_page="20" number_of_columns="0" ajax_pagination="0" show_all_in_lightbox="0" use_imagebrowser_effect="0" show_slideshow_link="1" slideshow_link_text="[Show slideshow]" order_by="sortorder" order_direction="ASC" returns="included" maximum_entity_count="500"][gallery ids="3894,3703,3699,3698,3533,3529"]