What’s Back to Ours?
An amazing idea back in 2012. A festival as part of Hull 2017 UK City of Culture. A Creative People and Places Project. An Arts council England NPO and charity; we could talk for hours – and do! – about Back to Ours, but we always come back to what’s right at our heart; people, places, and the connections between us.
The idea of Back to Ours came from our Director Louise Yates, whose passion is the arts reaching everyone and creating equal opportunities to engage and participate. She believes art is for everyone.
And we’ve been a long time in the making, going all the way back to 2012 when amazing new schools were built in Hull as part of Building Schools for the Future. And from there, a seed was planted – how could we use these wonderful places right in the heart of Hull neighbourhoods? Based on the idea of creating a touring circuit using Hull’s community assets, you’ll definitely recognise this if you’ve been to any of our shows that move around neighbourhoods across the city, giving everyone a chance to see something beautiful Right on your Doorstep.
One successful bid to ACE strategic touring later and Back to Ours was produced as part of Hull UK City of Culture 2017, moving on to launch as Hull’s Creative People and Places Project in April 2018.
And now, as of April 2023, we’re now an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation and a brand-new charity, as committed as ever to making and programming world-class art in neighbourhoods across Hull, engaging new audiences in exciting arts experiences, and having a lot of fun along the way.
The Arts Council’s Let’s Create strategy envisages ‘a country transformed by culture, bringing us together, healthier, happier. To excite, inspire, delight. To enrich our lives’ – this ethos is and always has been embedded at the heart of Back to Ours, and we’re looking forward to delivering even more of that over the next three years and beyond.
Our Aims
To deliver outstanding arts and cultural experiences with and for the people of Hull, which are open and welcome to everyone, including:
- Supporting the commissioning, production, creation and touring of new, original and inspirational work;
- Engaging local people as audiences, participants, creators and commissioners;
- Bringing the arts to life in familiar settings as you’ve never seen them before;
- Using Hull’s community assets – high streets, schools, community centres, clubs, shopping centres, and pubs;
- Working with creative partners across the city;
- Bringing people and families of all ages together to have a cracking time.
