Drive to get more children using Hartlepool creative industries hub

Education and council chiefs have pledged to get more children involved using facilities at a creative arts hub.

Hartlepool Borough Council Children’s Services Committee discussed ways to get more pupils accessing facilities at the Centre for Excellence in Creative Arts (CECA) in King Oswy Drive.

It came as it was one of the areas listed in the draft council plan 2020-2023 to improve to help build better futures for young people.

The centre boasts a TV studio, sound recording studio, 120 seat theatre, media suite, meeting rooms, dance and rehearsal studios

It primarily offers technical training routes and learning pathways for young people into the creative industries, focusing on sound production, theatre and live events, sound production and digital media.

Sally Robinson, council director of children’s and joint commissioning services, said the facility has been gathering momentum and they are looking to increase the use of the site.

She said: “I think in the last three months we’ve gathered momentum around CECA and looking at how we can strengthen the offer there, because it would be a crying shame not to be able to continue to serve the community through the use of that building.

“There’s a significant amount of equipment there, it does a lot of little things and it needs to find its place. We need to get support behind it in terms of finding out what it is that will help schools and support their curriculum.”

Mark Tilling, headteacher of High Tunstall College of Science, said pupils at his school attend the centre, and added one of the issues he noted was transporting students to and from the centre.

However he praised the facilities on offer at the site and the benefits they can have.

He said: “The facilities that are there, they’re not for the mass market, it’s a really bespoke curriculum that can be used very effectively.”

The site was previously home to the Northern Lights Academy and stood empty for more than a year before being acquired by Hartlepool Borough Council, and the site is funded by Tees Valley Combined Authority.