Promoting the Region's Advantages

Promoting the Region's Advantages

The Lever Prize

In May 2005 the North West Business Leadership Team launched the Lever Prize, an annual award for world-class arts organisations in the North West. The Lever Prize is judged by NWBLT with support from Arts and Business North West. The prizewinner receives a £10,000 cash prize and the opportunity to work closely with NWBLT member companies during their winning year.

Arts & BusinessThe Lever Prize

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  • The Lever Prize Entry Form
    Entry Form
    Microsoft Word document - 37k

    • The Lever Prize 2013– key dates

    What Winning the Lever Prize has meant to the Winners...

     

    Winner 2012

    DaDa Fest – www.dadafest.co.uk

    Ruth Gould, CEO of DaDaFest said "We were delighted the NWBLT acknowledged the unique work DaDaFest does in representing disability and deaf culture in the North West and internationally. We see our year as Lever Prize winners as a fantastic opportunity. Winning the award and the resulting creative collaborations with NWBLT members are allowing us to present an even more relevant and enticing festival this year. The partnerships and contacts we are developing with business leaders are changing the way we engage with businesses.”

    Claire Cunningham at DaDaFest 2008 Photograph by Jon Stone singin in rain lean forward

     

    Winner 2011

    The Whitworth Art Gallery – www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk

    The Whitworth Art Gallery

    Maria Balshaw, Director of the Whitworth said: "The Lever Prize gave us the chance to make connections with a range of businesses in the region who would have been out of our reach in the past. Not only that but the NWBLT encouraged us to think broadly about what those businesses could offer and a number of innovative and exciting partnerships were formed. The prize came at an exciting time – just as we were embarking on our ambitious and transformational capital development project. The prize helped us to think big and think different in terms of our corporate relationships – and create some key partnerships for the future"  

    Winner 2010

    Future Everything – www.futureeverything.org

    Future Everything

    Winning the Lever Prize 2010 is a fantastic accolade and comes at a time of incredibly exciting change and recognition for FutureEverything, an organisation that has been at the forefront of art, music and ideas for 15 years. With innovation and creativity at its core the links with business through the North West Business Leadership Team have already meant that FutureEverything has been able to make strong strategic relationships with a number of the Leadership Team's members. 

    The 2010 FutureEverything Festival and Conference will take place in five cities around the globe simultaneously and presents the world’s best speakers under the conference themes of ImagineEverything, Unlimited Connectivity, Open Data and The City Experiment. FutureEverything brings together artists, technologists and future-thinkers to share, innovate and bring the future into the present. 

    Winner 2009

    National Football Museum - www.nationalfootballmuseum.com

    National Football Museum

    Being awarded the Lever Prize for 2009 was a major boost to the National Football Museum. Thanks in part to the publicity generated by the award, the Museum had its best ever year for visitors, at 108,000. The Lever Prize also enabled the Museum’s Hall of Fame annual awards ceremony to feature for the first time in a dedicated national television programme. The 30-minute film on the Museum and its Hall of Fame, which featured the Lever Prize award, was shown four times on Sky Sports.

     

    Winner 2008

    Tate Liverpool - www.tate.org.uk/liverpool

    Pendolino trainTate Liverpool (TL) was awarded the Lever Prize in 2008. As a result TL was granted access to the NWBLT team and were able to both deepen existing relationships as well as begin new associations. TL also used the £10,000 cash award to enable our 20th Birthday celebrations and to bring a new audience to the Gallery. An immediate and high profile result was Virgin naming a Pendolino train “ Tate Liverpool” as a 20th birthday present (photo shows Andrea Nixon from TL in the driver’s seat and Chris Gibb from Virgin Trains - a NWBLT member - in the middle). TL continues to maintain these essential business links made through the Lever Prize access and hopes to work more closely with our new business partners over the coming months and years ahead.

    TL ran a packed schedule of community and family events to celebrate our 20th birthday in 2008. These events took place between 3 and 5 May, reaching 17,752 people, many of whom came to the gallery for the first time. A range of activity took place from: giggle tours of the Collection displays to Lantern building for children and a Northern Soul night in the Foyer and Café. This activity was targeted at the local community and informed the future programming in terms of TL family activity. This model was used to deliver our Easter events and played a key role in the planning of the critically acclaimed Fifth Floor exhibition December 2008-January 2009

    Winner 2007

    Manchester International Festival - www.manchesterinternationalfestival.com

    Alex Poots

    Alex Poots (photo – courtesy of Liz Lock & Mishka Henner) , Festival Director, commented: “Winning the Lever Prize 2007 was a fantastic achievement for the Festival and has enabled us to engage directly with some of the leading businesses in the North West region. The Lever Prize actually made us think long and hard about how to work in partnership with the NWBLT companies and to utilize the specific Intellectual Property that exists within businesses across different sectors. As a result, we have formed partnerships that drive value to both parties and we believe we have formed long term relationships that will continue well into the future.”

    Winner 2006

    Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art - www.biennial.com

    Biennial

    Liverpool Biennial’s year as holder of the inaugural Lever Prize in 2006 was an outstanding opportunity. During the year the Biennial developed many new relationships and delivered a number of new projects in collaboration with NWBLT members. Winning the Lever Prize opened doors into many of the region’s leading businesses, and allowed the Biennial to develop valuable contacts with influential business leaders. These relationships allowed them to secure new private investment, with partnerships with regional businesses including the Cheshire Building Society, Bruntwood and Liverpool John Lennon Airport (in photo) facilitating additional activity across our education, exhibition and marketing programmes. NWBLT members were also key in providing in-kind support, training and advice.

    Since winning the prize, the Biennial’s ability to commission innovative new artworks, build partnerships and create growth amongst individuals and communities has continued to expand, helping the organisation to secure its place as the UK’s leading contemporary visual arts festival. The Biennial has achieved record numbers of visitors, with the 2008 festival attracting almost 1 million visits to exhibitions and events, generating a total economic impact for the region of £26.6 million.

     

    What the judges are looking for

    Rules of entry

    The Award is open to arts and cultural organisations, institutions, buildings, museums, performing arts, events, festivals, libraries or archives located or taking place in England’s North West.

    The Award will not normally be awarded to a single piece of work, performance or production. Sport is not eligible.

    The region of England’s North West includes the counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside.

    Downloads

  • Tips on Applying for the Lever Prize
    Presentation
    Powerpoint presentation - 574k
  • Four Northwest Arts Groups named on Lever Prize Shortlist
    Culture 24 Website News
    Adobe PDF Document - 254k

    • Related Links and Articles

    General

    The Lever Prize Trophy produced by John Adamson from the Lancashire and Cheshire Woodcarvers. John said “my aim with this work is to challenge expectations of conformity, thus allowing the piece to break away from the limitations imposed upon it by preconceived assumptions as to its final direction. I have allowed the piece to fly free ready to make new connections so that unexpected interactions may become possible”.

    2013 Lever Prize is now Open for Entries

    10/05/2012

    Applications for the Lever Prize 2013 are now being accepted. The winner will receive a £10,000 cash prize, a distinctive trophy and the chance to collaborate with the NWBLT member companies throughout the year. The Prize is awarded by NWBLT in collaboration with Arts and Business North West. The closing date for entries is 2nd July 2012 - shortlisted organisations will be notified during August.

    Promoting the Region's Advantages

    Juergen Maier (standing, 5th left) and Geoffrey Piper (3rd right) with Arts & Business’s North West Cultural Champions.

    NWBLT FIGURES HONOURED AS CULTURAL CHAMPIONS

    01/05/2012

    Juergen Maier, Siemens UK Managing Director and NWBLT Deputy-Chair, and Geoffrey Piper, NWBLT’s Chief Executive, were recently honoured by Arts & Business for their outstanding contributions to the arts.

    General

    Jim Hancock stimulating the panel discussion

    “Shaping our Future” Conference report now available

    07/02/2012

    A report on the proceedings of the “Shaping our Future” Conference has now been distributed to all delegates who attended the event at Lancaster University on 6th January 2012. This one day event, in support of the North West’s Local Enterprise Partnerships, was organised by NWBLT and sponsored by Atlantic Gateway, BT, Ernst & Young, Lancaster University and Network Rail.

    General

    Stephen Hammond MP addressing the 2009 NWBLT's fringe gathering at the Conservative Party Conference along with Paul Lee and Mark Prisk MP

    MP WELCOMES NWBLT'S "CONSISTENT" VOICE FOR THE REGION

    31/01/2012

    Stephen Hammond MP, the former Conservative Party transport spokesman and a key figure in the formulation of Government policy on High Speed Rail, recently paid tribute to the work of the North West Business Leadership Team in making the case "consistently and clearly" in favour of HS2 to the North West. Speaking with NWBLT Chief Executive, Geoffrey Piper, at a gathering of Parliamentarians, transport professionals and business leaders in Westminster, Hammond contrasted the strength and coherence of the North West business voice with that which is sometimes heard from other parts of the country.

    Promoting the Region's Advantages

    (LtoR) Gary Timperley, DaDa Chair, Ruth Gould, DaDa Chief Executive, recieving the Lever Prize Trophy from Paul Lee, NWBLT's Chair, and Geoffrey Piper, NWBLT's Chief Executive.

    DaDaFest wins 2012 Lever Prize

    24/01/2012

    DaDaFest 2012, the UK’s largest Disability and Deaf Arts Festival, has scooped this year’s prestigious £10,000 Lever Prize award. DaDa – Disability and Deaf Arts, who organise DaDaFest, became the seventh organisation to receive the annual accolade. DaDaFest will be taking place in Liverpool from 13th July – 2nd September 2012.

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