Around 1,000 participants from organisations including The Co-op Academy, Urban Wilderness, Cultural Zebra, B Arts, Kwanzaa, Madula, the YMCA,  and Ulysses Youth along with performers, musicians and dancers, took part in the People’s Parade, which saw thousands of people lining the streets to watch.

Carola Boehm, chair of Stoke Creates, said: “Over the last two years alone Stoke Creates has made the Cascade arts project possible, reaching over 80,000 people as audiences, employing 267 individual artists and giving 4,500 people the chance to actively make art and volunteer to support the projects. 

“Everything we aim to do is purely for the public benefit. We rely on excellent partnerships and networks to do the work, pulling together input from partners in education like Stoke College, or partners in heritage like Middleport Pottery and the Reform Heritage Trust.

“We are all about making our brilliant arts sector the best it can be, and celebrate the world class expertise we have locally in companies such as, the British Ceramics Biennial, The New Vic, Restoke, The Portland Inn Project, and Claybody Theatre.

“The move to become a charity means that more funding opportunities to support local artists and organisations in their work will be open to us, which will certainly help us with our mission to advance arts and culture further in the city so that Stoke can realise its potential as a creative city.We are  looking forward to an exciting future.”

Stoke Creates – who were also the drivers behind the City of Stoke-on-Trent being awarded World Craft City Status – move to become a charity was agreed in May.

Susan Clarke (pictured), Executive Director of Stoke Creates, said: “Over the years Stoke Creates has supported artists and arts organisations to deliver some incredible projects.

“A key role of Stoke Creates, that’s a bit less visible, has been to contribute to local, regional and national strategy for arts and culture, which has enabled the infrastructure required for all art forms to thrive.

“Now, it is really quite exciting to move into charity status as we look to create even more ambitious and impactful activities and programmes.

“The creative industries are one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK and account for the same amount of national turnover as the retail sector. So we want to position Stoke to take advantage of this continued growth.

“The opportunities for creative careers are not just local but are global and we want to see young people, creative entrepreneurs from the city grow into these opportunities on a world stage.

“Adapting Stoke Creates to a CIO, and introducing a model which will now allow for members to be more active and instrumental in our future is key, and we cannot wait to see what the future brings for us, for our sector and for our fantastic region.”

For more information visit Stoke Creates here  hhttps://stokecreates.org.uk/