Quality and Excellence

Our passion is to provide an inspiring space for communities to access the life-changing power of art and Carnival. The Vale is a dedicated Carnival arts centre of national significance and a live performance venue where live music, theatre, dance events and cinema screenings take place. We offer specialist facilities for Carnival making, attracting Carnival artists from all over the UK and the world to develop work in Tameside.

We are dedicated to delivering high-quality art and developing UK artists and community groups from the ground up. We invest in our development and the organisations based at The Vale. We work with diverse UK-based artists and bring leading international artists to the UK to share fresh creative approaches and promote cross-cultural exchange. We offer a wide variety of accessible, high-quality experiences and activities for all.

Inclusivity and Collaboration

We reach, engage, learn from, and collaborate with people from diverse backgrounds, practising different cultures, religions, languages, and art forms. We believe this approach is necessary to make great art together and foster happier, healthier communities where we can all belong and feel at home. We believe that together is the only way to prosper collectively.

We are immensely proud that our work enables us to bring everyone together in harmony and celebration through the thoughtfully considered programming of events, activities, and learning opportunities in the building and out in the community. We develop partnerships and collaborations to support people’s creative and personal growth and empowerment so that we may all rise further and increase our possibilities. Our work takes a global view, fostering acceptance, compassion, empathy and commonality. Our door is open to all.

Growth

We invest wholeheartedly in passing our knowledge forward and creating a community space for young people, individuals, artists, and organisations to explore their creativity and to develop their own journeys within Carnival arts. We nurture these relationships as a long-term investment. As part of a national network, we support and grow the profile of our sector in the UK and internationally.

We believe everyone should have access to great art and culture. We seek partnerships locally, nationally, and internationally to deliver high-quality and accessible experiences for individuals in every setting. We support organisations passionate about the growth and preservation of lesser-represented cultural art forms in the UK and internationally, as we recognise we are part of an international Carnival community. The Vale is uniquely placed as an arts centre offering specialist facilities and more widely accessible activities and experiences, reflecting and benefitting Tameside and Greater Manchester’s diverse cultural ecology.

Sustainability and Environmentalism

The Vale sustains the creation of Carnival, and our artists, and communities return time and again to create and enjoy high-quality art. The care we show for these processes is echoed in the sustainable choices we made in repurposing a historic mill into a creative hub. Sustainability is embedded in our work and informs our choices, materials and processes. Through new solar and hydro research, investment, community knowledge and education, we aim to keep sustainability high on the wider societal agenda with Carnival’s processes, art, and joy at its heart.

We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint and we use creativity to highlight the climate crisis and communicate the sustainable choices available to us all.