EXPLORE CENTRE SECURES £85,000 FOR NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY (York Liberal Democrats)

York Liberal Democrats <info@yorklibdems.org.uk>

EXPLORE CENTRE SECURES £85,000 FOR NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY

January 21, 2010 12:00 AM

York residents will soon have the chance to put their creative skills to the test after the city's Explore Library Learning Centres secured £85,000 of funding to purchase new media technology.

The funding comes from the government's Transformation Fund for the Learning Revolution and will be used to purchase equipment to allow people to create their own short films, blogs and podcasts.

The technology will form part of a state of the art community media centre in the new York Explore Centre which opens this spring. Until the new centre opens the equipment will be available at the Acomb Explore Centre.

To give people a taste of what they can do with the new equipment a series of roadshows and taster sessions will be held over the coming months with support from York CVS.

Roadshows will take place at Clifton Library, Tang Hall Library and Acomb Explore Centre in January and February with free taster sessions running throughout February and March.

Liberal Democrat Executive Member for Leisure, Culture and Social Inclusion, Councillor Nigel Ayre said the equipment would be an important part of what the new York Explore centre will have to offer.

He said, "The transformation of Acomb and New Earswick libraries into Explore Centres has proven popular because the new centres offer much more than the old libraries did."

"The new York Explore centre will build on the concept of offering more opportunities for people to try new things and learn new skills. The community media centre will be an important part of that."