History

Creativity. Culture. Community

The Old Electric was the first physical home of The Electric Sunshine Project cic and many others between August 2020-April 2025.

For the 57-months the venue was open (which included during peak Covid restrictions), TheOE became beloved by participants, audiences and artists alike, and in this time, we delivered over 3,000 individual sessions, with participation of 33,428, hosted 236 performances for audiences of 14,192 and worked with 688 artists in multiple different ways.

The Electric Sunshine Project (TESP) was formed in 2016 to offer creative experiences; workshops, events, projects and shows which aim to reduce barriers for Blackpool communities to connect with their own creativity.

The name was inspired by events of 1879, when Blackpool became the first town in the world to have electric street lighting; they called it ‘electric sunshine’; we aim to capture this spirit of aspiration, innovation and creative solution and, through the arts, to reinvent perceptions of what Britain’s best-loved seaside town can offer the rest of the world.

In 2020, TESP received Reaching Communities Lottery funding to develop a new community arts hub in the heart of Blackpool. As a result, we revitalised a derelict nightclub in the town centre which had originally opened as The Princess Electric Theatre in 1922. There was synergy with the name and so we became The Old Electric.