A READING shopping centre was named as winner of the Business Champion of the Arts' award at last week's Reading Cultural Awards.

Read more: Reading Cultural Awards finalists 

Broad St. Mall were nominated for their commitment to supporting local creative initiatives including partnering with ‘Jelly’ on a series of workshops on key dates throughout the year.

Events included Mother’s Day and Halloween as well as ‘deer mask’ making workshops in celebration of the Reading Children’s festival in May 2018 – inviting children to join the celebrations at the re-opening of Reading Abbey with their masks.

Organised by Reading UK, the Reading Cultural Awards champion the many great organisations and artists that put their creative hearts and souls into Reading.

Broad Street Mall was also an official venue at the 2018 Reading Fringe Festival, hosting a series of films, poetry and comedy acts across the five day event in a ‘big top’ in the mall’s Central Square.

In February and March, Broad Street Mall gave over one of their vacant retail units to Reading International to utilise as an exhibition space.

The exhibition showcased a solo project by internationally acclaimed artist Patricia L. Boyd, which was specially configured to fit the space, with a video installation, alongside her other works.

The exhibition was on site for six weeks, and provided a great opportunity to bring a unique piece of artistic and cultural significance to the heart of Reading, and utilise an otherwise currently redundant space in a new way that reinvigorates the retail environment.

All of these elements together contributed to the award win, which firmly positions Broad St. Mall at the heart of Reading’s cultural community.

Nicola Williamson, centre manager of Broad St. Mall, said: "We're absolutely thrilled to have won this award.

"Making Broad Street Mall relevant to today’s consumers and reminding locals of its valuable role in the heart of the Reading community is pivotal to everything we do.

"We are committed to continuing our support of local initiatives and 2019 is an exciting year for Broad Street Mall, with lots of investment and changes afoot, so watch this space!"