14/11/2019 - Permalink

Shropshire Council to work with cultural sector over new Cultural Strategy

Related topics: Community / Leisure, culture and heritage

Shropshire Cultural Strategy Working Group (CSWG) are to work with the county’s cultural sector about the development of a new cultural strategy.

The aim of the new strategy is to raise the profile and quality of culture across Shropshire.  The final strategy will be focused around an ambitious, clear and deliverable vision.

The CSWG are looking to build on the current evidence held along with the results of the 2017 consultation in developing a new draft cultural strategy for public consultation in 2020.

The CSWG are inviting all organisations and individuals working or with an interest in Shropshire’s cultural sector to attend one of three workshops in November 2019.

The workshops will be held on:

  • Friday 22nd November 2019, 10.00 – 13.00
    Wem Town Hall
    BOOK HERE Wem

The workshops will be run using a World Café format. This works on the assumption that the ‘wisdom is in the room’ and puts the community at the heart of the conversations.

CSWG is looking for representatives from museums; archives; libraries; Country Parks; natural heritage sites; historic environment; arts; leisure and sports; health and wellbeing; visitor economy; food and drink, and anyone else involved in the creative and cultural industries across the county.

Clare Featherstone, interim head of culture and heritage at Shropshire Council, said:

“A cultural strategy for Shropshire will build on the exceptional culture and heritage of the county to set a new five-year strategic direction that puts culture at the heart of future development.  Consultation with the sector is key to achieving this.

“We look forward to welcoming and engaging with the sector at these workshops later in November.”

Shropshire Cultural Strategy Working Group is a partnership of representatives of 16 organisations from across Shropshire’s cultural sector.

FEI (Festivals & Events International) have been commissioned to help the sector develop a cultural strategy for Shropshire.

What do we mean by culture?

At one level, ‘culture’, is about places to go and things to do. It includes arts, sports, libraries, reading, museums, heritage, archaeology, archives, architecture, crafts, children’s play, parks, open spaces and green networks, natural heritage, historic buildings, countryside recreation, food and drink, leisure, tourism and the cultural and creative industries.

However, culture is about much more than this. It is also:

  • Our sense of identity – as individuals and as a society – the connections we feel with where we live and the people we live among
  • Our spiritual, intellectual and emotional wellbeing
  • Our traditions, beliefs and values.

In short, it is about what makes us distinctive and how we choose to express this at community or individual level.

The use of culture to refresh neighbourhoods, improve the physical environment, offer places to go and things to do, increase local pride and a desire to stay in that place, and build stronger communities is well established.

Cultural assets contribute economic and environmental benefits as well as encouraging better physical and mental health, reducing loneliness and isolation and contribute to regeneration; attracting new and increased investment and creating jobs and opportunities for local people. Culture and Heritage also offer fantastic opportunities to educate, inspire and encourage people of all ages to aspire to a better tomorrow.

For more information on the cultural strategy, please contact Alexa Pugh at alexa.pugh@shropshire.gov.uk.