Culture Strategy

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Sheffield Culture Strategy now available for download!


We’re delighted to announce that the Sheffield Culture Strategy is now complete and available for download. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed their time, insights, and ideas throughout the consultation process—your input has been invaluable in shaping this vision for our city’s cultural future. Please stay tuned, as we’ll be sharing the next steps and upcoming opportunities to get involved next week.

Sheffield Culture Strategy

Sheffield Culture Audit Report

Sheffield Engagement Report


Sheffield Culture Strategy 2024: a new vision for creativity in the city

Sheffield is a city filled with inspiring artists, makers, and doers. Our artists, musicians, and designers are known around the world, but those who live here understand that thousands of incredible creatives across our communities and neighbourhoods are simply getting on with their work. We recognise that, as a city, there is much more we can do to support these individuals in flourishing.

With this in mind, we have developed a fresh vision for creativity, arts, and culture in Sheffield. We hope this vision will ensure that everyone who lives, works, or visits here has the opportunity to participate, collaborate, and benefit from the many wonderful contributions that arts and culture bring to our city.

As part of this process, we initiated a citywide consultation on culture, engaging with Sheffield’s creative community to shape the new culture strategy. Following our initial "pre-engagement" survey conducted in December 2023, we gathered valuable insights that informed a comprehensive engagement process.

We are pleased to announce that the strategy is now complete and will be published here following discussion in the Economic Development and Skills committee meeting on the 31st October. Further details will be shared alongside this information on the week commencing 4th November.

The Culture Strategy has been commissioned by Sheffield City Council, the University of Sheffield, and Arts Council England, and has been delivered by the creative consultancy Fourth Street, Sheffield-based social enterprise Opus Independents, and a team of cultural freelancers from the city.

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who participated in the consultation process. Your insights, feedback, and contributions have been invaluable in shaping the Sheffield Culture Strategy. We appreciate the time and effort you dedicated to sharing your perspectives, which will help us create a vibrant and inclusive cultural landscape for our city. Thank you for being an essential part of this journey!

What We Hope the Culture Strategy Will Achieve for the City

To create a healthy cultural sector in the future, we believe the new strategy needs to:

  • Uncover and celebrate our shared story of Sheffield’s culture and creativity.
  • Foster conditions that allow organisations and creatives to thrive, collaborate, and participate, while enhancing the infrastructure and resources available in the city.
  • Outline necessary changes so that young people can envision a future in Sheffield’s cultural landscape, with clear pathways to develop the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.
  • Provide insight into how any organisation, individual, or group can collaborate and participate in a growing and vibrant ecosystem of cultural work that serves communities and neighbourhoods throughout Sheffield.

This page will continue to be regularly updated with new information, questionnaires, and dates for upcoming cultural events in the city—we would love for you to stay engaged with us!

Sheffield Culture Strategy now available for download!


We’re delighted to announce that the Sheffield Culture Strategy is now complete and available for download. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed their time, insights, and ideas throughout the consultation process—your input has been invaluable in shaping this vision for our city’s cultural future. Please stay tuned, as we’ll be sharing the next steps and upcoming opportunities to get involved next week.

Sheffield Culture Strategy

Sheffield Culture Audit Report

Sheffield Engagement Report


Sheffield Culture Strategy 2024: a new vision for creativity in the city

Sheffield is a city filled with inspiring artists, makers, and doers. Our artists, musicians, and designers are known around the world, but those who live here understand that thousands of incredible creatives across our communities and neighbourhoods are simply getting on with their work. We recognise that, as a city, there is much more we can do to support these individuals in flourishing.

With this in mind, we have developed a fresh vision for creativity, arts, and culture in Sheffield. We hope this vision will ensure that everyone who lives, works, or visits here has the opportunity to participate, collaborate, and benefit from the many wonderful contributions that arts and culture bring to our city.

As part of this process, we initiated a citywide consultation on culture, engaging with Sheffield’s creative community to shape the new culture strategy. Following our initial "pre-engagement" survey conducted in December 2023, we gathered valuable insights that informed a comprehensive engagement process.

We are pleased to announce that the strategy is now complete and will be published here following discussion in the Economic Development and Skills committee meeting on the 31st October. Further details will be shared alongside this information on the week commencing 4th November.

The Culture Strategy has been commissioned by Sheffield City Council, the University of Sheffield, and Arts Council England, and has been delivered by the creative consultancy Fourth Street, Sheffield-based social enterprise Opus Independents, and a team of cultural freelancers from the city.

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who participated in the consultation process. Your insights, feedback, and contributions have been invaluable in shaping the Sheffield Culture Strategy. We appreciate the time and effort you dedicated to sharing your perspectives, which will help us create a vibrant and inclusive cultural landscape for our city. Thank you for being an essential part of this journey!

What We Hope the Culture Strategy Will Achieve for the City

To create a healthy cultural sector in the future, we believe the new strategy needs to:

  • Uncover and celebrate our shared story of Sheffield’s culture and creativity.
  • Foster conditions that allow organisations and creatives to thrive, collaborate, and participate, while enhancing the infrastructure and resources available in the city.
  • Outline necessary changes so that young people can envision a future in Sheffield’s cultural landscape, with clear pathways to develop the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.
  • Provide insight into how any organisation, individual, or group can collaborate and participate in a growing and vibrant ecosystem of cultural work that serves communities and neighbourhoods throughout Sheffield.

This page will continue to be regularly updated with new information, questionnaires, and dates for upcoming cultural events in the city—we would love for you to stay engaged with us!

  • Video of Feedback Session on Culture Strategy

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    Please see here for a video recording of a presentation of the draft culture strategy and a Q&A session with the wider sector.

  • Engagement Update

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    We’ve now concluded the first stage of our conversation around the Cultural Strategy, through a range of vision workshops and working groups that brought together more than 200 creatives and community workers from across the city. The energy, passion, and desire for change in the rooms was strong, and we would like to thank everyone who got involved and offered their views.

    The second stage of this conversation will involve additional workshops and discussions with smaller groups and individuals and will include a second digital survey. This survey was originally planned to run in April, but we have taken the decision to delay it until May. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, the additional time will allow us to maximise its reach and make sure we involve as many people as possible. Secondly, this will allow us to avoid overlapping with the pre-election period before local elections in early May, meaning the survey can be fully publicised and shared by Sheffield City Council as well as our project team and partners.

    We look forward to hearing your views when the survey launches on Monday 6th of May.

  • Introducing our Steering Group and Project Team

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    We are extremely lucky to have been able to bring together an incredibly talented Steering Group and Project Team to deliver this work. Alongside Fourth Street and Opus Independents, our project team includes experienced and skilled creative practitioners based in Sheffield:

    • Kate Brindley, appointed by SCC to lead the delivery of the Cultural Strategy as part of her role as a Cultural Development Consultant. Until July last year Kate worked for over 2 years with SYMCA as Project Director for Arts, Culture and Heritage where she led the work to position culture at the heart of the region’s investment priorities
    • Ruth Nutter is a creative producer and community engagement practitioner, with expertise in creative health and community engagement.
    • Ola Fagbohun is a health and wellness coach/facilitator and behavioural insight researcher, who runs an organisation called Zest OF: You.
    • Rachael Walton is a director, writer, actor, and creative educator who founded and led Third Angel, an internationally renowned performance company, for 28 years.

    The commission has been funded by Sheffield City Council, the University of Sheffield, and Arts Council England, and is being supported by the Culture Collective and Culture Consortium.

    As part of our initial stage of work, we have established a Task and Finish Group composed of representatives of the cultural sector in Sheffield. This group includes a range of individuals from small and large cultural, community, and educational organisations, as well as creative freelancers and practitioners. This group will support the project team, hold them to account, and help to distil findings and priorities from our research and engagement.

    The Task and Finish Group is composed of the following people:

    • Roger Bateman, Sheffield Hallam University

    • Tom Bird, Sheffield Theatres

    • Linda Bloomfield, RivelinCo

    • Laura Clarke, Site Gallery, Sheffield Culture Consortium

    • Karen Durham, Arts Council England

    • Surriya Falconer, Sheffield Culture Collective

    • Sonia Gayle, African Heritage Culture Forum, Sheffield Race Equality Commission

    • James Green, artist and printmaker

    • Amina Haruna, DJ Myna, Mondo Radio, The Beatriarchy, Calabash!

    • Clare Mappin, Burton Street Foundation

    • John O’Shea, The National Videogame Museum & BGI Charity

    • Liam O’Shea, Hope Works and No Bounds Festival

    • Cat Powell, The National Videogame Museum & BGI Charity

    • Desiree Reynolds, curator, writer in residence at Sheffield Archives

    • Terezia Rostas, Care for Young People’s Future CIC

    • Debbie Squire, Sheffield Hallam University

    • Kim Streets, Sheffield Museums

    • Professor Vanessa Toulmin, University of Sheffield

    • Sara Unwin, University of Sheffield



    We are so grateful to all of them for their time, energy, and brilliant ideas!

Page last updated: 11 Nov 2024, 02:59 PM