Culture Strategy

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We have now closed consultation on the first draft of Sheffield's culture strategy. Many thanks to all those who have taken the time to offer their feedback and time. This draft is now subject to revisions and a final version will be published on this site in September.




Sheffield Culture Strategy 2024: help co-create a new vision for creativity in the city
Sheffield is a city of inspiring artists, makers and doers. People around the world know the names and work of our artists, musicians and designers. But those who live here know that there are thousands of amazing creatives across communities and neighbourhoods in Sheffield - just getting on with it. We also know as a city there is much more we can do to support them to flourish.

With this in mind, we need a new vision for creativity and arts and culture here in Sheffield. We hope this will help make sure everyone who lives, works and visits here has the opportunity to take part, to collaborate and to benefit from all the wonderful things that arts and culture bring to Sheffield.

We’re starting a city wide consultation on culture in the city

We want to know from Sheffield’s creative community what the focus of a new culture strategy should be. We completed an initial "pre-engagement" survey in December 2023 to help us design a more in-depth engagement process starting in February 2024 - some of the findings of that can be found in the document here.

Our approach now will aim to rebalance the conversation around culture to magnify voices that are less frequently heard, alongside institutional perspectives - through what we are calling a "diagonal approach". We want to ensure that artists, creatives, freelancers, community leaders, business people and those interested in culture feel able and empowered to get involved and have their say. More detail about our approach to engagement can be found in the document "Engagement Plan".

We have also completed baseline research of the cultural sector in the city at the moment - this detail can be found in the document "Cultural Audit".

This work has been commissioned by Sheffield City Council, the University of Sheffield and Arts Council England. It’s being delivered by creative consultancy company Fourth Street, Sheffield-based social enterprise Opus Independents, and a team of culture freelancers from the city.

What we hope the Culture Strategy will do for the city

We think that to create a healthy culture sector in the future, the new strategy needs to:

  • Uncover and celebrate our shared story of Sheffield’s culture and creativity.

  • Help create the conditions for organisations and creatives to thrive, collaborate and participate in the way that infrastructure and resources work in the city.

  • Map out what changes we need to make so that young people see a future in Sheffield’s cultural world, with clear routes to grow the skills and knowledge they need to succeed

  • Offer a view on how any organisation, individual and group could work together if they want to and take part in a growing and thriving ecosystem of cultural work that delivers with and for communities and neighbourhoods across Sheffield.

This page will be regularly updated with new information, draft reports, and dates for engagement events that will soon be taking place in the city - we'd love for you to join us!

We have now closed consultation on the first draft of Sheffield's culture strategy. Many thanks to all those who have taken the time to offer their feedback and time. This draft is now subject to revisions and a final version will be published on this site in September.




Sheffield Culture Strategy 2024: help co-create a new vision for creativity in the city
Sheffield is a city of inspiring artists, makers and doers. People around the world know the names and work of our artists, musicians and designers. But those who live here know that there are thousands of amazing creatives across communities and neighbourhoods in Sheffield - just getting on with it. We also know as a city there is much more we can do to support them to flourish.

With this in mind, we need a new vision for creativity and arts and culture here in Sheffield. We hope this will help make sure everyone who lives, works and visits here has the opportunity to take part, to collaborate and to benefit from all the wonderful things that arts and culture bring to Sheffield.

We’re starting a city wide consultation on culture in the city

We want to know from Sheffield’s creative community what the focus of a new culture strategy should be. We completed an initial "pre-engagement" survey in December 2023 to help us design a more in-depth engagement process starting in February 2024 - some of the findings of that can be found in the document here.

Our approach now will aim to rebalance the conversation around culture to magnify voices that are less frequently heard, alongside institutional perspectives - through what we are calling a "diagonal approach". We want to ensure that artists, creatives, freelancers, community leaders, business people and those interested in culture feel able and empowered to get involved and have their say. More detail about our approach to engagement can be found in the document "Engagement Plan".

We have also completed baseline research of the cultural sector in the city at the moment - this detail can be found in the document "Cultural Audit".

This work has been commissioned by Sheffield City Council, the University of Sheffield and Arts Council England. It’s being delivered by creative consultancy company Fourth Street, Sheffield-based social enterprise Opus Independents, and a team of culture freelancers from the city.

What we hope the Culture Strategy will do for the city

We think that to create a healthy culture sector in the future, the new strategy needs to:

  • Uncover and celebrate our shared story of Sheffield’s culture and creativity.

  • Help create the conditions for organisations and creatives to thrive, collaborate and participate in the way that infrastructure and resources work in the city.

  • Map out what changes we need to make so that young people see a future in Sheffield’s cultural world, with clear routes to grow the skills and knowledge they need to succeed

  • Offer a view on how any organisation, individual and group could work together if they want to and take part in a growing and thriving ecosystem of cultural work that delivers with and for communities and neighbourhoods across Sheffield.

This page will be regularly updated with new information, draft reports, and dates for engagement events that will soon be taking place in the city - we'd love for you to join 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:

    • Tom Bird, Sheffield Theatres
    • Linda Bloomfield, RivelinCo
    • Laura Clarke, Arts Catalyst and Sheffield Culture Consortium
    • Karen Durham, Arts Council England
    • Surriya Falconer, Sheffield Culture Collective
    • Sonia Gayle, African Heritage Culture Forum and Sheffield Culture Consortium
    • James Green, artist/musician and Visual Art Panel
    • Amina Haruna, DJ, director of Mondo Radio and the founder of Calabash!
    • Claire Mappin, Burton Street Project
    • Liam O’Shea, No Bounds and Hope Works
    • Desiree Reynolds, writer/producer and led for Dig Where you Stand.
    • Terezia Rostas, Welcoming Cultures
    • Debbie Squire, Sheffield Hallam University
    • Kim Streets, Sheffield Museums
    • Professor Vanessa Toulmin, University of Sheffield


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

Page last updated: 14 Aug 2024, 04:25 PM