Thurrock Plan for Culture - Cultural Capital
We will collectively harness the individual and collective benefits that culture and creativity can offer.
Cultural Capital is our commitment to maximising the value of culture to deliver positive outcomes that enhance place, improve quality of life and cultivate a more prosperous and inclusive future for all.
Culture can provide the glue between communities and bring collective social, health and economic benefits. Strengthening opportunities for people to come together and take part in culture is vitally important to residents, stakeholders and advocates for culture in Thurrock who recognise that vibrant, creative communities help reduce inequalities and improve overall quality of life.
It is also recognised that culture can help shape places, giving them a distinctiveness and making us feel proud of where we live. In Thurrock, we want to ensure our towns and villages – from the industrial riverside to urban centres and outlying rural areas– are part of a vibrant cultural landscape, where neighbourhoods are enhanced and revitalised through cultural activity and production.
Beyond its inherent value in enriching lives, culture and creativity play a key role in stimulating local economies. Culturally vibrant places create positive ripple effects including generating employment opportunities, attracting business and inward investment and fostering innovation. We will drive economic development and progress, by positioning culture and the creative industries as a key component for delivering sustainable and inclusive growth, and catalyse new cross-sector partnerships between culture, public health, industry and education.
What’s happening now?
Thurrock is situated in the Thames Estuary Production Corridor (TEPC), a significant programme backed by the Mayor of London, to create a world-class centre for creative and cultural production: leading global innovation, creating new jobs, developing local talent and supporting the rapid growth of the creative economy. Research has shown that the Thames Estuary Production Corridor has the potential to create 50,000 jobs and generate £3.7bn for the UK economy, becoming the UK’s largest concentration of creative production. Thurrock’s partnership with Creative Estuary – backed by TEPC – will strengthen over the life of this Plan, with phase 2 of the Creative Estuary programme targeting Thurrock as a priority area for support.
Regeneration programmes including the Towns Fund initiatives in Tilbury and Grays are incorporating culture within their vision for vibrant and healthy towns and recognising that cultural hubs and co-locating culture within civic infrastructure attracts more footfall, brings greater community participation and breathes life into the public realm. Furthermore, there is interest in opening up spaces for temporary or ‘meanwhile’ use to support the transitional development of places. Activating sites for creative use and cultural programming, provides opportunities for testing ideas and concepts for viable creative and cultural uses, which may be incorporated in future place-based developments.
For our young people, the Thurrock Trailblazer programme offers rich arts-based learning led by world-class artists and is proven to accelerate student’s development. Thurrock Trailblazer is a unique schools programme led by Royal Ballet and Opera that has benefitted our children and young people since 2014. In that time, the programme has supported 60 Thurrock schools and enabled 100,000 student engagements.
CASE STUDY: Spotlight on CoDa Dance
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CoDa Dance are industry leading experts in dance for access and inclusion, health, access and digital dance. CoDa specialise in dance and neurology and have delivered vital dance in health work since 2013, providing movement rehabilitation for people with MS, Acquired Brain Injury and other neurological disabilities. In recent years the company has expanded its work to develop digitally immersive dance practice in extended realities, underpinned by pioneering participatory methodology. The result is creative work co-created with communities through personal testimony, movement and brain waves. CoDa’s digital and virtual approach has grown its audiences and utilising new creative technologies has deepened the significance, accessibility and impact of the company’s work. CoDa Dance is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. |
Data and Stats
Arts and culture can have a positive effect on both mental and physical health[1]
Children who study the arts do better; they are more likely to attend university, and are more employable[2]
Creative Industries contribute £115.9bn (5.9%) to the UK GVA[3]
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[1] What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? A scoping review. Fancourt and Finn 2019
[2] Cultural Learning Alliance, Briefing Paper No. 4: The Arts in Schools – Why the Arts Matter in our education system, 2018
[3] More than a Place. Research report commissioned by ASELA. 2021