Arts and culture

We will collectively place culture and creativity at the heart of everyday life.

Cultural Connections is our theme that recognises the transformative potential of culture and creativity in fostering meaningful connections amongst communities. By leveraging the richness and diversity of our individual and collective creativity, and celebrating Thurrock’s cultures and traditions, we can create engaging and inclusive experiences that bring people together, spark conversations, and strengthen appreciation and respect for each other.

Shared cultural experiences that happen in familiar spaces and places make us feel good and proud about where we live. Where culture and creativity feels meaningful and relevant, it connects us and the communities of which we are part. Enhancing collective cultural experiences will better connect us and make culture and creativity mean more to more people. 

What’s happening now?

Public events and festivals create a buzz and curiosity and make culture visible to many. Shared experiences are valued by residents and open up different artforms and cultures.

Large-scale public events in Thurrock grew in number and variety in 2023. Grays Get Creative Festival and Light Up Purfleet-on-Thames produced by Arts Outburst involved residents as audiences, artists, makers and producers. The intimate setting of Grays Town Park has played host to eclectic events including the inaugural Afro Food Festival which drew audiences from across Thurrock and beyond, and Proms in the Park treated audiences to an evening of classical music, led by the London Gala Orchestra. Celebrating its tenth year in 2024, T100 is a home-grown, Thurrock-wide ‘walking, talking and making’ festival which offers creative programmes that reflect Thurrock’s people, places and stories. Thinking broadly about culture, residents are also proud of volunteer-led events such as the Karis May Darling Festival, Horndon Feast and Fayre, Tilbury Picnic in the Park and the Orsett Show.

Taking part in creative activity for pleasure, to learn new skills or for social benefit is important to residents and for some, a central part of their daily life.

Our research surfaced a breadth of creative activity on offer with music participation featuring highly across ages and backgrounds. Examples that people shared with us include Music Mondays at Grays Town Park Café, Open Mic at The Ship Pub, Thurrock Voices over 40s choir, the Thames Opera Company and Together Productions which uses singing to connect with residents who are seeking sanctuary in Thurrock, helping to create a sense of belonging and reduce isolation.

The Thameside Theatre offers a range of opportunities for diverse communities to come together and experience inclusive and exciting productions, events, learning and celebrations such as Black History Month, youth volunteering with Thameside Young Producers, activities aimed at residents who are differently abled, and support for Thurrock’s LGBTQ+ community leading to the first Thurrock Pride event in 2024.

We also heard more about where residents go to experience creative and culture locally and found that alongside traditional venues including the Thameside Theatre and Civic Hall, inspiring and exciting cultural experiences are presented in non-conventional spaces including churches, pubs, village halls, high streets and car parks.

Community halls across the area are anchors for participatory activity and creative development programmes for children and young people. An array of dance schools, music and art classes provide doorstep opportunities for young people that are valued by families and local communities.  Organisations that encourage ‘everyday creativity’ and inclusive communities for young people include Temple Springs and Creative Blast Performing Arts Academy. Both organisations draw in children from an early age and support them to develop creative expression, skills and confidence through to late teens.  

Thurrock has an extraordinary history and heritage, which is well respected and celebrated. It is a source of local pride that helps people connect their past with Thurrock’s modern-day identity. Tilbury’s connections to the Empire Windrush are well documented and have provided creative inspiration for artists and cultural organisations who are based in Thurrock. The ‘Tilbury Bridge Walkway of Memories’ is an art and sound installation dedicated to the people of the Windrush generation, created by multi-disciplinary artist Evewright, whose work makes space for Black British stories to exist and thrive.

Further east along the Thames riverfront stand two buildings that have played a part in protecting the nation and are now heritage assets. Tilbury Fort, where Queen Elizabeth I’s troops were when she rallied them against the Spanish Armada, is preserved by English Heritage. Nearby Coalhouse Fort, built to ward against invasion in the 1800s and in WW2, is set in acres of ecologically significant parkland and has been the location for cultural events and experiences that bring the building’s history to life.    

Thurrock’s heritage offer is broader than its connections to the Thames with unique insights into our social history held in collections at the Thurrock Museum and Bata Heritage Centre. The Purfleet Heritage and Military Centre provides important insights into Thurrock’s military history and has become a focal point for the UK’s Gurkha community, and a national celebratory festival was held in the area in 2024.  

“Arts Thurrock” is the borough’s umbrella organisation for the voluntary and amateur sector and promotes and protects heritage crafts alongside performing and visual artforms. A proactive and enthusiastic network of volunteers keep these connections to our past alive through regular open days and special commemorative events, which populate the local cultural calendar and are well supported.

CASE STUDY: Spotlight on Afro Food Festival

Data and Stats

Arts and culture help tackle social injustice[1]

86% of Creative, People and Places audiences haven’t regularly engaged with arts before[2]

----------------------------------

[1] Arts Council England Why art and culture matters (artscouncil.org.uk/make-case-creativity-and-culture/why-art-and-culture-matters)

[2] CPP Meta Evaluation Report 2019