Arts and culture

Executive Summary

The Thurrock Plan for Culture sets out a shared ambition and commitment to work collaboratively and embrace the values of co-creation and cooperation to deliver change through culture and creativity. Through engagement with people who live, work and are educated in Thurrock, we have listened to range of views, and captured insight and data that has identified key themes which will help shape our priorities for action. These themes, which focus on Cultural Connections, Cultural Capacity and Cultural Capital, have been recognised as important to partners and will be owned by everyone who has a stake in growing culture and creativity in Thurrock.

Embracing the theme of Cultural Connections, which aims to place culture and creativity at the heart of everyday life, we will foster meaningful connections amongst communities, celebrate Thurrock’s diverse cultures and traditions and encourage partners to create engaging and inclusive experiences which bring people together, strengthen mutual respect, and widen opportunity for all.

Focusing on our ambition to grow creative and cultural production, performance and presentation, through the theme of Cultural Capacity, Thurrock’s creative and cultural sector will be supported to build on existing strengths, grow the talent pipeline and stimulate ambition and growth, recognising the important role that creative and cultural businesses, individuals and organisations have in society.  

Maximising the value of culture to deliver positive outcomes that enhance place, improve quality of life and positively impact the wider determinants of health, the theme of Cultural Capital recognises that providing opportunities for people to come together and take part in culture can enrich lives, reduce inequalities, and cultivate a more prosperous and inclusive future for all, helping to shape places that are distinctive and vibrant, stimulating local economies and employment opportunities.

Culture creates connections between people and the places where they live, work, visit and play. It creates opportunities for people to feel a sense of belonging, so that they can both contribute to and benefit from their place. Creating places that harness local cultural distinctiveness, provide opportunities for community participation and civic engagement, and enable inclusive access to all, contributes towards place-making, integrated and active communities and ultimately, improved quality of life. Taking ground up approaches to cultural development with people at the centre will support ‘buy in’, longevity and more resilient communities.

Arts Council England has acknowledged that historically Thurrock has drawn down limited funds for culture compared to other areas and designated Thurrock as one of 109 places outside London that have the opportunity to benefit from additional support and investment. Creating greater impact from culture through increased investment and support underpins this plan and will galvanise partners to work together to achieve positive change. Thurrock has been proactive in moving towards a more ambitious cultural future, and a number of significant cultural developments are underway providing the opportunity and conditions to capitalise on new cultural capacity and optimism and stimulate local cultural growth, including investment from national and regional stakeholders to support creative and cultural programmes, growth and skills aspirations.

Thurrock Council will act as an enabler and facilitator of this Plan, rather than a commissioner or direct deliverer. The Council has committed to supporting the coordination of creative and cultural opportunities, utilising funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, working with partners to shape future actions that will realise this plan.

Recognising where we are now and where we want to be, the following have been identified as short, medium and long-term actions which create a shared vision and clear direction of travel for partners to achieve a more sustainable, culturally ambitious future for Thurrock. Many of these actions can be achieved without new or additional resource by supporting activity that draws together collective talent, knowledge, and funding to achieve, better coordination and use of existing resources and strong cooperation and collaboration between partners and stakeholders.

Appendix 1 provides a more detailed Action Plan, however in summary the actions include:

Cultural Connections

• Coordination of events, activities and marketing to raise the profile and reach of the local offer.
• Opening up new places and spaces for culture.
• Create a central pool of cultural volunteers.

Cultural Capacity

• Establish a seed fund to support innovation.
• Create opportunities to activate the Thurrock Meanwhile Opportunities Strategy.
• Establish or strengthen local cultural groups and forums.
• Develop a capacity building plan to include a suite of professional development opportunities.

Cultural Capital

• Map investment programmes to identify shared objectives and outcomes.
• Strengthen careers support and understanding of post 16 creative and cultural pathways.
• Build better collective understanding across partners and stakeholders to grow cultural opportunity.