The Place Partnership Programme explained
This programme was developed by the Magic Swindon network (now the Culture Collective) to bring together the town’s rich ecosystem of cultural organisations and grassroots activity, increasing collaboration and visibility of all the town has to offer, driving an explosion of arts and cultural participation and inclusion, and celebrating Swindon’s creative and cultural life.
The programme will establish Swindon as a festival town, unlock new opportunities and spaces for arts and culture, and map out talent pathways for people keen develop their own creativity.
So what does that mean?
What it is:
- Support for strategic work across the sector, to achieve the objectives defined by the network
- A way for the collective to commission individuals and organisations fairly across the sector to help deliver this work
- A way to help upskill the sector and facilitate professional development
- A way to for Swindon’s arts and cultural sector to collaborate and stronger together
- A way to elevate the profile of the cultural offer of Swindon, both inside the town, and outside
What it is not:
- A core funder of individual projects – Arts Council Projects grant, and other funding sources are still the place to go – but we can help!
- A shortcut to Arts Council funding for the two years of the programme. This is about coming together to deliver more in collaboration.
The five workstreams
The plan was developed by the Culture Collective (previously known as the Magic Swindon network), and will be run by the collective to deliver all of this through a number of inter-woven workstreams.
These workstreams will be underpinned by strategic commissioning from young creatives and grassroots practitioners to grow reach, impact and participation, while providing easier access to funds for local practitioners to innovate and collaborate.
The strength of Swindon’s cultural offer is in the shared ambition of the arts and cultural sector of Swindon. This workstream is to build on the work of the Magic Swindon network, which is carried on as the Culture Collective.
This workstream will establish core team capacity to support:
- sector networking, conferences & skills workshops
- the sector’s role in wider town placemaking
- access to funding to ensure a legacy
- sector skill development in:
- inclusive & accessible programming
- co-creation
- environmental sustainability
There is a huge amount going on in Swindon, but it can sometimes feel disjointed or hard to access for visitors and creatives alike. We already have a number of large or established festivals across the year, and we want to make those deliver more for the whole sector.
This workstream, working with a volunteer delivery group, will:
- Bring together existing but isolated events that punctuate Swindon’s “cultural year” to create year-round cultural programme
- Grow grassroots & emerging artists’ involvement
- Embed co-creation & act as a catalyst for new collaborations
With the vast range of creative individuals and grassroots organisations, one common need was raised again and again by the network. We need more spaces for creativity – whether that’s for exhibitions, rehearsal space, studio space, grassroots music venues, space for young creatives, or a whole lot more.
So, we’ve put together some resource, and a volunteer Delivery Group to:
- develop programme of meanwhile use in empty retail units
- improve promotion of existing community spaces
- support greater & more innovative use of public spaces
- engage with strategic redevelopments to increase supply of creative spaces
- engage communities through non-traditional spaces & artistic innovation
- develop toolkit to support future opportunities
One of the ways that we’ll do this is through commissioning rounds to support individuals and organisations to deliver the activity.
One of the things which the network said was that people sometimes don’t know where they can go in Swindon to develop their creative practice, whether they’re young person just starting out, or developing their creative outputs later in life. We want to make sure that where there are opportunities in Swindon that people can find them, rather than feeling like they need to go elsewhere or give up on their ideas.
So, we have a stream of activity which will:
- identify & promote existing pathways into & through the creative sector in Swindon
- explore ways to make Swindon a nationally significant focus for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) learning
- deliver careers roadshow & schools activities to reach >44,000 young people
- deliver online sector “Talent Pathway Guide”
- establish “Swindon Cultural Passport”
- develop work placement opportunities for students
- engage with expected changes to careers teaching & play active role in Art Council England’s forthcoming national cultural education network
We already know that Swindon has an incredible ecosystem of organisations delivering a rich and varied cultural offer all year round. But we think we need to do more to shout about what we have, to make it easier to find for people, and easier to promote for organisers.
So, we’re working to:
- Develop a clear, compelling brand for Swindon as a festival town, with year- round opportunities to participate in a broad range of cultural activities
- coordination & amplification of messaging
- champion Swindon as a cultural powerhouse
- Grow festival audiences by 20% & cultural visits to the town by 5% from 2024/25 baseline
This won’t be a brand that will drive visitors away from the offer that exists, but instead be a brand which is proud to boast about the cultural offer we have, and then to push that offer to the forefront. It will designed to support and showcase, not to lead for its own sake.