Kent Cultural Strategy

The Cultural Strategy for Kent 2010 – 2015 (PDF, 2677k) has been devised by Kent and Medway partners to promote a shared understanding of how the county’s cultural offer can enhance the lives of people who live in Kent:

• to demonstrate how culture can be used to strengthen the individual
• collective and economic wellbeing of the county and to set out our intentions 
• the actions to deliver those intentions for the next 5 years.

We are a county already engaged in significant culturally-led regeneration projects and this strategy draws on national learning to provide a context for this work.

Why Kent should invest in Culture?

A thriving economic sector that Kent needs to be a part of: the UK has the largest creative sector in the EU and relative to GDP probably the largest in the world. The creative industries account for 6.4% of UK GDP and grew at 5% per year between 1997 and 2007, compared to 3% for the rest of the economy. Exports grew even faster and contribute 4.3% of the country’s overseas sales.

A key driver for our tourism economy, Kent Tourism Perceptions Research 2007 demonstrate that 36% of people stated that specific attractions or sights are the major influence on choosing a destination. For short break destinations people want a picturesque location (35%) with attractions or sights a major influence (31%). Whilst on a short break the most popular activities include visiting historic attractions (42%).

An investment in the quality of life for our residents: people taking part in cultural activities are 20% more likely to know “many people” in their neighbourhood and 60% more likely to believe that many of their neighbours can be trusted.

Our Intentions

These intentions were arrived at following a series of 3 Cultural Summits where partners considered Kent’s existing successes, gaps and aspirations within a national and international context.

Intention 1:

We will grow Kent’s creative economy by being welcoming and cooperative hosts to the creative workforce.
Kent already has a substantial creative industry sector and as a county it is already a creator of culture, a purveyor of culture and a cultural destination but it does not have a critical mass that is of any national significance yet.
In the next 5 years we want to:

• secure and grow our creative offer
• grow a position which will stand out nationally by increasing the number of creative industries in the county
• develop the right infrastructure to equip a Kent workforce to enter the sector
• support our existing creative industries so that we will be regarded as a creative region.

We will:

1.1 Attract and retain creative businesses

• Ensure that Kent promotes itself as a county receptive to hosting creative workforce
• Develop a range of adaptable networks to meet the needs of Kent’s creative workforce
• Seek to develop fit for purpose workspaces to attract and retain our creative workforce

 

1.2 Unlock creative talent to support the Kent creative economy

• Provide opportunities for education, research and development for the sector
• Provide clear pathways between education and employment
• Develop creative apprenticeships, internships and other routes into cultural careers

 

1.3 Reveal, support and grow our existing creative businesses

• Develop understanding of and intelligence on the current creative workforce
• Develop Creative and Media Opportunities for Growth Sector Strategy
• Maximise inward investment for the sector

Intention 2:

We will protect Kent’s existing strengths by:

• being passionate and responsible stewards of Kent’s built and natural environment
• enjoying open space
• engaging in creative activity
• discovering the local history of an area
• contributing to the maintenance and improvement of your physical surroundings are all cultural pursuits which benefit individual physical and mental health and wellbeing.

They are activities that are instrumental in developing safe and strong communities as they encourage a sense of belonging so that people start to care for their surroundings and to interact with their neighbours. There are also strong economic arguments for protecting Kent’s distinctive character – promoting Kent as a visitor destination and marketing it to attract businesses to settle in the county.

We will:

2.1 Protect the past and plan for the future

• Ensure that Kent is promoted to visitors and residents in a sustainable and integrated way
• Develop leadership training appropriate to the voluntary sector
• Secure World Heritage Status for the Chatham Historic Dockyard and Medway City Status

2.2 Encourage people to enjoy their built and natural environment

• Seek new ways to interpret cultural assets
• Encourage wider audiences by taking heritage events to unexpected places
• Develop initiatives to increase the volunteer workforce

2.3 Inform and manage innovation creatively

• Broker initiatives to allow planners, designers, local communities and artists to work together
• Develop courses in skills relating to the care of the historic environment.
• Seek sustainable uses for historic buildings at risk

Intention 3:

We will increase Kent’s potential by being ambitious and resourceful cultural planners. As cultural planners we need to consider how the individual, the community, the built and natural environment, the cultural workforce, the coast and the transport infrastructure can work together if we are to achieve Kent’s cultural potential. The partners who have prepared this strategy want to make informed choices about how to ensure that residents have access to a cultural infrastructure. We need to recognise what is relevant and valuable for today and in the future, and to identify where there are gaps in provision that need to be filled.

We will:

3.1 Ensure participation is possible for all

• Ensure that cultural provision is recognised as and developed as part of the Big Society model
• Ensure that we improve cultural infrastructure
• Develop the first Creation Centre in the South East Region

3.2 Planning not hoping

• Agree a shared protocol for testing the viability of and commitment to new cultural infrastructure
• Gather and use existing data to inform cultural planning
• Lobby for the measure of participation in the arts

3.3 Grow the confidence and skills of Kent’s cultural sector to make Kent a place that offers excellent cultural experiences

• Agree a Kent definition of centres of excellence
• Develop a well-informed Cultural Board to be a voice for the Cultural sector
• Create a significant fund for testing new ideas in the cultural field

Delivering on our Intentions:

The strategy’s action plan will be managed online. This will ensure it remains flexible and responsive during the 5 year life span of the strategy. Kent County Council will take responsibility for driving this work. A series of Kent Cultural Summits was used to develop this strategy and there will continue to be a standing annual Kent Cultural Summit creating a powerful cultural network in Kent.

We believe that our strengths as set out in this strategy give us the opportunity to become cultural leaders in a way not yet achieved in the UK. We will signal the strengths of the county, using culture to demonstrate Kent’s self-confidence and adaptability, benefitting not just the cultural life of Kent but its overall economic and social outlook.

Please download The Cultural Strategy for Kent 2010 - 2015 (PDF 2677KB)