New Ten Year Culture Strategy For Surrey
Surrey to become cultural powerhouse by 2034
Published today, Surprising Surrey is a new ten-year strategy developed by the county’s cultural sector to champion and strengthen creativity, so that by 2034 Surrey is recognised as one of the country’s most vibrant cultural counties.
Created by Surrey Cultural Partnership – a collective of people working in culture and heritage in Surrey along with representatives from business, education, health, criminal justice and local government, who together share an ambition to champion Surrey as a leading cultural county – Surprising Surrey is the result of research and extensive consultation with the county’s cultural organisations, practitioners and stakeholders over a two-year period. This identified an urgent need to promote and expand culture in Surrey, reducing barriers and increasing investment so that many more residents and visitors are able to benefit.
Surprising Surrey: Our Cultural Strategy & Vision 2024 – 2034 is the first cultural strategy for the county to be developed by Surrey’s cultural sector. It sets out a framework and action plan with four priorities:
- Culture for Everyone, to increase access to culture for all, with a specific focus on reaching residents who encounter physical, social and economic barriers
- Resilient Communities, recognising the role of creative encounters in strengthening communities and in supporting health and wellbeing programmes
- County-wide Ecology and Infrastructure, encouraging collaborative working and ensuring that creative workspaces are integral to sustainable planning and regeneration schemes
- Creativity as Enterprise, to nurture the creative economy in Surrey by attracting new business and investment
We welcome the launch of the cultural strategy and the work of Surrey Cultural Partnership, which is helping towards our vision of Surrey as a vibrant home of creativity. We look forward to continuing to work together
