Help Somerset become a cultural destination by having your input into the Somerset Cultural Strategy

Released On 11th Nov 2022

The five Council’s across Somerset are working together to create a Somerset Cultural Strategy which will help to raise the profile of Somerset as a cultural destination and embed arts and culture within the council’s services. As part of this work, a new consultation is taking place which gives you the opportunity to have your say in what you would like to see happening in your local area.

Somerset County Council, South Somerset District Council, Mendip District Council, Sedgemoor District Council and Somerset West and Taunton Council will be coming together from  April 2023 to form the new Somerset Council. The Somerset Cultural Strategy is being created to present and exciting vision for the role of culture within our county and the communities the council serves.

The project is led by the Arts & Entertainment Service of South Somerset District Council after the area was designated a ‘Priority Place’ by Arts Council England and an area included within the government’s Levelling Up for Culture Places.

As part of the work, we want to understand what your perceptions are of arts and culture in Somerset currently and what you would like to see happening in your local area. To do this, we are carrying out a survey to help us learn more about what you value the most and how we can promote Somerset as a cultural destination to visitors.

Take approximately five minutes to have your say by clicking here.

The survey will close on Sunday 20 November and anything you tell us will be kept confidential, anonymous and will only be used for research purposes. The information you provide will be held by South Somerset District Council and shared with appointed consultants, The Fifth Sector.

We also want to ensure that the vision and priorities of the cultural strategy are based on accurate and up-to-the-minute profiles of artists, freelancers, arts and cultural organisations, creative businesses and community organisations' priorities for an inclusive five-year strategy, and to ensure that the arrangements put in place to deliver it are representative and inclusive of all Somerset’s communities.

To ensure these views are also collated, we have a separate survey running if you consider yourself to be in any of the above profiles.

Take the Creative Practitioners survey here.

Photo credit: Deb Johnson

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