Citizens for Culture - West of England Combined Authority area

 
This is a colourful illustration which has the title "Citizens For Culture - what has happened so far" and describes the stages of the project from 2021 when LaToyah (St Pauls Carnival) and Emma (Trinity) had the idea to now.

Illustrative summary of project since 2021

Citizens for Culture

This project places citizens at the heart of decision-making for creativity and culture in the West of England. It will establish the UK’s first citizens’ assembly that will develop a regional Cultural Plan. The focus of the assembly will be to tackle long-standing challenges of access and inclusion asking assembly members to answer the question: What would culture and creativity look like in the West of England if they were for everyone?

The idea for Citizens for Culture emerged in 2021 when Emma Harvey of Trinity Community Arts and LaToyah McAllister-Jones of St Pauls Carnival began to explore how citizen-led decision-making could address inequities in the cultural sector. They approached Citizens In Power, and together, the partners began a collaborative journey.

Supported by early funding from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Arts Council England, and the West of England Combined Authority, the team conducted research and development throughout 2022 and 2023. This involved co-designing the assembly with citizens from across the region, engaging with over 100 creative and cultural organisations to help shape the project, working with the West of England’s Cultural Compact and formally securing a partnership with the .Combined Authority

A map showing the four Unitary Authority areas which are involved with Citizens for Culture

Four Unitary Authority areas involved with Citizens for Culture

In 2024, the focus shifted to securing political buy-in for the Assembly from all the local authorities connected to the project. A partnership with Involve was established to co-lead the assembly’s facilitation and the Sortition Foundation to lead the selection of citizens.

In 2025, there will be a public awareness campaign intended to engage communities through live and online events. The campaign will ask people from across the region which cultural experience has meant the most to them and why? And if they could create one cultural possibility for their community, what would it be? The assembly itself will convene in September 2025, with 40 citizens collaborating to create recommendations for a regional cultural delivery plan.

Key Features of Citizens for Culture

  • Inclusive Participation: A civic lottery ensures diverse representation, prioritising engagement with under-represented groups.

  • Community-Driven Solutions: Citizens will co-create a regional cultural plan and allocate a dedicated fund to pilot ideas, starting with a pot of £100,000 to test and develop ideas.

  • Strategic Collaboration: The initiative aligns with regional cultural strategies and national priorities for equity and devolution, seeking to attract investment significant investment to the area.

  • Federated Assembly: Smaller groups of citizens from Bath and North-East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire will explore local cultural priorities and challenges and these groups will unite as a regional assembly to deliberate and craft recommendations addressing shared regional goals.

Follow-Up

Beyond the assembly, citizens will oversee the implementation of their recommendations, supported by:

  • A dedicated £100,000 fund to test priority actions, with further funds to be raised by project partners.

  • A robust network of cultural organisations, Authorities and funders committed to delivering and supporting the plan.

  • Citizen oversight mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability, empowering participants to shape the cultural landscape for years to come.

Citizens for Culture reimagines how cultural planning is developed, creating lasting systems change for equity and inclusion. By placing citizens in the driver’s seat, this project ensures the West of England’s cultural future is shaped by the people it serves.

How do I find out more?

We want our work to be transparent so that anyone can see what we do and how we do it. The West of England citizens’ assembly for culture has an open googledrive that anyone can access and which traces the project right from the outset in 2021/22. You can access this here. Please note that documents with sensitive information (e.g. contact details) are protected and will not appear in the drive.

At the top and bottom of this webpage are some of the visuals that we have been using to help people access the project. These are created by west of England based artist Camille Aubry whose website can be found here.

 
A colourful illustration which shows the step by step process of a citizens' assembly
David Jubb