Over the three years of our Arts Council England funded programme (2023-2026), we will focus on the 6 local authorities designated as Levelling Up for Culture (LUFC) priority places in the Estuary: Thurrock, Basildon, Castle Point, Gravesham, Medway and Swale. They will come together, along with Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, in a new Knowledge Exchange Partnership.

With our partners in these places, we will design and deliver a small number of local exemplar projects to significantly enhance activity and impact for people and organisations in those communities, to test models and demonstrate progress. Working across regeneration, planning, economic development and culture, the network will create, share and capture best practice and innovation for delivering pro-cultural policy and action across economic development, regeneration and planning.

We’ll deliver projects to significantly enhance activity and impact for communities, demonstrating new models and ways of working, such as locally shaped commissions, including residencies & activation of pop-up / meanwhile space with opportunities for participation to strengthen social cohesion.

The Partnership will benefit from:

• Additional capacity and expertise from the Creative Estuary team
• Access to an external Advisory Group and critical friends
• Training through Action Learning and study visits, locally, nationally and internationally
• Partnership projects to secure further investment
• Pilot programmes co-designed with communities, cultural and the civic sector

Key to the network’s success will be our fantastic partners, who are willing to share their learning and expertise with others generously and collaboratively. Building skills and capacity of the cultural sector to grow its economic impact, alongside colleagues working within local government and established organisations, we’ll work at neighbourhood level and shape regional policy to regenerate neighbourhoods, support local economies, attract visitors and bring people together.