Why are we investing in Culture?

What is Culture?

Whilst you may not know it, everyone's life is touched by culture in some way and it's almost certain that we will take part or reap the benefits of culture everyday. Whether its reading a book, watching a film or the TV, listening to a CD, participating in sport, going to the theatre or a museum, visiting a tourist attraction, attending an evening class or simply enjoying an outing to the local park.

As you can see, the scope of culture is very broad therefore it's very difficult to actually define. So for the purpose of our work we've adopted the Government's Department of Culture, Media and Sports definition which includes the following activities:

• The performing and visual arts, craft, fashion, media, film, television;
• Museums, archives, design, libraries, publishing;
• The built heritage, architecture, landscape, archaeology;
• Sports events, facilities and activities;
• Parks, wildlife habitats, countryside recreation and water environment;
• Children's play activities and playgrounds;
• Tourism, festivals and attractions.

Culture plays a vital part in delivering successful and attractive new communities. Firstly by bringing people together for social activities and shared experiences, but also for giving a sense of belonging, ownership and place and secondly Culture has a vital role in the economic success of a place.

Take the example of the Angel of the North - it is credited with instigating 400,000 more tourism based visits to Gateshead, £148 million of investment into the area, over 6000 new jobs in the town alone and successfully creating a new identity for the area which has made the residents proud which has improved community relations. 

So it was an important priority for Cambridgeshire Horizons to work in partnership to deliver a range of projects to help provide opportunities for businesses and residents alike to participate and invest in high quality Cultural activity throughout Cambridgeshire.

Major new facility

A key recommendation from our Arts and Culture Strategy is to consider the feasibility of a large-scale arts and conference centre for Cambridge, which could provide a range of facilities for the growing local community.

Improved concert facilities are seen as integral to supporting the development of future communities with the appropriate level of arts and culture facilities. Demand for a conference centre is partly driven by population growth, and partly by the profile of Cambridge as a centre of excellence. There is a potential to co-locate a conference centre with a concert hall and hence this study considers the potential for a large-scale facility of this type. A new conference centre could also create a significant economic impact and could enhance the image of the area as a leading business and cultural destination thus fitting with the aspirations of the local area.

Cambridgeshire Horizons worked closely with the former Great Cambridge Partnership (GCP) and the Cambridgeshire local authorities to consider how best the aspirations for such a facility could be delivered.

Sports

High quality sports facilities are an essential part of all communities. The Cambridgeshire Horizons Major Sports Facilities Strategy aimed to create a network of high quality community and specialist sports facilities to enhance the quality of life in new and existing communities. The strategy identified four key priorities for Cambridgeshire: a community football stadium, an ice rink, a multi lane rowing facility, and a 50 meter swimming pool. Cambridgeshire Horizons are working with partners to assess the feasibility of a community stadium for Cambridge and looking at options for a community stadium.

An initial feasibility study looking at options for a community stadium was undertaken in 2008. You can read more about the feasibility study here.