Overview

In October 2023, the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) was successful in securing £1m through Place Partnership funding from Arts Council England, contributing to a £3,127,828 investment into the region, £1.5m from the Combined Authority and the remaining from our regional partners. The funding is for a 2 -year region wide programme which will enable every child and young person to access a cultural experience each year, commission 2 new festivals, support and provide work for 425 creative freelancers, engage over 109,000 people in arts and cultural experiences with live audiences of plus 270,000.

This new programme was co-created with over 150 regional based creative and cultural organisations, creative freelancers, cross sector partners including health, education and environment and the Unitary Authorities to establish a series of priorities for our region. Working together with the Combined Authority and the 4 Unitary Authorities are regional based creative organisations and experts who will deliver an interlinked series of programmes designed to ask three questions about creativity and culture in our region:

1. how can creativity positively transform lives?

2. how can anyone become a creative practitioner?

3. how can everyone help to shape our region’s culture?

Aims of the event

Following this success, the Combined Authority & Bath Spa University co-hosted a ‘FlourishCafé’ at the Coach House in Bristol. We brought project partners together to explore, among other things, values, ways of working and visioning for this vital partnership looking ahead - including what flourishing looks like for both service providers and the communities they serve. Insights from the event will help to co-create core mission, values, and vision statements for the combined group of partners as they look forward to delivery in 2024 onwards.