Culture, creativity and heritage makes Torbay a better place in which to live, work, learn and visit. Torbay Culture was set up with support from Arts Council England to provide strategic leadership for the local culture sector, and progress the cultural strategy which is focused around people and place.
EYEVIEW - the cultural programme of Torbay’s Great Place Scheme
As part of Torbay’s Great Place Scheme, we created a new, Torbay-wide, strategic approach to culture-led programming. It aims to amplify and grow Torbay's cultural assets in the town centres and across the UNESCO Global Geopark landscape. The programme was called Eyeview and it lit up 2019 and beyond with cultural projects, events and happenings, working with artists and our communities to offer fresh perspectives on the places and spaces that make Torbay unique. We opened a hub in an empty shop on Winner Street, Paignton throughout 2019 which give a base for new conversations, community actions and creative events.
Download the pocket guide to Wavelength, which took place 8th-10th November 2019.
Download the pocket guide to (extra)ordinary, which took place 7th-16th June 2019.
For full details, visit www.eye-view.org.uk.
We are seeking to make Torbay even more attractive to residents, visitors and businesses. This means developing the area’s reputation for innovative, community-driven arts and heritage in unusual places and spaces and help our cultural venues to thrive. Ultimately, we want Torbay to be on the map as a great cultural centre and creative coast.
Supporting local talent, local venues and partners, as well as introducing external sources of expertise and advice so that our stronger cultural programme, Eyeview, leads to a stronger, more resilient cultural sector and can become sustainable through ticket sales, grant income and fundraising.
The task is to put Torbay, the English Riviera UNESCO Global Geopark on the map as a creative centre and connect residents to the 22 miles of coastline and the place where they live, by:
Leading the development, curation and delivery of a bay-wide, year-round cultural programme to engage local people and attract new visitors in, becoming sustainable beyond the duration of the Great Place Scheme
Working closely with Torbay’s arts and culture practitioners, organisations and infrastructure to build strong, lasting relationships
Commissioning a range of new, high quality, game-changing work from practitioners, organisations and venues that have a local, national or international reputation, as well as from local emerging practitioners
Engaging with ‘popular culture’ events to animate existing product with high quality arts and culture experiences and engage new audiences.
Through Eyeview, we:
Raised aspirations for culture in Torbay and challenged local perceptions of place and identity, bringing arts to people’s everyday lives especially to those who think culture is “not for them”
Re-engaged people with the towns centres and re-connect residents and visitors to the coast
Revealed and celebrated what makes Torbay unique, developing a sense of pride among residents
Developed Torbay’s reputation as a cultural destination and a centre for world-class participatory arts, attracting new tourists to the area
Integrated and enhanced Torbay’s existing cultural offer, building a sense of cohesion across the sector locally, empowering new relationships with practitioners from outside the local area, and helping to establish emerging local artists – leading to a more resilient cultural sector
Realised the ambition and potential of Torbay’s cultural assets, including venues, festivals, landscape and the intangible heritage.
Watch our short films about the impact of Eyeview’s two main programmes:
Torbay Culture commissioned Nathalie Palin and Ginkgo Projects as the Creative Directors of Eyeview. If you would like to get in touch with them, their contact details are here.
Eyeview was supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Lottery Fund, as part of Torbay's Great Place Scheme.
The outline timescales for this project were:
December 2017 - February 2018: Appointment of Creative Direction
March 2018 - December 2018: Research and development
January 2019 - June 2020: Commissioning and delivery
June - December 2020: Evaluation
Full details about commissioning and events is available on the Eyeview website.
Image: Limbic Cinema commissioned by Torbay Culture as part of Wavelength, photographed by Jim Wileman
““It’s adventurous, innovative, it’s fresh… it feels young. It makes me think that we are beginning to grow and develop… something more than just a sleepy seaside town.”
- Eyeview audience member”
““It was a truly great and novel experience, so very different from anything I have ever seen.”
– Eyeview audience member”
““Multi-sensory, genre-hopping, participative and provocative, The Tale is part of an Arts Council-backed project to put Torbay on the map.”
– The Guardian”