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.
CULTURAL VOLUNTEERS
We supported a network of cultural volunteers to be advocates for culture in Torbay and to encourage engagement in local culture and heritage
Torbay have some of the lowest levels of cultural engagement in England though we know we have great potential as a place with an increasingly active creative sector and fascinating heritage. We wanted to grow and widen audiences for culture and heritage, increasing participation so residents feel connected.
Our Cultural Strategy consultation revealed that many residents feel the arts in Torbay are “put on for tourists and not for the likes of me.”
We developed a cultural volunteering scheme to enable local people to contribute to the vibrancy and sustainability of Torbay's cultural sector. We delivered:
Cultural volunteering ‘test and learn’ programme based around Situations’ The Tale (2017) and the International Agatha Christie Festival
A cultural volunteering scheme, based on the learning from this initial programme, include
light-touch framework for the recruitment, training and development of local people to act as volunteers and advocates for culture in Torbay
pool of volunteers/advocates
process for deploying volunteers for different cultural events and activities, in person and online
training & development activities
This project's objectives were to:
increase the quality of networked cultural volunteering opportunities
enable residents and visitors to find out about quality arts and culture in Torbay more easily and increase participation
provide a go-to volunteering resource for Torbay’s cultural events, festivals, venues and practitioners, to ensure that their work is delivered in sustainable and resilient ways.
Although funding for this strand of work concluded the toolkit and guidance remain available as a resource
““I am proud of myself for trying something new and embracing the unknown. It has been an enriching and positive experience for me.”
– Torbay Culture Volunteer”
““I felt so welcomed by you all. I had the chance to perform, to be part of the team, to do something I’d never do usually. I really missed the days I wasn’t on duty. I don’t know what I’ll do when its over.”
– Torbay Culture Volunteer”