The end of June will see the launch of a two-day interactive conference in the centre of Southampton to explore, debate and further the cause of culture in our city.
‘Cultural City’ is presented by Southampton Cultural Development Trust in partnership with
Solent University, University of Southampton, John Hansard Gallery, and Southampton City Council.
Speakers from across the UK will join key decision-makers, city champions, businesses, cultural organisations and universities for a programme of workshops, talks, panel discussions and special evening events that will inform, entertain and challenge.
“The conference aims to galvanise support from within the City and to recognise the value of embedding culture into the future ambitions of the city. Keynote speeches, workshops and panel discussions will explore the impact that culture has for the economic and social wellbeing of a city and its inhabitants.” Said James Gough, Director, Southampton Cultural Development Trust.
The event will explore what is unique about Southampton’s cultural offer generating a ground up approach to the development of future cultural plans. By the end of this event, the public and participants will have helped identify existing local strengths to build upon, as well as areas for investment and development.
Key note speakers include: Rosie Millard who was Chair of Hull City of Culture 2017, a £32.5 million programme which opened in January 2017. Andrew Barnett, Director of the UK Branch of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; alongside representatives of the cultural, business, academic and creative communities within Southampton and artist Harold Offeh who has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally, working in a range of media including performance, video, photography, learning and social arts practice.
To encourage the engagement of artist the partners are offering artists working within Southampton special bursaries in return for their valued input into this event. Each artist selected will be awarded £150 and VIP delegate passes. In return, they will be asked that they attend all events and then create a blog or visual output from the event and well as playing your part in the discussion during the event.
Tickets for Cultural City Conference are available from Eventbrite from £5 and the event is open to everybody.
Event delivery partner: Destination Southampton
