Winchester District Cultural Strategy
Over the last few years, Winchester City Council officers have been enabling the development and delivery of Winchester District Cultural Strategy.
The cultural strategy sets out a shared vision for the cultural development of the Winchester district until 2030. The strategy was developed and will be delivered in partnership and intends to empower organisations, communities and individuals to create their own cultural and creative activity. It documents the district’s cultural offer and its benefits, aims to encourage and facilitate collaborative work, and provides a focus through a range of themes and priorities.
The Cultural Collective is a strategic partnership that brings together the stakeholders with an ability to influence and drive the successful delivery of the Winchester District Cultural Strategy. The collective members provide strategic leadership and direction that enables successful implementation of the cultural strategy. This page uses ‘we’ as the voice of the collective.
Our vision is:
Winchester District’s creative dynamism enriches lives and makes amazing things happen.
Priorities & Themes
Education and Young People
In our journey to enable and support a youth-led cultural movement in Winchester district, we have been consulting with young people to understand what they recognise as culture and what activity they would like to see. Following the suggestion of an Open Mic Night, funding was secured, and a team of young people was assembled to support the delivery of the first event in November 2025. The young people have been shadowing and learning from creative professionals with the eventual aim of leading on future events. Consultation and evaluation will continue, with future events and activities further informed by young people.
Economy and Creative Industries
To support, encourage and grow our creative industries we have delivered a Creative Growth Programme and peer group, which supported over 100 creatives with business skills. We have worked with the RSA to support the Southern Creative Catalyst initiative, encouraging more connection between the industry in the region. We are also developing programmes for Discover Creative Careers Month, enabling young people to understand and engage with creative careers locally. In 2026 we plan to launch the first festival which celebrates Winchester’s Creative Industries, promoting, celebrating and platforming our excellence.
Events and Festivals
To further our work to champion events and festivals we have continued to run the Festivals in Winchester group with a renewed focus on growth and development. We have hosted workshops on themes such as data gathering, sustainability and fundraising. We have also delivered a pilot programme of support for festivals in need of additional support and developed a new festival of contemporary performance. We have also supported and encouraged other new events and festivals to take place in Winchester district.
Placemaking
We are continuing to promote Winchester as a cultural destination and increasing our presence at regional networks and initiatives. We have developed directories to help inform residents and visitors of the organisations, locations and individuals delivering cultural and creative activity locally. As well as inform event organisers of the venues, suppliers and support available for delivering an event in Winchester district. We are putting the district at the heart of the development work we are progressing.
Environmental Responsibility
We have been reviewing our practices and policies to ensure we are taking the measures needed to reduce our impact. We have also delivered sessions with the sector to explore these impacts and how we can use the power of arts and culture to explore and inspire climate action.
Inclusion and Diversity
The cultural workforce and programming generally reflect a traditional demographic and we are reviewing hiring and programming practices to bring about change.
Health and Wellbeing
We have been supporting creative wellbeing initiatives such as research and networking to better understand how to articulate the health and wellbeing benefits of cultural and creative participation.
The strategy is available to download from the right-hand side of this page and highlights the distinctiveness of Winchester district’s cultural offer as well as more detail on the above themes and priorities, our vision and values and action plans. Extensive desk research was also conducted, including demographics and audience profiles of Winchester district, asset mapping and benchmarking exercises – please see the ‘Evidence Base’ on the right-hand side for more information.