Further £50,000 approved by Chichester District Council for new district-wide celebration of culture in 2022

Chichester District Council’s Cabinet approved the funds at their meeting on Tuesday 6 July 2021.

More funding has been approved by Chichester District Council to support the development of a new event to celebrate cultural activities throughout the district.

The celebration is being developed by the Chichester District Cultural Partnership, which includes Chichester District Council, Chichester Festival Theatre and Pallant House Gallery. In March, leading creative consultant Gregory Nash was appointed as Project Manager to coordinate a number of cultural events to celebrate a number of key anniversaries, including 60 years of Chichester Festival Theatre, 40 years of Pallant House Gallery and 10 years of The Novium Museum. The additional funding agreed by the council will employ a Project Co-ordinator and a Creative Director to help with developing and delivering the additional activities during 2022.

The event will be a celebration of the creative power of individuals and communities and will involve a wide range of groups and organisations from across the district. Its values are to be innovative; bold; welcoming and inclusive.

The main aims of the festival will be to:

• celebrate the creativity of Chichester District
• showcase the next generation of Chichester creatives
• bring people together from different parts of the district to make things happen
• enable every child in the district to have a creative experience; and
• bring visitors into the district in order to help boost its town centres.

The proposal was inspired by several important milestones that key cultural organisations in the district will be marking next year:

• Chichester Festival Theatre: 60 years
• Pallant House Gallery: 40 years
• The Novium Museum: 10 years
• Chichester International Film Festival: 30 years
• Festival of Chichester: 10 years
• Chichester Canal Trust: 200 years since the canal was constructed.

“We are hugely excited that this celebration of culture is progressing so well and we are really looking forward to hearing more about the programme as it develops over the coming months,” says Councillor Roy Briscoe, the council’s Cabinet Member for Community Services and Culture. “As our communities recover from the pandemic we see events as being a key part of the district’s economic and social recovery. 

“We want the event to showcase what our district has to offer, offer a diverse range of activities and events to engage residents and visitors alike while helping to support the extraordinary range of local arts and heritage organisations that we have in the district. We also want to create a lasting legacy for future generations by inspiring young people and increasing people’s general engagement with culture and creativity.”

Gregory Nash has been leading on developing the project brief and programme, consulting widely with the district’s cultural partners as well as investigating funding opportunities. He is being supported in this work by Project Coordinator, Caroline Sharman.

“We are delighted with what has been achieved since the beginning of the development phase in April and by the exceptional level of enthusiasm we have discovered for the event across the district,” says Gregory. “We are now in conversations with more than 50 groups, societies and organisations. We are confident that the season will offer opportunities for people throughout the district and attract visitors to its city and town centres. Some really exciting ideas are developing in partnership with a range of people and groups and we hope to be able to announce more details about these in August.”

People across the district are still being invited to suggest ideas for events that they would like to see as part of the celebration and to let the organisers know of anything planned by their groups or societies during 2022. Ideas and suggestions can be emailed to chichester22@chichester.gov.uk