When you look at a place you’ll invariably find out lots of surprising stuff, and lots of culture going on. Never has that been truer than for Stoke-on-Trent in 2017. It was shortlisted for UK City of Culture in 2021, missing out to its West Midlands neighbour, Coventry. The 5th British Ceramics Biennial has recently closed to stellar reviews and record audiences. It has just been confirmed as a host city for the Poppies: Wave and Weeping Window tour in 2018. It has established a new citywide Culture Forum and is developing a research-led Cultural Observatory, all informed by a shiny new Culture Strategy and a new Festivals and Events Strategy. Mo-men-tum. And within all this the city has been awarded Cultural Destinations funding by Arts Council England (one of just 16) to develop its cultural tourism offer.

Members of our team have worked in various guises over the past decade in Stoke-on-Trent, so it has gotten under our skin. Or as they say, clay has got under our fingernails. The Cultural Destinations, which we are supporting as an active partner, is laying the foundations for building partnerships between culture and tourism sectors, including digital up-skilling, and developing a visitor welcome programme. With a new chair in place, and recruiting for a Project Manager, underway, the Big Mo continues.

View CTConsults’ case study – Stoke-on-Trent – It’s not all about ceramics

Image: Malene Rasmussen at British Ceramics Biennial 2017

The second round of the Cultural Destinations programme is now well underway, and the 16 destination consortia are increasingly looking at the benefits in working together to share and enhance their best practice. Cultural Destinations (CD) presents a very particular and timely opportunity for destinations, both established and emerging in their cultural offer and reputation. As such, we have developed a number of partnerships to be able to best provide strategic support and advice, and most notable of these is with The Audience Agency. We are working together with three CD projects at the moment – Cheshire, Halifax and Wakefield – split between new consortia and those who have secured funding in both stages. We’re taking a particularly close look at how the partners that make up these consortia can come together to transform their priority target market impact. Each partnership group is different, so how they work together is vital to get right – online & offline, research & evaluation, projects & pilots, communications & campaigns, product & programming etc. Developed within a single, shared approach all informed by data-driven insight, these projects are building a much deeper understanding of current audiences and their visitor baseline, and their own cultural and tourism offer. This is starting to creatively bridge the gap between culture and tourism, identifying shared objectives, generating new ambition as it goes, and all through sustainable partnership working. Makes the heart warm.

Image: Piece Hall, Halifax