Join us for an afternoon of connection, creativity, and collaboration at Discover Bucks Museum, designed to bring together creative professionals and cultural organisations from across Buckinghamshire.
Event Details:
Date: 10th of July 2025 Time: 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM Location: Discover Bucks Museum, Aylesbury
This welcoming and purpose-driven session will begin with a light lunch and networking opportunity, followed by a short update from Bucks Culture on this year’s Open Weekend and the Wycombe Place Partnership. We will then be joined by special guest speaker who will introduce the work of Outdoor Arts UK and share inspiring opportunities for creative engagement in public spaces.
The afternoon will include opportunities to connect with peers, explore ideas for shared marketing and collaboration, and contribute content for Bucks Open Weekend. Participants will also be invited to take a guided tour of the museum’s current exhibition, Beyond the Stars, for inspiration and reflection.
This event is an excellent opportunity to:
Exchange ideas and explore joint opportunities for Open Weekend 2025
Learn from national insights on outdoor cultural programming
Going Green Gatherings – The journey to Net Zero, a collaborative story
Bucks Culture was formed to support the creative and cultural sector to develop and grow whilst also providing a talking space to tackle the agendas faced by the communities we work with and the creative organisations we support.
Working in collaboration across Bucks allows us to support the cultural sector to address key issues and climate change features highly.
The Going Green Gatherings offer an opportunity to not only build connections but also share insights into best practices. The team at Bucks Culture co-produced the Going Green Gatherings with Amersham Museum as part of their 12-month Going Green project, funded by Museum Development South East. The idea behind the group was for like-minded organisations to discuss and support one another in their green initiatives.
The only approach to tackling climate change is a joined-up one
Collaboration provides opportunity to widen reach and share information both within the sector and beyond. Increasing impact demands working, not only within the creative and cultural sectors, but across sectors to share knowledge and resources as we support each other in our endeavours towards lasting change. As a creative and cultural sector we are presented with the opportunity to help raise the profile of great causes and projects, working towards a more sustainable future for all. Art and creativity are essential tools for sharing information, translating complex data into more accessible formats, reaching new audiences and initiating behaviour change.
Session Content
The sessions are peer-led, with host spots available for suggested guest speakers to share top tips for greener futures. This series of fun and engaging sessions delivered mostly online allowed attendees to learn from each other.
Going Green Concepts
The first session, “Going Green Concepts,” covered the language of climate change and actions that organisations might take, presented by Samantha Free from Sustainable Amersham. During the ensuing conversation, we heard from Jim Davey-Hewins, Environmental & Sustainability Lead at Chiltern Music Therapy, who provided insight into creating a Sustainability Strategy and shared the following links.
Link to Chiltern Music Therapy’s latest Environmental Report
With many community spaces tasked with reaching Net Zero by 2030 the struggle is real, the target is unrealistic, and the sector is under–resourced to attain impactful change. So, where do we start?
Mike King from Project Zero, formed by Bucks Business First to support businesses on their journey to Net Zero shared an approach and resources https://bbf.uk.com/net-zero-ngage Rory Cullen, Historic Buildings Consultant, introduced the concepts and practicalities behind improving the thermal performance of listed buildings in his work at Cullen Conservation.
How Green Is Your Digital Practice, and how can museums manage their collections more sustainably? (session 3)
Digital practice is a big challenge for the creative sector, and we were delighted to discover that actually making something uses less carbon than digital creation, rendering and storage.
Learning from the experts.
In February we were treated to a journey through film and digital creativity with researcher and educator Dr Rebecca Harrison, who leads the Environmental Impact of Filmmaking Project. Rebecca shared how to work to reduce the carbon footprint of online digital practices and urged participants to consider the impact of generative AI.
In the second part of the session, Lorraine Finch, Director LFCP, took us on a journey through real-life case studies. Lorraine’s session provided insight into actionable, low cost solutions to motivate the sector towards positive and sustainable behaviour change for arts, culture, and heritage settings.
Melissa Linsey from Dacorum Heritage Trust led our final workshop to explore some of the ways in which we might make greener choices for our visitor events. Appreciating that much of our environmental sustainability work focuses behind the scenes to reduce our carbon footprint, such as on insulation, heating and lighting, Melissa asked whether the choices we make for our visitor activities, shops and displays are of equal thought and value.
From how to complete carbon calculations to implementing sustainable strategies, we emerge from the first series of sessions with plenty of work to complete. We have opened the conversation around AI and the environmental impact thereof and this is just the beginning. The sessions offer the opportunity to process new information in a group setting. We aren’t tackling the problem alone and can go so much further as a collective.
We are working on shared resources to signpost the sector to new information, championing great work and inviting creative orgs to make energy-saving steps towards a more sustainable future. We hope we can all be part of supporting positive behaviour change towards best sustainable solutions within our sector and beyond..
A big thank you to all for forming this group, coming together to support impactful change.
Join us on the creative journey to net zero
We aim to meet quarterly for the next year and are working on a collective marketing campaign sharing Top Tips for Greener Future to support more sustainable practices in our working lives.
Interested in being involved get in touch with Kerry – Email – Kerry@buckinghamshireculture.org
We are delighted to share an overview of feedback from our online session on the 20th March, expertly facilitated by the Team at Axon Black, using the interactive feedback platform, Butter. The format was fun and engaging capturing a broad range of responses, which we are busy transforming into programme content. A big thank you to all who joined us.
Read all about it below
Hopes & Concerns
Hopes for collaboration with Bucks Culture:
Establishing community partnerships for impactful cultural projects.
Support with funding applications and networking within the arts sector.
A thriving cultural sector with increased funding, accessibility, and participation.
More engagement from mid-level and entry-level employees, not just senior leadership.
Concerns & Desired Support:
Sustainability challenges due to funding cuts and low engagement.
The need for stronger networking and collaboration across Bucks.
Financial reliance on funding, with interest in exploring alternative revenue streams.
I Like, I Wish, I Wonder
Likes: Freedom in creative work, Bucks’ heritage, volunteer collaboration, large-scale creative events. Wishes: More funding, better attendance at training events, stronger networking, better transport to cultural venues. Wonders: Possibility of pub theatres, better tech solutions, a shared membership scheme, a Bucks Fringe Festival.
Challenges & Solutions Discussion
Top Voted Challenges:
Geographic size and connectivity across Bucks.
Understanding community appetite for culture.
Managing workload and avoiding overwhelm.
How Might We…?
Leverage Bucks’ geography for stronger cultural connections?
Gain deeper insights into community engagement with arts and culture?
Streamline cultural project delivery for better efficiency?
Successes (Rose), New Opportunities (Bud), and Challenges (Thorn)
Successes: Growth in cultural projects, strengthened networks, volunteer engagement, securing funding for historic preservation. New Opportunities: Mentoring young creatives, environmental projects, new plays and exhibitions, collaboration with film studios. Challenges: Overwhelming funding processes, time constraints, difficulty in marketing/sales, economic impact on visitor numbers.
Other Ideas for Impact
Guest speakers from community groups to provide direct insights.
Funding and grant seminars.
Networking events that bridge diverse cultural groups.
Exploring new income streams (retail, venue hire, events).
Training, mentoring, and upskilling young professionals.
Wellbeing sessions to support those working in the sector.
Developing a shared volunteer pool across cultural organisations.
The opportunity for partners to continue to share support needs, ideas for programme content, and ambitious project plans remains open.
You are invited to share ideas and input into programme content via Padlet. Please note, Padlet allocates quirky animal names to new users. Nothing to do with us, honest!
Click link below to share your ideas via Padlet ⬇️
Each year we ask our resident Buckinghamshire creative and cultural organisations to share some data about their work with us. We aggregate this and use the resulting headlines to advocate for culture in the county.
This year we’re changing the way we collect the annual snapshot from Bucks-based cultural organisations. We have built a new questionnaire to make it easier to share your data and stories, which all help build a collective picture of our impact. This will help us advocate for investment, partnership and recognition – and to shout about our collective achievements. We are sharing this now, encouraging organisations to think about their responses for the period from April 2024 – March 2025.
The Championing Culture Questionnaire can be found here:
Open Weekend is back for 2025 – we want as many businesses, groups and organisations as possible to take part. Join in the fifth year of our vibrant, Bucks-wide event full of creative activities to try out and have a go! This year we will hold Open Weekend at the end of August – 28th-31st August 2025.
Are you a creative business, cultural organisation or artist looking to reach new audiences, test fresh ideas, and connect with like-minded organisations? Open Weekend is your opportunity to showcase your work, engage with communities, and grow your presence across Buckinghamshire.
With stories and nature as this year’s theme, you can inspire audiences with unique experiences that bring creativity to life. From ancient folklore and myth to personal reflections and artistic expressions, stories shape the way we experience nature—and nature, in turn, fuels our imagination and creativity. For creative businesses, this is more than an event—it’s an opportunity.
Taking part in Open Weekend is a great way to celebrate creativity, encourage people to try something new and be part of a county-wide showcase. How will you tell your story? Join us and make your mark on Open Weekend 2025.
Buckinghamshire Culture is pleased to be able to give out a limited amount of micro grants to support Open Weekend activities and to help make them accessible to all – find out more on our website.
Buckinghamshire Culture acts as an umbrella organisation for independently planned events presented by partner organisations. Getting involved and registering an event brings advantages for the organisers, including: a central ‘What’s On’ page, hosted by Bucks Culture, umbrella marketing, being part of a county-wide event. knowledge exchange and networking with other organisers.
This programme is supported through funding from Buckinghamshire Council and Rothschild Foundation and is delivered with support from Buckinghamshire Council.
Join Dean Shaw from Arts Council England’s, Digital Culture Network and learn how to create fun and engaging video content across online platforms.
We are delighted to welcome Dean Shaw to our series of sector networking sessions. This online learning session is devised to amplify your marketing approaches and work towards developing digital strategies to free up time and increase impact.
Dean is a Tech Champion at the Digital Culture Network (DCN) and set to share top tips on content creation and introduce you to the ACE , Digital Culture Network. The team at DCN are available to advise on all things digital from accessibility and ticketing to ecommerce and marketing.
Dean is expert in supporting others to create high quality digital content, increasing impact and making the most time spent online.
Join us for a fun and engaging session with opportunity for networking and conversations to explore how we can work together to increase reach and raise the profile of the great work happening in Bucks.
Our pool of connected creative and cultural organisations, creatives and freelancers has grown considerably since Bucks Culture began in 2019. In light of this we have been reviewing the best way to work together and support collaboration within the county.
Bucks Culture is excited to propose a refreshed partnership structure aimed at fostering deeper collaboration and amplifying the impact of the cultural sector in Buckinghamshire. This strategic evolution provides a dynamic framework to convene cultural leaders, organisations, and creatives, enabling a robust and thriving cultural landscape.
Introducing: the Bucks Cultural Consortium
At the heart of this renewed approach is the Bucks Cultural Consortium, a think-tank designed to provide strategic sector input, leadership, and support for creative delivery. This consortium brings together leading cultural organisations, venues, health partners, educational institutions, local councils, and independent creatives.
The Consortium aims to:
Enable cross-sector collaboration and strengthen existing networks.
Elevate the profile of Buckinghamshire’s cultural sector, attracting funding and investment.
Support talent development from grassroots to established professionals.
Develop funding relationships and explore new opportunities
Foster creative partnerships that drive innovation nurturing access and inclusion.
In time we aim to establish two dedicated working groups focussed on:
Strategic Development & Best Practice – Showcasing cultural excellence, identifying thematic conference content and advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives. Linking to Access and Inclusion Manifesto, Stories and our regular Conference.
Funding, Outreach & Commercialisation – Exploring fundraising strategies, creative collaborative projects and embedding work in community settings.
Introducing: the Creative Culture Network
Recognising the unique challenges faced by small-scale arts organisations, micro-businesses, and independent creatives, Bucks Culture’s Creative and Cultural Network provides structured opportunities to build capacity, develop income streams, and enhance digital presence.
The network will operate through a number of open Sector Networking events each year, alongside two dedicated, peer-development workstreams:
Marketing & Digital Strategy – Helping participants craft compelling pitches, navigate digital tools, and optimise online presence. Linking to Sector Development Sessions.
Fundraising & Commercialisation – Equipping creatives with the skills to secure funding and develop new revenue streams.
Session dates are released over the year, blending online and in-person formats to maximise accessibility and engagement.
This evolution and formalisation of our network and partnership model does not preclude ad hoc meetings, forming project or issues-based groups or meetings, or other ways of working. We hope it will make communications more relevant and ensure that we are offering different services and opportunities relevant to need and capacity.
Let us know what you think...
Bucks Culture invites strategic partners, cultural leaders, and creatives to commit to these initiatives, attend working groups, and actively shape the cultural landscape of Buckinghamshire. By working together, we can increase sector impact, attract investment, and build a sustainable future for culture in the county.
To express interest or suggest topics for upcoming sessions, please get in touch. We look forward to collaborating with you to create a vibrant and inclusive cultural ecosystem in Bucks.
In November 2024, at our Cultural Collaboration Conference, Bucks Culture ran the first ever Bucks Spark Awards designed to showcase the great work that is taking place in our cultural sector. The judges where impressed by the quality of the submissions received and struggled to choose the winners. The submissions we received spanned the breadth of cultural delivery in our county:
From grass roots delivery to Paralympic heritage, blind-folded baroque experiences to street murals. Heritage-meets-astronomy, to a chair festival, open studios and diverse stories. Revealing hidden artists and a smatter of Shakespeare, music for care, dance for youth, writing from Marlow, and exploring Bucks landscape through a fine art lens…
We welcomed award-winning author, Claire Fuller to make the awards and Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire, Lady Howe to present the Judges’ Discretionary Award.
The Awards were made as follows:
Best collaboration
This award recognizes the best project, event or activity that has been delivered collaboratively (by at least two entities) to promote Buckinghamshire’s culture.
Winner – Vache Baroque and Milton’s Cottage
Runner up – Bucks Youth Dance Co and Wycombe Youth Action
Best exhibition
This award recognises excellence in exhibitions or displays related to an aspect of Buckinghamshire’s culture. It could include a new permanent exhibition or a temporary exhibition.
Winner – Fractured Land Collective
Runner up – Amersham Museum
Best Event
This award recognises excellence in a one-off event that has promoted Buckinghamshire’s culture. The event could have taken place digitally, within its own site, or at another location.
Winner – Unbound
Runner up – Astronomy UK
Judges discretionary award for ‘Contribution to Culture in Bucks’
This award was made at the Judges’ discretion and in respect of the scale and longevity of this particular Bucks event, celebrating its 40th year in 2025.
Winner – Bucks Art Weeks
We would like to thank every one who took the time to prepare and submit an application to the first ever Bucks Spark Awards, as well as our panel of Judges, and Claire Fuller and Lady Howe for presenting the awards.
The Bucks Culture Creative Collaboration Conference took place in November 2024. The Conference successfully brought together professionals, creatives, and community leaders to explore the power of collaboration in the arts. Held at the newly opened Garsington Studios, the event provided an inspiring setting for insightful discussions, creative exploration, and networking opportunities. The conference aimed to facilitate meaningful conversations on the challenges and joys of creative collaboration while fostering new partnerships to enhance cultural engagement across Buckinghamshire.
The venue provided a beautiful backdrop to a cultural event that invited audiences to share insight into practice and disseminate learning to support future collaboration whilst providing opportunity for creative exploration.
The event was well attended and allowed Bucks Culture to work closely with new partners. The event supported sector-wide conversations surrounding the challenges and joys of creative collaboration both within the sector and beyond, and examined what it means to co-create with communities. The conference was established with the intention to connect, collaborate and co-create, an outcome we continue to pursue in the delivery of Buckinghamshire’s Cultural Strategy. Our 2024 event incorporated the inaugural Bucks Spark Award Ceremony, now set to be a regular feature of the cultural calendar.
We are proposing that future conferences be developed by a small group of key strategic partners working together to shape the format and programme the conference read more about the conference and feel free to send us your suggestions.
Process
Our partners, the board, the creative sector and the internal team were invited to make suggestions for the programme during board meetings, lead-in sector development sessions, and via the newsletter with a call for contributions surveyed online.
In addition to the open invitation for contributions the development of the programme was informed by feedback and evaluation from 2023, aiming to capture suggestions and implement changes to build a model better suited to the needs of audiences.
Three Words Analysis
This is what Chat GPT thought of responses to our ‘what 3 words describe your experience’ question.
The responses to the “three words” question reflect overwhelmingly positive experiences, with key themes emerging:
1. Inspiration & Engagement
Many attendees described the event as inspiring, engaging, thought-provoking, and enlightening. This suggests that the conference successfully delivered fresh perspectives and meaningful discussions, resonating with participants on both an intellectual and emotional level.
2. Networking & Connection
Words like welcoming, friendly, vibrant, connection, and collaborative indicate that the event fostered an inclusive and supportive environment for attendees to interact, share ideas, and build relationships.
3. Learning & Insight
Terms such as informative, insightful, educational, and paradigm-shifting reinforce the idea that the event provided valuable knowledge and challenged conventional ways of thinking.
4. Energy & Atmosphere
Words like dynamic, lively, fun, happy, and exciting suggest a positive and high-energy atmosphere, making the experience enjoyable beyond just the formal content.
5. Areas for Improvement
A few words, such as inaccessible, poorly attended, and tiring, indicate that some participants experienced challenges, possibly around accessibility, turnout, or event pacing. These could be key areas to address in future iterations.
Overall Takeaway
The conference was largely seen as an engaging and enriching experience, successfully fostering inspiration, connection, and learning.
Championing the work of women from the cultural sector and identifying how our work can support women from all walks of life as we work towards a more equitable society for all.
On the 6th of March Bucks Culture hosted the inaugural Women of Culture Event in celebration of International Women’s Day. The event, hosted at the Elgiva Theatre in Chesham, saw women and allies from across the sector come together to explore issues faced by women and champion the work of women in the cultural sector.
Audiences were treated to an interactive workshop led by Rosie Axon, Founder and Director at Chiltern Music Therapy and Betty Makharinsky Founder and CEO at Vache Baroque. This musical session explored the role of female voice in music, from the exclusion of female artists in the Baroque era to how the song, Bread and Roses, became the slogan of a political movement calling for safety, shelter and better living standards for all. Delegates were in full voice and the Forum at the Elgiva was filled with not only sunshine but the beautiful sound of an entirely female choir.
‘Love our new girl band’ gleefully expressed post workshop by an attendee, testament to the joy of participation. This could be the start of something new for Bucks.
We were delighted to hear from Vicky Hope-Walker, CEO at National Paralympic Heritage Trust (NPHT) and valued Board Member at Bucks Culture. Vicky spoke of her creative journey to CEO at NPHT. From training in creative arts to implementing socially inspired programmes as a freelancer leading to the eventual establishment of NPHT. Vicky’s presentation took us on a journey through time celebrating the great work and discoveries of female leaders from across Bucks and beyond.
From one inspirational leader to another, our very own, Lallie Davis, Director at Bucks Culture, shared howWomen of Cultureprovided opportunity to celebrate and champion women around the world alongside the cultural sector in Bucks, with a lens to the past, a moment in the present, and an eye to the future. The event provided time for networking and opportunity to come together to discuss the wider issues faced by women and the communities we work with.
Bucks Culture’s first International Women’s Day event is something Lallie has been intending to convene for a long time. International Women’s Day has been taking place annually on the 8th March since 1911. The day is dedicated to the advancement of women worldwide and belongs to all who care about women’s equality.
Sadly, in a rapidly changing World, women are often most affected by some of our most pressing issues: migration, poverty and climate change.
In the cultural sector we are in the amazing position to be working in an impactful way to implement change for the communities we work with. Our work in community settings serves to uncover inequalities, raise the profile of challenges, and bring people together armed with art and creativity as a tool for engagement and a catalyst for change.
Stories, music, visual arts, poetry, crafts and events, all play a role in reaching people and bringing them together. In difficult times, this role is of more importance than ever.
Notes on Accelerating Action from Lallie Davis, Director at Buckinghamshire Culture
This year’s International Women’s Day theme, accelerate action, is about how we can collectively Accelerate Action for women everywhere by addressing systemic barriers and biases women face in both personal and professional spheres.
Despite everything,
the World Economic Forum says full gender parity is still five generations away[i].
87% of men in paid work are full-time workers, whereas only 59% of women are in paid full-time work[ii].
Women are now 47% of those in employment but are still the majority of those in part-time employment[iii].
Employment rates of Bangladeshi and Pakistani women still lag behind that of other groups[iv].
The Gender pay gap has increased to 8.9% since 2018, while overall pay gap has decreased to 17.3%[v].
Women account for 69% of low earners, a proportion that has barely changed since 2018(70%) and that has remained constant since 2011[vi] (69%)
Women continue to encounter numerous challenges, including:
Health Inequities: Studies show that women’s pain is often dismissed, leading to delayed diagnoses and inadequate treatment. The Sun
Mental Health Struggles: Research indicates that young women experience higher levels of mental distress compared to their male counterparts, influenced by societal pressures and gender-based discrimination. The Australian
What steps can you take today to challenge gender biases?
How can you support the women in your community more effectively?
In what ways can your workplace promote a culture of inclusivity and equality?[vii]
Tree of Insight and Intentions
Attendees shared thoughts and plans, writing a tag for our Tree of Insight and Intention sharing how to accommodate female audiences and pledges for the future to accelerate action!
As shared below
I pledge to actively praise and elevate my team of women, recognising their strengths, input and skill sets. I could not do my job without them.
I pledge to make space for more women to devise and lead on projects! + being aware of added barriers to intersectionality.
I do and will celebrate the women who came before us, paved the way for us to help and inspire the women who will follow us.
My intention is to promote fiction and non fiction written by women (esp from Bucks)when possible. Look at heritage of Bucks born writers e.g. Enid Blyton
I pledge to create more spaces for women to come together to be creative.
Seek out ways to make links with the local British Asian Community of Women.
Write and create more female characters to explore and present female perspectives. Continuing to connect with and champion female causes.
I pledge to promote and embrace female artists.
Continuing my recent exhibition work concerning, Childhood Lost, by sponsoring a young female street child in Kolkata.
I pledge to learn more about women’s businesses locally that I can promote.
Providing community, supportive inclusive and fun activities.
We are delighted to connect with and hear from women working across Buckinghamshire, working in collaboration to reach communities, support each other’s endeavours and ensure that women’s issues are included in our work and programmes.
Please do get in touch with ideas for future programmes, recommend speakers and to keep us up to date with your work.
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