Tag: Buckinghamshire

news

A new Chesham Cultural and Creative Plan

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Illustration promoting the creative community in Buckinghamshire, featuring elements like a town charter, marketing strategies, and celebration of local talent with decorative banners and symbols.

Chesham’s New Cultural Plan outlines a shared vision for a creative, connected, and vibrant Chesham. Chesham Town Council and Bucks Culture are proud to present the new Chesham Cultural Plan—a community‑driven roadmap shaped through months of collaboration, creativity, and conversation. This place-based approach to strategy connects directly to the county-wide Buckinghamshire Cultural Strategy.

Developed with invaluable input from local artists, organisations, cultural leaders, educators, businesses, and passionate residents, the plan reflects Chesham’s unique identity and sets ambitious priorities for the years ahead. Together, we have defined a vision that supports culture to flourish, strengthens community life, and champions the creativity that already makes Chesham special.

How the Plan Was Created

The Cultural and Creative Plan emerged from a series of focused workshops held in Autumn 2025. These sessions brought together a diverse group of cultural stakeholders who contributed their experience, insight, and aspirations for the town’s future.

The Process Included:

  • Understanding Chesham’s current cultural landscape, strengths, and challenges.
  • Identifying possibilities for growth, innovation, partnership, and community engagement.
  • Agreeing the strategic direction, key themes, and practical actions that will guide implementation.

Each session fostered lively discussion, collaboration, and idea‑sharing—ensuring the final plan is rooted in community voices and real local need. We were supported in this process by Bucks-based live illustrator Elly Bazigos, who captured the conversations and process through colourful illustrations.

An illustrated graphic promoting resilience and sustainability, featuring text and imagery related to nurturing a creative ecosystem, investing in leadership, growing creative talent, strengthening partnerships, and safeguarding the future, with playful elements like trees, birds, and smiling faces.

What the Cultural and Creative Plan Aims to Achieve

The Chesham Cultural and Creative Plan sets out a bold yet achievable vision, that builds on great work already taking place in the town. It focusses on these priorities:

  1. The Cultural and Creative Town of Bucks
  2. Opportunity and Participation
  3. Resilience and Sustainability
  4. Places and Hubs

You can see the full plan here:

Chesham Cultural and Creative Plan 2026 FinalDownload

A Plan Built on Collaboration

Illustration promoting creativity and participation, featuring diverse individuals holding a sign that reads 'Opportunity & Participation' with playful graphics and phrases like 'Quality Experiences' and 'Capacity for All'.

This plan would not be possible without the dedicated community members who contributed their time, energy, and creativity throughout the workshop process. Their commitment has shaped a shared vision that belongs to the whole town.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who participated, supported the discussions, and helped set Chesham on a path towards a vibrant cultural future.

What’s Next?

The Cultural and Creative Plan now moves into its implementation phase. Chesham Town Council and Bucks Culture have already begun work with local partners to:

  • Develop and ratify a Creative and Cultural Charter for Chesham
  • Develop a partnership logo to endorse the Charter with students from Buckinghamshire New University
  • Draft and submit an Expression of Interest to the Town of Culture 2028 competition.

Next steps include:

  • Rolling out the Cultural and Creative logo
  • Seeking funding and resource opportunities
  • Creating partnership networks
  • Shaping new cultural initiatives and community programmes.

Progress updates will be shared regularly—as this is just the beginning.
Chesham’s new Cultural and Creative Plan represents our collective belief that creativity enriches lives, strengthens communities, and shapes a thriving town. We look forward to continuing this journey.

An illustration showing two buildings labelled 'Places & Hubs' and 'Fill Cultural Venues', with people interacting and symbols indicating exploration and mapping of spaces.
news

Stories 2: Call out for Expressions of Interest

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outdoor performance with fire and an audience

We are excited to invite organisations and creatives from across Buckinghamshire to share their ideas and express their interest in collaborating in an innovative developmental partnership that explores co-creation as a powerful way to bring local stories to life through creativity. Building on the success of Together We Build, this initiative will explore new creative approaches to storytelling. Heritage and cultural organisations will be paired with artists and creative practitioners to uncover and share important local stories in fresh, engaging, and imaginative ways.

This project does not yet have funding. The Expression of Interest (EOI) process will help shape the application that Bucks Culture submits to the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

We want to support innovative collaborations that bring locally significant community memories, cultural traditions, and heritage to life. By capturing and sharing these stories, the project aims to safeguard them for future generations, ensuring that lived experiences continue to inform, inspire, and strengthen our local communities.

Oral histories are a rich source of knowledge, insight, and creativity, and they will sit at the heart of the Stories 2 project. Through meaningful partnerships, the project will enable organisations to uncover, amplify, and celebrate hidden local stories and engage under-represented audiences using creative and inclusive approaches to storytelling, participation, and interpretation.

Projects may draw on existing oral history collections or generate new recordings. All activity should be rooted in co-creation with communities, ensuring that participants help shape both the process and the outcomes. Outputs could include exhibitions, installations, performances, digital works, workshops, or public events designed to engage diverse audiences and extend the reach and impact of these stories.

Programme Aims

To protect and celebrate Buckinghamshire’s community heritage by:

  • Uncovering and safeguarding oral histories that reflect and celebrate Buckinghamshire’s diverse communities, particularly community memories, cultural traditions and stories at risk of being lost.
  • Championing inclusive creative practice in working with oral histories and community memory, enabling under-represented or under-engaged audiences to shape, interpret, and share their heritage.
  • Fostering meaningful collaboration between heritage organisations, artists, and communities.
  • Building skills and confidence in cross-sector partnership working to strengthen sustainable, long-term relationships.

Who Can Apply

We welcome applications from arts, heritage, and culture organisations that want to explore stories and oral histories.  Eligible applicants include formally constituted organisations and community-led heritage groups. To apply, groups must have:

  • A governing document (e.g., constitution)
  • A committee or Board
  • A bank account in the organisation’s name with two signatories

Applicants may apply either:

  • With a creative or heritage partner already confirmed, or
  • Without a partner, in which case the project team can help broker a suitable collaboration.  Please reach out for a conversation to Guy: Guy@buckinghamshirecuture.org

All collaborations must work with a specific under-engaged audience group—people who currently have limited access to or participation in heritage activities due to factors such as geography, age, ethnicity, disability, socio-economic background, or cultural relevance.

What We’re Looking For

Successful proposals will:

  • Clearly explain which community memories, cultural traditions, and stories will be uncovered and why they matter locally. Priority will be given to stories at risk of being lost.
  • Focus on oral history, whether drawing on existing collections or generating new recordings.
  • Provide a compelling idea for creative collaboration with an artist or creative collective that empowers communities and brings local stories to life.
  • Identify a specific under-represented or under-engaged audience and a thoughtful plan for reaching and involving them in co-creation.
  • Evidence a commitment to inclusion, ethical practice, and community voice.
  • Demonstrate organisational capacity to host and support the project successfully.

Projects can be of any scale appropriate to your organisation and community and should be achievable within the available budget and timeframe.

Support Available

Assuming our funding application is successful, each selected partnership will receive:

  • Project grant: £2,000-£10,000 tbc (to cover artist fees, materials, production costs, engagement activities, and evaluation) for a 6-12 month delivery period.
  • Overarching Project Co-ordinator to oversee and assist with troubleshooting and engagement.
  • Training and professional support for both heritage and creative partners – likely to cover co-creation, inclusive practice, oral histories, ethics.
  • Access to a learning network of participating organisations and artists.
  • Opportunities for showcasing and shared dissemination at regional and national level.

Indicative Project Timeline

Call-out opens                                               30th March 2026

Expression of Interest deadline                    30th April 2026

Funding application submission date           Summer 2026

Decision-making period                               8 weeks

Project delivery period                                 Autumn 2026-Summer 2028 tbc

Expression of Interest Form

Please find the Expression of Interest form here:

Stories 2 Expression of Interest Form FinalDownload

Completed Expression of Interest forms should be returned to Guy: Guy@buckinghamshireculture.org by 9am, 30th April 2026.

Contact Details

If you have questions about this invitation, wish to discuss your project with a team member, or need help to find the right partner, please reach out to Guy: Guy@buckinghamshireculture.org

Please contact us if you require this information in alternative formats.

We are happy to accept applications through alternative formats suited to your needs including a film (no longer than 10 minutes) or an audio recording (no longer than 10 minutes).

news

Stories 2 – A New Collaborative Journey in Creative Storytelling

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artists looking at objects from NDACA
Archive Stories workshop with NDACA

We are inviting organisations and creatives across Buckinghamshire to join an online meeting to explore our proposal for Stories 2, an innovative developmental partnership that explores co-creation as a way to share local stories through creativity.  Building on the success of Together We Build but continuing to explore creative approaches to stories and storytelling, this model will see heritage and cultural organisations paired with artists and creative practitioners to explore and share local stories in fresh and engaging ways.  This project does not yet have funding, but Bucks Culture is proposing to lead a partnership application for funding. 

This project will support innovative collaborations that bring personal stories and community memories to life.  Oral histories are a rich source of information and inspiration, and we want to put them at the heart of this project.  The Stories 2 project will enable organisations to connect with, and amplify, hidden stories and under-engaged audiences through creative approaches to storytelling, participation, and interpretation.  Projects may explore existing oral history collections or generate new recordings, co-creating outputs with communities that could include exhibitions, installations, performances, digital works, workshops, or public events.

Programme Aims

  • Reveal and celebrate diverse voices and lived experiences within our county through inclusive creative practice.
  • Engage under-represented or under-engaged audiences in shaping, interpreting, and sharing heritage.
  • Test creative methods for working with oral histories and community memory.
  • Foster meaningful collaboration between heritage organisations, artists and communities.
  • Build skills and confidence in cross-sector partnership working.

Who Can Apply

We are beginning this process by inviting anyone interested to attend an introductory meeting, where you can learn more and explore the idea with us.  A formal application process will follow.  We welcome applications from arts, heritage, and culture organisations that want to explore stories and oral histories.  Each application must outline a collaboration for a heritage partner and a creative/artistic partner working together.  Eligible applicants include formally constituted organisations and community-led heritage groups. To apply, groups must have:

  • A governing document (e.g., constitution)
  • A committee or Board
  • A bank account in the organisation’s name with two signatories

Applicants may apply either:

  • With a creative or heritage partner already confirmed, or
  • Without a partner, in which case the project team can help broker a suitable collaboration.

All collaborations must work with at least one under-engaged audience group—people who currently have limited access to or participation in heritage activities due to factors such as geography, age, ethnicity, disability, socio-economic background, or cultural relevance.

Support Available

Assuming our funding application is successful, each selected partnership will receive:

  • Project grant: £2,000-£10,000 tbc (to cover artist fees, materials, production costs, engagement activities, and evaluation) for a 6-12 month delivery period
  • Overarching Project Co-ordinator to keep everyone on track and assist with troubleshooting and engagement
  • Training and professional support for both heritage and creative partners – likely to cover co-creation, inclusive practice, oral histories, ethics
  • Access to a learning network of participating organisations and artists
  • Opportunities for showcasing and shared dissemination at regional and national level.

What We’re Looking For

Successful proposals will demonstrate:

  • A clear oral history focus, whether based on existing collections or new recordings.
  • A compelling idea for creative collaboration with an artist or collective that empowers communities and creates vibrant local storytelling.
  • Identification of a specific under-engaged audience and a thoughtful plan for reaching and involving them in co-creation.
  • Evidence of commitment to inclusion, ethical practice, and community voice.
  • Organisational capacity to host and support the project.

Projects can be of any scale appropriate to your organisation and community and should be achievable within the available budget and timeframe.

Indicative Project Timeline

Information/Exploration Meeting – 9th February 2026

Call-out opens – Spring 2026

Expression of Interest deadline – Late Spring 2026

Funding application submission date – Summer 2026

Decision-making period – 8 weeks

Project delivery period – Autumn 2026-Summer 2028

Find Out More

Join us on 9th February, 11-12.30 on Teams to find out more, RSVP via this link: Stories 2 Discussion – Fill out form

Culture

Explore creativity, stories and nature this August with Bucks Open Weekend

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Open Weekend banner

Taking place 28th-31st August, Open Weekend is a celebration of creativity and an invitation to explore! Take a look at our What’s On to find out what exciting activities are happening across Bucks.

You are invited to enjoy creative projects, performances, workshops, exhibitions and much more taking place across the county over a long weekend.  This year’s events are themed to ‘stories and nature’ and aim to inspire you, your family and friends with 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.

Over the four days of Open Weekend groups, organisations and creatives will hold over 50 events, so you can take part in activities from tree drawing workshops to dance exploring nature, wellbeing and personal stories, from photography to tell your story, to Opera combined with circus!  From immersive music to growing and cooking, from woven stories using upcycled materials to snake stories and snake sculpture – there’s so much to discover.  Events will take place across the county, some outside in nature and others inside. 

If you have never been to Aylesbury Waterside Theatre you can take a tour to hear how its design is inspired by the Chiltern’s natural landscapes.  Visit Discover Bucks Museum for a multi-sensory story time sharing how Bucks has changed from a watery world of undersea creatures to our modern landscape.  Or take a trip to Wycombe Museum for a magical day of stories with a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ story trail, book-making, storytelling, face painting, and character games.  And many of our Libraries are hosting a range of storytelling events and creative workshops.

Julius Weinberg, Buckinghamshire Culture Co-Chair said: “This year’s theme of stories and nature has inspired many great events, we are really excited to see so many groups, organisations and artists come forward to nurture the creativity of our county in this way.  Thank you to everyone that has chosen to take part in Open Weekend 2025!“

Peter Brazier, Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, added: “We are delighted to give our support to Buckinghamshire Culture’s Open Weekend once again this year.  It is a fantastic way for everyone to get their creativity flowing and enjoy the wide range of fun activities on offer.  With events and activities taking place across the whole county, I’d encourage everyone to take a look at the programme of events and get involved.”

A child smiling while participating in a crafting activity, surrounded by adults, working with decorated sticks at a table.
Community Sculpture at Chiltern Open Air Museum

The idea behind Open Weekend is to showcase the range and breadth of creative opportunities available Buckinghamshire and to encourage as many people as possible to get involved, go somewhere new or try something new.  Open Weekend is organised by Buckinghamshire Culture and supported by Buckinghamshire Council and the Rothschild Foundation.

Special thanks to our Communication Sponsors: Bucks Radio, Hiya Bucks, High Wycombe Life, My Wycombe.

Buckinghamshire Culture acts as an umbrella organisation for independently planned events by partner organisations. You can find out more and help spread the word by visiting: www.buckinghamshireculture.org, Instagram @bucks_culture and @BuckinghamshireCulture on Facebook – look for #BucksOpenWeekend and please like and re-share!

Culture

Championing Culture

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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:

Championing Culture Questionnaire
Culture, news

Bucks Spark Awards

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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.

Culture

Made in Bucks

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We are currently exploring the idea of a new programme to celebrate and promote the creative and cultural industries across Bucks, with the working title, Made in Bucks. This new piece of R&D, inspired by our Co-Chair Julius Weinberg’s vision to “make Buckinghamshire sticky,” will reflect and celebrate the unique cultural identity of Bucks.

We are keen to hear your thoughts about how we could better celebrate and harness the creative industries across the county – in terms of profile, career pathways and vibrancy. Please see the ‘Made in Bucks One Pager’ below for more details and review the attached project outline. We’d love your feedback—share your thoughts through our brief questionnaire by Monday, 9th of December by scanning the QR code at the bottom of the page or click here.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to our consultant, Jacqui Gellman, at jacqui.gellman@gmail.com.

Tagged Buckinghamshire, Buckinghamshire Culture, creative, creative-industries, cultural-industry, Culture, project, survey

Culture

Bucks Spark Awards Shortlist

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Celebrating Bucks Arts, Heritage & Culture – first ever Bucks Spark Awards

Bucks Culture is excited to present the first ever Bucks Spark Awards created to showcase and celebrate arts, heritage and cultural achievements delivered by fantastic, hard-working organisations and voluntary groups within the county.  Submissions for work taking place in the last year were invited across three categories and we are now able to share the inspiring shortlist.

The categories and shortlist for this first year of Bucks Spark Awards are:

Best cultural event:

  • UK Astronomy’s Planetarium at Stowe
  • Unbound Theatre’s Buckinghamshire Shakespeare Festival
  • Visual Images Group’s Bucks Art Weeks

Best cultural exhibition:

  • Amersham Museum’s Marie-Louise in Amersham exhibition
  • Fractured Land Collective’s Fractured Land exhibition
  • Marlow Museum’s Writers of Marlow exhibition
  • National Paralympic Heritage Trust’s The Story of the Games display
  • South Asian Artists’ Community’s Kaleidoscope exhibition

Best cultural collaboration:

  • Buckinghamshire Council’s Local Heritage List
  • Bucks Youth Dance Company and Wycombe Youth Action’s Express Yourself project
  • Chiltern Music Therapy and English Sinfonia’s Safe in Sound project
  • Decreate and Hughenden’s Easter Family Art Trail
  • National Paralympic Heritage Trust’s Global Virtual Museum
  • Milton’s Cottage and Vache Baroque’s Visionaries: a multi-sensory experience
  • Wycombe Museum and Chalk, Cherries and Chair’s Chiltern Chairs Festival.

All of the submissions we received were of an extremely high quality and judging has been very hard.  Our judging panel consists of:

  • Professor Sri-Kartini Leet, Head of School of Art and Performing Arts at Buckinghamshire New University
  • Daniel Williams, County and Diocesan Archivist at Buckinghamshire Archives
  • Pablo Colella, Director and Lead Consultant at Disconnected Bodies
  • Julius Weinberg, Co-Chair at Buckinghamshire Culture.

Pablo Colella said: “I was blown away by the calibre of the submissions for Bucks Spark Awards this year, I am so impressed by the range of events and activities that are taking place in the county.  I feel really lucky to have been selected as the community panel member for the Awards judging.”

The winners and runners-up will be announced at Bucks Culture’s Conference on 7th November, with awards presented by award winning author Claire Fuller and Lord-Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire, Countess Howe.

We are so excited to share these cultural moments and achievements with partners, colleagues and friends in the sector.  We aim to build a supportive creative community to celebrate these successes and the value that the cultural sector brings to our county and its residents.

You can book tickets for the Conference and/or the Bucks Spark Awards here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/creative-collaboration-conference-bucks-spark-awards-tickets-1006666405317?aff=oddtdtcreator

Culture

Bucks Culture seeks new Co-Chair

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Do you have the passion, expertise and collaborative approach to help steer our charity into it’s next phase?

Bucks Culture is seeking a new Co-Chair to serve alongside Julius Weinberg, leading our Board of Trustees.  We have a model of two Chair-persons serving together, each bringing different knowledge and experience to the role.  Bill Morris joined Bucks Culture in 2019 and has been a fantastic support, a knowledgeable guide and a great person to work with – we will miss him!  However, Bill’s other commitments require more and more of his time and he is keen to handover his role as Co-Chair around the end of 2024. 

We are seeking a collaborative person that can be a champion and guide for Bucks Culture as it evolves from a fledgling charity into its next phase. 

If you think you might be interested in this role, please take a look at the Role Description below. We are requesting expressions of interest by: 9am, 16th September 2024.

BC Co-Chair Role June 24Download

If you would like to speak to Lallie, our Director or Julius, our ongoing Co-Chair about the role, please email Lallie: Lallie@buckinghamshireculture.org to arrange a conversation.

Culture

You are invited… Village Stories

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Hundreds of residents invited to take part in epic photo project this Summer – sharing our STORIES project

On the left a Breugel paining, on the right, a modern photo of people walking on a grey background

This July community meetings will take place in three ‘villages’ across Buckinghamshire, inviting local residents to be part of large-scale photographs.  These meetings will be the start of our Village Stories strand, which aims to create new portraits of modern villages through photography and writing.  Residents in Burnham, Brill and Fairford Leys (a village within Aylesbury) are invited to join in. 

Photographer Camilla Greenwell and choreographer Theo Clinkard have devised this celebratory photo project inspired by the works of 16th-century Flemish artist, Pieter Bruegel the Elder.  These famous and often humorous images are bustling with life and full of characters and incidents.  They show people at work and leisure, individuals and groups, old and young.  The project asks who lives in our villages now?  And how can we capture the vibrant life of these communities?  We are inviting 100+ local residents and those connected to these villages to take part in the project in each location.  It will be simple and fun and take only a couple of hours, on one day in September. Participants will be given some easy ideas and tasks to create a gesture or action to capture the essence of the place they live in.

Photo of Burnham Village, a man and a woman stand in the foreground.

In addition to the photoshoots we are also offering writing workshops with authors, including Costa Novel Award winning novelist Claire Fuller.

If you, your family or group would like to take part in Village in one of the three locations across Bucks this Summer please use this link to sign up: https://buckinghamshireculture.org/village-stories/

Village Stories is just one strand of our multi-faceted STORIES programme in 2024.  We are inviting residents across Bucks to take part in creative and cultural activities that explore what makes this county unique: its people, heritage, natural environment and histories. STORIES will grow and develop over the next years into a festival-like series of events and participation opportunities. From June to November 2024, we kick off with three pilot projects, stretching across the county from Buckingham in the north to the Chilterns in the South, with events in woodlands as well as village and town centres, from projects that see artists researching in local archives, to mass participation in local villages. 

Alongside Village Stories, in 2024 we will deliver:

Archive Stories, which will see a new disabled artist collective led by poet Ellen Renton working with Arden Fitzroy, Guy Morris, Jess Starns and Noor-e-Sehar Ali, investigate the National Paralympic Heritage Trust archive and the National Disability Art Collection & Archive to inspire the creation of new artworks. 

FiresideStories, which will bring three outdoor performances by circus and theatre artists Nikki & JD and Lost Dog Dance to local spaces and woodland settings, telling a story of monsters and what makes us afraid, in a family-friendly performances with real fire.  In each location additional wrap-around events will make the evening special.

To find out more about the STORIES programme, visit our website: https://buckinghamshireculture.org/stories/

Theo Clinkard, Choreographer says: 

“I can’t wait to tell new stories with local folk who are up for the challenge of making a huge artwork together, one that captures both the physical fact of this place and this moment in time, but also the collective imagination of the people that live here” 

Eckhard Thiemann, STORIES Creative Associate said:

“Village is just such a brilliantly simple and creative idea: A rallying call to leave your home or work for a moment to congregate and create an action-filled snapshot of yourself, your community, your location and this moment in time. Let Buckinghamshire’s village life become as famous and loved as Breugel’s Flemish scenes from nearly 500 years ago.”

Clive Harriss, Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture & Leisure said:

“We are very pleased to be supporting the development of Buckinghamshire Culture’s STORIES project, we are excited to see what is produced and where it goes next!  With so many villages making up our landscape in Bucks it feels appropriate to put village life in the spotlight!”

STORIES 2024 is made possible thanks to funding from Arts Council England, Rothschild Foundation, Buckinghamshire Council, National Paralympic Heritage Trust, National Lottery Heritage Fund and supported by a range of committed partners across the county.