Tag: conference

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.

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

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.”