Event title
- Cultural Development Fund (CDF) National Symposium
Location
- Stoke Town Hall, Stoke-on-Trent, England
Date
- Thursday 19 March 2026, 09:30-16:15
Event details
This Symposium will celebrate the completion of the third round Cultural Development Fund (CDF) projects across England.
The event is targeted at those (1) delivering Pride in Place programmes, (2) preparing bids for town/city of culture, (3) in receipt of Arts Everywhere funding, (4) running Heritage-led regeneration projects, and (5) developing policy, place-based strategies or funding.
This Symposium will provide a platform for those stakeholders to share learning from significant major cultural infrastructure projects currently being delivered nationwide.
Such stakeholders will include, but not limited to, the following:
- National and local policymakers and funders;
- Senior figures from the across the cultural sectorAcademics and researchers;
- Professionals, artists and freelance practitioners from across the creative and cultural sectors; and
- Senior project leads working across place development, heritage or regeneration programmes.
The central themes of the event will include:
- Project Legacy: how do we look beyond the typical 3 year funded project cycle and deliver projects with sustainable and viable legacies that continue to deliver impact on investments in culture and cultural infrastructure long into the future?
- Leadership, Ownership and Operations: looking through the lens of the CDF3 projects, this event will explore the different models and approaches taken across a diverse portfolio of projects spread across the length and breadth of England.
- Test and Learn: how can cultural organisations, local authorities, funders and policymakers build from a strong strategic vision that still allows room to flex and develop during the project delivery cycle?
- Launching (not landing): how do we approach the cliff-edge of the end of a funded period as an opportunity to fly, not fall? How do we build our projects as a hang-glider rather than as a bungee cord?
- Culture as Catalyst: exploring the wider impact of cultural infrastructure on place and place-based strategies. How do we leverage the impact of culture and culture-led regeneration in place transformation?
Speakers will include project leads from the wide range of capital projects and programmes across the country funded through the third round of the government's Cultural Development Fund, which is delivered by Arts Council England (ACE) on behalf of Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
This Symposium will bring people together, to connect in a physical space and to help set the agenda for the next phase of culture-led growth and opportunity, with a focus on building a long-lasting legacy in place-based cultural projects.
Symposium participants will have an opportunity to take part in a delegate's networking event (18 March) and free heritage walking tours to discover Stoke-on-Trent and its world-renowned history and heritage on 18 March and 19 March.
To register to attend the event, participants can access Cultural Development Fund (CDF) National Symposium.
Organised by Five10Twelve on behalf of the Cultural Development Fund (CDF) Network which is supported by DCMS and Arts Council England.