Creative Medway 2023/2024 priorities update!

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Every year Creative Medway hosts a get together for everyone interested in creativity and culture in Medway.  The agenda is shaped by the topics that people in the room feel are most important.  Last year’s event in June 2023 saw 70 community members and people from across the creative, education, business, health, public and voluntary sectors discuss hot topics, challenges and opportunities in response to the question ‘how do we make culture and creativity central to improving the lives of everyone in Medway?’.

Following the day, Creative Medway identified four areas where we could collectively have the greatest impact over the next year. People from Medway’s creative community put themselves forward to help deliver new resources, projects, connections and activities in response to the four priorities for 2023/2024:

1) Access and inclusion:  less talk, more doing!

2) Improving what’s on messaging and media coverage for creative activities

3) Promoting useful cross-sector join ups

4) Supporting Medway’s creative community to become more environmentally sustainable

Those who joined us at our Creative Medway Social this Spring heard updates from members of the four working groups. 

Wendy from the Access and Inclusion group told us they are preparing to launch new resources to support the creative community improve accessibility and a pledge that members of the creative community can sign to commit to increasing accessibility.  They have also run a ‘how to’ session for people looking to work more inclusively and are producing an easy read Creative Medway Cultural Strategy and recommendations for actions that Creative Medway can take.

Imogen updated that the Media and Messaging group has run one well attended session helping creative practitioners write effective press releases and that they are planning more sessions on media skills over the summer.  They are also working with local press and media to put together a permanent guide for how to promote creative activities and events in Medway.

Alex told us the Environmental Sustainability group has been collaborating with Creative Kent to launch an environmental sustainability pledge for organisations and practitioners to make public sustainability commitments. The pledge will be supported by new training opportunities and a list of existing resources for the creative community to draw on to take action.

Kelly updated that the Cross-Sector Join Up group is planning a guide to support business and creative sector collaborations and is helping shape Medway’s creative heath Place Partnership programme.

Keep your eyes out for new resources and opportunities between now and the Autumn and join us at this year’s event on 28 September at MidKent College to help set the next set of Creative Medway Priorities.