B2 Research into client

 My Client:

My client for my project is Sunderland Culture. Sunderland Culture, founded in 2016 is a charity organisation which exists to bring to light Sunderland’s cultural aspects as well as to fully capitalise on the city's creative potential. In 2018, Sunderland Culture became an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation and in March of 2018 they launched the Twenty Four Seven programme; an ambitious seven year £60m project running to 2024. 

This project has been made in order to use arts and culture to deliver 5 step changes in the city; improved profile and reputation of the city; more vibrant creative economy; raised outlook and aspiration of young people; improved health and wellbeing; and a more socially cohesive city. They operate National Glass Centre and Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens, Sunderland Stages, Sunderland Cultural Partnership, Arts Centre Washington and The Fire Station, with a combined audience of over 700,000. 

In addition, they run cross-city programmes such as the recent 2021 UK City of Culture bid http://www.sunderland2021.com 

UK City of Culture is a designation given to a city (or a local area from 2025) in the United Kingdom for a period of one calendar year, during which the successful bidder hosts cultural festivities through culture-led regeneration for the year. The UK-wide programme, which is administered by the UK Government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in collaboration with the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, is to "build on the success of Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture 2008, which had significant social and economic benefits for the area". Bids solely in Greater London are excluded from the competition, although boroughs and places in the UK capital may submit a joint bid with a city or place outside of Greater London.

Another example of one of their cross-city programmes is their Great Place Scheme. https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/sunderland-is-a-1-25m-great-place/ 

The Great Place Scheme is a National Lottery-funded programme which responds to the government’s 2016 Culture White Paper. The Scheme aims to ensure that local investment in arts and culture has the greatest impact on local ecologies (the economy, jobs, education, community cohesion and health and wellbeing). The joint three-year programme was designed to pilot new approaches to local investment in arts and culture. As well as supporting increased cultural engagement, the programme aimed to nurture long-term impact in Places, by encouraging cross sectoral partnerships; ensuring the role of arts and culture is visible to policy-makers and local citizens alike. 

Sunderland Culture’s main key stake is Arts Council England. Sunderland Culture highly values diversity and equality. "Sunderland Culture aims to improve life for everyone in Sunderland through arts, heritage and culture. By encouraging as many people as possible to get involved, we aspire to improve health and wellbeing for people in Sunderland; building confidence and aspirations, and creating connectivity in our communities."- https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/about-us/equality-and-diversity/#:~:text=Sunderland%20Culture%20aims%20to%20improve,creating%20connectivity%20in%20our%20communities.