Connecting Dover

CHA were commissioned by Dover District Council to write a new Cultural Strategy for the town. Working closely with the Council’s Place and Growth team, we undertook an extensive programme of community engagement and consultation to identify key challenges and opportunities for the town.

One challenge has been to define culture in such a way as to embrace diversity and difference, helping to grow and support existing cultural activity, whilst raising ambition for exciting new opportunities.

Working with stakeholders including community groups and local artists, Arts Council England, English Heritage and Kent County Council we created a coherent and comprehensive strategy for the development of Dover’s cultural life over the next ten years. Strategies for linking events, historic spaces, empty and under-used buildings and the town’s existing cultural life are woven together to reflect the town’s rich history and future development.

We combined strategic thinking together with a nuanced understanding of cultural and artistic communities to develop a robust and practical document that will help Dover grow its cultural life, linking this to economic activity, urban regeneration and wellbeing.