As organisations across the West of England begin preparing for the next Arts Council England National Portfolio round, Citizens for Culture will host an online workshop exploring how the Citizens’ Cultural Plan and the emerging Share/Grow/Build framework could help inform applications to ACE for its new portfolio of West of England organisations for 2028 and beyond.

The workshop will take place online on:

Wednesday 1 July 2026
10am–12pm

This session is for organisations, freelancers, networks and partnerships who are beginning to think about applications for National Portfolio funding from 2028 onwards.

Importantly, this is not a workshop about “how to apply” or how funding decisions will be made.

Instead, it is an opportunity to step back and explore a bigger question:

What are communities across the West of England saying they want culture to be in this region and how could that contribute to the future direction of the sector?

The workshop will draw on:

• the Citizens’ Cultural Plan created through the Citizens for Culture Assembly 
• learning emerging through the ongoing Citizens for Culture Roadshows 
• including the developing Share/Grow/Build framework which is gathering insights about what already exists (share), what could be developed (grow), and what doesn’t currently exist (build) 

The timing feels particularly important. 

Arts Council England is expected to publish details of the refreshed National Portfolio process in June 2026, with full guidance for applicants expected later in the year. 

ACE has also indicated that this next NPO round will see “A set of decisions built on artform expertise and the views of local citizens.”

We are the only region in England that has a Citizens’ Cultural Plan and that feels important in terms of this NPO round. 

Over recent months, Citizens for Culture has been in conversation with organisations, networks, local authorities, funders and national partners across the region through the Roadshows. Again and again, one theme has emerged clearly: people want stronger connections between cultural decision-making and the everyday lives of communities.

This workshop is intended as a practical space for reflection, discussion and connection at an early stage in the NPO process. 

Please book your place via this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/citizens-for-culture-workshop-for-future-national-portfolio-applicants-tickets-1990551581364

Since the launch of the Citizens’ Cultural Plan, Roadshow conversations have been taking place across the West of England.

By the end of June, citizens from the Assembly will have taken part in 25 Roadshow conversations across the region.

At each Roadshow, we’re using a simple framework called Share – Grow – Build.

It asks three questions:

• What’s already happening that could be shared?

• What has real potential and could grow?

• What doesn’t yet exist, but needs to be built together?

Roadshow by Roadshow, these conversations are helping us build a live picture of how the region could respond to the Citizens’ Cultural Plan.

In other words, where energy already exists, where partnerships are emerging, and where citizens may want to focus future attention, investment or challenge.

This month, we’ll be testing the first version of this emerging matrix with artists, organisations and partners at the Culture West Summit, hosted by the Mayoral Combined Authority.

Our aim is to make sure this becomes a practical tool for the next phase of Citizens for Culture which is about turning the Citizens’ Cultural Plan into action.

Looking ahead: National Portfolio applicants workshop

As organisations across the region begin thinking about the next Arts Council England National Portfolio round, we wanted to share an opportunity coming up this summer.

On Wednesday 1 July (9:30–11:30am), Citizens for Culture will host an online open session for organisations, freelancers and partnerships who are planning to apply to become NPOs from 2028.

The workshop will be about how the Citizens’ Cultural Plan and the emerging Share – Grow – Build framework might help connect the future plans of NPO applicants with what communities across the West of England are saying matters most.

This is not a workshop about how to apply. Instead, it’s a chance to explore what citizens across the region have said they want culture to become.

We’ve discussed this with Arts Council England, who are keen to see the Citizens’ Cultural Plan inform future planning and delivery across the region.

Please save the date, and we’ll share the full invitation later this month.

Thank you to everyone who has taken part so far and to those continuing to shape what happens next.

Written by Lead Facilitator LaToyah McAllister-Jones

After launching the report from the Citizens for Culture Assembly on the 15th January, Citizens for Culture launched the next phase of the project, which is being delivered through a series of Citizens for Culture Roadshows. 

We’ve now delivered 5 roadshows across the region, including in Thornbury, a regional meeting of the Cultural Compact National Trust and with Arts Council England, South West. It has been a really interesting experience to facilitate these sessions, each of which has been vastly different in terms of size, focus and understanding of the assembly process.

What are the roadshows?

The roadshows have been designed to encourage networks of cultural practitioners and organisations to come together to focus on how we deliver on the Cultural Plan, together. The format focuses on 3 main areas:

1. Citizen voice
   This is where people lean in. The roadshows centre the voices of the citizens from the Assembly; what it actually felt like to be in the room, to co-create a cultural plan with strangers, and what they hope happens next.
2. Leaning in
   This is where it gets real. We start to surface the tensions and possibilities of working in a citizen-led way. For a sector used to knowing the destination before we begin, this is counterintuitive. We’re used to fixed outcomes, pre-set plans, consultation on our terms. This asks something different of us. The roadshows create space to sit with that discomfort and turn it into opportunity.
3. The priorities
   This is about action. First, we map what’s already happening across the region; what we can share, what we can grow, and what we need to build to respond to the 13 priorities. Then we ask networks to step forward; which priorities matter most to you, and what are you willing to commit to, together?

Everywhere we go, people have been open, generous, and up for the conversation. There’s a real keenness to learn not just to listen, but to shape what comes next. And there is energy for this way of working.

But as the roadshows unfold, something is becoming clearer.

The story isn’t the same across the region but there is an emerging pattern.

In places like Thornbury, there is strong community-led activity and a clear sense of identity. People care deeply, and there’s pride in what already exists. But change is happening fast. New communities are arriving, and the infrastructure isn’t always keeping up. The challenge here isn’t a lack of culture. It’s how culture stretches to include everyone.

In organisations like the National Trust, the picture shifts. The assets are there, spaces, reach, resource, intent. There is a genuine desire to work in more inclusive, citizen-led ways. But the question becomes one of power. How far does participation really go? Who gets to shape decisions? And what does it take to shift organisational culture, not just improve engagement?

And then, at a regional level, another layer appears. There is collaboration. There are networks. There is ambition. But it’s not always clear how it all connects. For someone trying to engage, it can be hard to see where to go, how to take part, or how decisions are made. The system exists but it isn’t always visible or easy to navigate.

So as I reflect a picture is starting to come together;

• In some places, activity exists but needs to connect and reach further
• In institutions, assets exist but power hasn’t fully shifted
• At a system level, ambition exists but structure hasn’t caught up
• There is no shortage of energy but infrastructure is not equtiable
• Inclusion is intended but intention and outreach are not the same thing
• The system is active but not always legible from the outside

What we are being asked to do across all of this is not small.

To connect what already exists.
To build what’s missing.
And to share power in a way that feels real.

That last part matters.

Because from a citizens’ perspective, this isn’t about being invited in once decisions are made. It’s about shaping what culture looks like in the first place. And from a sector perspective, that requires a shift in how we work — how we listen, how we decide, and what we’re willing to let go of.

We know this is counterintuitive. It asks us to slow down, to open up, to work differently with each other.

So the question now is:

How do we lean in?

Not just individually, but collectively,  across places, organisations and the wider system.

Because culture is happening all around us, all the time.

The work now is making it work for everyone.