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Arts and culture in the city
Introducing Culture In Our City, your one-stop shop for arts and creative industries information and exchange in Brighton & Hove.
About Brighton & Hove
Brighton & Hove is known internationally as a centre of creativity. We're one of the most dynamic and innovative creative clusters in the UK and are at the forefront of advances in creative technology.
We're home to hundreds of artists and creative producers and we host over 60 festivals a year, including the largest annual arts festival in England.
Brighton & Hove is a city that attracts artists and creative people. This is because of its:
fantastic setting between the sea and the South Downs
much-loved Georgian architecture and heritage
liberal and cosmopolitan attitude, shown by its diverse day and nightlife
The city is home to 35,000 students and has a strong civil society with:
over 2,300 third-sector organisations
one of the largest populations of freelancers and homeworkers in the UK
The Culture & Creative Industries team
The Culture & Creative Industries team at Brighton & Hove City Council supports the vital industry of the arts by:
championing its strengths
facilitating strategic projects and mobilising the convening power of the council
advocating for the central role it plays in the city's life and economy, including through:
planning and licensing review
economic development analysis
wider city strategies
consulting and collaborating with stakeholders, including national and international funders and private-sector champions
We consult and collaborate through initiatives like:
being your one-stop shop for arts and creative industries information and exchange in Brighton & Hove
The Brighton & Hove Culture Alliance
public consultations and networks
bespoke projects to support cultural and creative industries
The Brighton & Hove Culture Alliance wants to promote collaboration by bringing together representatives from across the creative sector. We want to create more, fairer, opportunities across the city and be a strong advocate for the sector in other contexts.
The Alliance has grown out of the ABCD Cultural Recovery Programme. The ABCD programme ran from April 2021 to December 2022 in response to Covid-19. It raised over £500k for creative projects in Brighton & Hove.
Arts, culture and creativity are essential to the identity of Brighton & Hove. We want to encourage creative organisations and workers to work together. We also want new and more diverse voices to join the conversation. That way, workers in the creative industries can all contribute to the success of the city.
Aim of the Culture Alliance
“Given the extraordinary challenges we all faced with the pandemic, its impact and the ongoing cost of living crisis, we have all valued and continue to learn from the ABCD programme.
The Culture Alliance builds on this collaborative way of working as a platform to devise and deliver programmes addressing the long and short-term challenges and opportunities that affect the cultural and wider community in the city”.
– Brighton Dome & Festival, Brighton & Hove City Council, University of Sussex, core funders of the Culture Alliance.
ABCD, COVID-19 and our creative industries
The impact of COVID-19 on the creative industries in the city has been significant. The loss of income caused by lockdowns has left most of the sector still facing financial difficulty.
ABCD programme for cultural recovery
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, the ABCD programme for cultural recovery brought the cultural and creative sectors together.
In restarting the cultural economy, it was important not to reinvent the city’s approach to culture. We want to build a better, brighter future that addresses the new and unexpected world we now inhabit.
The success of ABCD has now led to the foundation of the Brighton & Hove Culture Alliance which built on this legacy of engagement with:
a 2023 Cultural Summit
ongoing networking events at different locations across the city
