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Somerset Cultural Strategy
Identify the defining features of Somerset culture and to
celebrate it
Click Here To Read
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A Must Read From Culture
South West
In Search For Chunky
Dunsters
Making a case
for Culture
click here
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About two thirds of the people living in
the region take part in sport
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Visiting a local library is the region’s
fifth most popular pastime with around 60% of people
holding library membership
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'By the mid-13th century Taunton had two fairs. These
Middle Age fairs were like markets but were held only once
a year for a period of several days and Taunton fairs
would attract buyers and sellers from all over Southwest
England'.
Read more on Taunton's History by clicking here
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The South
West has England‘s largest concentration of built heritage
outside London
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Areas of Outstanding
Natural Beauty make up 20% of the South West
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Designs on Democracy competition aims to raise the profile
of town halls as important civic buildings and encourage
the development these new democratic spaces
click here
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Somerset County Council Cultural Services Nov 2002
click here to read
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Creating Arts and Education Projects
A guide from Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council of
England
click here
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"During
the next 3 years we will maintain and improve all our
Culture, Inclusion and Access services"
from
Somerset County Council's Corporate Plan: Our values,
mission and policy priorities 2002-2005
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check
out the region and Taunton's vitals by entering our
'facts and stats' page' -
Click Here
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Better Public Buildings Report
‘100
years ago public buildings were often the pride of
Britain’s towns and cities. Schools, railway stations,
post offices and libraries set high standards of
building design that the private sector tried to
emulate. The best embodied a strong sense of civic
pride. We know that good design provides a host of
benefits. The best designed schools encourage children
to learn. The best designed hospitals help patients to
recover their spirits and their health. Well designed
parks and town centres help to bring communities
together.’
Tony Blair in the foreword to Better Public Buildings
October 2000
Guide to 'Better Public
Buildings'
Click Here To Read
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In Taunton Deane how many households were there in
2001?
Think
you know the answer?
Check this and many more facts about our town by
visiting our 'Taunton Statistics' page
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Sustainable development:
what it is and
what you can do
by the Green Ministers
Committee
Click
Here To Read
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 Trying
to get an idea of what culture means isn't easy as it covers so
many aspects of human nature. Nonetheless, trying to identify our
own cultural distinctiveness in our communities, towns and regions
empowers us with a sense of identity and heritage, and is,
perhaps, that part of Britishness we continue to define.
As mentioned throughout
our web site, the need for creating 'places' and 'communities' is
important and culture and access to it plays a large role in place
creation. So here we try to
answer questions that we think will help
understanding and appreciation of this wide and diverse subject.
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What is 'Culture'?
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"Culture is what we grow people
in." -
said Sheila McKechnie, Director
of the Consumers Association, but what is it really?
The general definition of culture is "The
totality of socially transmitted behaviour patterns, arts,
beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work
and thought." but this doesn't sound very accessible to the
person who just wants to play football or watch a movie. The
word Culture needs to do some marketing in it's definition
department to get itself noticed.
 The best
definition we have found was that from Culture South West who
says that culture "rounds up all those activities which
help improve both the quality of people's lives and the way
they feel about the place in which they live; that add to a
sense of belonging for those living here, and attract our
visitors. Call them culture, leisure, recreation, whatever.
The shorthand word we've chosen for all of them is culture.
The common denominator is the enjoyment, inspiration,
education or challenge they provide".
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What does it cover?
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Definitions of culture... chiefly fall within the
following categories:
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the arts (theatre, music, opera, drama, cinema, ballet, art
galleries, painting and sculpture)
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attitudes, beliefs, ways of life (values, religion, memory,
language)
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history (archives, heritage, historic buildings, museums,
traditions, customs)
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education (reading, evening classes, lifelong learning)
- A
wider definition also includes such
things as
countryside and landscape, festivals and events, food and
drink, tourism, community life, television, children’s play,
sporting activities, and even shopping
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Why is Culture important?
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Our
cultural activities and assets play a major role
when
the twenty odd million or so tourist visit the South
West every year. This shows that culture has an economic
leverage in the region. And as surveys show a a majority of
people in the country would live here if they had freedom of
choice.
 Cultural
activity can make people proud of their communities and of
themselves. Taking part in sporting activities, walking in the
countryside or cycling all lead to healthier lifestyles. A
visit to the cinema, the museum or the library can stimulate
the imagination and promote mental well-being and aid lifelong
learning. Joining voluntary organizations and charities like
the Civic Society can bring social lives and experiences
together, uniting the community. Widening cultural
opportunities can improve community safety - for example by
diverting attention away from acts of crime. The wide range
of cultural activities offers something for everyone and the
many free and
inclusive opportunities go toward tackling issues of social
exclusion. In short,
cultural pursuits bring people together.
The
Somerset Cultural Strategy continues by saying "Education
and lifelong learning are central to
cultural life. Children and young people learn at school about
their cultural heritage and are taught using a variety of
cultural tools, including art and performance. Adults benefit
from a great range of community education courses, while those
who choose to learn individually can, for example, trace the
history of local communities and people by using libraries,
museums and archive services. Tourism thrives where local
culture is strong. A distinctive local culture can be marketed
to the wider world, and in Somerset, for example, it is
estimated that tourism, much
of it
related to the county’s heritage and culture, is worth over
£500 million a year (Somerset Tourism Partnership). For many
people, living in the countryside, or knowing that it is
easily accessible, are important aspects of what they value
most about Somerset".
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Can you measure Culture?
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By answering the above
questions we can see that there are many benefits to Culture
and it also has 'material' and 'value' components.
The
Somerset Cultural Strategy
says that cultures
"material dimension is expressed in activities, buildings,
landscapes, collections and events. Its value dimension
comprises relationships, shared memories, identities and
experiences. In a diverse and multi-ethnic community there is
no single set of cultural values which defines us all" it then
continues on by saying "Nor is the cultural world static, and
the pace of change is being increasingly influenced by
electronic media. For those with the means, electronic media
can now deliver a wide range of cultural experiences direct to
your home".
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What is Social Capitol?
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Despite becoming a key
policy and research topic over the last decade, social capital
remains an imprecise concept. Some argue that social capital
is the social connections between people or that it is a
resource that emerges from people’s social ties, while others
have claimed that trust and engagement in civil society are
better ways of defining the concept.
The government is
interested in social capital because it can potentially
encourage economic growth, educational achievement, reduced
crime and better health. The main types of social capital are:
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‘bonding’ social
capital (such as strong bonds among family members or ethnic
groups);
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‘bridging’ social
capital (weaker but broader bonds across, for example,
ethnic groups);
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‘linking’ social
capital (between people with different levels of power such
as different social classes).
Bonding social capital is
deemed to be important for ‘getting by’ whereas bridging and
linking are particularly good for ‘getting ahead’. These
distinctions have policy implications. For example, bridging
social capital is important for unemployed people as more find
employment through friends and personal contacts than through
any other single route.
The significance of time
use
Official measures of
poverty and quality of life have traditionally concentrated on
work, education, health, housing and environment. The amount
of free time that people have is increasingly being recognised
as an important people feel their free time has become scarcer
and more harried, especially in the case of women who often
juggle work, family and leisure.
Surveys which measure how
people use their time highlight alternative ways of measuring
well-being and quality of life. For instance, some people may
be deemed to be ‘money rich, but time poor’. They are
monetarily wealthy but have little time away from work to
devote to leisure or other activities. Although a standard
economic measure of well-being would classify this individual
as being ‘better off’, time use data can help highlight
alternative measures of quality of
life, such as how ‘busy’ a
person is or how much leisure time they enjoy.
Using the UK 2000 Time Use
Survey
The collection of data
through time use diaries offers different ways of measuring
some aspects of social capital. Time use studies are unique as
they ask about events and actions that occur in the course of
everyday life, yet they are an underutilised tool in the
measurement of social capital.
At a basic level, we can
use the data to illustrate the amount of time spent on
activities such as sport, civic participation, going to social
clubs and pubs and visiting friends, all of which have been
described as ‘pursuits associated with social capital’. The UK
2000 TUS cannot be used to measure all facets of social
capital, but it can help us identify people who volunteer,
help or socialise. These groups are the main focus of this
report and can be read by
clicking here. |
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