Super Culture

Super Culture was launched in August 2023 – bringing together two of North Somerset’s arts flagships – award winning organisation Theatre Orchard and Culture Weston. The two have come together with the shared vision to grow an ambitious, playful and inclusive creative culture in North Somerset through world class festivals, events and live performance, creative talent development and a year-round participation programme that enables local communities to connect, get creative and take a lead in shaping their local cultural provision. The new name – Super Culture – recognises the organisation’s wider remit to promote and support all that is best in creativity and culture across North Somerset, while remaining rooted in Weston-super-Mare. Theatre Orchard was established as a charity in 2007 as a short term project to support performing arts in North Somerset, and following 11 years building cultural and creative provision with multiple communities became North Somerset’s first Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation in 2018. Since becoming a NPO, Theatre Orchard’s programme has reached people, created paid opportunities for over 400 artists, presented more than 160 productions, 8 festivals, 28 new work commissions and worked with people through creative engagement. In November 2022, the organisation secured a significant uplift in investment as part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio for 2023-2026, enabling the scale, reach and impact of the work to further develop. Super Culture will specialise in creative placemaking and community participation – producing ambitious, diverse work with, for and by the people of North Somerset. A renewed focus on wider North Somerset will also help to supercharge existing creative provision in rural areas and neighbouring coastal towns.