Derby City Lab wants your views on city’s arts and culture scene

The Derby City Lab has teamed up with the University of Derby’s CivicLAB and Derby City Council to run a poll asking for people’s opinions on the city’s arts and culture scene.

Throughout August, the lab, which is located on Level 2 of the Derbion shopping centre, will be asking its visitors two questions.

They are: ‘What is good about your arts and cultural life in Derby?’ and ‘What could be better about your arts and cultural life in Derby?’.

Visitors will then be invited to write down their answers on response cards and pin them to a special board situated inside the lab.

Once the poll closes, the responses will be collated as part of a wider series of public consultations around the city’s cultural strategy going forward.

It is not the first time that Derby City Lab has assisted in collecting such feedback.

In early 2023, when the lab was situated in St James’s Street, for two weeks it was taken over by Culture Derby, an agency which leads on the strategic development of arts, culture and creativity in the city.

Culture Derby aims to increase the amount of funding coming into the city for cultural and creative activity – and respond to opportunities as they arise.

It used the lab to engage with stakeholders and gather feedback.

Adam Rodgers, inward investment executive at Marketing Derby and Derby City Lab lead, said: “The lab is delighted to be able to assist the university and the council in collecting this data.

“Arts and culture are essential to achieving a vibrant city – and we hope as many visitors to the lab as possible will pop in and share their thoughts.”

Dr Rhiannon Jones, associate professor (civic practice) at the University of Derby and head of CivicLAB, said: “CivicLAB is excited to be supporting the city council’s public consultation around refreshing the city’s culture strategy.

“The cultural landscape in the city is shifting and it’s important that a revision of the strategy reflects this and provides a relevant, actionable pathway forward.”

The importance of culture in the city was highlighted back in 2022 when Derby put itself forward to be City of Culture 2025.

From a record number of locations who had expressed an interest, Derby made the longlist of eight.

The city dropped out of the running when the Government rounded the locations down to four.

However, the team behind the city’s bid were far from disheartened. It vowed to use all the support it had won to make Derby a culturally vibrant city, regardless of the competition outcome.

Since then, large investments have been made to revamp the Market Hall, and create the new Becketwell performance venue, while Levelling Up cash has been redirected to reopen the Guildhall Theatre and improve Derby Theatre.

For more information about the Derby City Lab and to plan your visit go to www.derbycitylab.com.