What is Vibrant Shropshire: A Cultural Compact?

Shropshire Cultural Compact Logo Alt Vers 1

Vibrant Shropshire’s Cultural Compact is part of the national network of cultural compacts supported and funded by Arts Council England (ACE) and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and facilitated by Shropshire Council. It's made up of representatives from business, education, health, wellbeing and culture to support the delivery of Vibrant Shropshire the county's cultural strategy. 

Vibrant Shropshire aims to support the sector to deliver amazing cultural events and activities that help increase the county’s wellbeing, economic development, resilience, sustainability and local pride. 

Our key priorities:

  • Support the development of innovative, ambitious and surprising programming
  • Help overcome barriers to participation in culture, especially amongst underserved communities
  • Support the cultural sector to help develop Shropshire’s economy
  • Increase employment opportunities in culture and encourage more young people to consider a career in the sector in Shropshire
  • Increase the delivery of cultural initiatives that have a positive impact on health and wellbeing
  • Increase awareness of environmental sustainability and reduce the sector's impact on the environment
  • Engage more children and young people in cultural activities

You can read more about the national Cultural Compact Initiative on the Arts Council website.

Meet the board

Paul Johnson, deputy provost at the University of Chester and cultural compact chair

Paul is deputy provost at the University of Chester and professor of theatre and performance. He has worked as a researcher, lecturer, and external advisor at a number of universities, developing and delivering courses in arts and cultures. He has worked in the theatre as a writer and director, as well as a variety of other roles from youth theatre worker to script reader for the Literary Department of the Birmingham Rep. Previously, he sat on the strategic board of Arts Connect, the Arts Council Bridge Organisation for the West Midlands, ensuring that they met their aim of ensuring wider access to arts and culture for young people in the West Midlands, and is currently chairing the Quality Assurance Agency review of the subject benchmark statement for dance, drama and performance.

Paul Gossage, culture, leisure and tourism development manager, Shropshire Council

Paul joined Shropshire Council as culture, leisure and tourism development Manager in 2021. He has worked in the charity and heritage sector for many years and has considerable experience of communications, project development, fundraising and community engagement. As part of his role as development manager he has established Vibrant Shropshire, and continues to be heavily involved in the day-to-day and strategic work of Vibrant Shropshire.

Dr Sarah Browne, head of Shropshire Music Service

Sarah began her career teaching music in primary and secondary schools, before successfully managing a large performing arts and media department in the FE sector.

She spent the last decade at senior level in higher education. During this time, she established, and became chair of, Walsall Cultural Compact. Sarah has written several academic articles and has been published by OUP, Red Globe, Palgrave, and Routledge. In September 2022, her first book was released.

Sarah is a keen advocate for promoting young women in music. She worked with the United Nations Decade of Women on the global initiative Hear Her Song, and later that year, shared her work on promoting gender equality in music at the UN Headquarters.

Joseph Schneider, Rural Art Hub

Joseph has thirty years' experience as an artist and creative facilitator working across art, play and educational settings. He's the founding director of the Rural Art Hub in North Shropshire, a CIC whose innovative, interdisciplinary projects bring together creativity, heritage and sustainability to support transformation and inspiration at the heart of community.

You can get in touch with him at mothershippon@gmail.com 

Pete White, director of information solutions - The Web Orchard

Pete was one of the founding members of Vibrant Shropshire. His background is in IT and web and he runs the Shrewsbury based IT company Information Solutions, and web company The Web Orchard. Pete’s side projects include the Love Shrewsbury website and ShropGeek. Pete is interested in both the economic and social benefits of the cultural projects the region has to offer.

Contact him at peter.white@info-sol.co.uk.

Tim Russell

Until retirement Tim ran international management and training consultancies based in the UK, Singapore and Australia, advising multinational companies on the management of their people and their interaction with their customers and suppliers.

Tim, who lives in Clun, was until recently chair of Enterprise South West Shropshire (Enterprise House). He is chair of Clun Amateur Dramatic Society (CADS) and is on Clun’s Green Man committee.  

His particular interest is in trying to achieve a collaboration between the many disparate providers of culture in the county, and the suppliers of hospitality and other visitor attractions.

Tim Ashton, Soulton Hall

Prior to returning to Soulton, Tim studied law at Oxford University, and work in this area briefly took him to Los Angeles. Tim has dyslexia and appreciates the importance of inclusive and diverse cultures.  

During the pandemic, Tim built and ran an 'emergency' amphitheatre and the landscape around his family's farm became a refuge for in-person performance while that emergency lasted and beyond. A particular highlight of this was work with the National Youth Theatre. Tim is excited to see culture and art lead Shropshire's economic development, identity and heritage regeneration.

Zoe Partington, Zoe Partington Associates

Zoe is a Shropshire-based conceptual artist, auditor and creative equality trainer specialising in ‘disability art’. Through 3D installation works, Zoe explores creative and inclusive audio approaches in the arts, as well as tactile representations of disabled people’s journeys and experiences through life, landscapes and built environment.

She supports the arts, cultural, heritage and built environment sector by encouraging different approaches to inclusion. She is often featured on radio, podcasts and talks to examine our shifting culture and expose the barriers society places to exclude disabled people. Since 2013 she has played a role as an auditor and equality trainer with British Council and Shape Arts, delivering programmes across the globe with disability activist Barbara Lisicki.

She supports many academic institutions, including Exeter University, King's College London, Leicester University Museums service, Newcastle University, Westminster University, Danish Academy of Architecture and Design. In Shropshire, she has supported Dash Arts for 20 years, delivering training and expertise. Zoe has many voluntary hats, including being on the board of ACE, and mentoring with the Stephen Lawrence Trust and Shropshire Museum Services. 

Louise Johnson, Department of Work and Pensions

Louise has 30+ years’ experience in the civil service and has worked for the Department of Work and Pensions since 2017. She's keen to encourage employment in the arts and culture sector.

Delia Yapp, Economic Growth Team, Shropshire Council

Delia is a manager in the Economic Growth team at Shropshire Council, with 20 years' experience supporting a wide variety of businesses to grow, invest and develop in the region. She brings a wide knowledge of external funding, and hopes to support the Cultural Compact to attract additional funding to support the delivery plans of the group, as well as providing a link to the council and any available support this could bring.