About They Eat Culture – The Living City

Who We Are

We are They Eat Culture.

We are radical creative placemakers, working in Preston & beyond

We increase local cultural participation & opportunities

We give a platform to diverse less-heard voices

We are a socially-engaged and collaborative studio

We bring together creatives, activists, community facilitators, technologists, producers and thinkers

Together we present, commission, & produce creatively diverse & artistically ambitious live, performative and digital projects.

We support place-based development through an inclusive, community-led approach.

Our Work

We’ve come a long way since our foundation in 2009 when we built a cultural venue partnership with the Continental Group.

Since then we have delivered Lottery supported projects that have been commissioned and supported through local authorities and universities. We have also delivered commissions for local infrastructure festivals including Preston Guild, Cultural Olympiad, Abandon Normal Devices, Lancashire Encounter and Festival of Making.

They Eat Culture Director Ruth is also currently Director of Digital Lancashire and was vice chair for Arts Lancashire for 2 years. She initiated Preston Creative Partnership which included the Arts Council England supported exploration of Hull’s journey, sat on the Preston Cultural Framework board for a couple of years, and has represented on 2 EU/URBACT Preston Council project steering groups.

Preston is part of Lancashire City of Culture bid 2025, with They Eat Culture’s work named in the city and county’s new cultural strategies and contributing to Preston’s current £25m application to the Towns Fund.

The Cinema Around the Corner Film Club brings fortnightly screenings of great cinema from all over the world to the film lovers of Preston.

10 Years of Cultural Engagement

2018-2019 was our 10^th year and in that year we delivered across 3 Preston venues – The Continental, The Ferret and The People’s Production Lab as well as in communities and public spaces. We have contributed £1.4m turnover to the local economy and led cultural venue teams of 40+

10 years of arts & cultural employment

In 2019, our 10th anniversary year we provided:-

12 They Eat Culture roles
30+ regular freelancers
14 frequent volunteers
9 work placements
650+ paid practitioner opportunities
Supported 12 new commissions & productions

In 2019, our 10th anniversary year we:-

Provided 1800+ participation & workshop opportunities
Connected with 6000+ participants from social impact groups
Delivered 330+ live & cinema events
Entertained 23000+ people from across the North West and beyond – attracting visitors to Preston

Then The City Project: Originally conceived as a stand-alone project co-programming spaces with communities and exploring Preston’s relationship to culture, Then The City has become a method of researching & practising culture with the people we work with, embedded across our ongoing projects.

Creating change through culture, on our doorstep

They Eat Culture are in a unique place to draw on our track record to re-ignite cultural engagement in Preston and South Ribble.

We can achieve this through building on advocacy work and engagement in local policy to create live and digital cultural programmes, presented across and animating non-traditional venues and meanwhile spaces.

You can see more about & examples of our work at www.theyeatculture.org