Business & Culture Working Together

With new partnerships emerging across the county, the founding of the first new 'greenfield' university in the UK for 30 years, and the launch of the Herefordshire Cultural Strategy 2019-29, Herefordshire is poised to become a national exemplar in culture driven rural regeneration. 

Capturing this unique moment, the Business and Culture Working Together project highlighted the potential that closer collaboration between commercial, public and cultural businesses has to drive growth and opportunities for all.

Itself a collaboration between Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce, the Herefordshire Business Board, Lottery-funded Herefordshire's A Great Place and Rural Media, 2019's Business and Culture Working Together project featured the creation of three short films which profile Herefordshire as a great place to live, visit and invest in, and a series of seminars which kick-started a countywide conversation about the power of cross-sector partnerships.

The powerful films, commissioned from Rural Media, were previewed at free seminars which took place around the county in December 2019.

Guest speakers, including Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership and a handful of Herefordshire institutions that embody the ethos of 'business and culture working together', gave short talks to accompany the films.

Following the seminars, all three Business and Culture Working Together films were made available to businesses to support their own marketing and PR needs free of charge.

Business and Culture Working Together was supported by the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) with support from Herefordshire's a Great Place. It was being delivered by Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce, Herefordshire Business Board, and Rural Media.

For more information please contact info@ruralmedia.co.uk.

Watch the films

In 2019 Hereford-based Rural Media was commissioned create three new films to profile Herefordshire as a great place to live, visit, and invest in.

As well as highlighting Herefordshire as a home to cider-tasting, wild camping, cultural tourism, innovation and entrepreneurial minds, this suite of short films helped kick-start a countywide conversation about collaboration, about place, and the opportunities that lie ahead. 

Watch the films right here.

If you would like to share or screen the films in support of your marketing or PR needs, please contact Rural Media on 01432 344039 or email info@ruralmedia.co.uk.

Filmmakers out on location during Business and Culture Working Together production, Autumn 2019

The seminars

Business and Culture Working Together seminars were held throughout Herefordshire between Monday December 2nd and Friday December 6th, bringing together Herefordshire businesses and speakers from around the UK.

As well as launching three new films which profile Herefordshire as a great place to live, visit and invest in, the seminars saw guest speakers share their own experiences and insights to the strategies and partnerships that are producing culture driven regeneration in their regions.

Speakers included:

  • Maisie Hunt - representing Cumbria LEP, the economic body currently leading on the creation of a Creative and Cultural Strategy for Cumbria, and working to embed arts and culture in the Local Industrial Strategy
  • Peta Darnley, Managing Partner at The Netherwood Estate, home of Pensons, recently awarded a Michelin star
  • Sarah Windrum, CEO and co-founder of Leamington-based technology firm The Emerald Group; member of the West Midlands Combained Authority Digital Board; and board director of Coventry and Warwickshire LEP, leading on economic growth of the digital creative sector
  • Penny and Neil Chambers, founders of The Handmade Scotch Egg Company and The Nest, a retail and events venue at Little Verzon Farm near Ledbury
  • Rebecca Hardy, manager of The Gateway, an independent cinema space based within Labels, Ross on Wye

Each session was facilitated by Martin Head, founder of Cloudscape Media and former Programme Director, Communities and Director of Content for the Corsham Institute, a leading not-for-profit research and innovation organisation supporting improved digital and communication skills.

Ross on Wye
The Gateway Cinema in Ross on Wye
Monday December 2nd - The Gateway
Hereford
The Hereford seminar will be held at The Green Dragon Hotel
Monday December 2nd - The Green Dragon Hotel
Kington
Burton Hotel in Kington
Tuesday December 3rd - The Burton Hotel
Bromyard
The Bromyard seminar will be held at Pensons
Tuesday December 3rd - Pensons
Leominster
Grange Court
Wednesday December 4 - Grange Court
Ledbury
The Nest, near Ledbury
Thursday December 5th - The Nest

The seminars were hosted by Herefordshire's a Great Place, a Herefordshire Cultural Partnership project delivered by Rural Media and co-funded by Arts Council England, National Lottery Heritage Fund with support from Historic England, Herefordshire Council, the Elmley Foundation, EF Bulmer Benevolent Fund, the Becket Bulmer Fund, and Friends of Herefordshire Museums & Arts.

Who's involved

Business and Culture Working Together is a collaboration between Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce, Herefordshire Business Board, Rural Media Productions and Herefordshire's a Great Place.

The project was kindly supported by the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership through its Project Development Funding.

To find out more about this work please contact Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce or Rural Media.

An array of Herefordshire businesses, educational and cultural institutions, venue partners, creative practitioners, and visiting speakers from around the UK were also involved in the project.

This includes:

  • New Model in Technology and Engineering (NMiTE), a university initiative aiming to transform engineering education in Britain from Herefordshire
  • Hereford College of Arts, a dedicated arts college with specialist focus on art, media, design, popular music and performing arts
  • Denco, established manufacturing firm 
  • Jean Atikin, poet, writer and educator
  • Eastnor Castle, a premium wedding venue, visitor attraction, events & film location near to the Malvern Hills
  • Westons, cider-makers
  • Cumbria LEP, the economic body currently leading on the creation of a Creative and Cultural Strategy for Cumbria, and working to embed arts and culture in the Local Industrial Strategy
  • Sarah Windrum, representing Leamington-based technology firm The Emerald Group, and lead for economic growth of the digital creative sector for Coventry and Warwickshire LEP
  • Martin Head, founder of Cloudscape Media and former Programme Director, Communities and Director of Content for the Corsham Institute, a leading not-for-profit research and innovation organisation supporting improved digital and communication skills
  • EC Drummond, agricultural business with focus on poultry production, soft fruit growing, arable and potato enterprises
  • Level Peaks, suppliers to UK Ministry of Defence, UK Police Forces, a range of NATO military forces and specialists
  • Hereford Cathedral
  • Castle House Hotel
  • Oakerwood Leisure
  • Odeon Cinema
  • The Bookshop, Hereford
  • Grange Court, Leominster
  • Pensons & The Netherwood Estate, on the Herefordshire/Worcestershire border
  • The Nest, near Ledbury
  • The Green Dragon Hotel, Hereford
  • The Burton Hotel, Kington
  • The Gateway, independent cinema space at Labels in Ross-on-Wye

and many more.