South Essex Estuary Park SEEPARK Creative & Cultural Workstream

SEEPARK is a transformational place making project that will change perceptions and be co-produced with stakeholders from across the Association of South Essex Local Authorities (ASELA) area and Creative Estuary Team. The provider will work with the SEEPARK programme & the Creative Estuary to position South Essex as a leading place-based destination for the creative sector and key partner in delivering the ambitious vision of the Thames Estuary Production Corridor.

The ambition is to position South Essex as a leading place-based destination for the creative sector. A creative provider is required to lead and develop on the key strategies and actions that would have the most beneficial impact to improve the cultural/creative offer for the South Essex area through SEEPARK and the other ASELA pioneer programmes.

The provider will lead the Creative & Cultural Workstream within the SEEPARK programme and will be a knowledgeable (and highly networked) advocate of the region's credentials who understands the specific and unique needs and requirements of the sector and can shape these working with ASELA colleagues.

Specific outcomes will be to:

1. Develop and deliver a co-produced ambitious Creative and Cultural Strategy and associated action plan for SEEPARK, building on the existing research to date. Ensure that the creative/culture industries within South Essex are incorporated within the wider ASELA place-making ambitions. 2. To review and make recommendations from a region-wide perspective on the public sector offer to assist ASELA member authorities in gaining best value from collective resources and outlining where capacity could be created for regional leadership 3. To design and deliver South Essex wide strategic approach for the allocation and development of external funds for the cultural and creative infrastructure that will contribute towards the growth of the creative industries. A key deliverable will be a Creative Grant Funding Matrix. 4. Work with each of the five anchor programmes and partner authorities to embed the importance of the creative and culture industries, specifically and where appropriate • To design and deliver Create a Knowledge Exchange to strengthen sector specific business and support systems building on existing networks • Rewrite the story - invest in the Creative Industries to deliver beyond statutory ambitions

5. To appraise and propose action plan and options for regional cultural network assessing the best routes for delivery and building on existing platforms. Considerable research into the sector has already taken place and there are existing networks to build from. The expectation is to draw from these resources to accelerate implementation More information on ASELA and the five pioneer programmes can be found at Our five pioneer programmes | ASELA (southessex.org.uk) Progress on this project will be monitored through regular workstream programme board and presented as needed to other stakeholders

Additional information: Please note this is a request for expressions of interest which need to be received by Friday 17th December 2021 at 11am to be considered for the next stage. Any late responses cannot be considered for the project.