About Us
Super Culture launched in August 2023, uniting two of North Somerset’s arts flagships – award-winning organisation Theatre Orchard and its pioneering Weston-facing programme, Culture Weston.
The new name and brand identity recognises the organisation’s wider remit to promote and support all that is best in creativity and culture across North Somerset, while remaining rooted in Weston-super-Mare.
The company’s HQ is at the community-led Weston Artspace on the High Street and it is also connected with wider creative meanwhile spaces in the town including the fringe theatre space Front Room.
Super Culture specialises in creative placemaking and community participation – producing ambitious and diverse work with, for and by the people of North Somerset and uplifting people and places through inspiring cultural initiatives.
The company continues to grow an ambitious, playful, diverse and inclusive creative culture through world-class festivals, events and live performance, creative talent development and a year-round participation programme that enables communities to connect, get inspired and take a lead in shaping their local cultural provision.
A renewed focus on wider North Somerset will also supercharge existing creative provision in rural areas and neighbouring coastal towns.
Super Culture works collaboratively with a wide range of partners including artists, community groups, local councils, schools, colleges and universities, the health sector and businesses.
It combines people-powered creativity with outstanding international programming to produce a cultural offering with something to surprise and involve everyone – from sublime street art and world class contemporary dance on the beach to award-winning festivals, climate carnivals, synchronised swimming, poetry slams, feral gardening, community cooking and more.
Everything is accessibly priced or free of charge, bringing the extraordinary into the every day.
Moving forward under one Super Culture banner, the arts organisation will continue to help weave the cultural fabric of Weston-super-Mare and North Somerset and encapsulate the creative energy that is flourishing in the area.
Background
Theatre Orchard was established as a charity in 2007 as a short term project to support performing arts in North Somerset, and following 11 years building cultural and creative provision with multiple communities became North Somerset’s first Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation in 2018. Since becoming a NPO, Theatre Orchard’s programme has reached 125,000 people, created paid opportunities for over 400 artists, presented more than 160 productions, eight festivals, 28 new work commissions and worked with 6,000 people through creative engagement.
In 2018, Weston-super-Mare was identified as an ACE Area Plan Priority. ACE committed £50k Investment Funds to develop a cultural development company for the town. In 2020, Culture Weston was launched as a partnership programme placing people, creativity and culture at the heart of Weston’s daily life and placemaking ambitions, hosted by Theatre Orchard.
