On Thursday 25th January, the Surrey Cultural Partnership launched the Surrey Cultural Strategy, ‘Surprising Surrey’. The document sets out a ten-year plan to celebrate the rich cultural heritage of the county, and places collaboration between institutions, sustainability and inclusivity as core objectives. The Strategy launch was hosted at The Horton in Epsom, an art centre in a recently refurbished chapel built in 1901 that used to serve a complex of psychiatric hospitals set up on London’s periphery.

The collections and archives of the Crafts Study Centre feature makers who travelled extensively and built connections with individuals, groups and institutions across the world. Researchers and makers often come from a similarly global pool. However, on the western fringes of Surrey, the CSC is acutely aware of its unique position within its locality: the town of Farnham (with its status as a World Craft Town) and the wider region of Surrey where studio craft has a particularly strong history.

The values of the Surrey Cultural Strategy mirror our own as we seek to increase access to our collection, grow our audiences and work with local partners.

Further links

In 2020 the Crafts Study Centre produced a report, with funding from Research England, on the significant value that the crafts played on the local economy of Farnham and the Surrey Hills area. You can read the report here.

Surrey Cultural Partnership