This is Shropshire

Celebrating Cultural Diversity

CultureKind Chinese Community will deliver an inclusive programme of Chinese dance, music, craft and traditional food across Shropshire’s festivals, community parties and care-home settings, with online Hulusi lessons widening access. The project reduces isolation, boosts wellbeing and builds cross-cultural understanding across towns and rural areas.

CultureKind will be performing at:

• RAF Cosford
• Ginger and Spice Festival
• Whitchurch Blackberry Fair
• Shropshire care homes

Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/culturekindchinesecommunity/

Contact details
info@culturekind.org.uk

My Shropshire Story Festival

Entire Person Education have partnered with Vibrant Shropshire to deliver a programme of cultural activity that engages with schools located in areas of high social deprivation in Shropshire.

The programme will include a three-day festival of creativity in a Shropshire school, bringing together professional writers, poets, and visual artists to run workshops in visual art, poetry, and storytelling.

Pupils from areas of high social deprivation will co-create and publicly share their own stories through a school-wide exhibition and digital showcase, celebrating identity, heritage, and place.

Website: https://www.entireperson.co.uk/

Contact: Alexandros Ayeni, Founder: info@entireperson.co.uk | 07445 446598

Class of ’25

A support and mentoring programme for a group of aspiring artists from different backgrounds who all seek to develop their work and learn how to become successful artists. There will be a selection process, briefing meetings, preparatory studies, individual mentoring, public viewing of the artists at work, a finished painting, the curation of an exhibition and a celebratory / judging event with opportunity for the artists to share their crafts with the public.

What’s involved:

Class of 25 — Footprint Gallery

Cinema for Everyone: Shropshire Stories on Screen

A series of monthly, community-led film events at the newly opened Maona Cinema in Oswestry.

The film events will showcase the voices, stories, and creative talents that make Shropshire special. Each event will see a different local group have the opportunity to curate and present a film screening, complemented by immersive workshops, live music, poetry readings, and Q&A sessions.

Maona Cinema – Just another WordPress site

Creative Media Masterclasses

A bespoke programme of hands-on creative media masterclasses for young people and adults aged 16 years and over, that celebrate local talent, creativity and a sense of place.

Working alongside professional film, animation and exhibition specialists, participants have opportunity to learn new skills, create new work, and connect to our wider programmes, including: BFI Film Academy, Adventures in Alternative Cinema, and EXCITE, our work experience programme.

Find out more about the project on their site: MediaActive

Contact: richard@mediaactive.org OR (preferably) register interest via project web page

A series of outdoor workshops taking place on farms in the Shropshire Hills for young people, children and families to learn about sustainable farming practices, and share their experiences through creative digital media.

Nick Fogg has partnered with Vibrant Shropshire to deliver a programme of cultural activities that celebrates Shropshire’s natural environment — educating people about Shropshire’s largest industry, farming, and how farms care for the environment.

In collaboration with Shropshire Hills National Landscape and Shropshire farmers, the workshops will offer participants the chance to explore local farms, learn about what and how they farm, and capture and share their experiences creatively, using photos, video and audio.

Activities will take place from August to October 2025.

Bookings are currently open for two of the October workshops:

Monday 27th October for families with children age 5+

http://www.eventbrite.com/e/1681021934859

Thursday 30th October for young people aged 11-18

http://www.eventbrite.com/e/1681076327549

You can see the pieces from the first workshop here:

https://www.instagram.com/hillstoriesproject/

Contact Nick at workshops@pieceofstringmedia.co.uk 

This commission builds on the Hill Stories 2024-25 project (funded by Arts Council England, Shropshire Hills National Landscape Conservation Fund and Vibrant Shropshire, and in partnership with South Shropshire Youth Forum) which offers young people aged 11-18 opportunities to explore outdoor spaces with artists and local experts, to create artwork and digital media pieces in response to their experiences, and to curate them for broadcast online.

OMH Moments

Members of Oswestry’s Ukrainian Community, in collaboration with Oswestry Memorial Hall, will lead a programme of community engagement into the history of the hall, the role it has played in the town, and the people and communities that have benefitted over it’s 120 years.

The project will bring together previous, current and future users of the hall to capture their stories, experiences and feelings. These memories will then be shared through a series of art installations and displays entitled ‘Moments’. Through this, the Ukrainian community of Oswestry will become even more connected with Oswestry, the place they now call home.

Oswestry Memorial Hall

Home is Here: Songs and Stories from Shropshire

Pentabus presented a brand-new showcase of songs and stories created by
Shropshire primary school pupils and older people from the county’s care homes and
community support groups.

In this multi-generational song-writing and poetry project, participants took part in
2-hour song-writing and poetry workshops led by professional facilitators to
creatively explore what it means to call Shropshire home.

A public performance of these brand-new pieces was performed by primary school
pupils and took place at Saint Chad’s Church in Shrewsbury on Thursday 27th
November 2025.

You can read more about the project here

If you would like to take part in a future engagement project, take a look at the information on Pentabus’ Engagement page:  Engagement | Pentabus

Website: Pentabus | Pentabus

ShireFolk is a multi-strand project to promote arts, artists, audience engagement & development, technical training, digital promotion of artists and venue sustainability across a series of rural communities who struggle to access new and upcoming artists.

ShireFolk has delivered a programme of activity to champion Grassroots Music in Shropshire through the platform of the Bridgnorth Music & Arts Festival. A free to attend festival held over the August bank holiday weekend in multiple spaces across Bridgnorth.

Project Objectives

• Upskill local people through hands-on technical training with industry professionals followed by real world experience during the Bridgnorth Music & Arts Festival.  Entitled Crew Futures, ShireFolk worked with 5 trainees on a structured programme of training sessions in sound engineering and backstage technical roles. This in-depth programme supported 5 trains recruited from Shropshire who can take their learning forward on to other events in Shropshire.
• Celebrate grassroots music and musical talent in Shropshire by reserving performance slots within the Bridgnorth Music & Arts festival programme for original Shropshire musicians.
• Actively engage rural and low-income communities by offering high-quality, accessible cultural experiences and actively promoting the festival to these audiences. These included drumming workshops, dance workshops and an open air musical jam workshop.

Read the full project write up here

Website: Shirefolk.co.uk

Bridgnorthfestival.co.uk 

Photo credit: Andy Darby Photography – Image is of 4 of the Crew Futures participants with Westley Bone at the castle Gardens Stage of the Bridgnorth Music & Arts Festival.