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Cultural Partners

About Cultural partners

Exeter Custom House and Transit Shed are home to a vibrant collection of arts and cultural events throughout the year. Many of these are free for everyone to enjoy.

To devise and host these programmes, Exeter Canal & Quay Trust commission Cultural Partnerships for three-year residencies. Details of our current partners are below, with our new Cultural Partners for 2023 – 2025 due to be announced soon. The next round of applications opens in summer 2025.

How you can get involved…

  • Sign up for news about our events and activities here
  • Get in touch with questions about our
    Cultural Partnerships here
  • Enquire about other grants available through
    Exeter Canal & Quay Trust here

Benefits of being a cultural partner

Help animate an historic building in the heart of Exeter

We do not prescribe the way the cultural progamme develops – you are the experts and we are keen to hear your ideas. Our only request is that the work is developed with the Custom House and with its location in mind. A full information pack is available for each round.

Receive core funding from ECQT

Successful applicants will be given core funding from Exeter Canal & Quay Trust each year for a period of three years. This can be used as match funding for you to secure additional funds for work at the Custom House.

Chance to develop partnerships

There are two cultural partners on each programme and we are keen that they work together wherever possible. There are many opportunities that can develop from co-curating a cultural programme and we are excited to see how these develop.

Raising your profile

As well as raising the profile of the Custom House, we hope this programme helps you achieve your hopes for your oganisation. We have recently taken on marketing support for ECQT and will actively promote the work you do with us.

Background support

You will receive support from ECQT via their Project Co-ordinator, and the Custom House team overall. We can help facilitate elements of your work, source equipment you may need and signpost you to useful people and places.

Security

Each residency is three years, which gives organisations a good chance to embed themselves into the space, as well as research, test and learn. We do have smaller, pop-up events and activities but this particular programme is about these organisations being a key part of what ECQT does.

Literature Works

Literature Works programmes and delivers Quay Words at Exeter Custom House, which showcases literature as a diverse art form and is a core project of Exeter as a UNESCO City of Literature. They believe that stories and words are for everyone, and exist to ensure that South West writing talent is given a foundation to thrive.

Stretch playable sculpture and performance by Sophia Clist in Exeter Cathedral for Art Week 2017. Photo Naomi Hart.

Art Work Exeter

Art Work Exeter aims to support all kinds of artists and all kinds of people to connect, learn and be inspired through the making and experiencing of art and creative activity. They nurture this ambition through their co-ordination of Exeter’s Art Week festival and a year-round programme of projects, events and workshops delivered with partners across the city. 

Additional Information

Information for potential partners

For each round, an information pack will be developed and you can see the most recent one here

Information for audiences

You can find out information about both our cultural partners via the profiles above, or by visiting our Whats On page.

HOW TO APPLY

How to apply to join us as an E.CH Cultural Partner

The process

Every three years we will do an open call to appoint two cultural partners for a three-year period. This process has just been completed and our new partners will join us in April 2023.

What you need to do

Sign up to our newsletter or keep an eye on our social media, but the next call will be in Summer 2025 for residencies over the April 2023 – 2026 period. In the meantime, talk to us, perhaps pilot some work in the area and spend some time with us on the Quayside?

2023- 2026 Cultural Partners

These will be announced soon – watch this space!

Stay in Touch

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