The Work Behind the Title: Sustaining Creative Brighton and Hove

News has been shared that Brighton and Hove has just been named the UK’s most creative city. There is a great deal in that to celebrate. Creativity is in the DNA of this place. It shapes our economy, our identity, our sense of self. It draws people here and keeps them here.

As a decades-long resident of the city, working in the arts and with artists, and in my role as Chair of Phoenix Art Space, I know the lived experience on the ground is more complex. I see every day the depth of talent and commitment in this city. I also see the fragility of the ecosystem that supports it.

Over the past few years we have seen valued spaces close. We have seen artists priced out. We have seen organisations carrying extraordinary levels of pressure simply to keep the lights on. We have seen freelance practitioners holding up whole ecosystems through unpaid labour, care and commitment.

At the Brighton and Hove RSA Fellows Festival last year, in a talk titled The Culture We Need: Citizens, Space and Sustaining Creative Brighton and Hove, I spoke about what I called the myth of thriving. Thriving for whom. And at what cost.

Brighton and Hove absolutely is creative. The question is whether we are building the conditions for that creativity to be sustained, shared and equitably held.

Creativity does not exist in the abstract. It requires space. Affordable studios. Risk tolerant venues. Long term investment. It requires civic recognition that culture is infrastructure, not a nice to have. It requires care.

It also requires citizens. One of the questions I posed in that talk was who is not yet at the table in Brighton and Hove’s creative future. If we are serious about being the UK’s most creative city, then we need to be equally serious about power, participation and belonging.

None of this diminishes the achievement. Recognition matters. It boosts confidence. It can attract investment and opportunity.

But if we want this title to mean something more than a headline, we need to hold two truths at once. Our city is brilliant. And our city is at a crossroads.

The opportunity now is not simply to celebrate our reputation. It is to ask what kind of creative city we want to be for the long term. One that is branded as creative. Or one that protects and regenerates the conditions that allow creativity to flourish for everyone. (And – could we be both?)

If creativity were treated as essential civic infrastructure, what would we build, fund and protect differently?

That feels like the real work behind the headline.