{"id":66933,"date":"2026-11-10T18:12:50","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T17:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/?p=66933"},"modified":"2026-11-10T18:12:50","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T17:12:50","slug":"culture-contributes-3-5bn-to-sussex-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/2026\/11\/10\/culture-contributes-3-5bn-to-sussex-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Culture Contributes \u00a33.5bn to Sussex Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Cultural organisations across Sussex have welcomed new findings from University of Sussex that highlight the economic value and social impact of art, culture and heritage in the region.<\/li>\n<li>A new strategic group is launched; Culture Sussex brings together partners across the Sussex counties in preparation for regional devolution and ahead of the Sussex &amp; Brighton Strategic Authority\u2019s Prosperity Strategy consultation.<\/li>\n<li>Culture Sussex have released a film featuring a specially commissioned poem by Woodzy, Crawley\u2019s Poet Laureate. \u2018Culture Makes Sussex\u2019 is a tribute to the artists, makers, performers, museums, venues, creative studios, heritage sites and designated landscapes spanning the whole region.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>University of Sussex\u2019s new findings show:<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Culture contributes \u00a33.5bn annually to the Sussex economy<\/strong>, including more than \u00a3650m of benefit to hospitality and retail \u2014 creating jobs and helping sustain high streets and local communities across Sussex.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Culture creates \u00a3200m a year of health and wellbeing benefits for the residents of Sussex<\/strong> and forms an essential component in our health infrastructure through pioneering work spanning dementia, social care and supporting young people with complex needs.<\/p>\n<p>Sussex has the creative energy to power a new wave of economic growth. Creative Industries in the UK are growing 2.5 times faster than the economy as a whole and the region has <strong>50% more creative businesses than the national average<\/strong>, accounting for 8% of all businesses across Sussex and rising to 13% in Brighton and Hove.<\/p>\n<p>Culture, art and heritage motivate up to 64% of international tourists to the UK which in the Sussex context could provide <strong>\u00a31.6 billion of the regional visitor economy growth target for the next decade.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Larger than Glasgow, Edinburgh and Leeds, Sussex\u2019s creative clusters form the fifth-biggest creative economy outside London and the Heathrow corridor, supporting over 30,000 jobs.<\/p>\n<p>National research shows that 49% of people say attending cultural events helps them feel a stronger part of their community. Sussex has a particularly rich cultural landscape with 1,100 museums, libraries, theatres and grassroots festivals strengthening civic participation and belonging. With <strong>nearly three in four Sussex primary schools within walking distance of a cultural asset<\/strong>, and 5.9 cultural assets per 10,000 residents, culture is within every Sussex postcode.<\/p>\n<p>The data has been announced today by Culture Sussex, which partners with Brighton &amp; Hove Culture Alliance, Culture East Sussex and West Sussex Creatives, with founding support from Arts Council England, in preparation for regional devolution and ahead of the Sussex &amp; Brighton Strategic Authority\u2019s Prosperity Strategy consultation.<\/p>\n<p>A Culture Sussex spokesperson said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs the Sussex &amp; Brighton Strategic Authority takes on new responsibilities for growth, transport and place, this evidence reveals that culture has a vital role in delivering their priorities \u2013 from developing skills and creating jobs, to regenerating our town centres and supporting healthier communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To celebrate the region\u2019s diverse cultural sector, Culture Sussex have released a film featuring a specially commissioned poem by Woodzy, Crawley\u2019s Poet Laureate. \u2018Culture Makes Sussex\u2019 is a tribute to the artists, makers, performers, museums, venues, creative studios, heritage sites and designated landscapes spanning the whole region.<\/p>\n<p>Woodzy said of his involvement with the film:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSussex and its culture are almost like a jigsaw puzzle with lots of different pieces that fit together to make a beautiful overall piece of art. I am honoured to have my pen and my voice as part of this purposeful project. Culture really does make Sussex. This is the place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/culturesussex.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Watch the Culture Makes Sussex film<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Image: Glow Wild, Kew Wakehurst \u00a9 Ollie Dixon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cultural organisations across Sussex have welcomed new findings from University of Sussex that highlight the economic value and social impact of art, culture and heritage in the region. A new strategic group is launched; Culture Sussex brings together partners across the Sussex counties in preparation for regional devolution and ahead of the Sussex &amp; Brighton [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":66934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1207],"tags":[],"directory-category":[],"event_categories":[],"class_list":["post-66933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66933"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66935,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66933\/revisions\/66935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66933"},{"taxonomy":"directory-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/directory-category?post=66933"},{"taxonomy":"event_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefamilygrapevine.co.uk\/midsussex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event_categories?post=66933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}