Creativity and culture

Culture, Sport and Leisure is a team working across museums and archives, libraries, arts development, events and tourist information, sport and leisure and Mount Edgcumbe.

Our shared vision

Plymouth will be recognised as "one of Europe's finest, most vibrant waterfront cities, where an outstanding quality of life is enjoyed by everyone".

Plymouth will be:

• A healthy place to live and work
• A wealthy city which creates and shares prosperity
• A safe and strong city
• A location for learning, achievement and leisure

It will be a healthy, wealthy, safe, strong and wise city.

Mission statement

'To enhance the vibrancy of the city and quality of life for people living, working or visiting Plymouth by improving opportunities to participate in or experience excellent cultural, sporting and leisure activities'.

Put simply, Plymouth can never achieve the ambition to be one of Europe's finest most vibrant waterfront cities, where an outstanding quality of life is enjoyed without a thriving, dynamic cultural sector.

What we mean by culture

Culture is a word that means different things to different people, and as such it can be quite confusing. In Plymouth we use it to mean all those things that make up our quality of life - meeting family and friends, kicking a ball, making music, seeing a film, visiting the theatre, reading, walking in the park, surfing the net or dancing 'til we drop'. It means an opportunity to learn something new, getting fit or volunteering.

Essentially it is about us as people and what makes us tick, and it is what makes Plymouth distinctive as a city. It comes from our history, it is reflected in our buildings and in the natural environment, and even more importantly it is what makes people want to live here, work here, play here or invest here. It is vital to our economy - think of the financial contribution made to the city by its events, its theatre, its music, film and media industries, tourism and bars and restaurants.

It contributes to the health of the city through physical activity or mental wellbeing; it supports learning and creativity, and provides opportunity for purposeful activities as an alternative to crime or anti-social behaviour.

In short, culture is at the very core of what makes Plymouth what it is, and what it needs to be if we are to achieve our vision.