Dorking is planning an application to be one of the UK’s first Towns of Culture in 2028 and we’d like your thoughts and ideas to help us shape our bid.

This is a new government competition where the winning town will receive £3 million and the two runners up £250,000 each to develop a town of culture programme that will help bring new audiences, strengthen community initiatives and drive investment into the town to enhance and develop our cultural offering.

Thank you for taking the time to answer the questions below, they really will help shape our application. We request that answers are submitted by Sunday 8th March 2026.

What is culture?

There are so many definitions of what culture is and it can mean different things to different people.

In terms of cultural activities we are taking a very broad definition here. It can include art, theatre, music, street art and performance, sport, nature, poetry and spoken word, literature, crafts, heritage and history, architecture, film, libraries and archives, photography, video games, animation, museums and galleries, dance and more.

Thank you for your help in shaping our application.