A useful day in Barnstaple - a visit to the Museum of Barnstaple & North Devon; a chance to see how Boutport Studios are progressing, and an Area Council meeting expertly hosted by the Queen’s Theatre. Thanks everyone.

A very useful day in Exeter, hearing from the city’s creative workforce about individual and collective future ambitions. Glad to make a first visit to the impressive Positive Light, to catch up with local NPOs at the Phoenix, and always good to be back at @rammuseum.bsky.social. Thanks everyone.

From Ex-Easter Island Head at Strange Brew to Phaedra Ensemble at St George’s , hugely enjoyed Bristol New Music 26. Audiences felt strong, venues across the city felt animated. Well done to all involved.

Chalk at the Fleece. Intense, relentless nihilistic euphoria. If you can catch them on this tour, just do it. Sensational.

A busy, useful day in #Southampton - Philip Hoare’s remarkable So This Is Real Life at John Hansard Gallery just one highlight among many - so evocative in capturing the stories, the spirit and the aesthetics of the punk/post-punk era. A joy to behold.

Proud of today's announcement that we'll invest more than £20 million into the south west's cultural infrastructure on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, including flagship multi-million pound investments into Theatre Royal Plymouth, Wiltshire Creative and Bristol Museums. (1/5)

A peaceful Saturday morning running errands in Wells: local produce from the market for lunch; a slim, well-loved volume of Seamus Heaney from the second hand bookstall, an old Pere Ubu single in a charity shop, the prospect of currant buns for tea.

Bruce Foxton in fine form at Trinity tonight. Sheerwater Mods forever. “And what you give is what you get”.

Current reading stack, hovering somewhere between enticing and intimidating.

Plymouth in glorious spring sunshine, and the chance to catch up with the team at Karst, and admire the very fine Discord And Harmony exhibition - essential viewing alongside the Beryl Cook retrospective at The Box.

A day off, a train to London and a very satisfying afternoon at the Design Museum, invoking the spirit of the Blitz Club and immersion in the Wes Anderson archives. Both enthusiastically recommended.

Dydd gŵyl Dewi hapus, pawb / Happy St David’s Day everyone.

For the first time in about thirty years, I’ve been left home alone with the Brit Awards. Anything might happen.

Facts.

Can't wait to get down to Southampton for this. Looks fantastic.

Thanks @uniwinchester.bsky.social for inviting me to participate in last night’s arts, creativity and education question time - a lively discussion with both the panel and audience and plenty of new thoughts to take away. Time very well spent.

A quiet Sunday morning in the kitchen with tea and newspapers, and Radcliffe and Maconie extolling the virtues of Talk Talk’s Colour of Spring on 6 Music. Optimal conditions.

…and glad to round off the day with a visit to the Palace Theatre, Paignton. Thanks for sharing the journey of the last ten years, Maureen McAllister - really encouraging.

A thoroughly useful day in Torquay and Paignton with colleagues from Heritage Fund, Homes England and Historic England. Thanks Torquay Museum for hosting, and Torbay Council for being so generous with your time and insights.

First gig of 2026 - Annie and the Caldwells at The Fleece, supported by Rozie Gia. Joy unconfined. The first of 12 gigs in independent Bristol music venues in 2026…one of my more sensible New Year’s resolutions of recent years.

Nice thread. Happy birthday, Once In A Lifetime. What a song.

Good luck to @rammuseum.bsky.social for today’s opening of the new Grayson Perry exhibition. Lucky enough to get a quick preview yesterday - it’s an absolute winner.

So glad to make it over to Bovey Tracey last night for the opening of the Kinetic exhibition at MAKE South West. A fascinating fusion of crafts and engineering - will keep you thinking for ages afterwards. Warmly recommended.

The major Beryl Cook retrospective at The Box, Plymouth - all the warmth and joy you could imagine, perfect for navigating the relentlessly bleak midwinter weather, and the uncertain world in which we live. Five stars in The Guardian and rightly so. Rush to see it.

1947-2016. “Though nothing, nothing can keep us together, we can beat them forever and ever…”

The first road trip of the new year - very grateful to Rachel Gilmour MP for such a useful day with cultural leaders in the Tiverton and Minehead constituency. Time very well spent and plenty to build on.

Looking forward to listening to this >

Seeing out the old year in deepest rural Dorset, with old friends, glorious early morning walking and a stack of good books.

I’m regretful that Bluesky hasn’t become busier over the year in terms of the south west’s cultural voices, but I do very much value the engagement that is to be found. A few cultural highlights of 2025 in a thread. (1/10)

Thanks to the cultural & heritage leaders in Portsmouth who joined @henleydarren.bsky.social @helenbirchenough.bsky.social, Ginny Graham and I at Central Library today to explore the city’s future plans. As with last week’s Hampshire & Solent devo discussion, a real sense of optimism/ambition.

A couple of very useful days in Gosport, for an Area Council meeting at the museum; a Criterion Theatre site visit, and a chance to admire Portsmouth Historic Quarter’s transformed artists’ workspace at Carpenters’ Yard. Thanks to everyone who gave their time so generously.

Forty five years ago today. We all shine on.

So sorry to hear that Martin Parr has passed away. A passionate advocate for photography, for Bristol and the power of our daily lives. What a great resource his foundation has been for Bristol these past few years. RIP.

Another one of those glorious Bristol evenings tearing it up with the Blue Aeroplanes at the Fleece. Getting older, but still got all the moves. “I passed the test, I think I passed, I think I'm fine” etc etc. So much love for that band.

So sad to read of Tom Stoppard’s passing. Together with ACH Smith, Angela Carter and so many others, they laid the foundations of Bristol as the confident, creative city we recognise today. www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/n...

“Don’t these times fill your eyes”. RIP Mani. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

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Gary Numan at Bristol Beacon. Telekon at 45. Rolling back the years.

Useful time in Cornwall - meetings with Cornwall Council, a first visit to Truro’s Old Bakery Studios and a chance to explore the potential of St Austell’s Market House. Time well spent.

Very pleased to see this - essential reading >

Helsinki mornings. All the calmness.

Funding update 📢 Our National Lottery Project Grants strands for Major Projects, Place Partnerships, and Touring will be fully reopened on Monday, 20 October. Access Support is available now. Find more information in our Q&A 👇 buff.ly/uPUmaK6

Belfast. On the Van Morrison Trail. “Caught one more time up on Cyprus Avenue”. Evocative.

Dublin. After all these years, a first encounter with the Abbey Theatre for Marina Carr’s The Boy. Plus Leopold Bloom’s front door at the James Joyce Cultural Centre, and a pint of Smithwick’s and a couple of hours of trad at The Cobblestone. Not a bad effort for a Thursday, that.

A few days off. Dublin in the autumn sunshine, on the Ulysses trail. Set foot in Davy Byrne’s. Found the undertakers. Bought my lemon soap.

Oasis at Wembley. Magnificent. A reunion for the ages and one of those gigs that’ll stay with you your whole life. Current mood: caught beneath a landslide in a champagne supernova in the sky.

I know this account is essentially books I’ve read, gigs I’ve attended and despatches from the south west’s cultural sector, but I’m home alone, I’ve just nailed the *perfect* Omelette Arnold Bennett, and I find myself in need of an appreciative audience. (Unlikely ever to be repeated, I’d suggest).

Such a fulfilling evening hearing Joanna Pocock reading from and discussing her new book Greyhound at Storysmith Books tonight. Warmly recommended.

Well done Inside Out Dorset on the 2025 festival launch at the Red House Museum, Christchurch this evening. Full of admiration as always for the curatorial firepower and audience insights of Kate Wood and Bill Gee. And an evocative start to proceedings with River Of Hope down on Christchurch Quay.

Well done @bsidefest.bsky.social on the launch of The Portland Dress as part of the Big Weekend. Hundreds of local stories embroidered in a very special community textiles project. And beautiful choral work led by Destination Opera to mark the launch at the Old Engine Shed tonight. (1/3)