Case study: Torbay Heritage Place Audience Review and Engagement Strategy
Earlier this year the Tangram team worked with Torbay Council on a local audience review and engagement strategy for its National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) Heritage Place project titled Torbay Heritage Place.
Torbay Council was identified as one of NLHF’s first Heritage Places. This scheme is designed to support a 10-year, £10 million programme aimed at fostering long-term strategic partnerships to invest in heritage for community benefit. Tangram was engaged to support the Council’s ambitious goal: to forge authentic connections with local communities and, crucially, to build the robust, evidence-based foundation required for a successful application for Heritage Places funding.
Our brief was to connect local heritage with underrepresented communities and build the evidence base for a possible future NLHF investment. Torbay, sometimes known as the English Riviera, is rich in history, from its globally important archaeology to its strong association with Agatha Christie. Yet, for many local residents this heritage can be difficult to access.
A collaborative, place-based approach
To achieve these twin goals, Tangram adopted a deeply collaborative, place-based methodology that combined deep local immersion with robust research and carefully tailored engagement.
Deep immersion in place: Our team began by immersing ourselves in the three distinct towns that make up Torbay: Brixham, Paignton and Torquay. This immersion was critical, as the three areas, while unified under one council, have distinct histories and community identities. For example Brixham's fishing heritage compared to Torquay’s history as a tourist resort. This crucial phase allowed us to understand local dynamics, ensuring we identified and amplified a wide range of local voices, particularly those who don’t always have a voice or visit the local heritage sites. The objective was to ensure the subsequent strategy would truly reflect the needs of all Torbay residents.
Robust research and insight: We conducted extensive desk research, analysing the Torbay Heritage Strategy and other public data, as well as utilising bespoke research commissioned for the project. This research confirmed that Torbay residents typically have moderate to low levels of engagement with culture and heritage. Research and data also highlighted a strong underlying civic pride and value for heritage that we could leverage, especially among older residents who prioritise preservation and self-development activities like volunteering, and families who seek activities for younger residents. Understanding these specific motivations proved key to tailoring future engagement initiatives.
Tailored engagement: Our engagement phase focused on creating genuine connections, deliberately targeting cross-sector stakeholders and community leaders to gain a holistic view of local people’s relationship with heritage. Over the course of the project, we conducted in-person and virtual workshops using creative Design Thinking style techniques, alongside one-to-one interviews. Our engagement spanned representatives from local arts organisations, volunteer groups, heritage sites and schools from Brixham, Paignton and Torquay. This in-depth consultation allowed us to test and evolve the proposed vision for Torbay Heritage Place as well as 25 emerging project ideas, identifying clear priority areas as well as other insights useful for successful project delivery.
The outcome: a five-pillar audience strategy
The culmination of this work was the delivery of a comprehensive, actionable Audience Review and Engagement Strategy for Torbay Heritage Place. This strategy successfully translated community feedback and robust data into a clear roadmap for the council and its partners, positioning them for long-term investment success.
The final engagement strategy is built on five interconnected strategic aims designed to ensure sustainable, equitable, and impactful heritage delivery:
Building trust and ensuring transparency
Empowering young people and creating legacy
Championing civic pride
Delivering equity across Torquay, Paignton and Brixham
Maximising inclusion and removing barriers
This strategy is designed to equip Torbay Council with an evidence-led approach to local engagement for the Torbay Heritage Place programme, should the application to NLHF be successful. All of us at Tangram wish the team at Torbay Council, and everybody involved with planning for Torbay Heritage Place, the very best of luck when it submits the final proposal to NLHF soon. We’re excited to find out the outcome soon.
