2025 highlights

That Pesky Rat

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.Culture Spark with Chichester Festival Theatre
Culture Spark initiative took the magic of live theatre across the Chichester District with special community performances of Chichester Festival Theatre’s ‘That Pesky Rat’ by Lauren Child. Over 450 young people and adults from 5 local schools and 2 community groups enjoyed the heart-warming production during the week-long mini tour.

‘That Pesky Rat’, a family friendly show for all ages, tells the funny, touching tale of a street rat searching for a home. The show, which launched at Chichester Festival
Theatre’s, The Nest, explored themes of kindness, belonging and empathy and was performed by ex-alumni of the Youth Theatre.

I just wanted to pass on our thanks to you and the cast for a superb performance this afternoon - the children were completely enthralled throughout and really loved it. Headteacher

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​Our Living Library

Uplifting and inspiring stories have been shared as part of a successful Our Living Library community event at The Assembly Rooms in Chichester.
People of all ages were encouraged to come along to the human library to borrow a ‘book’. The library featured a diverse range of stories including Lottie’s about setting up Harbour Oysters, Jeff & amp; & Alison’s about living with cerebral palsy, textile designer
Jackie’s about making handbags by repurposing men’s suits, Simon’s about the healing power of horses & Nadia’s about leaving Ukraine with her two child

The storytelling day was the culmination of a three-month project. Back in January 2026 Culture Spark issued a call out for people to come forward with a story that they would like to share with the wider community. In addition, the project recruited
story gatherers and tellers - Crime writer Simon Brett and professional storyteller Danyah Miller led free training workshops to support them to capture and

recount the stories.​​​

 

 

 

Pallant House & RAM

 

Students from Selsey Academy and Bourne Community College took part in immersive creative workshops led by composer Eric Davis & cellist Hoda Jahanpour & visual artist Polly Dutton. Together they created music inspired by artworks and then artwork inspired by their own composed pieces. They then visited the Gallery to see their inspiration in action.

From 12 June to 24th July 2026 there will be an exhibition in the community space at Pallant House Gallery of the artwork and compositions by both the Royal Academy musicians and groups of young people.

Come and see their amazing work!

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Belonging

.A play for the community with Article 12 Arts.
Based on true shared stories, Belonging by Caroline Sharman-Mendoza was a performance that explored the journeys that 5 young asylum seekers made to find a new home in the UK. Experience their bravery, their resilience and key friendships in their search for sanctuary.
Performed by 4 professional actors, the show toured locally into primary and secondary school, the library and Chichester Cathedral
I think it was superb play because the play was about hope. Even if we are going through something difficult we should always have hope. The play also talked about kindness and showing it to each other always. STUDENT
I thought it was such a moving and creative experience for the children. We had recently studied the lives of the Windrush generation and the idea of moving home
to a foreign country is a theme to both. The children really engaged with the stories of the asylum seekers and their struggles; it was very moving for many. TEACHER​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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