Culturapedia

Name

Culturapedia

Legal name

Robinson Howell Partnership Ltd

Website

https://culturapedia.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Performing Arts Programming and Cultural Services

NAICS

Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71), Musical Groups and Artists (71113), Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers (711510)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYMPAGABAI

Fringe & Experimental Performing Arts

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Live Entertainment & Events (Concerts, Theater, Festivals)/Theater, Broadway & Performing Arts

SECONDARYMPAGAEAI

Community Theatre & Storytelling Festivals

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Live Entertainment & Events (Concerts, Theater, Festivals)/Cultural Festivals & Community Events

SECONDARYEDAAAEAG

Personal Enrichment & Creative Arts Programs

Education/Adult & Continuing Education/Continuing Education (Noncredit) & Lifelong Learning Programs

Keywords

• Rural arts touring
• Community performing arts
• Library cultural programming
• Arts festival curation
• Participatory arts commissioning

Headquarters

HQ city

Blackburn

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Others

Revenue model

1. Arts Council England Funding: Grant funding as part of Arts Council England National Portfolio funding arrangement, with quarterly progress monitoring against agreed actions.
2. Lancashire County Council Funding: Partnership funding with Lancashire County Council for cultural programmes including library touring.
3. Ticket Sales: Revenue from ticket sales for performances, managed through Ticketsource ticketing system. Includes mix of free and ticketed events.
4. Membership/Supporters: Supporter card membership with payments managed through PayPal.
5. Donations and Gift Aid: Donations with Gift Aid status recorded for HMRC compliance.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Culturapedia delivers professional performing arts programming to rural communities, libraries, and small urban venues across Lancashire through its Spot On touring brands. The core services include curating and touring shows to non-traditional venues, commissioning site-specific and digital artworks, and supporting freelance artists through the HANDS mentoring programme. The offering is funded by a mix of Arts Council England National Portfolio grants, Lancashire County Council partnership funding, ticket sales, supporter memberships, donations, and sponsorships.

Product overview

Culturapedia is an arts and cultural programming organisation offering a portfolio of interconnected services centred on bringing professional performing arts to underserved communities in Lancashire and beyond. The core offering spans two primary programming streams: Spot On Lancashire (rural and small urban touring) and Spot On Library & Museum Programming, supplemented by Cluster Events & Festivals (including the Spot On Festival and Burnley Words Festival). Supporting services include Place & Context-based Commissioning (site-specific artworks), Digital Commissioning (soundscapes, short films, projections), Supporting Artists (HANDS mentoring programme), Publishing (season brochures, Spot On At Home magazines), Research and Ideas (including the participatory arts archive), International Partnerships (artist touring and exchange), and Environmental Impact Programme. Together these form an integrated cultural engagement model that takes professional arts directly to audiences in democratic, non-traditional spaces.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Spot On Lancashire: Rural and library touring scheme bringing professional performing arts to non-traditional venues across Lancashire.
• Plugged In
• Spot On Festival
• Burnley Words Festival
• Spot On At Home

Products and services

• Spot On Rural & Small Urban Programming Curated rural and small urban touring service presenting professional performing arts to village halls, pubs, outdoor spaces, and small urban venues across Lancashire. Local volunteer promoter groups select shows from a curated menu, with Culturapedia supporting marketing and ticket sales. Operating for over 25 years.
• Spot On Library & Museum Programming Performing arts programming for public-facing libraries and museums in Lancashire in partnership with Lancashire County Council Library Service. Librarians select shows from a curated menu and work with Culturapedia on marketing and ticketing.
• Cluster Events & Festivals Curated themed professional arts programmes over fixed periods including the Spot On Festival (Poulton-le-Fylde, June 2024) and Burnley Words Festival (annual). Mix of free and ticketed events across community halls, churches, libraries, and outdoor public spaces.
• Place & Context-based Commissioning Artworks and performances commissioned for specific locations such as village halls, libraries, outdoor spaces, and healthcare settings. Involves community consultation and co-creation with local user groups.
• Digital Commissioning Professional, experimental, reproducible digital artworks and performances for online sharing, library projection, and rural venue delivery. Includes soundscapes, digital stories, short films, and projection-based work (e.g., Monument, Lancashire Soundscape).
• Supporting Artists (HANDS Programme) Formal and informal mentoring programme supporting freelancers and companies in creating, presenting, and marketing work for non-traditional venues. The HANDS programme works with eight diverse small-scale touring companies through a consortium of northern partners.
• Publishing Commissioned writing, artist-made content, and cultural information about Lancashire. Includes twice-yearly Spot On season brochure (hybrid listings and articles format) and Spot On At Home magazine.
• Spot On Stories and Spot On Shorts Low-cost self-capture digital video content series available free on YouTube and Facebook, targeted at library and rural audiences. Spot On Stories focuses on children and families; Spot On Shorts targets adults. Commissioned by The Space to provide employment to underemployed artists during the pandemic.
• Research and Ideas Research into arts and cultural practice including evaluation, artist development, and sector knowledge. Holds the UK's most significant participatory arts archive (mailout, 1987-2016). Co-edited The Corona Rollercoaster anthology with Erasmus University Rotterdam.
• International Partnerships International partnerships for sharing ideas, touring artists to rural and library venues, and UK artists abroad. Active partnership with Atlantic Presenters Association in Maritime Canada since 2005; member of Arts in Rural European Areas (AREA) network.
• Environmental Impact Programme Commitment to lowest possible environmental impact in arts programming. Includes tree planting for every event through Tree-Nation, environmental position paper, and quarterly reporting on mileage and resource usage.
• mailout Participatory Arts Archive Archival collection of the UK's most significant participatory arts publication, dating from 1987 to 2016, chronicling the participatory arts movement in Britain. Used as a research and reference resource for the sector.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 5,000 festival attendees in Poulton-le-Fylde (2024)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered strategic, core and minor.

• Erasmus University RotterdamstrategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Co-edited The Corona Rollercoaster anthology in 2021, chronicling live responses to the covid-19 pandemic from professionals in arts and culture worldwide.
• Lancashire County CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2015Partnership funding for cultural programmes including library touring and Spot On At Home magazine production. Strong partnership with Library Service over nine years.
• Atlantic Presenters Association (Maritime Canada)strategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2005International partnership with northern touring partners since 2005 for artist exchange and partnership building between UK and Maritime Canada.
• National Rural Touring ForumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerActive partners cooperating to develop practice and the rural touring movement. Delivery partners in Touring Arts in Libraries (TAIL) programme. Spot On is one of network of rural touring programmes across UK.
• Arts in Rural European Areas (AREA)strategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerActive network promoting contemporary arts practices in rural and thinly populated European areas. Director Sue Robinson sits on Executive Board. Creates exchanges, researches methods, collects data and advocates at local, regional, national and European level.
• The Audience AgencyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMission-led charity that enables cultural organisations to use national data. Collects anonymous postcode data for audiences and participants for Arts Council England funding purposes.
• Burnley BIDcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to develop and relaunch Burnley Words Festival in 2023. BID provides support for empty shop activations and vacant unit use as information hub.
• Burnley Mechanics TheatrecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner'Mechanics Theatre Presents' programme partnership from April 2023 to April 2025. Aims to make arts accessible, remove participation barriers, and foster local creative networks.
• The SpacestrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommissioned second season of Spot On Shorts and Stories during pandemic to provide employment to underemployed artists.
• Tree-Nation.comminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEnvironmental partnership for tree planting. Committed to growing Culturapedia forest by planting a tree for every event or activity hosted or promoted.
• Source CreativeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerClose working partnership for design and production of publications including Spot On season brochures and Spot On At Home magazine.
• Furness Building SocietyminorGTM or Marketing PartnerFestival sponsor for Spot On Festival 2024, naming the Furness Stage in Elizabeth Square.
• Hopeful and GloriousminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in producing Spot On At Home magazine editions. Also curated artisan makers market at Spot On Festival 2024.
• Super Slow WayminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupported Miss Nobodies commission in Great Harwood.
• Friends of Fairhaven LakeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-commissioned outdoor theatre productions including Conference of the Birds with Frolicked Theatre.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Mid Pennine Arts: Mid Pennine Arts delivers participatory arts projects across Pennine Lancashire, including East Lancashire and parts of the same geography as Culturapedia. It is comparable in mission (community-focused cultural engagement in Lancashire) and overlapping audience base, though with a more participatory/visual-arts orientation.

Direct peers

• Live & Local: Live & Local supports community-promoted professional arts events across Staffordshire, Shropshire, and surrounding areas through volunteer promoters in village halls. It is a directly comparable rural/community touring scheme with a similar grant-funded, volunteer-network operating model.
• Without Walls: Without Walls is a consortium of UK outdoor and site-specific arts festivals and producers, commissioning and touring outdoor performing arts to non-traditional spaces. It overlaps with Culturapedia's place-and-context-based commissioning and outdoor programming in rural and market spaces.
• Highlights Rural Touring: Highlights operates rural and community touring across northern England, presenting professional arts in village halls and community spaces through volunteer promoter groups. It is directly comparable to Spot On Lancashire in geography, scope, and volunteer-driven distribution model.
• Artsreach: Artsreach is a rural touring scheme operating across Dorset and neighbouring counties, presenting professional performing arts in village halls and community venues via volunteer promoters. It shares Culturapedia's curatorial, volunteer-driven distribution model and is a fellow member of the National Rural Touring Forum.
• Take Art: Take Art operates rural and community touring schemes across Somerset and the South West, presenting professional performing arts in non-traditional venues through volunteer promoter groups. Its model of curated menu selection, partnership with libraries, and small-team delivery closely mirrors Culturapedia's Spot On Lancashire approach.
• National Rural Touring Forum: The National Rural Touring Forum is the UK-wide network of rural touring schemes, of which Culturapedia (via Spot On Lancashire) is a delivery partner in the TAIL programme. It is comparable as both an industry peer and a coordinating body for the same volunteer-led, library-touring distribution model.
• Applause Rural Touring: Applause is a rural and community touring scheme working across multiple UK regions to present professional arts in non-traditional venues. It overlaps with Culturapedia's rural touring programme in both target audience (underserved rural communities) and delivery mechanism (volunteer promoters and partner venues).

Broad incumbents

• The Albany: The Albany is a community arts centre in south-east London presenting participatory and performing arts programmes for diverse local communities. It is comparable in community-focused curation and participatory co-creation ethos, but operates at a larger venue-based scale in a different geography.
• Brewery Arts: Brewery Arts is an arts centre in Kendal, Cumbria, presenting performing arts, cinema, and participatory programmes across the North West. It is a larger, venue-based regional incumbent operating in overlapping North West territory, with comparable artistic ambition but a more venue-centric delivery model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/culturapedia
• Facebookfacebook.com/culturapedia.co
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/culturapedia-ltd

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Culturapedia