Hertfordshire Year of Culture 2020

HYOC2020 was a partnership-driven campaign which aimed to promote new and existing cultural activity across Hertfordshire, whilst highlighting the benefits that taking part in a cultural activity can bring, both to the individual and the wider community. Although 2020 didn't go as anyone planned, there was still plenty to celebrate as our creative partners and local community organisations found new ways to deliver services in socially-distant ways. 

We used 12 monthly themes to help direct activities and produced newsletters to highlight stories of creativity, culture and heritage from across the county:

  • January - Try Something New

  • February - Skills Development and Volunteering

  • March - Access the Arts

  • April - Go Somewhere Local

  • May - The Big Outdoors

  • June - Big Ideas

  • July - Cultural Olympiad

  • August - Families and Friends

  • September - Heritage and History and Meet the Maker

  • October - Be Inspired, Get Back Into

  • November - Creative Minds and Creative Industries

  • December - Celebrate and Illuminate

 

Whilst many things were cancelled during 2020, creativity certainly wasn't.

To reflect back on 2020 and as the last part of the campaign, we hosted the HYOC2020 Celebration Event online on 2 March 2021. The event gave a chance to hear from key partners about the campaign, the outcomes of our Health and Wellbeing Evaluation and plans for the future, as well as an opportunity for anyone involved in creativity in Hertfordshire to share their experiences of 2020 and make new connections.  

Have a look at the We Are Creative Hertfordshire pages here to see how you can stay in touch with the new campaign to share the breadth and depth of culture, creativity and heritage in Hertfordshire.  

How did the Year go?

You can read the full HYOC2020 Evaluation Report here:

and a summary PowerPoint below, 

 

Public Health Evaluation 

Read the Hertfordshire Public Health Evaluation Report 'Exploring how arts and cultural activities conducted as part of Hertfordshire’s Year of Culture impact on the wellbeing of individuals who are lonely or social isolated' which is also available on the Herts Health Evidence Website

Year of Culture in Numbers

Each month we produced an infographic to show how things have progressed during the year.  Have a look at a year's worth of culture in numbers, or have a look at each month on its own by clicking on the links below:

HYOC2020

January - Try Something New

February - Skills Development and Volunteering

March - Access the Arts

April - Go Somewhere Local

May - The Big Outdoors

June - Big Ideas

July - Cultural Olympiad

August - Families and Friends

September - Heritage and History and Meet the Maker

October - Be Inspired, Get Back Into

November - Creative Minds and Creative Industries

December - Celebrate and Illuminate

 

Download the HYOC2020 Activity Pack

HYOC2020 was all about celebrating Hertfordshire as a county of creative and cultural opportunity and our activity pack does just that!

Partners from the creative sector across the county have shared their favourite creative activities as well as a little about themselves.  All the activities included can be done at home and don't need any special equipment. Some are craft-based, but others are about talking to our family and friends and making connections.

 HYOC2020 Activity Pack