Future Arts Centres Co-Directors Annabel Turpin and Gavin Barlow joined partner Tim Jones of TJ Culture at UKREiiF 2026 to convene a cross-sector workshop on one of the most urgent questions facing the government’s New Towns Programme: what should a cultural infrastructure standard for new places look like?

Held on Wednesday 20 May at the Norfolk & Suffolk Unlimited Pavilion at Royal Armouries, Leeds, as part of UKREiiF, the session brought together 20 senior figures from development, culture, architecture, local government and MHCLG. Over 90 minutes, the group explored four core questions about how cultural provision can be defined, funded and embedded in the seven proposed new town sites.

The resulting Insights Report, produced by Tim Jones (TJ Culture) with Future Arts Centres, captures the strongest points of agreement across the room – including the need for culture from year one, proportional provision, co-location with other community functions, early operator involvement, and revenue as well as capital – alongside the live tensions that any national standard must address. It also sets out emerging opportunities such as a cultural design code, co-located community anchors, and meanwhile-to-permanent commissioning models.

Future Arts Centres and TJ Culture will now take forward the report’s proposed next steps, including convening a working group to develop a draft cultural infrastructure design code and piloting it against one of the new town sites.

Read the full report here.