About The Shift Norwich

The Shift Norwich was started by principal consultant Marion Catlin to provide cultural development,  design and digital services for the arts, heritage and cultural sectors. The idea is simple - to bring together the skills, talents and experience of the very many creative people that live in and around Norwich and promote them to the rest of the world and to raise the profile the city of Norwich and what it has to offer. The Shift also acts as a hub for creative and cultural activity and information in the city, brokering and matching artists to people and projects. 

The Shift brings together people and services, based in Norwich but working in the region, all over the UK and internationally. We can link you to some of the best skills and talents in the area as well as a pick of the great things that happen here. We also deliver our own work. If you want something good, just ask. 

We are proud of the place in which we live and the cultural and creative energy and experience that exists here. Norwich has a different way of doing things and a heritage of innovation which means that it has ideas and creative thinking at its heart. The Shift aims to develop and promote Norwich as a city of culture and share what we know with the rest of the world. Our belief is that culture and creativity has the power of transformation and that is what the Shift is about.

Norwich is a cultural place, a City of Culture in fact and is the first English UNESCO City of Literature, joining Edinburgh, Dublin, Iowa City, Reykjavik and Melbourne. Culture is valued highly and is embedded in the development of many activities. The Shift Norwich takes a wide view of culture - it is about developing and promoting the way we live here, the Norwich way of doing things - Norwich is a distinctive place and not a 'clone' city. There is a strong DIY culture and many interesting and unusual small creative businesses start up here that are unique to Norwich and its creative talent. They are not alway obvious to a newcomer to the city so we can help people get to know the 'independent' underbelly of the city.

What we do
Whilst not exactly 'cultural oddjobbers' in fact, we can turn our hand to almost anything and are very flexible in the way we work. And if we don't know how to do something, it is almost certain that we will 'know someone that does'. The Shift Norwich is a directory of the best of creative thinking and creative professionals in the area and we can work with them or put you in touch. We run the arts and cultural network Culture Shift Network which grew out of the city's cultural bids. And we can point you towards the best of everything in Norwich.

We work with a range of partners, and can broker projects, services, knowledge and contacts across the cultural and creative industries here. Very well-connected local knowledge means that we can help you find the right person for the job very quickly. We also develop our own projects and can work with partners in collaborations and clusters. We are about collaborative working, joined-up thinking and cross-sectoral action.

Why The Shift Norwich?
As a name, The Shift sums up what we want to do. We want to alter people's perspective, their way of thinking – a shift, in their way of looking at life. It is also a shift of work - we are about doing, not just talking, and we can roll our sleeves up with the best. Late shift, work shift, double shift, second shift - we are busy people who get things done. And we want to help shift Norwich into the limelight of the best of culture - it is an overall aim of many people in the city, as shown by the support and enthusiasm for the city's two City of Culture bids (2003 and 2010).

The areas of The Shift Norwich are Culture Shift, Design Shift, Digital Shift, Make Shift, Mind Shift and Shift Publishing - all work closely together, bringing in expertise as required. We use a cultural planning approach which means that we start any job or project by looking at the resources and assets available and then come up with a creative solution and a concrete plan of action.

Contact
Marion Catlin
email: [email protected]