CultureSet X will take place on Thursday 28 January 2027 at Brixton House, London. Doors open at 9.15am, the conference starts at 10.00am and the day finishes with networking drinks from 5.00pm to 7.00pm.

CultureSet X is the UK's first recruitment, talent and workforce conference built exclusively for arts, culture and heritage organisations. It's a one-day, in-person event, and is an initiative of The Culture Set and workculture.

The conference focuses on supporting arts, culture and heritage organisations to develop their workforce strategies. The theme for this year's conference is The Road to 2030, and the day will explore how our organisations can prepare for a workplace spanning up to six generations, alongside skills gaps, inclusion challenges and technological change. The programme is built around four areas: access and participation, inclusive recruitment, progressive pathways and future-proof funding.

CultureSet X is for anyone working in arts, culture and heritage whose role influences who wants into our sector, who gets in, or how it all gets funded. That includes HR, people and talent leads, EDI and workforce development specialists, operations and executive directors, learning and participation teams, development leads, and trustees. If workforce is part of your brief, whatever your job title says, you're in the right place.

Early Bird Tickets are £165 and Standard Tickets are £225. Members of The Culture Set receive a 30% discount on all prices.

Members of The Culture Set receive discounted rates automatically. If you've received a discount or promotional code from one of our partners, you can enter it at checkout, including on early-bird tickets.

A full day of sessions, lunch and refreshments throughout the day, and the evening networking drinks.

We've created an access fund to support delegates with travel, childcare and ticket costs if these would otherwise stop them attending. To apply for the fund, please send a short email to team@thecultureset.co.uk with a brief explanation of your situation and how we can help and if we can, we will.

Refunds and Transfers If you can no longer attend the conference, you're welcome to transfer your ticket to a colleague free of charge at any time; just send an email to team@thecultureset.co.uk at least 48 hours before the conference to let us know their name (and save them spending the day walking around with your name badge on!) If you need to transfer the ticket with less than 48 hours' notice, you can simply pass your ticket on to your colleague and we'll welcome them on the day. If you need to cancel your ticket altogether, refunds are available until Friday 11 December, minus a £12 admin fee. Any tickets cancelled after 11 December won't be eligible for a refund, but transfers will remain open until the day of the event. How to get your refundIf you paid in full when booking your place, please email us to let us know you'd like to cancel and we'll process the refund for your ticket.If you opted to pay via instalments, you can either cancel your plan yourself via your account, or send us an email and we'll do it for you. We'll refund any payments you've made so far, (minus the £12 admin fee), and no further payments will be taken.Refunds and Transfers if you're paying by instalmentsA ticket can only be transferred once your instalment plan is complete and the full ticket price has been paid. All instalment payments must be completed by Thursday 7 January 2027 in order to secure your place. If you do not complete all your instalment payments by this date, your booking will be cancelled, your place will be released, and any payments you've already made will not be refunded. If we cancel or postponeIf we cancel CultureSet X for any reason, you'll receive a full refund of everything you've paid, including any payments made under an incomplete instalment plan.If we postpone or reschedule to a new date, your booking will carry over automatically. If you can't make the new date, you'll be offered a full refund of everything paid.

We'll have a photographer and videographer on the day. If you'd prefer not to be photographed, let us know at registration and we'll give you a lanyard that tells our team.

The live conference will be in person only, however we are exploring the possibility of having sessions recorded so that these can be made available for colleagues who can't join us on the day.

Brixton House is a short walk from Brixton Underground and rail stations.

Absolutely. When booking your ticket, you'll have the option to add either a free or discounted ticket for your support worker to your order. There's no need to provide evidence or explain why.

We have a team of BSL interpreters that we regularly work with who can be made available on request, so if you need this or captioning, just let us know when you book.

Brixton House is a very accessible venue. You can find more information on their specific approach to accessibility via their website, however, you can also tell us about any access requirements you have when you book, and we'll be in touch to confirm arrangements.

Lunch and refreshments are included. You can tell us about dietary requirements and allergies when you book.

Where speakers are happy to share them, yes. We'll also send a pre-event pack with the running order, a venue map and session summaries.

We have a small number of partnership opportunities available. Please email team@thecultureset.co.uk for a copy of our partner prospectus or a conversation.

Getting involvedIf you have an idea for a conference session, we'd love to hear from you. Submit a session idea via the form on this page and we'll be in touch to let you know if your session has been selected. Can I get a speaking slot through sponsorship?'Fraid not. Speaking slots aren't tied to sponsorship and never will be.How can my organisation become a partner? We have a small number of partnership opportunities available. Take a look at our partner prospectus or email team@thecultureset.co.uk for a conversation.Who do I contact with other questions? Email [email] and we'll get back to you.

Please send an email to team@thecultureset.co.uk and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Anyone who makes decisions about who gets into this sector, who gets on, and who stays. That means HR and talent leads, yes — but also the Operations Manager who somehow ended up owning recruitment, the Trustee put in charge of people resources, the Development Lead flagging the need for new income streams, and the Learning & Participation Manager trying to turn an access scheme into an actual pipeline. If your work shapes who this sector is made of, this is for you.

Nothing scary. No payment is taken and there's nothing to cancel. You'll get a confirmation from us, then a handful of emails between now and 7 October showing you what we're building. When doors open, you'll get first refusal on a founding place — claim it or don't, entirely your call.

Individual monthly membership will usually cost £12.50 per month, meaning you'll save £66 a year if you lock in the founding members' rate of £7 per month.

You'll need to pay for the membership within 48 hours of doors opening. Here how's it will work: On 7th October you'll get an email from us with a link to purchase your membership.  Once that email has been sent, you'll have 48 hours to purchase your membership.If you haven't purchased your membership by the time the 48 hours is up, you'll lose your spot on the founders' list and will need to purchase a standard membership, which costs £12.50 per month.

Regular meetups (online and in person), masterclasses with tools you can use, and access to expert support when you need a steer rather than a search engine. The full programme is being shaped now — deliberately, with the founding 30 in the room. That's not us being coy; it's the point.And we know exactly how much time you haven't got. This is built for people whose diaries are already full: come to what's useful, skip what isn't, and nothing is compulsory. Sessions are short, scheduled with a working week in mind, and recorded so you can catch up on your own terms. Most months, an hour is plenty — and if all you do is drop a question into the group and get three answers back, that's the membership doing its job.

Yes, and you might be exactly who we're after. Some of the most important workforce work in this sector happens under other names: participation, access, programming, development. If your work brings people into the sector or keeps them here, you belong in this room..

The £7 rate goes with the 30th place and doesn't come back. But being on the list still counts: you'll be first in line when general membership opens at the standard rate.

The Culture Set was founded by Ceri Sunu. Having spent the last few years supporting arts organisations to make their recruitment more inclusive and their income streams more entrepreneurial, she decided to build The Culture Set to help the sector achieve collective change in its workforce.

Yep, it's really locked in for as long as you keep your membership. The only thing that would change it is if you decide to cancel at any point. If that happens and you then re-join later, you would have to re-join at the standard membership rate which is currently £12.50 per month for individual memberships.

Freelancers and consultants are welcome to join The Culture Set on the same terms as everyone else: if your work shapes who wants in, who gets in, who stays, or how it's funded, then you belong in this room with us. One thing to be clear about, though — this is a room for solving problems together, not a place to pitch and find clients. If you're happy to join on that basis, then we're happy to have you.