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What is Derbyland?

Because Derby is YOUR land!

Derbyland is a new way of seeing the city. It is a quiet way of providing you with a map of exploration, a means of seeking out the incredible treasures just around every corner! Derbyland is your passport to incredible wonders and well-hidden secrets – from cool Theatres and Bars to Art and Design, History and Innovation!

Derbyland seeks to embrace all the creativity that this city has to offer. It is a way for you to navigate the city and its vibrant culture and an invitation to support and be involved with the ongoing development and reimagining of the city.

Derbyland is a doorway that invites you to take a look inside the city. It offers the opportunity to connect and engage, explore, and discover – this is just the start of your journey – there is undoubtedly more to Derbyland than meets the eye, so please return soon!

More about the Derbyland initiative

A treasure map of culture

In creating our Altered Streets project during the pandemic – a project designed to take work out of the building and literally onto Chapel Street outside - we were inspired by the creative power of taking work directly to the public and reconnecting with our local community in a more intimate way. This, in conjunction with the new Arts Council England “Lets Create” strategy to engage more closely with our local communities provided the inspiration for our “Derbyland” Project.

Derbyland is a tongue in cheek reference to a more famous and universally well known theme park in Florida and Paris – as it is obvious that Derby – with all its bells and whistles deployed – could never compete with such entertainment meccas – at least not yet!

Derbyland is, at its core, a cultural map – attempting to identify, locate and celebrate as many cultural hot spots within the city (and Déda’s own 15-minute city primary reach) as possible. Its aim is to bring these cultural organisations together in the public’s imagination and awareness – identifying them and making it as easy as possible to journey between each gem – sharing cultural experiences and offering a diverse and engaging journey through the streets of Derby.

Derbyland is a simple concept – presenting the many known and unknown aspects of the city’s cultural offer to the public – making no preference regarding scale of an organisation or its funding status, only the fact that the city has a lot to offer in its rich diversity of cultural treasures.

Hopefully by providing such a resource, the map and the name – Derbyland – become synonymous with Derby as a place of creativity and a city that people can be proud to live in and be associated with – an emblem of belief in ourselves as creative beings in a world that presents many challenges.

Ultimately, we see Derbyland as a place to seek out and discover – a real and yet imaginary place full of surprises and wonders.

The Derbyland map - coming soon

This city is a mystery, hidden in an enigma

Welcome to Derbyland, a re-imagined city with culture at its heart. It is a city steeped with history, innovation, and creativity – a vibrant, diverse city filled with friendly, proud, and deceptively modest people who would normally go out of their way to avoid shouting about themselves.

This city is a mystery, hidden in an enigma – like some giant blind spot on the landscape - it is sometimes hard to see when looked at directly! Often overlooked by travellers on their way to other places, it is passed by, circumvented, lost in the rush to be someplace else.

But the Derbyland map invites you to stay a while. Linger by the Derwent, marvel at its ancient buildings and complex traffic systems. Forget the urgent need to find the city centre and remember where you parked your car! Take a breath and a step back – give yourself a moment to look around.

Derbyland is a fun packed place – if you know where to look! A mysterious rollercoaster ride filled with adventure and discovery – a place you will want to return to, if only to prove you weren’t dreaming the first time!