Dan Bates, Chief Executive of Sheffield Theatres

Sheffield makes me happy.

It's a great place to live, work and play – with the leading theatre company in the UK, where we are bold and brave in creating new work on the epic Crucible stage as well as presenting the best of theatre from across the UK in the Lyceum. As well as my work with Sheffield Theatres I am involved with the Cultural Consortium, the Culture Collective, Create Sheffield (the Cultural Educational Partnership), and Sheffield BID to name a few. There's never a lack of great initiatives to get involved in!

In Sheffield, I love that you can walk all over the city easily each day and see how the city has improved and grown over the years. In particular, I love the way you encounter the city when you arrive here - even when I've been away it is consistently fantastic to return to.

Firstly, you arrive at the "stage" outside the station – the wow of the sculpture and the fountains that draws you up the hill! Then it's the people – their friendliness, their openness, their frankness(!) and now the diversity which is something we can all be proud of. Then you start to notice the cultural offers in the city, especially Exchange Works and how it towers over the city, plus the Museum of Sheffield and the iconic space. And then you start to come across all the coffee shops and places to eat... walking up from the station is always a treat as you work through this landscape.

So for me, we are all about the people, the place and the city. It's big, but not huge. It feels safe. It's a city that cares about each other.