This week saw the launch of Communi-Tea, a heartwarming new project from the Dorothy Parkes Centre in Smethwick, created as part of Creative Black Country and The Space’s Black Country Digital Firsts programme.

On 9th October 2025 in Bilston, community groups, arts organisations and creatives from across the Black Country gathered for a special event ‘Creative Funding for the Future’.

If you are a community group interested in starting a new heritage project you can apply to Making our Mark NOW!

As the evenings get darker, people across the Black Country are coming together for brilliant creative events. From community film screenings and workshops to light-night outdoor exhibitions and performances. These moments of connection are what make our region special: people gathering, sharing and celebrating creativity in our towns and neighbourhoods.

We went along to the screening of a new short mockumentary film by Alex Billingham (which has been supported by Black Country Digital Firsts), to find out more about the film...

Over the past year, Creative Black Country has been celebrating ten years of creativity, community and collaboration across the region and one of the highlights of our anniversary programme has been the Bostin News zine series.

Creative Black Country has been awarded £999,999 as part of Arts Council England's largest ever Creative People and Places (CPP) Portfolio, which sees £42 million invested in 45 programmes from 2026–29.

On World Octopus Day (8 October 2025) guests gathered at the Black Country Living Museum for the world premiere of Black Country by the Sea, a new, fun, mockumentary film and video game by artist Alex Billingham.

In a leafy corner of Willenhall Memorial Park, something quietly powerful has been growing. What began as a casual conversation during a walk through Fibbersley Nature Reserve has blossomed into a vibrant writing group rooted in creativity, community and connection to place.

In 2024, Creative Black Country solidified a meaningful partnership with whg (Walsall Housing Group) to launch a new artist-in-residence initiative. Hosted across their recently opened over-55s wellbeing schemes, Lockside Pointe in Walsall and Nightingale House in Wolverhampton…

Fundraising Fellowship Scheme 2025 is OPEN for applications. Find out more and how to apply here.

From May 2024 to May 2025, Art Road Trip – the National Gallery’s travelling art studio – visited 18 locations across the UK. In March 2025, the colourful mobile studio rolled into the Black Country for two lively weeks of creative activity in Walsall and Wolverhampton.

Happy Black Country Day! To celebrate, we've handpicked some lovely events taking place across our mighty fine region over the next week (and a little beyond) for you to enjoy...

Making our Mark is now underway in Walsall. At the beginning of July we met some of members of he first five groups who have received the project’s small grants.

We wish to work with a Walsall-based heritage, community, or creative organisation to undertake a new commission exploring Walsall's shared heritage, though we welcome applications from the wider Black Country.

CBC’s Fundraising Fellowship Scheme 2024/25. Find out what this year’s cohort got up to…

Walsall is a place rich with stories—of traditions passed down through generations, of communities shaped by migration, resilience and creativity. Now, a new opportunity is opening up for local groups to shine a light on their own unique histories through Making Our Mark, a community-led heritage project supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

We’ve certainly had an impactful and fun start to 2025, marking our 10th anniversary, kicking off two major new projects, continuing with our Creative Communities strand of support and sharing our latest series of short films.

What does the future of creativity across the Black Country look like to you? As we turn 10 we wanted to see what our friends, associates and colleagues across the borough thought.

As we take time to mark Deaf Awareness Week (5-11 May), we want to acknowledge the value of listening, learning and growing in our approach to accessibility and inclusion. At Creative Black Country, we are still on a journey, and we are grateful to those who walk alongside us and support us in doing better.