From 25 May to 2 September 2018 a new major solo exhibition of the figurative portrait painter Andrew Tift will be showing at New Art Gallery Walsall.

Well, what a year 2017 turned out to be for Creative Black Country. We started with plans for a new comedy festival, asking people to nominate talented individuals who were great and what they do and beginning to pull together a book featuring the work we’d commissioned with our Desi Pub landlords.

We are delighted to announce that Creative Black Country is one of six successful arts projects across England to receive a share of £5.5 million in the latest round of the Arts Council’s Creative People and Places funding programme. 

As Creative Black Country comes to the end of its initial three-year program the team wanted to celebrate the achievements of their Open Access initiative. Open Access exists to get as many people from Wolverhampton, Walsall and Sandwell to organise and get involved in cultural activity.

Here’s the latest Area Guide – we’ve teamed up with our friends at Fused to produce the latest edition all about the great things going on in the Black Country.

CBC’s Creative Producer, Liam Smyth, has been selected for a residency with the British Council in Indonesia as part of the three-year UK/Indonesia season which aims to build new relationships and collaboration between the two countries.

Finchfield and Castlecroft Community Association are delighted to invite you to a summer of high quality live entertainment, cinema, music and theatre in the delightful grounds of Bantock House.

Since my last blog post I attended Sandwell and Birmingham Mela. It was a like a huge party; perfect weather, people having a boogie and then… Zamana. The stunning show stopped people in their tracks with the spectacle of Heliosphere – a spiralling, spinning helium filled giant balloon with an acrobat attached creating an illusion of flying.

If you go down to the woods today… well not quite the woods but RSPB Sandwell Valley, then you are in for a BIG surprise. Last year, as part of the Imagine That! season Creative Black Country collaborated with RSPB to commission a new sculptural piece at their home.

Capturing the community spirit and shared aspirations of the people of Low Hill in Wolverhampton a new book by the Low Hill Community Centre Group has been produced with images by photographer Nelson Douglas.

I’ve been thinking about blogging for a while and really pleased to kick off my first blog post to share news of Creative Black Country’s relationship with the Mela Partnership.

Louise Byng’s distinctive hand drawn style has become instantly recognisable and she is fast becoming the go-to illustrator to turn to. We’ve been digging her since she produced some great live work for illustration festival Eye Candy several years ago but more recently the Halesowen-based artist produced 12 stunning 2-colour illustrations for a collaborative calendar for Creative Black Country which was printed by risograph masters Rope Press.

If you have been lucky enough to see Grayson Perry’s wonderful The Vanity of Small Differences on tour then you will have an idea of what Silver Thread Tapestries is all about. A project that brings together the delicate nature of sewing and community, telling stories of people, places and spaces.