Creative Black Country is developing a new initiative to support fundraising for arts and culture in the region for these challenging times.

CBC will be hosting 4 sessions at this year’s Black Country Business Festival during October to help you make the most of funding opportunities. All the events will be hosted online via Zoom with a panel of experts, creatives and advisors to help inspire and answer your questions.

In July 2021, CBC ran a temperature test exercise through an online survey to gain insights into how the cultural sector in the Black Country coped with the Covid-19 pandemic over the past year. The information gathered also aimed to identify how the sector is currently responding to the lifting of restrictions…

The DESIblitz Literature Festival 2021 opens on 18th of September with leading British South Asian and South Asian literary names for a mix of in-person and digital events.

How many of us would have guessed we’d still be in semi-lockdown so far in to 2021? The last 18 months have been a really strange time for CBC but, like everyone else, we’ve adapted and changed things so that we can continue our work in this new world. Find out some of the things we’ve got coming up in the next 6 months.

Congratulations to local community hub Gatis Community Space who are busy putting plans together for a summer of wellbeing activities after receiving a grant of £9750 from the Severn Trent Community fund.

We are delighted to announce that Creative Black Country’s Desi Pubs project is featured in the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.

Watch the video from April’s Black Country Funding Network with Rachael Magson and Kevin Rogers.

The team at Paycare, a Health Cash Plan and Wellbeing Training provider based in the heart of Wolverhampton, has donated £20,000 to Creative Black Country to help us to support 17 projects as part of ‘Creative Connections’ - our strand of work aimed at bringing joy to communities during the pandemic.

In December, for the Winter Solstice on the 21st, Culture Central asked artists and organisations from across the West Midlands to produce and commission pieces of work that could be shared across social media platforms, lasting no more than 60 seconds each.

Free online Minecraft and Music production courses for young people in Sandwell.

We know 2020 has been a tough and challenging year but it has also been a time of intense creativity for many. CBC’s Marketing & Content Manager, Kerry, asked the team to share their favourite projects that they worked on during the pandemic and here is what they said…

With support from Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy CBC has been able to set up and explore possibilities for a free funding network for arts and culture across the Black Country. In these challenging times the network can connect those fundraising across the region and provide support.

Cinema For All’s regional support scheme On the Ground is back – connecting emerging and existing community cinema exhibitors from across the West Midlands to their share skills, knowledge and expertise!

This month Birmingham-based theatre maker Graeme Rose will be releasing a seven-part series of true-crime podcasts that investigate the story of his Great Uncle’s unsolved murder in Quinton.

If you are working on a project grant application, or are about start one, for a creative project based in the Black Country and would like some advice then we are offering 20 minute sessions on the 23rd and 30th October.

£200,000 has been awarded to Creative Black Country to create a new, inclusive art and culture project linked to the Commonwealth Games, following a collaboration between Olympic legacy funder Spirit of 2012 and Birmingham 2022.

We will be taking part in this year’s Black Country Business Festival and organising three very different events.

We’ve collated all of the 20x20 Dudley videos of our 6 speakers who joined us during August. Take a look below and get inspired by their very different stories, practices and creative knowledge.

In 2017 the Chamber set up the Black Country Business Festival, a showcase of the range of businesses that proudly make up the Black Country. The now, annual event promotes the area’s investment potential and enables the local business community to collaborate and share best practice.