Making the most of… the Black Country

Creative Black Country started as an extension of the values, vision and passion held by a of a pool of Black Country organisations; Black Country Together (SCVO, WVSC, One Walsall, Multistory and Black Country Touring).

For decades, these organisations have been committed to working with local people in the Black Country enabling communities to thrive, be it through resourced opportunities, solution-based thinking or creative practice.

CBC’s journey began in 2014 with an inherited pocketbook of wisdom from which our mission grew. We very quickly learned that there was great potential to build on what existed in the locality, making the most of people and places. As we embarked on this exciting but daunting journey, our pocketbook was slowly replaced by an encyclopaedia of ideas from which our ambition flew.

Our programme is dynamic, with chaotic plans occasionally drenched in luck. We don’t always get it right, nor achieve what we want, but we always give it our best. At times we are naïve about the outcome, or uncertain about the impact. We are an evolving programme; learning and shaping along the way. As we mature and understand our successes and failures, we also realise a ‘certain constant’ that keeps all our activity in check. It is local people at the centre, forefront and within the sphere who make it work and make it meaningful.

As the programme evolves, so do we. We need the agility to respond to change and reflect society, whilst continuing to support the conditions for creative communities to thrive. Our contribution matters, however it should not dominate, and as we head into another phase or our programme we will once again re-shift to embody an even greater focus on place-based practice.

We are not the experts of co-creation or socially engaged practice, but we are great at making creative experiences happen, with and by local people.

Making the most of… Black Country talent

CBC works with communities in Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton to explore and develop new creative projects with local people in the places where they live. Our core aim is to encourage people in the Black Country to take part in more cultural activity. CBC is an action learning project funded by Arts Council England through the Creative People and Places (CPP) programme to engage audiences in areas where evidence shows people are less likely to take part in publicly funded arts and culture.

Creative excellence and innovation are key to CBC’s work; we want to encourage communities to get involved in our projects through a range of commission opportunities, co-creation of work and embedding that work in people and place while ensuring a quality experience for all involved.

We have always taken a hybrid approach with our outputs. Our programme will always offer a number of ways to engage; live activity: local, online and global, and in print and personal. We share incredible local stories using curated editorials, beautiful artwork and specially designed print.

We try out new things; we know not all projects and ideas will work out how we thought it might (or should), but this won’t be a barrier to giving things a go or trying out new approaches. We use human centred design to guide our approach – sometimes it is messy, it requires iteration, but we use this learning and aim to put it to good use.

We take time to build relationships; some may be more fleeting while others have been with us from CBC’s start. It is important that we journey with the people we engage with to see where it takes us so that we can all learn.

Our local communities know the people they work with, know the people around them; they are neighbours, friends, co-workers, carers – they hold the knowledge and can bring people together with shared interests to create work that is relevant to them and their lives.

The Black Country is made up of an abundance of talent and it is true that we don’t always shout about it; but we started to for our 100 Masters campaign. The Black Country has a self-deprecating sense of humour, which is why we introduced the Festival of Funny Things to Wolverhampton and aimed to discover more about our Funny Roots. The Black Country has some extraordinary untold stories and that’s why we shared the Desi Pub project around the world.

When the COVID pandemic hit our aim was to act swiftly to react to the changes that were forced upon us so we introduced a new strand of commissioning called Creative Connections. It was important to CBC to ensure that our artists and communities still felt supported and connected in some way. We also knew the importance of staying positive while producing and supporting projects that could keep people safe with social distancing and lockdown rules in place.

The Black Country community rose to the challenge with 30 projects that brought joy and creativity to the region through a variety of wonderful, innovative, simple and strange ideas.

Making the most of… cross-sector partnerships

CBC has been a great advocate of cross-sector partnerships, and we are proud of the substantial inroads made within the business sector. It demonstrates creative participation is possible everywhere and draws out the potential to bring together business and culture.

Cross-sector partnerships have benefited from an exchange of investment to skills and resources. CBC has built relationships with business from scratch with the starting point being the Black Country Chamber of Commerce.

Networking meetings were attended, which have led to more opportunities to build further relationships and understand how we can support each other.

During our six years, the following events and relationships have played a key role in the two sectors coming together... Read our CASE STUDY here.

Making the most of… unusual spaces and places

It is important to us that we reach audiences in the places that they use, that are familiar to them and where they feel comfortable and safe. Many of our audiences and partners have never (or rarely) been to a ‘traditional’ art gallery or theatre space.

To address this we aim to use non-traditional spaces so that we can reach and expose unengaged communities across our projects. Read our CASE STUDY here.

Making the most of… the voluntary service councils

Integral to CBC’s work is our unique partnership with the four Black Country Voluntary Service Councils.

The partnership has given us access to thousands of people across the community and helped us support hundreds of creative projects with expert advice and knowledge-sharing. Read our CASE STUDY here.

You can download the full 6 year summary document here.

Making the most of… unusual spaces and places

It is important to us that we reach audiences in the places that they use, that are familiar to them and where they feel comfortable and safe. Many of our audiences and partners have never (or rarely) been to a ‘traditional’ art gallery or theatre space.

To address this we aim to use non-traditional spaces so that we can reach and expose unengaged communities across our projects.

Sandwell Mela (2015 – ongoing) - Capacity building in the park

Run by volunteers, MELA (South Asian Fun Fair) in the heart of Sandwell was a trial for CBC and the start of a new relationship that has strengthened over the years. The MELA attracts a large-scale audience in a park in Smethwick and is a special event for many intergenerational families. The volunteers' expertise is second to none and boasts a delightful experience for a local, regional and national audience.

To start, CBC facilitated workshops and introduced the MELA team to a range of artists and programming options that they had not considered before. CBC benefited from a national MELA Partnership that provided subsidised outdoor performances and inspired the Sandwell MELA to seek professional creative outdoor performances.

Six years on, CBC has successfully supported the MELA to bid for more significant Arts Council funding, introduced a dedicated arts village with a creative producer, and brokered relationships with key stakeholders, making MELA even more visible in the region. The pandemic halted CBC plans to celebrate a 5-year partnership milestone but we continue explore future options around what could happen next.

100 Masters (2017-2018) - Engaging audiences digitally, via social media and augmented reality

100 Masters successfully celebrated everyday creativity, acknowledging citizens who remain important bastions in their own communities, despite being overlooked in the wider cultural landscape.

The project team also utilised digital innovation to share stories as well as working with the UK’s largest regional newspaper, the Express & Star, to become the first ever newspaper in the country to utilise the power of Augmented Reality for non-commercial purposes.

100 Masters became a powerful network, made of people who can influence, inspire, exchange knowledge, and encourage new collaborations locally, nationally and globally. Some of the campaign’s online content went viral, with an artist film reaching over 9 million views.

In Autumn 2018 100 Masters was selected as the winning entry in EYA’s Open Innovation category 2018 and was shortlisted for the 2019 N.I.C.E award, managed by the European Centre for Creative Economy.

Desi Pubs (2015 - present) — taking the work to the audience

Desi Pubs is an extraordinary story about migration, survival, love and food. For over 40 years, the Black Country has been quietly incubating a gastro revolution, the ‘Desi pub’. It’s an East meets West story, where the classic English pub with its ales, darts and dominos meets Punjabi food and Bhangra and it was thanks to landlords; Beera, Jinder, Jeet, Dal, Slack and Amrik, who opened their pub doors to six artists to share their personal life stories and experiences over a pint.

The pub landlords and staff helped artists to shape bespoke creations which captured the heart and soul of each venue and their punters. Portraits, stained glass windows, photography, mosaics, and handcrafted pub signs were produced for permanent display in each pub.

The collection is part of an ongoing body of work produced by Creative Black Country that includes an archive, broadcasts, pub tours and a publication. The project captured the imagination of many taking the story worldwide with BBC World Service featuring the project and it also became the cover story of a pub trade publication.

Works produced have been placed in the 17th Venice Biennale and installed at the Southbank, ensuring that the project has been seen by tens of thousands of people.

Key lessons learnt:

• By taking creative projects into non-traditional spaces we can reach new audiences with new experiences

• Our projects are often more enriching, fun and diverse when we use unusual spaces

• We know that using new or unusual spaces can sometimes cause unexpected challenges but it can also offer fresh perspectives

• We will never assume that people won’t be interested - the more unusual the space the more curious and engaged the audience

Making the most of… cross sector partnerships

CBC has been a great advocate of cross-sector partnerships, and we are proud of the substantial inroads made within the business sector. It demonstrates creative participation is possible everywhere and draws out the potential to bring together business and culture.

Cross-sector partnerships have benefited from an exchange of investment to skills and resources. CBC has built relationships with business from scratch with the starting point being the Black Country Chamber of Commerce.

Networking meetings were attended, which have led to more opportunities to build further relationships and understand how we can support each other.

During our six years, the following events and relationships have played a key role in the two sectors coming together...

Working with Black Country Chamber of Commerce (BCCC)
(2018 to present)
CBC contributes to an annual business festival led by the BCCC programme. We started by hosting an introduction to Arts Council England funding strands, and after that, each year, we have refined our ideas. With 2020 being the best year yet, CBC hosted 9 workshops around partnerships, funding and digitising disability.

Funny Things Festival of Black Country Comedy
(2017 & 2019 – Wolverhampton)
The Festival of Funny Things provided the ideal opportunity for businesses across the city’s Business Improvement District to get involved with many of them hosting events and displaying jokes in their premises to promote the festival. One of the highlights included feedback from the partners and businesses involved who said that they felt the festival ‘encouraged a positive and fun association with the city centre’.

Partnership with Paycare (2021) Wolverhampton Based Health Cash Plan provider

Paycare soon became firm supporters of our programme offering support on many levels, even helping us with a storage issue by taking a large wooden ‘wish tree’ commissioned for an event which they resourcefully used in their communal staff area.

We have had an ongoing dialogue over the years that has led to a level of trust between our programme and this not-for-profit business.

In late 2020, Paycare reached out and asked how us how they could support local communities in the Black Country through creative activities.

What emerged from this question was an extension of our creative commissioning strand in 2021 with a significant donation to support the successful projects.

This partnership is sincerely valuable, and in the future, CBC and Paycare will be exploring other ways to develop this relationship, including sharing expertise amongst across both teams.

Key lessons learnt:

• Reach out and see how you can support others first, whether it's suggesting a designer to someone or recommending a venue to a business

• Invite influential speakers to events who will attract an audience

• Be patient, stay visible and prioritise energy into attending specific strategic networking events to develop genuine relationships

• Whilst drafting a sponsorship pack, ask a trusted business friend for their critical feedback and create bespoke packages

• Stick to one core idea instead of oversharing everything that you do in a creative programme

Making the most of… voluntary service councils

Integral to CBC’s work is our unique partnership with the four Black Country Voluntary Service Councils.

The partnership has given us access to thousands of people across the community and helped us support hundreds of creative projects with expert advice and knowledge-sharing.

On how CBC has helped support local communities in Wolverhampton, Saffi Price from WVSC said:

On how partnership working can have a positive impact on community groups, SCVO's Sandwell’s Small Groups Development Officer, Libby Mahoney said:

On how working together can develop strategic projects, Dave Benge, from One Walsall said:

On how sector-based expertise can support communities, Becky Pickin, Small Groups Development Office at Dudley CVS said:

Key lessons learnt:

• The partnership with the Voluntary Service Councils have enabled us to (more easily) reach contacts, groups and communities that we would have otherwise found hard

• The partnership has allowed some groups to access further support and help with both resources and funding

• It has taken time to form synergy and an understanding of each others work and how we can share resources and knowledge