9 WORDS PODCASTS

9 Words Podcasts are discussion-based podcasts with Offsite9 commissioned artists in Wolverhampton using a particular theme as a starting point.

Earlier this year the British Art Show 9, which takes place every 5 years showcasing the best in contemporary art, toured to Wolverhampton. Creative Black Country ran a complementary programme commissioning over 20 locally-based artists in a range of art forms on the themes of hope, resilience, reimagining and more.

Wolverhampton-born Creative Producer Bobby Tiwana spoke to 9 artists/projects to find out more about them and their practice, using a keyword for discussion. Composer, sound designer and music producer Duncan Grimley created original music responses to the keywords.

As the podcasts go live we’ll be sharing them on this page.

Credits

KINDNESS - Sue Brisco & Kanj Nicholas

MOTION - Daniella Turbin

IDENTITY - Dawinder Bansal

TRANSIENCE - Fae Kilburn

ALIVE - Sahjan Kooner

IMAGINE - Leanne O’Connor & Ewan Johnston

INSPIRE - Omar Haq & Ishtiaq Hussain

TOGETHERNESS - Punjabi Women’s Writing Group

ECLECTICISM - Ni Singh

Presented and produced by Bobby Tiwana
Sound design, engineering and editing by Duncan Grimley
Commissioned by Creative Black Country
Funded by Arts Council England
Supported by Wolverhampton Arts & Culture and Paycare.

100 Masters

Landmark project | 2016-2017

100 Masters profiled the experts of today, in order to inspire the pioneers of tomorrow. We wanted to inspire and offer local people a fresh perspective about the strengths, skills, talent and expertise surfacing from their locality and community.

In 2016, we asked the Black Country public to nominate someone that they know who is brilliant at what they do.

A Sandwell cactus-breeder (who has received gold at RHS Chelsea for the last 9 successive years), a care worker from Wolverhampton (who beat 14 professional comedians to win ‘Joke of the year’ at the Edinburgh Fringe), a Dudley nurse (who won an unprecedented international accolade for their pioneering research into the medical uses of sugar) and a Mercury Prize nominated singer from Walsall were some of the examples of those nominated

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 worked with communities to promote civic participation, raise aspirations and encourage people to connect and learn from one another. Forming new partnerships helped to broaden networks and make strong alliances across sectors, in business, education, creative industries and beyond. 100 Masters became a powerful network, made of people who influence, inspire, exchange knowledge, and encourage new collaborations locally, nationally and globally.

AWARDS NEWS

100 Masters was shortlisted for the 2019 N.I.C.E award, managed by the European Centre for Creative Economy.

In Autumn 2018 100 Masters was selected as the winning entry in EYA’s Open Innovation category 2018.

100 MASTERS Press Coverage

Radio BBC WM – 14th March, 2017
Live interview on the Sunny & Shay show with Liam Smyth (CBC Creative Producer), and 100 Masters nominees Parv Kaur and Drew Roper.

Area Culture Guide, 2017
Page feature of the campaign.

Express & Star, 2017
100 Masters Black Country Talent Honoured ahead of Festival in Wolverhampton

Express & Star, 2017
Sathnam Sanghera, Adrian Goldberg, Parv Kaur and more: 100 Masters festival celebrates Black Country talent

BBC Midlands Today
Live coverage on Friday 24th November 2017

BBC Radio WM – Midlands Masala
Live interviews – Sunday 19th November & Sunday 26th November 2017

Bostin News is a project by Creative Black Country. For the first issue we tasked 4 editors from across the region to commission works by fellow creatives as well as produce their own pieces. The project started during lockdown in May 2020 and includes music, poetry, storytelling, podcasts, interviews & articles, photography and more. 

For the second issue we commissioned photographers and writers to choose and edit their favourite stories and projects of 2023.

If you have any questions about the project, the content or would like a newspaper delivered then email kerry@creativeblackcountry.co.uk with BOSTIN NEWS in the subject box!

In this edition of Bostin News, we’ve taken the opportunity to spotlight the multitude of projects that have centred around individuals, a theme that has been central to the recent endeavours of local artists and creatives over the past year.

Creative Black Country is rooted in the local community and consistently places people at the core of our projects through collaborative efforts and thoughtful design. In the past year, a diverse array of portrait projects has emerged, firmly placing individuals and their ‘fizzogs’ as the primary focal points.

Perhaps prompted by the aftermath of the pandemic and our shared unusual experiences, the surge in photography projects has underscored a growing desire for connection.Within this trend, we’ve relished observing the distinct approaches and artistic styles applied to portraiture, each reflecting how people wish to be seen.

Our commissioned creatives have cultivated meaningful connections across various communities, harnessing outdoor spaces and unconventional venues to facilitate workshops and sessions. We are thrilled to witness the ingenious ways in which people come together in unexpected locations, where the realms of creativity, art, and performance seamlessly converge.

Read issue 2 here.

Cosy Communities

The Cosy Communities project delivered creative activities in warm and comfortable spaces for local communities in the Black Country. During late 2022 we put a callout for creative responses which bring fun, joy, connection, and creativity to local people in the Black Country until March 31st 2023. This included mirco-commissions and artist workshops. The opportunities received an overwhelming response and we have now commissioned 10 projects to take place and will also be contracting a number of artists to host pop-up workshops.

Click on the READ MORE links below for information.

Creative Advisers in your area 

Our Creative Advisers are available to support you in developing and planning your project ideas. Anyone can ask for support from our Creative Advisers, you don’t have to have a formal group or have a fully formed idea, just a desire to do something creative in your local community, and they could help you to develop it into a proposal. 

• Dudley – Laura Dicken laura@creativeblackcountry.co.uk 

• Sandwell – Richard Franks richard@creativeblackcountry.co.uk 

• Walsall – Richard Franks richard@creativeblackcountry.co.uk 

• Wolverhampton – Nelson Douglas nelson@creativeblackcountry.co.uk 

Desi Pubs

Landmark Project | 2016 onwards

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. Landlords Beera, Jinder, Jeet, Dal, Slack and Amrik, have opened their pub doors to six artists sharing their personal life stories and experiences over a pint. 

The pubs landlords and staff helped 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 and a publication. 

Parminder Dosanjh, Creative Director at Creative Black Country, comments: “The project is about telling this extraordinary story in the sincerest way and paying homage to the people at the heart of it. The story has many layers and includes tales of migration, survival, love, and the remarkable meeting point of the English Pub and once Indian migrant.” 

Asian landlords have been salvaging the struggling pub trade in the area for decades by reinventing failed pubs for new communities and as a result redefining British pub culture. The Black Country is uniquely populated with around fifty successful Asian run pubs which serve traditional ‘Punjabi dhaba’ style curry. 

The pubs have their own signature dishes that attract punters from all over the region. Desi pubs have been popping up since the 70’s initially frequented by mostly Asian men working in the foundries. Award-winning TV chef Cyrus Todiwala visited the Black Country during the project to discover more about the importance of food in Desi Pubs. 

“I’ve never known a situation where a pub run by an ethnic minority group has given reason for others to create art from it and for other people to try and understand how this came about. It’s interesting to see how they’ve managed to build two things – a very typical British institution, the pub, with a very typical British-Indian aspect, the food.” 

Desi Pub Catalogue - Produced in collaboration with Rope Press the 152 page catalogue, which has a gold foil cover detail and is perfect bound, is a limited edition with only 1,000 copies in circulation. The catalogue also includes an illustrated desi pub map to help you plan your pub crawl.

DESI PUBS press coverage

Arts Council England
Long Live the Arty Party Pub

BBC Get Creative – Time please! Join a Desi pub crawl
East meets West in Desi pubs, where the classic English pub with its ales, darts and dominos meets Punjabi food and Bhangra music. Join Get Creative champions Creative Black Country on a unique Desi Pub crawl.

Central News
Central News did a broadcast to cover the launch of the newly installed pub signs in October which included interviews with the Desi Pub landlords, regulars and artists.

Inapub Trade Jounal
Front Cover and double page spread

Birmingham Mail – Punjabi pub signs to be put up at Desi pubs in Black Country
Birmingham and the Black Country have been blessed by an explosion of Desi pubs – offering authentically Punjabi food in a Great British boozer. Now seven of the Desi pubs in the region are getting their own distinct sign – in Punjabi.

Great Barr Observer – Unique Indian-inspired signs to be unveiled to celebrate booming Punjabi Pub Trade in West Brom
A PROJECT celebrating the rise of the Punjabi pub trade in the Birmingham and the Black Country is set to go live later this month – when specially-made signs are to be hung outside.

The Economist – Pakoras and pints: Raising a glass to Britain’s Indian pubs
N THE 1960s, the Ivy Bush public house in Smethwick, West Midlands enforced a colour bar. An ad hoc system, it barred Asian and Caribbean men—most of whom had migrated to the town to work in its flourishing foundries—from the premises. Today, the Ivy Bush is owned and run by Lakhbir Singh Gill, who took over the pub 23 years ago, and it is one of many “desi” pubs in the region (“desi” is a vernacular term meaning “of South Asia”).

Desi Blitz – Cyrus Todiwala talks Desi Pubs in the Black Country
Paying homage to the rich Asian heritage of the Midlands, Cyrus Todiwala reflects on the significance of Desi Pubs with Creative Black Country.

Arts Council England – A story of East meets West Midlands
The world’s first Punjabi pub signs designed by artist Hardeep Pandhal have been unveiled at Desi Pubs in the Black Country. The signs can be seen along with a new series of artworks telling stories about migration, survival, love and food.

Black Country Pub – Desi pubs: ower precious Punjabi jewels
Yow dow av to go deep, or far, for Desi in the Black Country. No, not at all. Yow only av to scratch the surface to find one of the many delightful Desi pubs that are scattered, like precious Punjabi jewels, across ower industrial heartland.

Paul Fulford Blog – You’ve never seen pub signs like this before
The world’s first Punjabi pub signs will be hung at seven Desi pubs across the Black Country this month.
The signs are part of a project to commemorate the visit to Smethwick 50 years ago by American civil rights campaigner Malcolm X.

Red Bull Amaphiko – The phenomenon of Britain’s Desi Pubs
Last week an art project celebrating British-Indian pubs in the West Midlands unveiled pub-based artworks including old-fashioned swinging signage and stained glass windows.

Burnt Roti – Desi Pubs at Alchemy 2016
The Desi Pubs installation at Alchemy 2016 (Southbank Centre) is an outcome of a project started in 2015 by Creative Black Country in collaboration with the owners, landlords and punters of The Red Lion, The Fourways, The Prince of Wales, Island Inn, the Sportsman, the Red Cow, and the Ivy Bush pubs located across the erstwhile industrial heartland known as the Black Country of the UK’s West Midlands. 

Express Foodie – The Desi Pubs of Great Britain
In the 1950s, after the Second World War, Britain decided to open its borders to immigrants, mostly from its former colonies. The Royal Commission on Population had decided that immigrants of “good stock” would be welcomed “without reserve”. And so a large number of people from the Caribbean, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) sailed to Britain in search of a new life in the West. Britain needed cheap labour to rebuild its economy, which, after the Second World War, lay in tatters.

Yahoo News: Desi Pubs are a Thing in the UK

India 101: Desi Pubs are a Thing in the UK
Behind the bar, you’ll find Bhangra, Punjabi food, and Mr. Singh. The pub: an institution that’s as British as the Queen and as ubiquitous as bad weather. In the UK, the pub is the cornerstone of a community, a place where everyone knows the landlord’s name and becomes intimate with each other’s personal business.

Caught By the River Blog – Shadows & Reflections
My best day out this year involved a trip to Smethwick in the West Midlands. I went on a Desi pub crawl organised by Creative Black Country – ‘Desi’ referring to the Indian diaspora – with writer friend Rahul Verma.

Dudley Creates... 2020-2022

CBC has been working with Creative Associates Kerry O’Coy & Laura Dicken on an exciting new project in Dudley. Kerry & Laura have been working across the Dudley Borough to collaborate with local communities, artists and creatives to produce new work inspired by people and place.

Working both digitally and in open spaces, a curated programme of activity, including workshops, remote residencies, community projects and co-created experiences have been taking pace since Spring 2021.

Dudley Creates Commissions

During 2022 we put together a Summer of Creativity programme in Dudley (alongside our partners Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council and CoLab Dudley). Art, creativity, performance, workshops, music and fun opportunities popped up in spaces and places across the Borough from June to October. You can find out more about the projects that took place here.

Dudley Creates commission projects…

Write, Create and Perform was a project for girls and women where weekly 2-hour workshop sessions were led by writer-performer Rupinder Kaur. Through the workshops attendees discovered new ways to ignite creativity. To do this they looked at Women artists/writers/performers/directors and everything in-between of the past and present such as Kim Addonizio, Lucille Clifton, Frida Kahlo, Amrita Sher-Gil, Loorie Moore,Tracy Emin, Agnès Varda and many others.

Metamorphasis - a project by Wild About Stourbridge which worked with school aged young people to introduce them to arts and creativity. The sessions offered workshops with 4 different artists (sound/music, visual arts, movement, recycled sculpture) to explore the theme of Metamorphosis - change, transformation - in nature and in ourselves.

Finding Our Funny Roots - about the project

Humour is an intrinsic part of the Black Country’s tradition, community and values. Some of the UK’s most celebrated comedians hail from the region. With funding from National Lottery Heritage Fund (during 2019 - 2020) we worked with local spoken word collective Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists to Find Our Funny Roots.

We enlisted a team of local volunteers and our friends at the University of Wolverhampton, to go out and meet people to research stories of the Black Country comedians of the past, such as Tommy Mundon and Dolly Allen, and collect stories of what makes us laugh in the Black Country.

This has helped us to create heritage tribute performances to showcase at our Funny Things Festival of Comedy as well as within residential homes in the area.

We asked artists Barbara Gibson and Marta Kochanek to help put together new videos that bring two of our oral history recordings to life. We hope that you enjoy these funny stories from Brian and Marlene.

You can hear more stories and tales of Black County humour by scrolling down this page.

WATCH: Finding Our Funny Roots films

Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists made a set of films that look at four key areas of Black Country humour that included:

• Where the Black Country actually is

• Who are the key Black Country comedians

• What are the key elements that make up the performance of Black Country comedians

• How the Black Country dialect impacts on humour

LISTEN: Hear a selection of our oral history recordings

During 2019 we reached out to people across the Black Country to hear their stories about seeing, hearing, knowing and working with some of the region’s most-loved comedians. We also heard stories about what it is that makes the humour of the area so distinct and its key characteristics. We’ve included extracts from some of the recordings below. The full recordings will be available to listen to at the Wolverhampton Archives in a few months time.

Funny Roots Blog Posts and Articles

In the early part of 2019 we contacted Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists to help co-ordinate our project. Here’s what they said:

Over a year later this became one of the biggest projects PPP have ever undertaken, and took in research, live performances, and videos. Even better, we got to work with some of the region’s most talented people and produce resources which will last long after we are gone.

With a wide ranging brief, we started working together with CBC and their volunteers to research the idea of ‘Humour in the Black Country’ and made a series of vlogs to show what we were doing. 

The project was still in its infancy and we weren’t sure exactly how it would look. Purshouse took control of the script, Pottinger kept all the plates spinning and Pitt did technical stuff. We enlisted Alex Vann to do music and sign language; he’s a polymath, after all. Brendan Hawthorne and Billy Spakemon provided further comic relief and invaluable research. Finally, we roped in Paul McDonald and Josianne Boutonnet for the academic take on Black Country humour.

The live performances – which involved quizzes, sing-alongs, and pork scratchings – started coming together. A central part of the brief involved taking the performances to places not associated with theatre and over the next six months, we would take versions of the show to care homes and community groups. 

Ahead of these, we had a preview show – for invited guests – in Wolverhampton Art Gallery to launch the Funny Things festival of Black Country Humour. This indicated we had a great show on our hands. The full show, performed to a sell-out crowd at The Arena Theatre as part of that festival, confirmed it. 

All three members of PPP learned some sign language (with varying degrees of success) and the show was a true multi-media extravaganza which pushed all of us to produce top-notch work. We had a great deal of positive feedback.

Purshouse and Bren contemplating what they’ve got themselves involved in. Normally, sell-out performances are the climax of projects like this, but not Finding Our Funny Roots. This was just the start. While the show went out to care homes, Pitt got together with Alex Vann, local filmmaker David Williams, and some of the young people at Gazebo theatre to take the research and vibes from the live show and turn them into four short films.

It’s been a fun, hectic, email-bursting, laptop-melting, hilarious journey. We now know everything there is to know about the Sot Nev, and we’ll never forget bad Dolly Allen impersonations or the sign language for ‘National Lottery Heritage Fund’.

Images above taken by Dee Patel at Wolverhampton Art Gallery during the live performance for Funny Things 2019

Thank you to…

Black Country Society - thank you to Andrew Homer (Secretary) and Dr Malcolm Dick (chair), and the late Stan Hill. More Black Country Humour in Tales & Verse is available on their online shop. 

Black Country Bugle  

National Lottery Heritage Fund  

Volunteers: Karen Adcock, Amy Amison, Dr Josiane Boutonnet, Fiona Dye, Elin Lloyd, Julie Nettleship, Mark Willcox, David Williams, Simon Williams, Gazebo Theatre members: Callan, Hannah, Kyle, Scott, Brett and Josh 

Oral history participants: Patricia Ball, Valerie Beckley, Peter Bullock, Ed Conduit, Yvonne Cox, Professor Brian Dakin, Jacky Fellows, George Fouracres, John Homer, Paul MacDonald, Doug Parker, Bev Pegg, Dave Preece, Kenneth Rock, Emma Rollason, Reg Summerfield, Marlene Watson, Ned Williams. 

Other individuals/organisations: 
Poets, Prattlers and Pandemonialists: Emma Purshouse, Dave Pitt and Steve Pottinger 
Heidi McIntosh and staff at Wolverhampton City Archives 
Dudley Archives And Local History Centre 
Alex Vann
Gary O'Dowd
Brendan Hawthorn
Gwendolen Powell
Gazebo Theatre
Talent Match Black Country
Beth Keska-Davis
Pamela Cole-Hudson 

Funny Things

Landmark Project | 2017 + 2019

Funny Things returned to Wolverhampton during October 2019 for a week-long celebration of rib-tickling stand-up, theatre, workshops, street performance, film and family events.

The festival took place during the October half term with free all-ages fun that included a world of storytelling and glitter from the drag queens and kings of Fantabulosa at Wulfrun Shopping Centre; two poetic Pigeon Pals who roamed the streets offering up food and gossip; the Orchestra of Chaos who be brought their unique musical mayhem to the city centre; and the world-famous Dancing Grannies who boogied on down.

The Mander Centre hosted Spinsonic circus workshops where people of all-ages learned to juggle, spin plates and hula hoop, and slapstick shenanigans came courtesy of Wolverhampton’s very own Laurel and Hardy duo.

“Black Country humour is unique, people love a good laugh and a joke and Funny Things celebrates this.” Comments the festival’s Creative Producer, Jenny Smith.

“Creative Black Country are bringing together a range of partners and artists, to produce a festival that creates opportunities for local people to get involved, see great acts, new talent, and experience a whole load of funny things.

Alongside well-know acts like Frank Skinner, Lost Voice Guy and Gary Delaney we’ve got up-and-coming talent and plenty of circuit favourites.

This year we’re proud to include a number of accessible events that are accompanied with British Sign Language including the Calamity Jane signalong singalong at Light House.

Following the success of the 2017 event we’re back to offer a diverse festival that has a bit of something for everyone. Whatever tickles you.”

There were plenty of opportunities for families to have a giggle together during the half-term with a special kid-friendly programme: workshops included creating your own alter ego mask, a lil’ jams improv workshop with Jumprov, and a lesson in how make stop-motion animation.

Funny Things invited Britain’s Got Talent star Barbara Nice, (Funny Things 2017’s Creative Director Janice Connolly), for The Laughing Sole Comedy Club for Kids with some of the best acts of the circuit sharing kid-friendly material.

New parents were invited to the Bring Your Own Baby event at Newhampton Arts Centre. An adult comedy event where soft flooring, buggy parking, baby changing and feeding were welcome.

Brand new commissions included The Anthinaerium by sculptor Luke Perry - a mechanical automata masterpiece, displayed at the Mander Centre, celebrating the weird and wonderful of Wolverhampton and the Black Country. Chatty birds the Pigeon Pals hopped on and off local transport sharing delicious local foodie delights and icons of the silver screen. Laurel and Hardy, greeted shoppers with their slapstick routines. And actors Adam Halcro and Jacob Harvey put on a play by Tom McGrath, at Newhampton Arts Centre telling the story of the unlikely paring.

Local trio Poets, Prattlers and Pandemonialists travelled the region unearthing and listening to stories of comedy for National Lottery Heritage Funded project ‘Finding Our Funny Roots’ to find out what it is that makes Black Country humour so unique. Their findings were put together for a brand new show ‘Finding Your Funny Roots’ at Arena Theatre.

Six local businesses supported the festival with sponsorship. Casino 36, Zuri Coffee, Destination Wolverhampton and the Black Country, Wolverhampton BID, Mander Centre and West Midlands Metro all contributed to give more people the opportunity to attend the event.

You can read the full Funny Things evaluation by downloading it here.

Images by Dee Patel

FUNNY THINGS 2019 press coverage

Express & Star - 9th November 2018
Comedians needed to share rib tickling jokes ahead of Wolverhampton’s Funny Things Festival

Express & Star - 22nd January 2019
Laughing off the January blues at Wolverhampton comedy fest

Express & Star - 16th March, 2019
Wolverhampton festival organisers call for April Fool's Day challenge

Express & Star
Funny Business at Festival Expo - featuring our newly commissioned artists.

Express & Star - 4th September, 2019
Wolverhampton show celebrates the older generation

Express & star - 19th September, 2019
Frank Skinner, Barbara Nice, Lost Voice Guy and more: Funny Things Festival returns to Wolverhampton

Express & Star - 23rd October
Wolverhampton artwork unveiled to launch comedy festival

Express & Star - 25th October, 2019
Black Country humour is unique

Express & Star - 29th October, 2019
University of Wolverhampton digging into roots of Black Country humour

BBC Radio WM - Sunny & Shay Show
Interview with Sajeela Kershi

FUNNY THINGS 2017 Press Coverage

Express & Star – 12th June 2017
That’s funny! Wolverhampton all set to laugh during comedy festival

Express & Star (online & print) – 26th July 2017
Joke Exchange Comes to Wolverhampton

Radio WM – 28th July 2017
Breakfast Show with Alex Lester – Interview with Jenny Smith Funny Things Producer

Express & Star – 25th August 2017
Wolverhampton to have lastlaugh with comedy festival

What’s On 2017
Funny Things

Express & Star – 7th October 2017
Lost Hancock scripts brought back to life

BBC – 7th October 2017
Lost Tony Hancock scripts to be performed

Express & Star – 12th October 2017
Flatpack Cinema bringing funny films to Wolverhampton comedy festival

BBC WM Breakfast Show – 17th October 2017
Live interview for Vacant Lots

Express & Star – 18th October 2017
Barbara Nice, Henning Wehn, Tom Stade and more: Brand new comedy festival Funny Things coming to Wolverhampton

Express & Star – 20th October 2017
Funny Things: 12 things not to miss at Wolverhampton’s new comedy festival

Express & Star – 23rd October 2017
Comedian Francesca Martinez will bring ‘funny stuff’ to Wolverhampton show tonight

Express & Star - 2017
Funny Things: Find out what’s on at a venue near you as new Wolverhampton comedy festival begins

Made TV – 25th October 2017
Broadcast interview with Redhawke Logistica re Joke Exchange and Sajida Carr for Funny Things

Express & Star – 25th October 2017
Wolverhampton’s Funny Things gets underway

BBC Radio regions – 29th October 2017
Interviews with Dawinder Bansal for Jambo Cinema Commission at Wolverhampton Art Gallery

Express & Star – 30th October 2017
Miserable? Wolverhampton? You must be joking

Made TV – 1st November 2017
Interview with The Orchestra of Chaos

BBC Radio WM – 1st November 2017
Interview with The Orchestra of Chaos – Sunny & Shay show

ITV Central News – 1st November 2017
Dawinder Bansal and Jambo Cinema

Girl Gaze: Journeys Through the Punjab & The Black Country

Landmark Project | 2018-2019

Girl Gaze: Journeys Through the Punjab & The Black Country, UK is a photographic exploration of The Punjab and diaspora communities in the West Midlands through the voices of young girls and women. The project had 2 key elements that saw it premiere in India before coming to West Bromwich for the inaugural BLAST! Festival.

Bringing together newly-commissioned work by four women artists: Jocelyn Allen (UK), Jennifer Pattison (UK), Andrea Fernandes (India) and Uzma Mohsin (India), the exhibition explored diverse themes regarding gender, identity, patriarchy, tradition, culture, memory, place, belonging and difference that shape the lives of women in both countries.

“After the successful premiere of Girl Gaze in the Punjab during 2018 we are delighted to present the adapted exhibition for the Black Country”, comments curator Iona Fergusson.

“At its heart, the show celebrates the unique and exceptional contribution of the Punjabi diaspora in the West Midlands by bringing together four female photographers to create compelling stories about the lives of British-Punjabi girls and women as well as their female relatives and communities in the Punjab.

Each of the artists brings their individual interests and distinctive narrative styles to the work to explore a broad range of complex issues. We are excited by these stories as we hope they will inspire new dialogues regarding what it means to be a Punjabi and British-Punjabi woman today.”

Jocelyn Allen’s You Will Live in This World as A Daughter is a series of playful portraits of girls and young women that explores what it is to be born a daughter of the Punjab. Behind her playful portrayals is a meaningful enquiry into their visibility within traditionally patriarchal communities.

In Panjab Court, Andrea Fernandes offers us a window through which to investigate how culture, tradition, nationality and place impact upon the way we perceive and represent ourselves both collectively and individually and the potential frictions and harmonies that are inherent in our desire for communal and self-actualisation.

Jennifer Pattison’s interest in magical worlds finds expression in the rich traditions of the Punjabi Lori. Her fine art photographs, titled Rice Pudding Moon & The River of Dreams, are inspired by songs that sing of a mother’s love and of a land of dreams. The artist is interested in how lullabies are passed down the generations from grandmother to daughter to grandchild.

Uzma Mohsin’s rich and textured work, Love & Other Hurts, seeks to breathe new life into the personal histories of Punjabi women in the Black Country. What emerges in her work is a complex picture of life in diaspora communities and amongst family members in India, that speaks of courage, resilience, bonds of love and friendship but correspondingly of hardship, loneliness, abandonment and depression.

Curated by Iona Fergusson. Produced by Creative Black Country.

See details at www.blastphotofestival.com/artists/girlgaze

GIRL GAZE 2019 (BLAST! Photo Festival UK exhibition)

Fused Magazine, 2019
8 page spread in the Summer 2019 edition

Midlands Masala, 2019
Live on BBCWM Midlands Masala - Sunday 19th may

Metro Newspaper, 2019
https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/20/punjabi-and-diaspora-communities-in-the-west-midlands-are-celebrated-in-new-exhibition-9600921/

Refinery 29, 2019
https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/girl-gaze-journey-through-the-punjab

BBC Midlands Today, 2019
Thursday 23rd May - Satnam Rana feature on Girl Gaze

Royal Photographic Society, 2019
Girl Gaze at Blast! is featured in the June issue of the RPS journal 'what to see this month' section for June.

GIRL GAZE press coverage 2018 (India exhibition)

Tribune India, 2018
http://www.tribuneindia.com/mobi/news/life-style/talking-pictures/555909.html

Hindustan Times, 2018
https://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/artistic-eye-capturing-different-shades-of-womanhood-in-chandigarh/story-PJdo1iZZnFATDtPAitHHIN.html

Mint, 2018
http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/5Fnyhdj9KAfUK3LQUQmUtJ/Girls-looking-at-girls.html

Indian Women, 2018
http://www.indianwomenblog.org/photo-exhibition-girl-gaze-celebrates-the-women-of-the-indian-diaspora/

It’s Nice That, 2018
https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/jennifer-pattison-jocelyn-allen-andrea-fernandes-uzma-mohsin-girl-gaze-photography-internationalwomensday-080318

iD, 2018
https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/8xdjjv/girl-gaze-punjab-and-the-black-country

Vogue, 2018
https://www.vogue.in/content/this-photo-exhibit-for-women-by-women-is-travelling-to-your-city/#you-laugh-as-much-as-you-cry

Le Mill, 2018
http://bit.ly/girlgaze2018

First Post, 2018
https://www.firstpost.com/living/photography-project-girl-gaze-portrays-harsh-realities-faced-by-punjabi-women-in-india-the-uk-4407407.html

Gold Circle, 2018
http://www.gold-circle.co.uk/jennifer-pattison.html

Girl Gaze in Print, 2018
– The Times of India
– Area Culture Guide
– Oh Comely
– Hindustan Times
– Tribune India

During 2021 Creative Black Country was awarded Arts Council funding to develop a local programme (Offsite9) supporting artists to create work that would add value and compliment the main British Art Show 9 show in Wolverhampton. 

Offsite9 took centre stage in Wolverhampton from January to April 2022. The programme featured new works and commissions by creatives in the region who have occupied city spaces transforming them into exciting experiences.

With 22 creative commissions, people’s podcasts, tours, talks and collectable print, Offsite9 invited people to experience great art in Wolverhampton with and by local people. 

The British Art Show is a landmark touring exhibition that celebrates recent art made in Britain. Organised every five years by Hayward Gallery Touring, next year the exhibition brings the work of contemporary artists to four cities across the UK, Aberdeen, Manchester, Plymouth and Wolverhampton. The show explores three overarching themes – healing, care and reparative history; tactics for togetherness; and imagining new futures.

Creative Black Country worked with a team to develop the ‘Offsite9’ programme. The team includes: Asylum Art Gallery, Flexus Dance, DASH, Bobby Tiwana, Fused, and Nelson Douglas. 

There were three strands to the Offsite 9 programme:

Offsite 9 Live creative commissions
New commissions in the city with over 25 artists, creatives, arts organisations, community organisations and collectives who created new work responding to the core themes of the BAS9, which ware being exhibited, shared and available to experience between until April 10th 2022 in Wolverhampton. Commissions included Asylum Art Gallery, Flexus Dance and DASH.

9 words People Podcasts
Creating conversations and debate, we are co-producing 9 podcasts with contributors from Wolverhampton. These responsive podcasts will capture real local voices in our changing social and political environment. The aim will be to reflect the immediate and new reality, whilst reimagining hopeful futures.

9 pages Printed Publication and Map
We have worked with local designers, illustrators, photographers and writers to produce a curated print publication which tells the stories of people of Wolverhampton and profiles the artistic and creative talent in the city. Read the publication online here.

Offsite9 was funded by Arts Council England with support from Paycare.

Offsite 9 news and information

The Singh Twins

Landmark Project | 2018

An exciting collaboration between Wolverhampton Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool and Creative Black Country saw hit exhibition Slaves of Fashion: New Works by The Singh Twins head to Wolverhampton from July - September 2018.

From current debates around ethical trade and consumerism through to satirical political portraits, the artists’ body of work, that featured on the BBC’s Civilisations stories: The Empire, offers an exploration of the history of trade in Indian textiles as a global story of Empire, conflict, enslavement and luxury lifestyle that has modern day parallels.

Combining the traditional hand-painted techniques for which the artists are renowned, with digitally created imagery, the life-sized portraits of historical figures are packed with symbolic detail. Each digital fabric artwork highlights a different theme relating to the global story of trade in Indian textiles. Collectively they reveal not only the beauty and craftsmanship of Indian fabrics but also the interconnected political, social and cultural significance of their histories.

Central to one of the exceptional portraits, Cotton: Threads of Change, is British-born Indian Princess and leading Suffragette, Sophia Duleep Singh whose personal life connects to the complex narrative of cotton, as part of the wider story of trade in textiles and Empire built on conquest and enslavement.

The Singh Twins comment: “A key aim of Slaves of Fashion is to reveal how historical trade practices, linked to colonialism, conflict and enslavement which are looked back on as unethical today, actually still continue.

In relation to current debates around fair trade and sustainable consumerism the artworks highlight how we as consumers are all part of the problem but also the solution, since we have the power to effect positive change through the choices we make.”

A further nine artworks in the series explored how historical narratives connect to current debates around ethical trade and legacies of Empire.

These include portraits of politicians Theresa May, Angela Merkel and Donald Trump which draw on the tradition of satirical cartoons. The King is Dead: Long Live the King (featuring Donald Trump, enthroned on a catwalk) explores how colonial attitudes and labour exploitation associated with the historical trade in cotton, lives on in today’s fashion industry.

Marguerite Nugent, Wolverhampton Art Gallery Manager for Arts and Culture, said: “The Singh Twins have a well-deserved international reputation and we are delighted to have the opportunity to show their latest work in the City of Wolverhampton.
It has been an exciting collaboration with The Singh Twins, National Museums Liverpool and Creative Black Country to work together and make this exhibition possible for locals, residents and other visitors to see.”

The exhibition ran at Wolverhampton Art Gallery from Saturday, July 21 until Sunday, September 16, 2018.

This exhibition was a collaboration between National Museums Liverpool, The Singh Twins, and the University of Liverpool. Slaves of Fashion: New Works by The Singh Twins has been developed in partnership with Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Creative Black Country. The exhibition is sponsored by Investec Wealth & Investment.

THE SINGH TWINS press coverage

Slaves of Fashion – New Works by The Singh Twins
Fused Magazine, 9th July 2018

Exhibition | The Singh Twins get political with ‘Slaves of fashion’ at Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Ruth Millington Blog post, 10th July 2018

The Singh Twins: major exhibition at Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Arts Foundry, 20th July 2018

History of Indian textiles explored in Wolverhampton exhibition
Express & Star – 23rd July, 2018

SUMMER OF CREATIVITY

New projects popped up across the Black Country to bring communities together during May to September 2022 for a Summer of Creativity.

During April 2022 we put a call out to the people of the Black Country to help us create a special summer season of colour, noise, happenings and pop-ups. A panel, made up of local people from the area, helped to choose projects that will be bringing communities together from June through to September as we align our projects with the wider summer season of culture presented as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival.

The Summer of Creativity is a collaboration alongside a range of partners that includes; Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council who have funded 9 projects; CoLab Dudley who are helping us to make the most of the opportunities and bring together additional learning that will help us inform a wider strategy of creativity and culture across the area in the forthcoming decade; and a number of other partners, artists, creatives and organisations who are helping bring people together.

Below there’s some info about each of the projects that we supported.

Presented as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival

During 2020 the City of Wolverhampton Council, the University of Wolverhampton and Creative Black Country were accepted onto Actors of Urban Change, a Europe-wide programme which promotes sustainable urban development and will give young people in Wolverhampton a voice in the development of their city.

The resulting project – Youth Lab Wolverhampton – focused on how young people can get involved in co-designing their city, particularly through arts and culture.

A series of Youth Lab events took place online. The first, was an online drawing workshop where artist Dan Griffin-Hayes captured the thoughts of young people on what improvements they want to see made to Wolverhampton city centre, Bilston and Wednesfield town centres.

His finished artwork (pictured above) highlights a range of ways in which young people said they would like their town and city centres to be improved. This included adding more colour and greenery, more independent businesses, multi-purpose public spaces and places to relax in. They also suggested walking trails incorporating landmarks, statues and other works of art, the creation of legal graffiti walls and more done to celebrate Wolverhampton's existing architecture.

The results were based on a survey of young people who were asked for their opinions on Dudley Street in Wolverhampton and Wednesfield and Bilston High Streets and will also help to shape the vision for Wolverhampton’s bid to the Government’s Town Fund. 

A Town Deal Board was established consisting of key partners from across the political and business spectrum to advise on the development of Wolverhampton city centre ahead of the final bid to the Towns Fund. The bid was successful, securing £28m in funding that will be used as a catalyst to accelerate the ongoing transformation of the city centre and attract further investment and development.

Councillor John Reynolds, the City of Wolverhampton Council's Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, said:

"The Actors of Urban Change programme is a great opportunity to even more closely involve our young people in the development of their city, and to give them a say. The first piece of work, completed in collaboration with Dan Griffin-Hayes, highlights a number of ways in which we could further improve our city and district centres.

"Earlier this year, we launched our ambitious new Youth Engagement Strategy, #YES, designed to help Wolverhampton's children and young people reach their full potential and be healthier, be connected and be heard. The work of Youth Lab Wolverhampton goes hand in hand with this; there are lots more exciting activities planned over the coming months so I would encourage young people to get involved."

Liam Smyth, Creative Producer at Creative Black Country, said:

"Being part of Actors of Urban Change is an outstanding opportunity to get young people excited about being creative and making a difference in their city.”

Professor Laura Caulfield, Founding Chair of the Institute of Community Research and Development at the University of Wolverhampton, added:

"Actors of Urban Change brings such exciting possibilities for us. We’re thinking all the time about how we work with young people and how we work with organisations to co-produce work to make sure that young people’s voices are heard.”

Youth Lab Wolverhampton was a cross-sector collaboration between the City of Wolverhampton Council, the University of Wolverhampton and Creative Black Country. It is supported by Actors of Urban Change, a programme by MitOst e.V., funded by the Robert Bosch Stiftung.

Dudley Creates 2023

We’re thrilled that Dudley Creates continues through a range of new projects going into Spring 2024 with support from Arts Council England, Dudley CVS (via the platform CoLab Dudley and their team), and of course Creative Black Country.

Thanks to further funding support Dudley Creates has grown from an 18-month cultural programme to a people-led Cultural Compact for Dudley Borough and has received National Lottery Project Grant funding to support more than 20 ‘Cultural Collaborators’ to co-create even more projects with local people.

You can find out more about the Dudley Creates - 100 year strategy in action AND the supported Cultural Collaborator projects and invitations at the dedicated website here.

BACKGROUND

Dudley Creates started as a cultural programme designed to make possible a diverse and locally relevant programme of high-quality creative participation opportunities for local communities across Dudley Borough. The programme included a range of multi-disciplinary arts and creative projects from High Street portraiture and filmmaking, to puppetry making and processions on parks, and animated poetry sessions via Zoom.  

Over 18 months two of CBC’s Associate Producers, Kerry and Laura, worked closely with the wider Creative Black Country team alongside local people, to design and commission a number of high-quality participatory projects.

CoLab Dudley were asked to support elements of the project while researcher, Jo Orchard-Webb, assisted in helping the team bring together key findings and learning that will continue to help the wider cultural eco-system to thrive in future years.

During 2022 Dudley Creates also benefited from a partnership with Dudley MBC who asked CBC to support local people to produce creative projects across the Borough. A Summer of Creativity coincided with the Commonwealth Games activities and offered to kickstart a new legacy of cultural activity going forward.

During this period we also continued to work alongside Dudley CVS, via their innovative platform CoLab Dudley, to help with Dudley’s Cultural Compact; a scheme run by Arts Council England to help Local Authorities to deliver a cultural strategy for their area.

What we learnt from the creative programming - read more here.

You can download our full report here.

ENTER - A collaboration between Creative Black Country (England) and Kuturvilla Nellie (Germany) 

Exploring Climate Activism Through Creative Collaboration

ENTER is a recently completed (March 2024) project by a group of young, early-career creatives who have taken part in the Cultural Bridge Programme over the past 12 months that was developed to embody the dynamic synergy between artistry and activism, delving into narratives that echo the depths of our collective human experience. The Cultural Bridge Programme supported a transformative journey, where emerging artists from the Black Country initially embarked on solitary paths, only to converge into a powerful collective force through a pivotal experience at Kuturvilla Nellie in Lorrach, Germany.

Central to their narrative is the 'Red Studio,' initially conceived as Tod Jones’s sanctuary during the 2020 lockdown. What began as a personal refuge evolved into a symbol of 'quiet activism' against climate change, weaving its vibrant threads through the diverse works of our participating artists.

A short film anchored in the symbolism of the 'Red Studio,' is a captivating exploration of various perspectives on climate change. Social spoken word artist Ajay Pall traverses urban landscapes in search of solace away from technology, while poet Anisha Sahota delves into the profound impact of climate change on present and future generations. Tod, amidst lush green spaces, finds solace in the tranquil embrace of the 'Red Studio.'

Building on the foundation laid by the Cultural Bridge pilot programme, our partnership harbors a strong ambition to delve deeper into learning and exploration of themes that emerged from interactions with the local community. These themes, including environmental concerns and shared anxieties about climate change, resonate deeply with neighborhoods and daily lives, whether in the Black Country or Lorrach. Through this initiative, the artists aim to amplify voices, particularly those from marginalised areas or whose voices often go unheard.

Find out more about ENTER during the pilot programme here: https://www.cultural-bridge.info/projects/2021-2022/enter/ 

The Kulturvilla Nellie is a cultural centre in Lörrach in the south of Germany, close to the French and Swiss borders. Kulturvilla Nellie has a little stage, a pub, several seminar and rehearsal rooms and a cinema. The NELLIE organizes various concerts, Poetry Slams, comedy nights and festivals throughout the year. In the center of their work is always the thought that culture needs to be democratic - from everyone for everyone! Follow Kulturvilla Nellie on Instagram and Facebook and at nellie-nashorn.de 

ABOUT CULTURAL BRIDGE

Cultural Bridge celebrates bilateral artistic partnerships between the UK and Germany through the collaboration between Arts Council England, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, British Council, Creative Scotland, Fonds Soziokultur, Goethe-Institut London and Wales Arts International / Arts Council of Wales.

The programme supports intercultural exchange and dialogue in the field of participative arts and culture. Since launching in 2021, it has so far enabled 44 organisations that place communities at the heart of their work, to build and develop new partnerships that allow exploration and exchange of practice between Germany and the UK. 

The current 2023 - 2024 programme is supporting 15 partnerships between UK and German-based organisations, who have been awarded funding to develop cultural projects exploring issues facing communities across both countries. It follows the pilot year in 2021-2022 in which 7 partnerships were funded. Find out more.

Key learnings and the impact of the pilot year programme are available through the evaluation report, written and produced by tialt.  

From the Cultural Bridge Blog

The images below are of the Cultural Bridge team with creatives Anisha Sahota, Tod Jones and Ajay Pall who headed to Germany for their exchange with Kuturevilla Nellie in Lorrach in September. Images by Kom Achall.

This project was funded by Cultural Bridge, which celebrates bilateral artistic partnerships between the UK and Germany through the collaboration between Arts Council England, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, British Council, Creative Scotland, Fonds Soziokultur, Goethe-Institut London and Wales Arts International / Arts Council of Wales. 

Cultural-bridge.info

Creative Black Country invites you to ShareSpace – a series of events that invite you to share ideas, share skills and connect with creatives, artists and community groups across the Black Country.

Produced by Curiosity Productions for Creative Black Country.

#ShareSpaceBC 

NEXT EVENT: Loving Your Data

When: 10am – 12pm Friday 24th May
Where: Online via Zoom
Book your space here.

This event will have BSL interpretation.

Do you have a love-hate relationship with data? Does collecting, storing and using it effectively seem like an impossible job?

Join Vishalakshi Roy, Director of research led agency Earthen Lamp for a discussion about effective use of your data to ensure that everyone feels able to love their own data and make best use of it. This practical session is best suited to artists and small organisations that have some audience / customer /sales data and want to ensure that they are able to use it for effective marketing and growth.

In this session we will discuss:

• What data is useful to grow your practice / organisation

• Effective ways of collecting and storing it

• How to use your data more effectively

This two-hour practical session will also include the opportunity for a Q&A and problem solving so please feel free to bring your data related questions to the session. The session will be useful to artists, creatives and marketing professionals working in small to medium-sized cultural organisations.

PAST EVENTS

Developing work in criminal justice settings with Geese Theatre

Freelance Artists Network (FAN) Sharing Session

Finding Your Inner Producer

CBC Funding Network: Meet The Funder webinar with National Lottery Heritage Fund

Cultural Compacts: what are they and who is involved in developing them in the Black Country?

Building connections and collaboration between Deaf and hearing artists, creatives and cultural organisations in the Black Country (and beyond) - with Deaf Explorer and Deafscope Link