Threading creativity through the Black Country

It is only through the generosity of our valued supporters that we are able to make a difference to communities in Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton by exploring and developing new creative projects with local people in the places where they live, promoting health and well-being through creativity and celebrating and nurturing the talent in this region. 

Arts Council England
Creative Black Country (CBC) is an action learning project primarily 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. 
Funding supports strands of work such as Creative Communities where our locally-based Creative Advisers work with artists and groups embedded within communities to co-create and develop seed ideas and test them out, and projects like Funny Things that looks closely at what makes the Black Country laugh!

Here are some quotes from people who have taken part in our projects…

“It helps me eliminate boredom and helps me get away from the places of depression that I have experienced. It also makes me feel that I am doing something effective. Even my son is enjoying with me.” – Virtual MARKit

“Knowing the fact that lovely organisers thinking of me and my children is giving me hope and strength...Especially during COVID isolation it is an absolute life saver”.

“A strong community collaboration, new connections made, and creativity increased.” – Community Journal

 “Today was special, never thought I would have been able to create one of my own, very good session, would do this again and wished others could get the opportunity to express themselves. Very good for mental health and well-being, well delivered”. Creative Communities – poetry workshop SAYP

Previous supporters

Paycare, Wolverhampton –  supporting Creative Connections in 2021, 2022 + 2023 through their Corporate Social Responsibility programme

This partnership promoted the health and well-being benefits of staying connected during lockdown through a series of safe, socially distant creative projects called Creative Connections. More information about all the commissioned projects can be found here.

Black Country Living Museum – supporting Creative Connections in 2021 , 2022 + 2023

Our partners at Black Country Living Museum supported this series of lovely lockdown creative projects that were fully accessible. Providing opportunities to meet new people and take part in new creative activities.

Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy – supporting The Black Country Funding Network for Arts and Culture

During the first lockdown in 2019 AFP supported CBC through the set-up of a new virtual funding network for anyone involved in arts and culture in the Black Country. We were also able to run a series of online events with funding expert, Sarah Gee, to explore the impact of the pandemic for arts fundraising in the region and explore the recovery journey through this difficult time. The network has been able to provide the space to talk through concerns, offer moral support and explore new possibilities by working together.

You can find out more information and look back at our events in 2020 here.

If you would like to join the network and find out about future events please contact yvonne@creativeblackcountry.co.uk 

Robert Bosch Stiftung supporting Actors of Urban Change – an international project with young people in Wolverhampton

Youth Lab in Wolverhampton has been chosen as one of ten teams from over 170 applications across Europe to join the Actors of Urban Change programme. The project will support young people to have a voice in the city’s future.

Creative Black Country is part of the cross-sector partnership alongside Wolverhampton City Council and The University of Wolverhampton for exciting initiative

The Youth Lab project will focus on how young people can actively participate in co-designing their city, especially through arts and culture, and assist in identifying the vision for the Town Deal for the City of Wolverhampton.

"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.” Professor Laura Caulfield, University of Wolverhampton.

The first Youth Lab Wolverhampton event, an online drawing workshop, saw artist Dan Griffin-Hayes capture the thoughts of young people on what improvements they want to see made to Wolverhampton city centre and Bilston and Wednesfield town centres.

National Lottery Heritage Fund – supporting Finding our Funny Roots

Working with local volunteers, students and Poets, Prattlers and Pandemonialists (local performance poets) this support from HLF has been bringing a smile to faces as we research the roots of Black Country humour from 1950-2000. If you feel like a good laugh (or loff!) you can find out more here.

The Space - The Space helps artists and organisations make great art and reach new audiences digitally.

The Space offered the opportunity for 3 members of staff to take part in video training and up-skilling during our 100 Masters campaign, as well as providing a toolkit to make the most of sharing our short films. The training resulted in the making of several shorts about some of our talented 100 Masters from across the region. One of the videos became a viral sensation amassing almost 10m views on Facebook resulting in the subject, Caroline, being invited across the globe to share her talents. You can watch the videos here.

Want to know more?

If you’d like to know more about how to support creativity in the Black Country then please email yvonne@creativeblackcountry.co.uk