‘12 updates’ of Christmas

Erica Love, CEO, Culture Central

As we get towards the end of 2025, I wanted to say thank you for being part of Culture Central in 2025. Here are ‘12 updates' of Christmas where I look back at what has happened in 2025 and what we can look forward to in 2026.

1.       In January we launched the Regional Growth Enquiry into the future of cultural investment in the West Midlands at the Houses of Parliament, with the enquiry presented to MPs, peers and DCMS officials.

2.       The Culture Central team and some of our members hosted a fringe event at the West Midlands Labour Party conference, where the work happening in the region, along with the growth enquiry and initial findings from A Creative West Midlands. This led to several meetings with Local Authority leaders, MPs and elected officials and the role on the WMAPPG advisory board. 

3.       We held our Summit 2025 - Strategy in Action at the Black Country Living Museum to take a look at the progress we had made since Collectively Strategising Culture and the delivery of Our Plan. 

4.       We shaped a framework for our Charter for Equity and we are excited to share that we will be recruiting pilot organisations in the New Year.

5.       We have been working with Innovation Unit on the development of a workforce strategy, which is action orientated (please take a look at our recent WMCRU session on the process here). In February 2026, we will be hosting a Design Jam as one of our next activities.

6.       Our commissioned 'A Creative West Midlands’ report found that 70% or people in the West Midlands feel that they are a creative person, and 50% was more opportunities to be creative. 

7.       We continue to support those traditionally excluded from careers in the cultural sector through our Inclusive Network, we held a DYCP training session.

"Things like this are surely too good to be true. Free, open, accessible support and advice for artists to try and access an often impenetrable system.” – member of the Inclusive network

8.       We have welcomed two new cohorts of leaders onto our leadership programme Collective.

“I was intimidated to be in this room, with these accomplished people in the cohort and found myself thinking I’m a primark version of them… I’m just a little excel girl sat in the corner. And today I see that I am a gucci version of me. And that's exciting. I’m a gucci version of me.” – member of Collective

9.       We recruited two leadership associates Cara Pickering and Kat Hughes who will be working with us through 2026. This is one of our commitments to developing future leadership in the region 

10.   In January 2026 the West Midlands All Party Parliamentary Group will be launching an inquiry into Culture, Place and Liveability in the West Midlands, supported by my role as chair of that advisory board workstream.

11.   The government as part of the budget, announced a consultation on a new Visitor Levy. Culture Central will develop a collective response on behalf of the sector, launching on the 13th January 2026 at our WMCRU session, where we will hear from Claire McColgan CBE, Director Culture Liverpool and Jane Morgan from Liverpool City Region Destination Partnership.

12.   On 18th March 2026, Culture Central in partnership with The RSC will be hosting Murmuration 2026, our annual summit. We have some exciting speakers lined up which will be announced early in the New Year. Members get free places and priority booking, so please sign up here.

"So we have to be resilient as leaders. What is the key to that? It can’t be creating models where we don’t fail, or burn out or are flawless, as we know this is impossible, and our leaders have to model what is sustainable, and realistic. Perhaps it is that we commit to murmuration and leadership that shapeshifts. Perhaps it is that we commit to building strong friendships between leaders so that we can fall on each other when we need to. Perhaps we need leaders that speak with their vulnerabilities first, and encourage us to perceive them as strengths, also. Perhaps our leadership looks like living a rich and fulfilling civic life, so that we know that all of our activisms, all of our standing up to and for and against doesn’t have to come from one source, rather, it can come from many.” Selina Thompson – the full blog can be found here.

The Culture Central office will be closed from the 19th December and reopening on 5th January, and we really look forward to another twelve months of supporting and advocating for Culture here in the West Midlands. 

Have a great festive break and see you in the New Year.