A Creative West Midlands - How did we get here…
Dr. Anthony Ruck, Culture Central’s Chief Strategy Officer, reflects on the regional research project A Creative West Midlands.
Culture Central is a membership organisation and Investment Principles Support Organisation – our role is to Convene, Challenge and Connect the sector to create opportunities through Culture for the people and places of the West Midlands.
We’ve found out that 70% of West Midlands residents think they are creative people, and 50% want to do more to be creative – this is one of the many incredible findings we shared a few weeks ago at the launch of ‘A Creative West Midlands’. While we know there’s a lot of analysis to do, we now know that over three million people in the region want to do more to be creative, as a region we have the lowest levels of attendance at all types of creative events, and are one per cent above the lowest levels of creative participation of all kinds compared to all other regions, this includes a really broad and wide definition of ‘what’ creative and cultural participation looks like too.
You can see the recording of the launch here. We’ve done this to get the research out into the world so that people can start using it and testing it. We want you to tell us what you are doing with it, ahead of a conference in September where you will be able to really dig into the research and make sure that we are actively using this research to inform what we do as a sector. The research itself is a regional overview, that shows the high-level findings, but all of this needs to be translated to the context, artform, people or places that you all work in. At its core is the question ‘How do we create opportunities through culture for the people and places of the West Midlands?’
So – how did we get here…
As a sector we continue to work with and understand research, data and evaluation – and we are adding tools to develop our practice, programmes and approaches to the work we do. Most recently in the region, Coventry City of Culture and the Birmingham 2022 Festival developed a lot of tools, resources and knowledge with place profilers and detailed audience research (view here). Our role within this as both commissioners and sector support organisation was working on helping the sector to understand and use this data.
We know this work is really important. At our first summit in 2024, Collectively Strategising Culture, the sector said it wanted this too – having a deep understanding of what the region’s cultural and creative lives looked like, beyond traditional forms of cultural engagement. So we are really pleased to be delivering this as one part of Our Plan.
Plan 1: Community Powered Culture
Aims:
To have a cultural sector that puts people at the heart, through co-design and collaboration
To centre culture around enabling all forms of creative engagement, providing an abundance of culture for communities
Embed our practice through a clear understanding of creative and cultural engagement in the region
When we saw the opportunity with the release of two new sets of data – the latest Census and Participation surveys – and that they were available for the first time at Local Authority level, we spent a lot of time working out what we needed and added in an additional survey, the first ever regional survey of people’s perceptions of their own creativity and where they go to be creative. You can read all about its findings in the report and go into more detail via the profiler.
Culture Central and the West Midlands Combined Authority were really pleased to work with Indigo, Warwick Business School and Counting what Counts, supported by Arts Council England and the Commonwealth Games Legacy Enhancement Fund to deliver this - and our plan is to continue this - a baseline for the region to advocate for investment, growth and to create opportunities through culture, for the people and places of the region.
This project has been steered and shaped by many colleagues – first thanks to Culture Central members who steer and set the collective direction of this work. And thanks to colleagues and advisory group members who include:
Erica Love at Culture Central, Bryony Windsor, Chris Foster and Si Chun Lam at the West Midlands Combined Authority, Ruark Jon Stevens at City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Shannon Chu at the West Midlands Growth Company, Emily Clarke at New Vic Theatre, Stacey Bagdi at Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, Dr Mark Taylor at the University of Sheffield, Professor Jonothan Neelands at Warwick Business School, and John Knell at Counting What Counts
Watch the video of the online briefing here
Access the regional report, Local Authority place profiles and profiler tool here
Sign up to attend A Creative West Midlands conference here