Invitation to Culture Central West Midlands* Chairs Forum 2023-24
Earlier this year, Culture Central hosted Chairs and Vice Chairs from cultural organisations of all sizes across the West Midlands to explore the potential for a strategic forum to support their work. It was felt that with the increasing governance responsibilities from Arts Council England’s Lets Create strategy a collective forum to share practice and approaches to good governance would be invaluable for the cultural sector.
The discussion and scope of this forum included topics such as board recruitment and succession planning, relationship management, influence and advocacy, inclusion and relevance. There was also an appetite to shadow and share knowledge with other boards across the region.
After the success of our initial Chairs forum in Coventry in April 2023, we will be hosting three more in 2023-24:
5th October 2023, 6:00-7.30pm: Online
21st November 2023, 6:00-7.30pm: Birmingham City Centre
20th March 2024, 6:00-7.30pm: To be agreed by the forum
What is the Chairs forum?
The Chairs forum is a confidential regular meeting for those in voluntary governance positions in cultural organisations in the West Midlands with the goal of working collectively on challenges and opportunities facing boards.
We are building a confidential and supportive forum where we focus on issues such as good governance, board recruitment and development, inclusive practice, succession planning and collaborative working.
The forum will build an action learning based approach with opportunities to deep dive into specific areas of interest for the group.
Who is it for?
In a sector which is often competitive, this forum will focus on collectively working together on shared challenges and opportunities to ensure an ambitious, resilient and relevant cultural ecology in the West Midlands.
The forum is for chairs, vice chairs or those in equivalent roles on boards of cultural organisations of any scale and size. Those currently sitting on boards and considering becoming chair or vice chair would be welcome.
This forum is for those:
who would benefit from a strong peer network to learn from and with
who are happy to share their learning.
who are excited to find shared approaches
who are ambitious for their organisation and the sector
Please sign up to attend the forum, or to be kept up to date on its work via the button below.
We look forward to welcoming you,
Erica Love
CEO, Culture Central
Cassie Chadderton
Chair, Culture Central
* Culture Central works across the West Midlands region, covering Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Herefordshire, Sandwell, Shropshire, Solihull, Staffordshire, Stoke on Trent, Telford and Wrekin, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton and Worcestershire.