Workforce Strategy

A skilled, resilient and sustainable cultural sector

Co-created by over 125 leaders from the region’s cultural sector, Collectively Strategising Culture outlines our priorities and ambitions as a sector in the West Midlands. This plan has been designed to create a shared sense of direction, purpose and responsibility to Culture Central and our stakeholders. One element of this strategy is:

Plan 3: A skilled, resilient and sustainable cultural sector

• We will have a strong cross sector network to build skills, resilience and investment

• We will have collaborative approaches to sustainability and environmental responsibility

• We will champion innovation by allowing flexibility and failure

To deliver this, we are working with Innovation Unit and partners across the sector, to develop a regional workforce strategy to understand and map the region’s workforce and design a strategy to build and develop a workforce for the future, prioritising equity, skills and resilience.

The strategy will be co-designed and co-owned with key stakeholders in the sector. Taking into account a wide range of contexts and experiences beyond formal employment, in particular freelancing. Be data-informed, for instance to interpret and utilise national datasets that highlight skills shortages on the one hand and under- and unemployment on the other; and will prioritise equality, diversity and inclusion to reflect the diverse and vibrant demographics of the West Midlands.

The West Midlands Cultural Workforce document by Dr Mark Taylor, University of Sheffield, supports the development of the Workforce Strategy. This regional overview uses data from the 2021 Census to understand the population of the West Midlands and the current cultural workforce.

Header image: Radio and Juliet - Gus Payne and Brandon Lawrence. Bill Cooper.