Partnership Awarded £75,000 to Enhance Arts Provision in Smethwick
We are thrilled to announce that Black Country Touring and our partners Spectra and The Parakeet have been awarded £73,569 from the Inclusive Communities Fund, which is managed by the Heart of England Community Foundation. This exciting initiative will create an "arts centre without walls” and run from June to December 2024. It will further embed creativity into the fabric of Smethwick's neighbourhoods, fostering community cohesion and enhancing wellbeing through creative participation.
Activities will include theatre shows, participatory workshops, and nature-inspired events, utilising a strong network of accessible community spaces such as libraries, community centres and outdoor spaces. We are excited to be working with our fantastic partners in Smethwick, which include Bearwood Community Hub, Brushstrokes, Dorothy Parkes Centre, Thimblemill and Smethwick libraries and St Hilda’s Church.
The Inclusive Communities Fund, inspired by the legacy of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, aims to address inequalities and forge deeper connections within communities. We are excited to see the positive impact this project could have on the vibrant, diverse communities of Smethwick, bringing culture and creativity to everyone's doorstep, and exploring a pioneering new model for embedding arts and creativity at a neighbourhood level.
Matt Andrews, Development Director at Black Country Touring said:
“I am delighted that we were successful in our bid to this very competitive fund. This work would not be possible without the passionate, creative and highly collaborative network of community and voluntary organisations in Smethwick, who all believe in the power of arts and creativity to bring communities closer together and transform the places where we live and work. We’re really excited about this new creative partnership with Spectra and The Parakeet, whose incredible work opens up access to the arts for so many people.”
We’re also grateful to the Heart of England Community Foundation, the West Midlands Combined Authority and United by 2022 for the opportunity to pilot this approach, which we hope will lay the groundwork for a stronger arts programme in Smethwick for many years to come.”
The programme launches this summer, with activity running through until December.
