What is the role of the Cultural Leadership Board?
The board has an advisory role in the development of high-level strategies, ensuring that the West Midlands’ cultural sector is well placed to take advantage of opportunities concerning the development and implementation of WMCA strategies.
This means that the board can provide advice to develop strategies to:
- Improve the cultural provision and inclusive growth of the sector through the West Midlands cultural strategy
- Ensure the whole region benefits from landmark events & opportunities
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Increase cultural engagement with a specific focus on representation, especially young people
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Develop representative cultural sector leadership
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Help the sector to become more entrepreneurial
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Maximise funding opportunities for the sector
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Identify proposals for the Spending Review
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Aid collaborations, networks and cross-sector alignment
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The role of the WMCA in relation to the board is an enabling one: supporting the development of cultural leadership in the region and helping to align the suggestions and recommendations of the board with existing programmes and strategies.
The CLB’s key activity to date:
- Initiating a comprehensive regional research and mapping study on the cultural sector to provide the evidence base needed for future developments, including a digital cultural infrastructure map. This was done in partnership with Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, Coventry City of Culture, Birmingham City Council, West Midlands Growth Company, Greater Birmingham & Solihull LEP, Culture Central; and the project received funding from Arts Council England and DCMS.
- Initiating the pilot programme to support diverse-led cultural & creative social enterprises
- Signing up in principle to the ‘More than a Moment’ initiative and embedding the principle in CLB governance and activities
- Feeding into other WMCA work such as the Regional Digital Roadmap
- Contributing to the ‘Recharge West Midlands’ and WMCA Spending Review
- submission in 2020, as well as responding to Government consultations such as the Planning White Paper in 2020.