Cultural and Creative Social Enterprise Development Programme

Applications for this programme are now closed.

What is the Cultural & Creative Social Enterprise Development Programme?

The idea for this programme came from the WMCA Cultural Leadership Board in 2020 to test how we can better support cultural & creative social enterprises in our region. The programme received funding from the Greater Birmingham & Solihull LEP, Black Country LEP and Arts Council England. It is a pilot programme and any learning from the activities will be captured by University of Birmingham who are doing the evaluation.
The programme was created to address challenges raised by the Covid-19 epidemic, especially for smaller, diverse organisations operating in their local communities. The selected participants will receive funding to develop their business idea and operations, as well get training and mentoring support throughout their journey with us.

Our participants

Following an application process, we awarded grants to GirlDreamer in Birmingham and Kiondo in Walsall. They are now working to deliver the programme as well as helping a total of ten smaller mini-sized cultural & creative social enterprises in the West Midlands.

Kiran Kaur, CEO of GirlDreamer

"The programme has been both helpful and impactful in the future development of GirlDreamer. We have not only been able to dedicate valuable time and funds to our own organisational development, but we have also been able to support members of our community directly.

It has almost been a full circle moment for us as we know the position and stage the micro-orgs we are supporting are in and feel useful and confident in our ability to support how their journey unfolds. The balance of both elements of the programme are very well designed and overall, it's been a super positive experience for us."

Karen Newman

“As the Chair of Cultural Leadership Board Working Group that initiated this programme, I am really pleased to see the progress both GirlDreamer and KIONDO are currently making. The investment is enabling these organisations to test new ways of working with their communities that will kickstart new creative and cultural social enterprises for the West Midlands.

Small cultural & creative social enterprises deliver valuable benefits to communities and make a strong contribution back to the economy. They can play a huge part in society's recovery post-Covid. It has been great to work with the WMCA and my fellow WMCA Cultural Leadership Board members to develop this programme and to see how it is making a real difference on the ground. Through this programme we can start to get a glimpse into what our future cultural landscape could look like, with diverse-led socially driven organisations at the helm.”