Birmingham’s new Cultural Strategy 2015-2019 is now open for public consultation. Stripped of Council-speak it might be boiled down to…
* integrate culture with new developments and the city’s big infrastructure / transport projects.
* integrate culture with the more mundane and everyday type of public services.
* promote the Jewellery Quarter as a centre for contemporary making.
* a “Birmingham Prize” – a major international cultural prize.
* “explore the potential” for bringing back production of film and television.
* continue the usual support for small creative industries firms, including low-cost starter workspace.
* closer links with universities, diminish the local skills gap, create an “online skills hub for employers”.
* offer creative industries workshops and summer schools for “young people from diverse communities”.
* support residents to design their own cultural provision, and improve their access to news of opportunities.
* small festivals in city districts, with local business sponsorship and international links.
* better and more creative use of media to reach residents.
* encourage arts and cultural organisations to boost their income generation, rather than rely on grants.
* lobby nationally, to ensure that the West Midlands gets a fair share of cultural funding.
* give kids a structured ‘ladder of culture’ up which to climb, to develop their cultural lives.
* high quality creative careers advice, and also give the most talented kids work-experience and industry mentors.
* better links between schools and local arts organisations.
