Black Country Touring, Spectra and The Parakeet have been awarded £73,569 from the Inclusive Communities Fund to create an ‘arts centre without walls’ in Smethwick.

The exciting initiative will run from June to December 2024, and will see free theatre shows, participatory workshops and nature-inspired events taking place across the borough.

The plan is to place events into neighbourhood spaces including Bearwood Community Hub, Brushstrokes, Dorothy Parkes Centre, Thimblemill and Smethwick libraries and St Hilda’s Church. By placing quality creative events into local community spaces, everyone will be able to access the arts on their doorstep, without having to worry about access, money or transport.

Black Country Touring produces and programmes professional theatre, dance and film in community spaces around the Black Country. Most recently, it presented the Smethwick Puppetry Festival and What’s In Store, a festival of theatre and poetry in shops and cafes in Bearwood and Wednesbury.

Matt Andrews, Development Director at Black Country Touring said: “I am delighted that we were successful in our bid to this very competitive fund. There is a brilliant network of community and voluntary organisations in Smethwick who are passionate and creative, and we 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 between Black Country Touring, Spectra and The Parakeet, whose incredible work opens up access to the arts for so many people. We hope that the work we do this year will lay the groundwork for a stronger arts programme in Smethwick for many years to come.”

The Parakeet develop family-focused art and play interventions that centre play, creativity, and nature connection for children and their grown-ups.

As part of the project, The Parakeet will develop an art and nature playgroup at St. Hilda’s community room and reinvigorate their courtyard into a special nature Play Kitchen and Pocket Garden for under 5s, featuring a newly commissioned mosaic by local artist Caroline Jariwala. 

Amy Campbell, Director of The Parakeet said, “We’re chuffed to bits to be working with BCT and Spectra on this project, which gives us the opportunity to collaborate with artists and community partners on bold and imaginative arts programming for our community, on their doorstep.” 

Spectra is a creative collective rooted in radical inclusion, people and place. Bringing a wide range of art forms into play, they co-create interactive experiences through performance, installation, workshops and training. Most recently, Spectra have been working with community groups to design additions to the new Community Garden at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital. 

Kate DeRight, Creative Director at Spectra, said, 'We're very proud to be based in Smethwick, which is so rich with meaningful and engaging creative activity. This project gives us such a great opportunity to be part of celebrating that. We are thrilled that it will enable us to continue our work with many local community groups and to open up movement, visual arts and nature connected workshops to people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. We've long been fans of both BCT and The Parakeet and the wonderful work they do, so it's a particular pleasure to work with both organisations - as well as local venues, artists and creative organisations.'

The Inclusive Communities Fund is the legacy programme of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Managed by the Heart of England Community Foundation, it aims to address inequalities and forge deeper connections within communities around Birmingham and the wider region.

It has been made possible by the UK Government through the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) and has been overseen by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).