The Black Country Creative Advantage (BCCA) is a partnership between the Centre for Art, Design, Research and Experimentation [CADRE] at the University of Wolverhampton, and arts organisation, Multistory. The project is led by Monika Vykoukal, Curatorial Research Associate within CADRE and Chloe Brown, an Arts Manager at Multistory, and supported by a grant from Arts Council England.

BCCA is two year programme which aims to develop and then realize an innovative, public realm development scheme benefiting artists, institutions and communities in the West Midlands. BCCA wants to build capacity for transformative public art and design practices and gain national recognition for the quality and depth of the work they are about to begin together and in relationship to West Midlands Communities. Artistic work that will be increasingly embedded in the regeneration programmes across the Black Country and disseminated in national and international publications.

By working across the two institutions (CADRE and Multistory) BCCA seeks to engage in a rigorous national discourse about public realm ideas, policy and practices for the region. BCCA will establish a replicable model of artist/community collaboration focused upon place-based creativity, and a sense of real cultural democracy and regional impact. The project seeks to develop the confidence and knowledge that leads to creativity and sensitivity in the changes that are typical within a dynamic regeneration environment.

The blog address for this programme of work is www.blackcountrycreativeadvantage.org

The launch event for BCCA was held at the Public and featured a talk by acclaimed journalist Anna Minton talking about her book, Ground Control. The video for the talk can be seen be clicking here.

Prior to this event, BCCA did a call out for enthusiastic and curious activists and researchers, architects, artists, designers, planners, to attend Anna’s talk and to also participate in a seminar on the following day on 19 November. The seminar aimed to kick off the Black Country Creative Advantage and explore possible ways of working on the programme by sharing best practice amongst a team of highly experienced professionals.

To read about Jonathan Atkinson’s (Urban Research Collective)account of the day please visit their blog.