WM Culture Summit 2024: Collectively Strategising Culture
Date: 7th February 2024
Time: 10:00am – 4:30pm
Location: Coventry Transport Museum, Millennium Place, Hales Street, Coventry, CV1 1JD
Please note this event has now passed.
Join Culture Central, and other leaders to reflect, celebrate and strategise as a sector in the West Midlands. Our future is collaborative; but as a sector, we have been bouncing from crisis to crisis over the last decade, with austerity, covid, the cost of living crisis, culture wars and short-term political and funding cycles making it challenging to work collectively, vision and plan for the long term.
This summit is our opportunity to work together as a sector to determine:
How we buck these trends and lead for our future
How we work together to drive forward a long-term vision for the region’s cultural ecology
How we ensure an ambitious, innovative, inclusive and sustainable sector
Join us for Culture Central’s first annual summit where we will hold space to acknowledge the past challenges, using them to build a consensus on how we lead for our future.
Speaker Announcement:
We’re excited to reveal the distinguished line-up of speakers for the upcoming summit.
Doreen Foster - Director, Warwick Arts Centre
Doreen has been Director of Warwick Arts Centre since September 2018.
She has previously worked as Deputy Director at Black Cultural Archives where she led strategic planning and business management and set up and managed the charity's trading activities.
Doreen was the first Director of the Bernie Grant Centre, has led on national strategic planning and governance for Arts Council England, and was Dance and Mime Officer for the West Midlands region.
Ruth Hollis – Cheif Executive, Spirit of 2012
Ruth is Chief Executive of Spirit of 2012, a charitable trust set up in 2013 with £47 million by the National Lottery Community Fund to invest in projects which continue the pride, positivity and inspiration of the London 2012 Games and the way it helped people feel better about themselves, others and their communities.
Following a career in the UK Civil Service. Ruth was instrumental in helping to set up the charity up in 2013 and now leads Spirit’s team to deliver a diverse programme of grant-funded projects with a strong focus on measuring and sharing the social impact of their work.
Sukhy Johal – Chair, Midlands Area Council, Arts Council England
Sukhy has over 25 years of experience across the Midlands region in a range of senior roles.
As Chair of the Midlands Area Council and a national board member of Arts Council England, Sukhy has supported the development of the sector and established large scale transformative projects like ‘Igniting Ambition’ the Region’s Cultural Olympiad programme as well as devising regional policy.
He is currently the Director of The Centre for Culture and Creativity at the University of Lincoln.
What will we be doing?
During the day, we will hear from speakers and participate in workshops to:
Acknowledge and create space to reflect on a decade of challenge
Celebrate successes and how they can shape the future
Be inspired by innovation and regional cultural excellence
Use consensus building to shape a collective vision of the future
Who will be there?
This event is for those leading culture in the West Midlands, including CEO’s, Executive and Artistic Directors in all scales of organisation as well as individuals leading change in the sector. Our definition of leadership at Culture Central is not limited to experience or seniority. We welcome anyone who has an interest in the role of creativity and culture in regional development and strategy.
The summit is our annual member’s conference, developed and guided in partnership with them. This has enabled an inclusive pricing structure to support the wider sector ecology and we have a number of options available to members, non-members, affiliates and freelancers to attend:
Cost: (non-members)
£50 +VAT for organisations
£20 + VAT for individual affiliates /freelancers /micro-organisations / and those on low incomes
Member Spaces:
Band 1-3 Members - Turnover £1-4m
Four free places*
Band 7-4 Members - Turnover Under £1m
Two free places*
Individual member
1 free place* **
*Our events are often over-subscribed, and we want to make sure everyone who would like to attend can join us. Please note that non-attendance or cancellation of a free place with less than 48 hours’ notice (with reasonable exemptions) will result in us issuing your organisation with an invoice for £50 for irrecoverable venue and catering costs.
**We have 5 bursaries of £100 available to support individual freelance members to attend. These are prioritised for those who financial barriers to attending and will be available on a ‘trust based’ first come first served basis. Please email yasaminsaeidi@culturecentral.co.uk if you would like this bursary.
Header image: City of a Thousand Trades. The Rep/ Tom Mayfield