In July's Monthly Insight Series, our co-founder Steve Connor talks about how we are very much a place and people-based practice at Creative Concern. Whether it’s the energy transition in Aberdeen, cleaner air in Newcastle, more trees in Manchester or a spectacular new arts centre in Plymouth, we like to get to know the places where we work and, every time, we fall more than a little bit in love with them.

And that’s why culture, alongside working for a more sustainable future, is at the heart of what we do. We’ve created brands and campaigns for places like The Box in Plymouth or HOME in Manchester; we’ve ploughed into projects looking at the value of the arts for local economies; we’ve helped museums relaunch themselves and looked at what museums in the future might even become.

And then in the last couple of years, we’ve helped two great cities set their ten-year agendas for culture, arts and creativity. For Manchester, and now Birmingham, we’ve researched, consulted on, and crafted tailored and action-led strategies that will shape their cultural scene and focus the efforts of their respective cultural partnerships.

In Manchester, we had at the front of our minds the fact that culture is a fundamental human right (UN Article 31 if you want to look it up), something that’s as vital to the health of the city as food, transport infrastructure and good housing. For a city powered by social justice there has to be an ‘always on’ commitment to widening access, reflecting diversity and recognising that culture lives in all our communities, not just in our theatres or galleries. 

Manchester’s strategy broke down into three easy-to-reify pillars. ‘Everyone’ is the pillar that is about widening access and making sure that everyone can see themselves reflected in the cultural output of the city; ‘Everything’ is about connecting to the issues that matter and increasing our understanding of what we actually mean by culture; and ‘Everywhere’ is about more spaces, places and opportunities to encounter, make, and enjoy culture. This last pillar also hardwires culture into placemaking, and underlines how urban renewal is virtually impossible, unless you invest in the transformative power of culture. 

In Manchester this was a big conversation. The co-design of the strategy was critical and to do this we reached 250,000 residents through social media, enjoyed 10,000 visits to our consultation website and the team engaged with 52 different community groups through drop-ins, workshops or street-level conversations. 

Culture powered by people, in the places that matter most to them.

For Birmingham’s Cultural Compact we also worked with local artists, young people, residents and the city’s cultural leaders to co-design their cultural framework, which has just gone live online and which will officially be launched in the autumn. 

In Birmingham it has been a fascinating and powerful journey, where we’ve explored the connections between the creative industries in the city and how culture powers their continued success. We’ve looked in depth at how the sectors that are currently enjoying a boom in the city owe so much to Birmingham's cultural vibrancy and that should, in truth, be supporting culture’s ongoing success. Birmingham has what some people would describe as an impressive ‘crane count’ across the city skyline, as more and more development shapes a city that wants to be a magnet for talent, innovation and creativity. Again here it is urban renewal with cultural anchor points and cultural programming as indispensable ingredients; a city with culture at its heart. 

The Cultural Compact’s action plan for Birmingham that will deliver against the ‘Together on Culture’ framework includes a number of key strands. There is a focus on investment, finance and how culture and the arts are sustained in a highly competitive funding environment. The global brand of the city and how culture drives investment, and awareness, will also be a work stream, as will be a focus on the city’s creative and cultural workforce, through a ‘Made in Birmingham’ activity area. 

There are sections of the framework that look at planning, cultural infrastructure and then there is a proposed action to review underutilised assets and buildings which could become the work or performance spaces of the future.

And as a global majority city it is particularly fitting that in their ‘moonshots’ section of the action plan, Birmingham is looking at seriously ramping up its hosting of major international events, and at new institutions and new festivals it could develop to make the city a truly magnetic city for audiences right across the world. 

In both cities, we’ve worked with passionate champions of culture who have made our job of constructing a logical and actionable framework a genuine pleasure. These are the sort of projects that have a hard deadline and clear outputs but that you wish could continue on their journey, as they challenge, unfold and reward in equal measure. 

Culture is about our artistic and creative lives, the arts in all their forms, history and heritage, leisure activities like watching films, reading, or taking part in festivals and events. It can include the creative things we like to do, or make. The words we write, the food we love to cook, or the songs we sing along to. Importantly though, it is not just a diversion, something to divert you as you unwind; it is something that unlocks ideas and inspiration and that can bring people, in what some would cast as a more polarised world, far closer together. 

It is the song of humanity, and of a shared and better future. 

If you have a culture based project coming up, or would like to discuss how we approach consultation and engagement, get in touch!