The vision: To increase cultural engagement with residents of the Perry Barr Constituency of Birmingham.
Project Summary: Through the Working Neighbourhood Fund, four of Birmingham’s constituencies have been identified as being under-represented in cultural engagement and Thinktank was selected as the Cultural Champion for the Perry Barr Constituency. Our mission is to raise levels of cultural engagement across the Perry Barr constituency such that these might be evidenced as part of a MORI survey in 2011. Through a Cultural Champions Project Officer and our existing Community Outreach Team, we have been delivering a number of different learning experiences to Perry Barr residents both on and off site to increase their awareness of Thinktank as a cultural venue but also to directly increase their engagement with a cultural venue. The activities delivered are very focussed on the needs of the audience are delivered following consultations with community groups in their own venues to ensure that we were delivering to their needs rather than ours. As well as being under-represented in cultural engagement, the Perry Barr constituency is also one of Birmingham most socio-economically deprived and culturally diverse constituencies. The issues that present themselves in engaging with this type of audience are multiple and complex and the mechanisms to overcome these barriers have been equally diverse to ensure high impact learning experiences.
Your contact name: Kenny Webster
Your organization: Thinktank, Birmingham
Participants: Adult (16+) residents of the Perry Barr Constituency, Birmingham