Culture Volunteers WM Report
As the Culture Volunteers WM programme wraps up we’re sharing the Black Country final report.
Culture Volunteers WM was a pilot project that set out to provide more opportunities for people to volunteer in the arts, creative and cultural sector.
The project was funded by Arts Council England after a successful funding bid made through Culture Central.
It took place in the Black Country, Stoke and Birmingham from October 2022 to March 2024. Creative Black Country, (CBC) led on the project in the Black Country area.
Here’s what some of our volunteers and partners have to say: https://www.creativeblackcountry.co.uk/culture-volunteer
A link to the full report to download is here.
Below are some highlights and pages from the report - to use the links please download at the link above or visit our Culture Volunteer page here to read the blog posts and watch more videos.
“... the relationship, the reassurance, and the rapture that CBC and I created and presented really helped to open their minds to possibilities and their potential. More interns then became interested. This really shows that there are young adults with SEN who want to be involved but just need to be approached differently.”
Rebecca Clarke -SEND job coach -Walsall College
“I really enjoyed the experience ... helping the place of British heritage and any kind of help for human beings. Also, this is a completely new experience for me to join and work with people who speak English ...”
Mohammed
“We have a tremendous team of staff and it felt right to start to engage with the community in a different way, and that is one of the reasons why we introduced the volunteers. It was also right because of all of the outreach and the work we do in the community with people from all backgrounds. It was important that we were able to offer a little bit more to people. I'm very conscious that working in the theatre environment builds many skills for people, and I also know that people who have had successful careers are now wanting to give something back themselves; it's a great way for them to do that as well. Working with the Culture Volunteer WM project acted as a bit of a catalyst for us. It all costs money and it costs resource, so having the support from the project has helped us along nicely and probably made it happen a lot quicker than it would have done”.
Adrian Jackson, Chief Executive and Artistic Director, Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton.
