The other day I went along to a meeting at Birmingham Chamber of Commerce to see what’s being done about forming the new Local Enterprise Partnerships (you may recall I mentioned these the other week). I might write up the event sometime, but I’ve got a feeling that things will have moved on again before I get the chance, so I’ll just pull out a couple of threads here.
I went along to see:
- what kinds of issues are being discussed
- how the artistic/cultural/wider creative interests of the city are being represented
As far as the issues being discussed are concerned, things seem to still be at an early stage. The main topic of discussion was what we might want a LEP to be responsible for and the responses were fairly wide-ranging. Bear in mind that the deadline for proposals to government is a month away and that other large areas around the country have already come to agreement and are settled and you start to get the picture.
From my position as a lay person in all of this, there seemed to have been two widely held opinions from the business folk in the room – we need to get on and do something fast and the local political infighting needs to stop.
The latter was put rather more strongly by some, but you didn’t sit through a two hour meeting in which that was the only light relief, so I’m keeping the exact phrases to myself. Next week I’m going to go to a nice exhibition or something and report back on that.
As for creative industries representation, a rough headcount revealed six of us – Lee and Rachel from Fullrange, Julia from Aquila, Lorraine from Weave Marketing and Creative Republic, a lady from Toye Kenning & Spencer (I can’t find her name just now) and myself. There may well have been others.
I also clocked Anne O’Meara who deserves a mention. She’s a fantastically experienced property/regeneration lawyer (and my one-time boss, as it goes) who also chairs the CBSO and has been named by Arts & Business as a Midlands Cultural Champion. She was there too and a good reminder that there are some people on the business/financial side of town that are committed to the arts/culture cause too.
thanks Chris
pleased our sector was represented there – and thanks for the update on CiB. I think it’s critical that we develop a coherent presence to influence the development of the LEP. There are already worrying signs that the divisive and fragmented attitudes that were held in check are now re-emerging and articulating themselves through numerous public channels. These are often voiced by people who provide services for or talk about the creative and cultural sectors rather than actually earn a living and provide employment for people within them. I suppose this is inevitable given the current positioning that is going on in the new economic climate.
However, I would welcome the opportunity to discuss what it is our sector would want from a new LEP and how we ensure that is cogently and effectively argued for in the formation of a new LEP. We are in danger of being seen as the sector of the ‘noughties’ and we may have become a tad complacent because of the attention we did have. Any others interested in meeting up to think through how we effectively influence the formation of the LEP – maybe one evening early next week? Happy to host at Creative Alliance – or suitable drinking venue close by. Noel