BXL are offering free desk space in a fully networked office, along with access to a vast database of schools and businesses in Birmingham and Solihull.

What’s that? Nothing comes for free? Okay, in return for your free space you also have to commit to giving up a bit of your time, by sharing your expertise to support BXL’s work in schools, which to be fair, is still a good deal.

If this sounds intriguing, they’re open to suggestions and ideas of how their work can work together with others, so get in touch with Chris Bishop at chris.bishop@bxlworks.org.uk or call on 07919887212

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.