Free to attend, light supper provided.

Travel bursaries available for researchers, freelancers and those working outside an institutional context.

The Midlands Culture Forum was established by Arts Council England to find new ways of connecting the higher education and the culture sectors; to identify problems common to us both and to work collectively on solving them.

Five themes have emerged as being of importance to both universities and arts organisations, one of which is Cultural Education. We would like to invite you to participate in this first meeting between artists and academics to explore how partnerships between the HE and cultural sector can contribute to a thriving and sustainable cultural education offer in the Midlands. We want to explore what collective knowledge we have about the growth and development of cultural education in the region, and how we then use that knowledge individually, organisationally and sector wide to improve equality of opportunities for young people.

We want to explore what collective knowledge we have about the growth and development of cultural education in the region, and how we then use that knowledge individually, organisationally and across the sector to improve the quality and equality of opportunities for young people.

Taking place at The Studio in Birmingham, this event will bring together the collective experiences/insights of artists, academics, researchers and education practitioners to explore two central ideas:

1. The development of a vision for how cultural education work in the Midlands can develop over the next 10 years – and the contribution that the HE and cultural sectors can make together
2. To experiment with creating a living archive of cultural education in the Midlands over the past 40-50 years to help better understand the rich history of work we are all part of.

Stories about the arts in education are generally told from either a national or London centric perspective. This event will be Midlands specific and is the first in a series of 2 meetings on Cultural Education, the second of which will take place in November in Coventry, informed by our conversation with you all in in October.

For further information about the Midlands Higher Education and Culture Forum or for more information about this event please contact

Forum Coordinator Jennie Syson at Nottingham Contemporary jenniesyson@nottinghamcontemporary.org

Tel: 0115 9489767