Wednesbury Day Outdoor Festival
Wednesbury Day invited communities to participate in an outdoor festival for Wednesbury across 3 days in June 2023. The festival brought residents together, attracted visitors and involved local groups and organisations in co-production and co-delivery.
The ambition
Wednesbury Day was designed to:
- Support the aim of making the high street a more attractive, engaging and vibrant place to live, work and spend time
- Enable local people to express the pride they feel for their town
- Celebrate the role and importance of the high street as a hub of the community
Bringing increased footfall to the town centre, it aimed to boost retail sales and hospitality revenue, and so contribute to the local economy.
Local communities were actively involved in decision-making processes, cultural programming and volunteer opportunities, fostering a sense of local ownership and pride in the project.
Who made it happen
Multistory, the community engagement contractor for the Wednesbury High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) scheme, led the delivery, working with partners:
- Black Country Touring (a local cultural organisation)
- Wednesbury Museum and Art Gallery
- Wednesbury Library
- The We Are Wednesbury Cultural Consortium which represents 15 local organisations, creatives, heritage and community groups
The HSHAZ was a partnership scheme led by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (SMBC) and supported by Historic England.
The case study details on this page were supplied by SMBC.
Funding and contributions
Wednesbury Day was funded by Historic England and SMBC as part of the HSHAZ community engagement project.
Total cost £48,630
- Historic England’s HSHAZ funding: £27,233
- SMBC: £21,397
- Members of the We Are Wednesbury Cultural Consortium contributed their time free of charge
The results
Wednesbury Day programmed a diverse range of arts, heritage and cultural events and activities for all, from passing shoppers on the high street, blind and visually impaired people, deaf people and people with other disabilities, schools, youth groups and with community groups.
The festival programme included theatre performance, street games and a community procession through the town led by a giant puppet 'Eko' and the Rajasthan Heritage Brass Band. Local talent on display featured poetry, song, spoken word and choir performances and art and photography exhibitions.
It was hugely successful and had an audience of 2,870 over the 3 days.
The festival demonstrated the transformative power of community-led cultural projects when they bring residents together, attract visitors and involve local groups and organisations in co-production and co-delivery. The organising partners believe that Wednesbury Day will have brought about a shift in how local communities and creative practitioners perceive, and increasingly use, the high street as a platform for creative projects.
The We Are Wednesbury Cultural Consortium delivered this event as part of their work for the wider community engagement programme over the 4-year period of the HSHAZ. Meeting every 2 weeks for 4 years, they built an amazing network of strong relationships and partnerships locally.
Lessons learnt
- The project achieved what it set out to do through building strong partnerships and relationships with the We Are Wednesbury Cultural Consortium and with local independent traders. These relationships have been built on trust and mutual regard, through listening to people's ideas and realising them through the events and activities delivered.
- The community’s deep sense of pride in Wednesbury, for the town, its history and the people, was a great resource for the cultural programme. Multistory worked with this from the beginning to make sure that the history of the town, the things that local people take great pride in, were woven into the stories that were co-created and shared with the public at Wednesbury Day events.
Future plans
There is an ongoing desire to take part in, and programme, high quality cultural activities on the high street. The community is also asking for more.
Multistory has established 2 new cultural traditions in the town, Wednesbury Day and the Lantern Procession. The ambition is for both of them to continue.
Multistory will continue to work with the We Are Wednesbury Cultural Consortium to identify and apply for further funding to deliver activities.
We are Wednesbury has strengthened the relationship between SMBC and local traders by providing a platform for the latter to voice their concerns and contribute to a new masterplan for the town centre, paving the way for continued collaboration.
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