Communities across Walsall invited to share stories of heritage
Community groups across Walsall are being invited to uncover and celebrate their heritage, thanks to a new project supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
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Creative Black Country has launched Making Our Mark, a three-year initiative supported by a £247,000 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The project aims to explore and showcase Walsall’s diverse cultural history by supporting community-led heritage activities and will offer a range of grant opportunities for local groups and community organisations to take the lead in telling their own stories.
There will also be several stages that groups can follow which will allow them to take part in visits to heritage sites, meetings with experts and engage in workshops, with Creative Black Country saying are designed to inspire participants and spark ideas for their projects.
In the ‘Make’ stage, groups will take their ideas further, receiving additional support in the form of training and cultural exchange events.
This will help them build skills in project planning, fundraising, digital storytelling and community engagement.
In the ‘Share’ stage, the programme hopes to create a lasting impact by encouraging sustainable heritage practices and increasing digital confidence so that Walsall’s untold stories can be shared with wider audiences.
Parminder Dosanjh, creative director of Creative Black Country, said: “We hope that the power of Making Our Mark will lie in the new stories that are discovered when communities take the lead.
"The projects could explore themes such as culture, traditions, historical events or community memories.
"We believe it’s vital to collect, preserve and profile heritage stories rooted in local communities.
"These stories help us connect with one another and feel inspired about what a future Walsall might look like.
"We are grateful to The National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery players for making this project possible.”
For groups that are interested in taking part, the Creative Black Country team, alongside a Heritage Adviser, will be hosting a launch event at Romanian + Community Centre in Bloxwich (former Dudley Fields Community Centre) on Thursday, May 22 from 6pm to 8pm.
To find out more, take a look at the project page on the Creative Black Country website.
