Beyond Bricks

Beyond Bricks was an exciting programme of creative participatory projects that took place in the Urban Living Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder area (which includes areas of Birmingham and Sandwell). The programme was initiated by Urban Living and Arts Council England, West Midlands in 2008 and was managed by Multistory.

Beyond Bricks recognised the importance of arts activity and its role towards empowering local people to respond to local issues and the social, economic and environmental changes taking place within their community. Beyond Bricks brought together a diverse range of artists and residents to help foster community cohesion and strengthen connections with one another through developing a series of high quality arts projects that reflected the ideas, talents and aspirations of local people.

The first phase of the Beyond Bricks programme took place in 2008/2009 in Lozells and East Handsworth. To find out further information about the nine projects that made up last year’s programme please visit the archive site.

The second phase of the programme took place during 2009/2010 and eight bespoke projects were developed and devised in partnership with neighbourhood managers and key stakeholders. The projects were tailored around local issues and needs, building on and adding value to existing activity and resources in the eight neighbourhood management areas.

The neighbourhood management areas were:

Winson Green, Brookfields and West Summerfield
Lozells
Handsworth
Summerfield and Central Ladywood
Birchfield
Windmill/Cape Hill(Smethwick)
Soho Finger and Gib Heath
Newtown

To find out more about each of the workshops you can visit the project site or view the results and case studies pages above or you can download a PDF version of the final project publication that outlines all of the projects and the programme evaluation.