Is Birmingham “Getting it?” - Creativity and Culture feature in the West Midlands Power 50

Yesterday evening was the launch of the Birmingham Post’s much anticipated supplement, the “Power 50 - Who is really shaping the future of the West Midlands?” at Birmingham Future ’s AGM. The supplement is out today and apparently I’m ‘in’ at number 20, which was a something of a pleasant surprise, especially given the tough month I’ve been having (more on this later).

At first I was bemused - I’m someone who runs a small company having not even hit thirty - what influence could I really be said to have? But when I thought about it further I realised that there’s a much bigger issue here than my name appearing in this list - it signals a very positive change in the attitudes of opinion-makers about the strength and relevance of the design industry and the creative and cultural industries as a whole.

This is something I’ve been arguing for for a fair few of the ten years I’ve been living in this city so it feels great that we’re making our voices heard more effectively than ever. And I’m not an isolated case. People working in the creative and cultural sector numbered some 17 out of 50 by my count, with 3 in the top 10.

The Birmingham Post’s still relatively new (and excellent) editor Marc Reeves opened up the launch event with a Top-of-the-Pops style Top Ten format. It wasn’t too far from “In at Number 7, it’s a non-mover”, but in a good way.

He opened by saying that there was bound to be criticism of the fifty people that made it (and those that hadn’t) to the final list but that that was the point. Well he’s not wrong there! I’m sure there’s bound to be a few people saying “Why him?” “Why not her?” - it’s disappointingly nearly all men.

I’m sure there are also going to be people saying that there are some glaring omissions too - I’m not going to name them here, but I was disappointed that some of the talented people I’ve been working with over the last few years to push the creative/cultural agenda didn’t feature. Let’s hope that gets rectified next year.

The big story here is that it’s not just an equivalent to the Rich List which the Post publish annually - this takes into account other factors, and for once this seems to be sending the message that Birmingham has finally ‘got it’ - a strong creative and cultural sector will be a significant factor in the continuing reinvention of Birmingham.

Let’s hope that this signals a sea-change in general opinion of how Birmingham will be reinventing itself in the future. Sure, big business counts, but if we’re all going to sign up to the big decisions that are being made at the moment ( City Centre Masterplan, Regional Economic Strategy ) we need to understand that Small is the new Big and that creativity and culture needs to be understood, represented and supported from the highest level if we’re going to make the city a success.

Everyone always says that we need to find and recognise the City’s champions in all areas. Well, now we have a start and I’m glad that creativity and culture feature so prominently.