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Cultural Action Zones are enabling projects, that kickstart activity and bring communities, places, and stakeholders together. Greater Birmingham & Solihull LEP (GBSLEP) has successfully piloted seven Cultural Action Zones across the city / region.
Since the initial Expression of Interest for Enterprise Zone funding was submitted and approved, the project sponsor has changed from GBSLEP to Birmingham City Council (BCC). This is because of the closure of GBSLEP and the GBSLEP Board Directive not to enter into any new commitments, and delivery of this project by GBSLEP would fall into that. The start date has thus been delayed, due to the closing of GBSLEP and the need to agree a new project sponsor.
The Enterprise Zone Cultural Action Zone funding (EZCAZ) is proposed to be a regular annual contestable funding call, with £1,225,000 of capital grants to be drawn down spread across 6 years and £210,000 of revenue grants to be drawn down and spread across three years. This makes a total project, including match and management/programme costs of £1,995,000.
The rationale for Cultural Action Zones is that they can play a major role in driving place-based economic recovery by re-animating high streets with a diversified cultural and heritage offer, new uses for retail spaces and under-utilised buildings, improved access to community activities alongside improvements to facilities. They also improve community cohesion, business resilience and improve life changes for our citizens, such as through volunteering.
Enterprise Zone Cultural Action Zones (EZCAZ) will consist of a number of smaller projects, running for typically one year each, the programme is for a three-year period for revenue and a six-year period for capital, with all completed by March 2029.
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