The Stage

£5m Birmingham arts festival approved

Published Friday 31 December 2004 at 14:35 by Alistair Smith

Birmingham City Council has approved plans for a year-long arts festival to be held in the city and will launch the £5 million event at the end of January.

Urban Fusion will last the whole of 2005 and continue until February 2006. It will involve more than 60 arts organisations ranging from prestigious international companies such as the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra to performances of reggae music and DJing competitions. High profile arts organisations from the surrounding area, such as the Royal Shakespeare Company and Warwick Arts Centre, will also take part.

Andrew Ormston, director of Urban Fusion, told The Stage: “There will be work happening all around the whole city, not just in the city centre. The festival is a multi-agency initiative led by the city council. Arts Council England and Advantage West Midlands, the regional development agency, are already involved and we are in discussions with Sport England and English Heritage. We will launch the programme in late January. It will involve lots of culturally diverse and inter-cultural work, as you would expect from Birmingham.”

Despite losing out to Liverpool as European Capital of Culture 2008, Birmingham was awarded £2.1 million of National Lottery money by the Millennium Commission and ACE through the Urban Cultural Programme. According to Ormston, with additional funding this should bring the budget for the festival up to around £5 million.

Councillor John Alden, Birmingham City Council cabinet member for leisure, sport and culture, said: “The main aim of this cultural programme is to encourage all communities to participate in high quality cultural activities and secure new partnerships. There will be something for everybody in this groundbreaking celebration of culture.

“This is a great opportunity to raise the profile of our city both nationally and worldwide and deliver an outstanding programme to showcase Birmingham’s diverse range of culture, music and art.”