Creativity and Culture West Midlands

In this full interview Sandwell's own Lumi HD discusses her life as a singer songwriter and performing artist in the West Midlands. Lumi discovered her voice in her teenage years by chance at church, when she was informed they needed an Alto for the Church Choir and was sent home to practice. Despite being shy and running away after finishing her early solos, Lumi persevered and developed a love of music as she was encouraged to keep going. After studying popular music at the Wolverhampton University Lumi travelled playing a variety of gigs and recalls a jazz festival she played at in Norway. When Lumi became a Mother her relationship with music changed and she realised her love for it went far beyond short term fame and she now finds the most meaningful gigs are the ones she plays closer to home in the region. She believes Midlands audiences are uniquely warm and family friendly and believes this could be the key to encouraging more talent to develop in the West Midlands and attract investment into the region. Lumi outlines if we continue to encourage creativity in each other, connect and share opportunities we may finally be able to step into the spotlight and let the world see who we are.You can find her @LumiHD on instagram and her music on spotify just search for Lumi HD.

In this full interview we hear from Fran Richards a freelance Creative Practitioner and Director who works closely with the Arena and Grand Theatres in Wolverhampton running their joint youth theatre programme. Fran talks about her journey in to theatre and how it began from a very early age when she watched her Grandparents VHS videos of popular musicals over and over again and performed to old ladies on the bus. She opens up about the disappointment she felt when she didn't get into a national drama school, but also how this inspired her to make the most of every opportunity open to her during her time at Wolverhampton University. Fran's passion for theatre has grown beyond a desire to be on the West End, as she has learnt more about the transformational power of theatre and seen what a difference it makes to the young people she works with, when they get the opportunities to write plays, produce them and star in them. Now twelve years into her career Fran realises not getting into a national drama school was the best thing for her as she now has the opportunity to make a difference to her community whilst enjoying the Black Country's beloved orange chips.You can find her at Fran Richards on facebook, or @arena_theatre on instagram

In this final episode of the series Satnam and Robbie consider the future of creativity and culture in the West Midlands. They ask where next and consider what they've learnt from listening to those working across the sectors and again we head to the Black Country and speak to two women who believe that investing and encouraging our creatives and keeping them connected to local communities and grass roots initiatives with a focus on delivering creative education is the way forward. Fran Richards is a freelance Creative Practitioner and Director who works closely with the Arena and the Grand Theatres in Wolverhampton running their youth theatre programme. After missing her opportunity to go to Dram School, Fran's career took a different direction which changed her life and forced her to develop her networking skills. She is now a passionate advocate of creative education not only in theatres but across disciplines and determined to show the young people she works with just how many creatives are working successfully across the West Midlands. Fran is the Senior Practitioner at the Gran Arena Theatre and you can find her at Fran Richards on facebook, or @arena_theatre on instagramWe also hear from Lumi HD who is a Sandwell based singer songwriter and performing artist. Lumi discovered her voice in her teenage years by chance at church, when the head of the Choir told her to go home and practice because they needed an alto to harmonise. After getting over her initial nerves and feeling the encouragement from the other choir members Lumi developed her love of music and went on to study popular music at the Wolverhampton University. Having played at large and small venues she admits the most meaningful gigs she has played, have been here in the Midlands where the audiences continue to encourage and the network of musicians continue to connect and share opportunities. Lumi believes we are at an exciting moment and if creatives can connect and continue to support each other, we may finally be able to step into the spotlight and let the world see who we are.You can find her @LumiHD on instagram and her music on spotify just search for Lumi HD.

In this full interview we hear from Wolverhampton's very own Bag Lord who talks about his role and function as an artist in the city he loves. He discusses some of the barriers people face when thinking of themselves as creative and his love/hate relationship with social media. He also talks about the benefits of art and creativity on mental health and how if marketed properly it can not only become part of the city's identity, but attract tourism to its cultural gems.Finally he talks about how he and other protesters set up a petition and took to the streets after hearing that Wolverhampton School of Art was set to be demolished and what a crime it would be to lose the School, as it has a long history of providing top class art education to working class artists from the Black Country and beyond. He believes a universal basic income could enrich hyperlocal scenes and urban areas by funding artists to engage with their communities more.You can find him @b4g_lord and pop in to see the community arts space @01902.urbanrooms in the centre of Wolverhampton

Today's episode of Creativity and Culture West Midlands is all about place. Satnam and Robbie discuss place and placemaking, as we head over to the Black Country to meet two people who live, work and love telling the stories of the places they live.Samatha Prescott, Creative Director and Founder of Fashion Talent and Black History CIC is based in Dudley and uses vintage fashion, music and re-enactment events to bring black history and Caribbean migration stories to life. As part of the Forging Ahead Advisory panel for @bclivingmuseum @fashiotalenthistory has helped the Museum explore new stories and showcase the role of Caribbean migrants and subsequent generations in shaping the culture of Dudley and the wider region. We also hear from Bag Lord a Wolverhampton based visual artist who works loves Wolverhampton and sees his function as an artist in the city as holding space for people that don't typically view themselves as creative. @b4g_lord talks about how he considers identity through art and how artists have the opportunity to contribute to constructing a city's identity and a sense of place. He discusses the benefits of being able to be an artist and have a life in Wolverhampton and his recent efforts along with other protesters to save the School of Art in Wolverhampton.

In this full interview Samantha Prescott talks about her love of vintage fashion and migration stories and how her work pays tribute to two of the most influential women in her life, her Grandmother and her late Mother. Samantha discusses the importance of honouring migration stories in West Midlands history and how she has involved her whole family in the showcase events she hosts, over the years. More recently Samantha has become part of the Advisory Board for the Black Country Living Museum's 'Forging Ahead' agenda as they aim to broaden the stories told through the museum to cover 300 years, taking them up to the 1960s and including the stories of more communities.You can find her @fashiontlenthistory across all social media platforms and hear more about her work through her website.

In this episode of Creativity and Culture West Midlands, Satnam and Robbie talk about innovation and meet two creatives disrupting traditional artistic practice to innovate.Daya Bhatti @dayaillustrations is a Walsall based visual artist who explores south Asian identity through her practice. Combining traditional practices and textiles Daya adds new layers using AR and animation to tell stories that connect and resonate across generations. We also hear from Karen Newman founder of Birmingham Open Media. Karen began her career as an artist, moving into curation but became interested in the potential of digital tools and what they could offer artistic practice. @bomlab now support artists in disrupting creative practice training them to explore virtual production, augmented reality and spatialised sound. They also providing immersive arts training for adults and work with schools exploring gamified learning.

In this full interview Daya Bhatti talks about her practice and how at the heart of it, she explores her identity as a British Asian woman from Walsall. She talks about being inspired by traditional south asian crafts and her most recent projects, the first of which is a hand painted sari that uses augmented reality to tell stories of past, present and future and the other a traditional Indian hand cart which is now part of the permanent collection at Manchester Museum.You can find her @dayaillustrations across all social media platforms and hear more about her work through her website.

In this full interview Karen Newman talks about her journey from artist to Founder and CEO of one of the West Midlands leading immersive arts organisations, Birmingham Open Media. Karen describes her days as an art student and the boundaries that were put in place during her course to differentiate between disciplines.With a passion to blur the boundaries of creative practice Karen found a new path supporting artists to explore immersive technologies. After setting up BOM, she began working with schools and adults to design and build inclusive training courses so a new generation of artists could learn to use the tools needed in virtual production and games and worked on one of the most high profile technical briefs, designing a smart baton that would tour the countries of the Commonwealth before the games came to Birmingham in 2022.You can find her @bomlab across all social media platforms and hear more about her work through bom.org.uk