Inside Classical - how the BBC celebrated our city's voices
Cllr Jayne Francis, cabinet member for digital, culture, heritage and tourism, celebrates the cultural landscape of the city - captured in a Birmingham special on the BBC.
How wonderful to see Birmingham talent showcased in a dedicated BBC programme the other night.
For anyone who hasn’t seen it, BBC Four’s Inside Classical was a special concert at the city’s Symphony Hall, celebrating the music and spoken word of Birmingham.
We have such an amazing cultural scene here, so it was great to remind people locally, nationally and around the world!
Co-curated by former Poet Laureate Casey Bailey, it features rapper Sanity who featured in the Commonwealth Games handover, poet John Bernard, rapper Tremendous, Birmingham vocal ensemble Black Voices and our recently-appointed poet laureate Jasmine Gardosi.
As Casey said, it is about creating, interrogating and celebrating the city, showing people its heritage, architecture and spirit without glossing over its imperfections.
This showcase demonstrated how vital the city’s cultural offer is which is why earlier this year cabinet agreed almost three million pounds to support the arts sector and cultural activities next year.
Birmingham is a city that is really going places – one of the youngest, most diverse and well-connected places in the country, with an incredibly impressive cultural sector and home to world-class venues and institutions.
The eyes of the world were on us during the Commonwealth Games and beyond and we want to stay in the spotlight, and our cultural offer alongside our impressive culture sector is a great draw for visitors both inside and outside the UK. In fact, our recently published Visitor Destination Plan will help capitalise on the renewed focus on Birmingham.
So if you haven’t seen it yet, take a look at Inside Classical and you will know exactly what I mean!
This blog was posted on 26 October 2022
Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
