1. Arts Connect West Midlands What does a ‘bridge’ programme do? Rob Elkington Director

2. Arts Connect West Midlands Arts Connect is part of Education Central, a social enterprise owned by The University of Wolverhampton Our vision is that every child and young person has the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of a lifelong engagement with the highest quality arts and culture.

3. We aim to: close the gap between those young people that do and don’t have access to arts and cultural opportunities promote organisational change in the partners we work with support the cultural, arts and heritage sectors in helping young people to into future careers

4. The purpose of the bridge programme is to enable children and young people to connect with high quality arts and culture. We want to promote change by: Enhancing the capacity of arts and cultural providers to work with children and young people Increasing provision and quality in education settings and out of school Growing the capacity of formal education settings to engage with the arts and cultural sector Enabling young people to access and shape the cultural offer in the region

5. We focus on six areas of work in our bridge work: Championing Cultural Education Supporting Partnerships Promoting successful engagement with Artsmark and Arts Award Increasing the level of resources for arts and cultural activity Providing advice, information and targeted professional development Developing leadership capacity

6. Contact: rob.elkington@wlv.ac.uk www.artsconnectwm.co.uk