A vision for Moseley: A creative neighbourhood sustained by its diverse communities.

• The “creative village” would be a neighbourhood where the infrastructure helps to grow, develop and sustain businesses in the creative industries. There would be managed workspace, incubator units, Artists studios, “hot spot” cafes, exhibition space, a performance space, business advice and a regular arts/craft markets to complement the existing Moseley Farmers' Markets.
• The Village would provide opportunities to network formally and informally, collaborate and gain inspiration. It would make use of the latest technology to support networking activities across the city, nationally and internationally. The Moseley Creative Forum has already started this network and wants to develop a directory, web site, marketing strategy and regular events.
• The Village would be a vibrant place where people live and work, all day and all week, helping people to combine work and home commitments. In addition, it avoids a neighbourhood only coming to life during working hours, as has occurred elsewhere.
• The Village allows a greater diversity of people to become involved in the creative industries in particular those from minority groups (including women whose primary role may be caring for children or elderly dependants.)
• The Creative Village would contribute to the community life in Moseley and the City, contributing to festivals, exhibitions and providing the glue for social and economic cohesion and development.
• The Village would be part of a national and international network of creative quarters in Cities. The Moseley Creative Forum has already been approached about this.

Moseley: “the creative village”

• Moseley Community Development Trust’s mission is to lead the sustainable regeneration of the Moseley neighbourhood. It is involved in community development work as well as economic regeneration activities. It commissioned a feasibility study to better understand how the creative industries could be a catalyst for neighbourhood regeneration.
• The feasibility study clearly demonstrated that the myth about Moseley being home to people from the creative industries is infact a reality but that there was little infrastructure to support Moseley becoming a Creative Village. There was great support for this idea, and a real tangible interest for the development of a Moseley creative forum.
• The study has shown that the creative village project is a tremendous opportunity for the City to support its ambition to become a “creative city”.
• The CDT has realised from local consultations that Moseley was a natural home to many people working in the creative industries. It also realised that many of these successful people worked away from Moseley and hence there was no economic benefit for the neighbourhood. Moseley is well used for socialising due to the many Pubs and Restaurants. The CDT was keen see explore how to work with a “natural” community of creative people rather than the “artificial” communities sometimes created by regeneration programmes elsewhere.
• It is generally accepted that some regeneration programmes have failed to touch the lives of people or gain the trust from those communities they were meant to benefit. Therefore, the initial study has invested time in reaching out to a wide range of people to see how much support there would be for the creative village and the development of a local forum for people working in the creative industries.
• “The greatest problem hampering local transformation is a lack of self confidence and belief” (Oakley, 2003) pp 92. Policy makers need to recognise the uniqueness of local assets and talent, and have real accountability at a local level.