Brent Council has secured £1.5 million in external funding to bolster its cultural strategy, Brent Creates: A Cultural Strategy for Inclusion, Wellbeing and Growth (2026-31)
. The funding, primarily from Arts Council England, will support a range of initiatives aimed at enhancing cultural access, developing creative skills, improving health and wellbeing, and fostering community-led placemaking across the borough.
The Brent Creates
strategy, approved in March 2026, aims to leverage culture to address wider council priorities, including community cohesion, health outcomes, skills development, and economic growth. Councillor Tina Amadi, Cabinet Member for Communities, Culture and Cost-of-Living Support, highlighted that the strategy positions culture as a tool for positive change, rather than an add-on.
Significant progress has already been made, including the securing of approximately £1.5 million in external investment. This includes £750,000 for the Creative Community Brent
programme, which focuses on inclusion for those who may not normally access arts and cultural activity, with a strong emphasis on health and wellbeing. Creative Community Brent
is a three-year programme and aims to engage over 57,000 residents. Additionally, over £550,000 has been allocated to ViBrent
, a community collective aimed at showcasing creative employment routes, roles, and industries to young people. ViBrent will offer paid creative placements, work experience opportunities, creative careers bootcamps, and professional development and networking support. The expected outcomes include improved access to creative opportunities for Brent residents and a stronger, more connected cultural sector.
A borough-wide microgrants programme of up to £500 is also being established to support grassroots cultural activity. This initiative, alongside others, will be monitored through an annual performance framework. This framework will combine quantitative measures with qualitative evidence, including case studies, resident feedback, and programme evaluation. Headline Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the six strategic goals include: total participants engaged, proportion of participants from priority groups, participation by geography, Ticket Bank uptake, work placements and work experience opportunities, participation in skills programmes, number of young people supported into creative pathways, participation in creative wellbeing programmes, social prescribing referrals and engagement, resident wellbeing feedback, number of community-led projects, volunteers engaged, resident participation in co-design and decision-making activity, external funding secured, number of cultural partnerships, engagement with cultural organisations and freelancers, number of programmes incorporating sustainability themes, and proportion of major cultural events adopting sustainable delivery approaches.
Specific programme targets include providing cultural opportunities for over 7,500 school children through the Brent Backpack and related activity, and supporting at least one affordable creative space per year.
The Brent Creates
strategy aims to leverage culture to support wider borough priorities including community cohesion, health and wellbeing, skills and employment, inclusion, regeneration, and sustainable growth. Cultural initiatives will contribute by improving life chances, tackling inequalities, supporting healthier communities, and strengthening Brent's social and economic resilience. Specifically, it aims to improve health and wellbeing, strengthen community cohesion, create jobs, skills, and career pathways, support regeneration and the local economy, and increase civic pride and belonging.
Key priorities for the upcoming year include the formal establishment of the Brent Cultural Compact. The Compact is in the process of being formally established, with its inaugural meeting expected in Q3 (October-December 2026) and a formal launch in Q4 (January-March 2027). Its initial objectives include providing strategic leadership for culture across the borough, supporting the implementation of Brent Creates, identifying and pursuing funding and investment opportunities, strengthening collaboration between cultural, health, education, business, and community partners, advocating for culture within wider policy, and supporting the development of a sustainable and inclusive cultural sector.
Councillor Amadi emphasised that the strategy is a partnership-led and community-led initiative, involving residents not only as audiences but also as decision-makers, commissioners, artists, and cultural leaders. The Council will act as a facilitator and convener, leaving delivery to experts and ensuring a collaborative approach. To ensure community-led cultural programmes are genuinely driven by residents, the strategy adopts a partnership-led approach. Community-led cultural programmes will be shaped by resident-led governance groups, including the Creative Community Steering Group and Young & Creative Panel. The Council emphasizes that the first step for organizations is to have a conversation with them, as they understand that some organizations may not meet standard metrics for funding applications. They offer capacity building support to help these organizations become eligible for funding and can also help connect them to other funding pots and organizations.
