Heritage festival to return with new funding

An annual city heritage festival which includes tours of historic buildings will still take place despite its council funding being cut as part of cost-saving measures.

Birmingham Heritage Week, which has previously featured tours of the Alexandra Theatre, the Greek Orthodox Cathedral and a former rubber factory, will take place between 12-21 September.

The festival's organisers said they have secured new partners this year after local authority cuts to funding for culture projects and local arts development.

A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said they had to make "very difficult budgetary decisions" to get back on the path to financial stability.

The authority signed off a wide-ranging package of cuts in March 2024 after it effectively declared itself bankrupt the previous year.

The savings included plans to scrap almost all arts funding over two years.

Birmingham Heritage Week, which will host its 11th event this year, did have council funding for 2024-25 but its grant was cut in 2025-26.

Councillor Saima Suleman added that the council's financial situation had affected the support it was able to offer the city's cultural organisations.

She said they were working to find external sources of funding to support the heritage sector going forward.

In previous years, the city council funded the full cost of the festival through a grant to Birmingham Museums Trust.

This year's heritage week will still be supported by the trust as well as new supporters - the University of Birmingham, the National Trust, Birmingham Municipal Charity and the William A Cadbury Charitable Trust.

The festival's organisers said they were aiming for this year's week to include more than 100 events, walks and tours and potentially more than 150.

They asked organisations that were interested in planning an event or activity to apply by 31 July.

Last year's heritage week included a guided walk past listed buildings in Aston, a run through street art sites in Digbeth and tours of historic buildings in Bournville and Sutton Coldfield.

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