In October 2015, Arts Council England launched the Cultural Education Challenge, which asked the art and cultural sector including Libraries and Music Hubs, educational institutions from early years to Higher Education Institutions, Local Authorities and other organisations from the  voluntary and private sectors to come together to develop a more joined-up local arts and cultural offer. One of the means for achieving this was a call to create new place based, collaborative partnerships called Local Cultural Education Partnerships (LCEPs).

The focus for these partnerships is on sharing resources, knowledge and skills across sectors to bring about a more coherent and high quality cultural education provision, for children and young people, aged 0-25 years, in their locality.

Arts Connect are supporting the development of a network of LCEPs in the West Midlands.

These LCEPs are in various stages of development but each is owned locally and our role is to provide advice and support to help develop their capacity and impact.