Black Country Touring Dial-A-Story Launching August

Connecting isolated people with unique performances via a phone call.

Continued social isolation has meant the closure of nearly all of the community venues we work with – libraries, community centres, places of worship… the places that bring people together. Since lockdown began, we’ve been exploring new ways to connect people with the arts, as a way of bringing something special into our ‘at home’ version of normality – through projects such as Zoom Café.

Black Country Touring quickly realised that while online performances are a great way of connecting with audiences at this time, many people without the internet are unable to use these services in the Black Country. These people are some of the most at risk of feeling isolated and lonely during the current crisis.

In August, we’ll launch Dial-A-Story, a project that will see three locally based artists perform 1-to-1 with people via a phone call. We’re partnering with Sandwell Advocacy and other community and voluntary organisations in Sandwell to reach people who would most benefit from a creative connection with an artist.

This project has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the Heart of England Community Foundation’s ‘Doing Things Differently’ fund, SCVO & Sandwell MBC’s Vision 2030 fund and Creative Black Country. We are really grateful to our funders for enabling us to explore new ways of bringing the arts into the lives of local people at this challenging time.