The thick end of the wedge

The Western Wedge is an arts co-ordination partnership for West London, comprising arts officers from Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, and Kensington and Chelsea. The Western Wedge is one of the sub-regional partnerships that come under the umbrella of the West London Alliance, which aims to promote the economic, environmental and social well-being of all West London communities. This has, in part, helped the partnership attract additional money for research, festivals and arts projects, in addition to giving borough officers a strategic link to the upper echelons of the councils they work within.

Successes include research into dance across the sub-region, which highlighted the lack of any formal dance infrastructure across West London. As a result, a dance partnership, Momentum, was formed by West London local authority officers aiming to develop dance. Momentum has delivered initiatives such as a professional dancer-in-residence in each of the participating boroughs, and events such as a Disability Dance Networking Day. Momentum has been key in encouraging and enabling West London’s dancers to play a full role in the UK’s Big Dance initiative. At a recent Western Wedge meeting, Jacqueline Rose, Big Dance’s Director, recognised Momentum as being key to ensuring that plans for Big Dance 2010 and 2012 reach deep into West London’s communities.
There has been longstanding support in West London for the London 2012 Games. Indeed, the West London Partnership (WLP) for 2012 was set up to support the bid and secure a lasting legacy for West London. On behalf of the WLP for 2012, we developed West London’s Cultural Offer, launched in 2006. The Western Wedge is also delivering Cultural Olympiad events – of which the major project is the West London Story. This aims to showcase new work between 2009 and 2012 that is rooted in local stories and experiences, and to create a legacy of collaboration and work that extends beyond 2012. To date, the Western Wedge has worked with more than 150 artists, creative people, arts organisations, venues, festival and event organisers who live and work in West London to assist them in developing West London Story, and has distributed four Research and Development Grants. As with any partnership, inevitably it has its up and downs but, unequivocally, the Western Wedge partnership of local authority arts officers enables West London’s communities far greater access to opportunities through strategic partnerships, research and public funding.