Birmingham Museums Trust is partnering with Birmingham Music Archive and the Live Music Mapping Project at Aston University to explore how people engage with the city’s music heritage – with the findings used to shape what a future “music-led” visitor experience might look like.
While Birmingham might be best known as the birthplace of British heavy metal in the late 1960s, the city has long been home to a variety of music scenes from the New Romantics to Birmingham Sound techno to B-Town.
Bands formed in the city include the Spencer Davis Group, Black Sabbath and the Bhujhangy Group, while the wider West Midland region birthed the 2-tone ska revival in the 1970s and 1980s and grindcore in the 1980s.
The Music Visitor Experience partners, which also include cultural consultant Lara Ratnaraja and Birmingham City Council, is running an online survey until 27 February seeking views from residents, music-lovers and others about what a music experience might look like (for example, a single venue or a city-wide trail) and what elements would most interest them.
The team will also draw on evidence gathered through surveys, workshops and stakeholder engagement to map Birmingham’s musical assets – from concert venues to musical landmarks – and identify opportunities for future investment and development.
“Birmingham has a rich musical legacy which resonates with people from the city and beyond, as shown by the popularity of the Ozzy Osbourne: Working Class Hero exhibition, which has seen over 425,000 visitors through the doors of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery since it opened last year,” said Charlotte Holmes, the director of engagement at Birmingham Museums Trust.
Jez Collins, founder of the Birmingham Music Archive, said: “Following the remarkable cultural and economic success of the Summer of Sabbath events in 2025, this is exactly the right moment to build on the renewed interest in Birmingham’s rich and diverse music offer.”
The project is supported by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
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