Black Country Touring

What Black Country Touring does

Black Country Touring (BCT) is a community-powered, UK-registered non-profit arts organisation headquartered in Smethwick, West Midlands, founded in 1997. It brings professional theatre, dance and cinema into community venues across the Black Country region via three core programmes: the Community Promoters network (local people selecting and hosting shows in libraries, village halls and community centres), the Young Promoters programme (schools and youth groups programming and operating events while developing business and leadership skills), and Community Cinema (accessible film programming including dementia-friendly and singalong screenings). BCT also develops its own original productions tied to local heritage, including 'Wild' (a national rural-touring piece sourced from 70+ community stories), 'Cape Custard' (an inflatable, music-driven, non-verbal show about Smethwick's Chance Brothers Glassworks, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund), 'Return to Sender' (Summer 2025) and the 'Sanctuary in Sandwell' short film series created in partnership with Borough of Sanctuary Sandwell and Bearwood Community Hub. Annual live programming includes the Smethwick Puppetry Festival, booked through the Eventotron platform.

The organisation operates with 11 employees and a distributed volunteer community promoter base, generating revenue through ticket sales, modest programme pricing (including free carer tickets for access requirements), donations via a 'Pay It Forward' channel, and grant funding. Distribution is anchored by Thimblemill Library in Bearwood — the UK's first Library of Sanctuary (2019) and home to promoter Julie McKirdy BEM, recipient of the 2026 NRTF Volunteer Promoter of the Year award. Go-to-market is community-led, relying on local promoters and word-of-mouth, with national reach via the Create Tour Connect and Applause rural touring partnership and 'Wild'.

Technically, BCT is not a technology platform but a content-and-distribution producer: productions are built around physical theatre (inflatable structures, immersive soundscapes, non-verbal storytelling with integrated BSL/visual access), podcast distribution (Black Country Stories), and short film output. Underlying infrastructure consists of a Squarespace-hosted website and the Eventotron ticketing system that also exposes a Performance Menu and Cinema Menu to promoters. No AI, app, or proprietary software layer is disclosed.

Name

Black Country Touring

Legal name

Black Country Touring

Website

https://bctouring.org.uk

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Black Country Touring is a UK community-powered theatre non-profit that brings professional theatre, dance, and cinema to community venues across the Black Country and wider England via local promoters, a Young Promoters youth programme, and its own heritage-themed original productions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Performing Arts Services

NAICS

Performing Arts Companies (7111), Musical Groups and Artists (71113), Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990), Services-Motion Picture Theaters (7830), Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)

akta.pro primary industry

Community & Amateur Theatre (MPAGABAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Fringe & Experimental Performing Arts (MPAGABAI), Performing Arts & Music Lessons (Dance, Drumming, Instrument Lessons, Theater) (THAJAKAC)

Keywords

• Community theatre touring
• Performing arts charity
• Community cinema circuit
• Arts engagement programs
• Heritage theatre production

Headquarters

HQ city

Smethwick

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales and Performance Programming: BCT operates community venues and sells tickets to performances, working with local promoters who organize events. Revenue comes from ticket sales for theatre, dance, and cinema events in community settings.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Black Country Touring is a non-profit arts charity that brings professional theatre, dance, and cinema performances to community venues across the Black Country region of the West Midlands, UK. It works through a Community Promoter model — training and supporting local volunteers to host shows in their own villages and neighbourhoods — alongside Young Promoters programmes for schools, a Community Cinema circuit, in-house productions, and heritage-themed events such as the Smethwick Puppetry Festival and Black Country Stories podcasts.

Product overview

Black Country Touring is a community-powered theatre organization offering multiple interconnected programs and productions. Their core offerings include the Community Promoters Program (supporting local venues to host professional theatre), the Young Promoters Program (youth empowerment through event management), and Community Cinema (accessible film programming). Their own productions include 'Cape Custard' (an inflatable theatre piece about local heritage), 'Wild' (a touring show with original music and storytelling), and 'Sanctuary in Sandwell Films' (documentary-style poetry films). They also organize the annual Smethwick Puppetry Festival and produce podcasts. The organization focuses on bringing professional theatre, dance, and cinema directly into community spaces across the Black Country region.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Cape Custard: A family theatre production featuring an inflatable theatre and magical adventure, created with National Lottery Heritage Fund support to celebrate Smethwick's Chance Brothers Glassworks heritage.
• Wild
• Sanctuary in Sandwell

Products and services

• Community Promoters Touring Programme A volunteer-driven touring programme that trains and supports local Community Promoters to host professional theatre, dance, and music performances in community halls and small venues across the Black Country region.
• Young Promoters Programme

Quantifiable outcome

• Thimblemill Library became the UK's first Library of Sanctuary (2019) under Julie McKirdy's programming

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Borough of Sanctuary SandwellminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2023Collaborated on 'Sanctuary in Sandwell' short film project (Autumn 2023 to Summer 2024) challenging negative narratives around migration through authentic stories from local sanctuary seekers.
• Bearwood Community HubminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2023Collaborated on 'Sanctuary in Sandwell' short film project, supporting local community engagement and amplifying voices of sanctuary seekers.
• Chance Heritage TrustcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHeritage partner for 'Cape Custard' production, providing access to archives about Chance Brothers Glassworks and supporting the preservation and celebration of Smethwick's industrial heritage.
• Sandwell ArchivescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerArchive partner for 'Cape Custard', contributing historical materials and expertise on the Chance Brothers Glassworks heritage.
• Create Tour ConnectcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInnovative partnership project commissioning, developing and touring theatre across the rural touring network in England. BCT's 'Wild' tour was part of this partnership.
• ApplausecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLeads the Create Tour Connect partnership project. Partnered with BCT on the national 'Wild' tour across rural touring network venues in England.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Little Angel Theatre: London-based specialist puppetry theatre that creates and tours family-friendly puppet productions — directly comparable to BCT's Smethwick Puppetry Festival and the inflatable-theatre design of 'Cape Custard'.
• Fuel Theatre: Independent UK touring theatre company producing experimental and accessible work that travels to non-traditional community venues. Closely aligned to BCT's touring model and its emphasis on inclusive, non-verbal or sensory-led productions.
• Battersea Arts Centre: South London community arts venue programming theatre, dance and live performance with a strong local-community and emerging-artist focus. Operates a similar community-led live performance and events model as BCT, though at a larger single-venue scale.
• Applause: National community and rural touring organisation (formed from the merger of the National Rural Touring Forum and Turtle Key Arts). BCT's direct partner in commissioning and touring productions like 'Wild' via Create Tour Connect, with a closely aligned community-led touring model.
• Apples and Snakes: England's leading spoken-word touring organisation, commissioning and programming poetry and storytelling performances in community and educational venues. Overlaps with BCT's Sanctuary in Sandwell film work featuring a Forward Poetry Prize winner.
• Take Art: Somerset-based rural touring organisation that supports a community promoter network to bring professional performance into village halls — a near-twin operating model to BCT's Community Promoters Programme, just in a different geographic region.
• Unicorn Theatre: London's leading children's theatre, producing and touring work for young audiences including accessible performances — a comparable benchmark for the family-inclusive and educational remit BCT serves via Young Promoters and family productions.
• National Rural Touring Forum (NRTF): UK-wide membership network supporting rural and community touring promoters and artists — BCT's longest-standing promoter (Julie McKirdy BEM) won the NRTF Awards 2026 Volunteer Promoter of the Year. Operates the same promoter-led touring logic as BCT at a national-coordinator level.
• Half Moon Theatre: East London-based young people's theatre producing and touring productions for schools and youth venues. Comparable to BCT's Young Promoters and educational touring work, with a similar focus on accessibility and youth-driven programming.

Broad incumbents

• Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC): Major UK national theatre producing Shakespeare and new writing with extensive national education and community touring programmes (e.g., associate schools, learning programmes). Relevant as a larger incumbent in the community-touring + heritage-product space BCT operates in.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/black-country-touring

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Black Country Touring