The West Midlands has always been a region where enterprising people flourish. From the giants of the Industrial Revolution through the creativity and innovation of our artists and engineers to the businesses of today and the future, it is a distinctive place with distinctive people.

Providing leisure and tourism venues, information for business, a stimulus for regeneration and enjoyable opportunities for browsers and learners of all ages, are over 500 museums, libraries and archives of all sorts and sizes, employing over 6,000 staff and supported by around 4,000 volunteers. Their vast resources of knowledge both attract tourists and deliver services at a local level. They are both enjoyable places where people can safely explore old and new concepts and discover innovative pathways to a new sense of identity, and they provide virtual spaces filled with amazing knowledge.

The West Midlands is one of nine English regions. Situated in the heart of England it has a population of 5.3 million (9% of the UK population). It comprises the counties of Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire; the three unitary authorities of Herefordshire, Stoke-on-Trent and Telford and & Wrekin; and the seven metropolitan districts of Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton. More than half of the region’s population live in large urban areas. However over 2 million people also live in the rural counties of Shropshire, Herefordshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire.

Click here for Regional links - initiatives and other regional museum, library and archive council's.