ARTS AT THE HEARTMySpace or My Studio?The Irresistible Rise of the Creative Industries

Working for local governmentarts and creative industriesThe nalgao Magazine Issue 19 Winter 2007

Inside:Margaret Hodge MPJohn HoldenConference ReportLiverpool 2008Project Case Studies

A Tale of Two Cultures

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ContentsChair’s Introduction 1A Tale of Two Culturesnalgao news 2nalgao profile – Alan Davey 3nalgao reportsLocal Authority Budget Settlement Assessment Report 2007/8 4nalgao UpdatesThe CSR settlement for Arts Council EnglandFunding for ACE RFOs 5The Arts DebateNCA - A Comprehensive Victory? 6Liverpool 2008 Capital of CultureA Year of Living Dangerously 8Rubber Soul – a personal reflection 9World Turned Upside Down 11nalgao Cover Feature – Creative IndustriesWhat’s Happening In the Creative Industries? 13Paradigm Shift 14Policy Issues 15Policy Timeline 15Creative Industries Facts and Figures 15Creative Industries Concepts 17nalgao 2007 Conference Report Think of the Potential… A view from the poet in residence 19Margaret Hodge MP keynote Speech 21John Holden keynote speech 23Open Space Feedback 26Views From The Floor 29nalgao - Creative Industries Case StudiesMining Creativity in Wales 31Canterbury gets creative 35Leicester Leaps In 38Brighton – Drying to be Different 39Loca-Motion in Kirklees 41Bridgend – New Skills on Stage 44Dizzy Heights – Hothouse, London 45nalgao Case StudiesLincoln at the Peak 47Artists and Makers in Sussex 49Filming in Clay 50What The Dickens? – Halton Actors in Residence 51Crossing Boundaries in Greater Manchester 53nalgao ReportsWinning in Wales 55nalgao Training Needs Survey 56PSA3 Update – Whose Agenda? 57Regional Mentoring Programme report 59ACE Does Open Space 60Partners’ ReportsArts Organisations and Social Enterprises - Bates Wells Braithwaite 61nalgao Working parties and Trustees 62The Last Word 62

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, itwas the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, itwas the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity.”

Charles Dickens’ opening words from “A Tale of TwoCities” have a peculiar resonance in today’s Englishcultural life. The good news, as you surely know, is £50million extra for the arts over the next three years. Itcould have been so much worse. So, let us first breathe acollective sigh of relief, congratulate Arts Council Englandon a case well made and thank James Purnell and theDCMS for having faith and responding.

But at the same time the government’s settlement to Local Authorities isdescribed by the Chairman of the Local Government Association Sir SimonMilton, as “…the worst settlement for local government in a decade.” Councils,he continues, “…face tough choices. …The money allocated to local governmentis simply not enough for councils to provide everything ministers have promisedand meet the extra cost of looking after an ageing population which will cost£9m every single day.”

It is easy for people in high positions to think that somehow these twosettlements are disconnected. But each year, Local Government puts as muchinto museums and the arts as Arts Council England does into the arts and theyboth jointly fund many arts organisations. So there is a real danger that just, asone hand is able to announce stability for cultural bodies, the other hand, underpressure of rising care costs and increasing social responsibilities, will be pulling it away.

Part of the problem is that the necessarily fragmentary and politically diversenature of democratic local government means making a single case for the artsfrom this sector, is difficult.

Margaret Hodge, Minister for Culture and Creative Industries said atSeptember’s nalgao conference “that link between the experience of the arts andthe strengthening of communities is one of the messages I want to develop in myperiod as your Minister.” That might be quite hard given the current LocalAuthority budget settlement. And, ACE’s overall approach to and dealings withLocal Authorities across England, as nalgao’s members keep telling us, areinconsistent and sometimes incoherent.

This issue of Arts at the Heart focuses on the creative industries, one of Britain’sgreat success stories. There is huge diversity in this sector which has beendescribed in delightful terms as consisting of ‘whales and plankton’. Companieslike Sony, Microsoft and News International - owners of MySpace - are the whalesand independent software designers, fashion designers, painters and potters –occupiers of ‘my studios’ - are the plankton. It takes both to create a vibrantcultural ecology. It is an analogy that also stretches to the publicly fundedcreative sector. Big theatres, concert halls and galleries like Tate Modern rely on acontinual stream of the curious, the adventurous and the creative. We know thatnurturing and encouraging creative companies of all shapes and sizes is good forour communities, and that supporting the local also helps the regional andnational cultural ecology.

nalgao does not have the sort of behind-the-scenes political clout that ArtsCouncil England has managed to engage in winning its extra £50 million. LocalAuthority cultural managers are often some way down their hierarchies, artsofficers even more so. For every Newcastle or Liverpool, there are dozens ofsmaller local authorities for which cultural services are a marginal extra. So, ifDCMS wants to ensure it gets a good return for its extra £50 million, and culturalopportunities for all, it needs to think, returning to my Dickensian start, abouthow to pursue a creative revolution without the threat of the guillotine.

Lorna BrownChair of nalgao T

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New nalgao TrusteesNew Trustees and Officers for nalgao were votedin at the AGM. Lorna Brown has taken over asChair of the organisation, Katherine Westbecomes Vice Chair, Jane Wilson becomesTreasurer and Mark Homer moves from Treasurerto become Secretary. Sue Isherwood and PaulKelly have stood down as Chair and Secretaryrespectively. There are also a number of newTrustees who are also regional representatives. For full details see the list on the back cover.

nalgao gets Charitable Status

nalgao is now a fully fledged charity and this will help itseffort to raise funds to extend the community-orientedservices it offers. It application for charitable status hasrequired it to change - and simplify - the wording of itsobjectives. The nalgao AGM was unanimous in supportthe change of wording and nalgao’s revised objective isas follows: “For the benefit of the public, in particular butnot exclusively in areas of social and economicdeprivation, by the advancement of the arts and cultureand promotion of the arts amongst service providers,arts professionals and the public.”

nalgao Executive Officernalgao has offered Sue Isherwood a contract to beits Executive Officer until the end of March 2008.This extends the work Sue has been undertaking asStrategic Lead. Sue’s focus has been revised to focuson fundraising to enable the organisation to fulfilits ambition of recruiting an Executive Officer on athree year contract to extend and develop theorganisation’s services.

New Website on the WayBridport based company Leaping Hare has beenappointed to develop a new website for nalgao andCultural Futures has been appointed to revise anddevise the website content. Leaping Hare’s MDDavid Smith studied fine art and after a period incorporate sales became involved in website designfor ‘blue chip’ companies before setting up on hisown. He has designed a number of websites forartists. Cultural Futures is run by Paul Kelly, whomay be familiar to nalgao members. The newwebsite will be up and running in the New Year.nalgao has been able to develop a new site as partof an organisational development funding packagefrom Arts Council England. www.leapinghare.co.uk

Worrying CLG SettlementThe recent spending review outcome will give LocalAuthorities a 1% per annum real terms increasesays the Local Government Association. “Eventhough this is a real terms increase in grant weestimate there will be a shortfall overall,” said SirSimon Milton, Chairman of the Local GovernmentAssociation. “A 1% real terms funding increase,” hecontinued, ”is not sufficient to provide currentlevels of social care to an additional 400,000 olderpeople who will turn 65 over the CSR period.”Responding to the government’s offer of a £150minvestment to support achieving a 3% efficiencytarget - which equates to £4.9bn savings for localgovernment, Sir Simon said, “We know that the efficiency targets will be very hard to meetgiven the excellent performance of councils in thelast few years in delivering efficiencies. The LGA has consistently challenged the savingstarget for local government, in particularquestioning the feasibility of the large increase inthe cashable element."

Arts Council Beats The Odds

A subtle and sustained campaign by Arts CouncilEngland has resulted in a far better than expectedthree year settlement for its and its clients. ACE willreceive an extra £50 million between 2008-9 and2010-11. It is understood ACE was asked to budget onstandstill, and annual budget reductions of 5% and7%. For more details, see nalgao Updates on page 5.

nalgao Conference Success A great venue, supportive hosts, a government Ministergiving a keynote speech and more delegates than everbefore; the 14th nalgao conference in Cambridge wasthe best yet – and that’s just the view of our delegates.If you weren’t there, a 12 page conference report startson page 18. If you were there, the report will probablycover things you missed. Next year’s conference will bein the North West by the sea. More details in the nextissue of Arts at the Heart.

Seminar on MentoringThe next nalgao national seminar, will be onCPD, Mentoring and Peer Support and will betaking place at the end of January 2008 atManchester Town Hall. Further details will becirculated in the nalgao Ezine if they haven’tbeen already.

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Editor: Paul Kelly Tel: 01752 217281 Mobile: 07825 313838Cultural Futures Email: paul.kelly20@virgin.net

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New nalgao Working Parties

The annual nalgao Executive Awayday inLudlow appointed Trustees to a series ofexisting and new working parties to ensurethe organisation fulfils its business objectives.Full details are on page 62.

New CEO for ACE

Arts Council England has appointed AlanDavey as its new Chief Executive to takeover from Peter Hewitt who steps down inJanuary after 10 years in post. Alan stepsacross from the DCMS where he is Directorof Arts and Culture with responsibility forarchitecture and historic environment, thearts, the government’s art collection,museums and cultural property. He is alsothe DCMS’ voluntary sector champion.

Sir Christopher Frayling, Chair of theArts Council, said “We are delighted thatAlan will be joining us in this verysignificant role. Building on the realsuccess of Peter Hewitt’s ten years asChief Executive, Alan will bringinspirational leadership, strategic visionand ambassadorial. This really is amilestone for Arts Council England.” Alan Davey said, “I couldn’t be moreexcited about my new role. The arts inEngland have never been healthier, morechallenging, innovative or popular. I wantthe Arts Council to be at the forefront ofbuilding on that success - working withartists to reach even greater heights,leading the arts with passion andexcellence, and forging new partnershipsthat secure the position of the arts innational life.”

New Ministerial Faces

There are new faces at both Culture andCommunities Departments as a result of theJuly ministerial reshuffle following GordonBrown’s accession to Prime Minister.

At DCMS James Purnell has taken overfrom Tessa Jowell and Margaret Hodge arrivesfrom the Department of Trade and Industry tobecome Minister of State with responsibilityfor the arts, tourism and creative industries inplace of David Lammy.

At the Department for Communities andLocal Government, Hazel Blears becomesSecretary of State for Communities and LocalGovernment with a team that includes JohnHealey as Minister for Local Government andYvette Cooper as Minister for Housing.

nalgao ProfileSo Who is Alan Davey?

Tipped by theTimes Newspaperas one of the CivilService’s highflyers, Alan Daveyhas considerableexperience ofworking forgovernment insome sensitiveareas. Aged 47,

he’s had a varied career spanning social,health and cultural issues.

He was Secretary to the enquiry into ChildAbuse in Cleveland and later was Secretary to the Royal Commission on Long Term Care. He was also Head of the AIDS Treatment andCare Team at the Department of Health. He has been Private Secretary to Minister ofState for Health and Principal PrivateSecretary to Secretary of State for NationalHeritage. He was a member of the NationalHeritage team that designed the NationalLottery Bill and has been credited elsewherewith ‘creating the Lottery.’

He re-joined the Department, now the DCMS, in 2001 as Head of its Arts Division,becoming Director of Arts and Culture in2003. And if you have an interest inmediaeval Scandinavian literature, ancienthistory or cultural theory, you can doubtlesslook forward to some stimulatingconversations with Alan as he lists theserecreations alongside the more proletarianmusic and football. He has three degrees inEnglish and History. nalgao warmly wishesAlan Davey every success in his new post andwishes outgoing CEO Peter Hewitt goodfortune in his future endeavours.

IntroductionIn March 2007, as councils were finalisingtheir spending plans for 2007/8, nalgaoundertook a third annual survey of itsmembership to assess the level of artsspending forecast for the coming year. Thesurvey took place in association with ArtsCouncil England and Arts Council Wales, withboth organisations submitting additionalquestions to the questionnaire circulated in2006. The project was managed by nalgao,with the survey taking the form of an emailedquestionnaire, sent to all authorities inEngland and Wales, whether in membership ofnalgao or not. 76 authorities responded,representing over 18.4% of all authorities inEngland and Wales, 4% up on last yearsresponse rate.

Summary FindingsThe survey has demonstrated again thevulnerability of non-statutory services, andhas shown that many local authority artsservices are on a knife-edge between survivaland closure.

The survey has produced the followingtrends from responses received:

• Two thirds of authorities have suffered a realterm cut in arts provision for 2007/8.

• Over three quarters of authorities have seena similar decline in arts spend over the pasttwo years.

• Only 55% of respondents felt that theirservices were secure from further cuts.

• Nearly one half of respondents wereexpecting further cuts in future years.

• And nearly one fifth of respondents felt theirservice to be at risk of large-scale cuts orcomplete closure.

• At least 4 authorities are cutting their artsservices completely, adding to the 25 thathave already completely cut their services inthe last 4 years. This is a complete cut by7.7% of all Local Authorities in England and Wales.

• Local authorities’ council taxes haveincreased above inflation during this period

Local AuthoritAssessment RePete Bryan

“Many local authority arts se

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• There is a marked decrease in partnershipfunding for arts services and major projects,with a fall of 11% in internal partnershipfunding for arts services from non-artsdivisions within authorities contributing to artsspend in comparison to 2005/6. This perhapsreflects the increasing pressure that authoritiesfind themselves in by supporting non-statutoryservices.

• The total funding for both external andinternal partnerships fell in 2006/7 by a totalof £6,054,151 (of all those authoritiesreturning a questionnaire) in comparison tothe previous year, putting more pressure onarts services.

• Arts spend by local authorities accounts forover three times its initial investment for thearts in leverage funding from other sources,with for every £1 being spent on arts services,a return of £3.10 is received back.

The decline in arts spending has slowed down incomparison to last year, and, for a few authorities,recovery is now achieving previous funding levels.However the state of the industry is stillvulnerable. Trends in this year’s survey for manyauthorities mirror last year’s study, demonstratinga steady decline in local authority arts services,which will have a major effect on arts deliveryand development in England and Wales.

PartnershipsWhilst the arts are contributing to the cross-cutting agenda, they are not being written intoLocal Area Agreements (LAAs).

• Over one third of respondents said that the artswere not included in their LAA

• Over one quarter were not sure whether it wasor not.

This has potentially serious implications for futurelevels of funding. Nearly 60% of respondents hadworking partnerships with non-arts serviceswithin their authority and 97% had externalpartnerships. Within authorities:

• 76% of arts services contribute to thedevelopment of young person’s services

• 50% of arts services support education

• Over 60% of arts services contribute to olderperson’s services

• Over 60% of arts services contribute toeconomic regeneration

• And 50% of arts services support safer cities initiatives.

Over 80% of external partnerships arecontributing additional funding to the service.Nearly 50% of respondents had activepartnerships with the voluntary sector.

ConclusionsThis report represents a snapshot of the health of local authority arts services andoffers an insight into trends that demonstrate a declining financial base for local arts delivery.We see a picture that suggests a continualerosion of funds in the majority of authoritiesand a growing disparity between the strongproviders and the rest. There is also worryinglack of the presence of arts culture targets inLAAs and in arts services’ knowledge of LAAs,which makes future influencing in thisimportant area less than effective.

Historically the Arts Councils in England and Wales and local authorities have worked in partnership to support the professional arts infrastructure of this country, but the local authority investment has annually been

higher than the Arts Council’s. These cuts,combined with the Arts Councils’ projectedbudget cuts in both English and Welsh lotteryfunds demonstrate a continued threat to artsprovision across England and Wales. This comesat a time when community cohesion ispossibly higher on the political agenda thanever before and the needs and opportunitiesfor engagement at grass roots level have neverbeen greater. •Pete Bryannalgao Administrator, nalgao@aol.comJuly 2007

The full version of this report is available fromnalgao – nalgao@aol.com and will be posted onnalgao’s new website in the New Year.

ty Budget Settlement eport 2007/8

ervices are on a knife-edge between survival and closure.”

The CSR settlement for Arts Council England“We have campaigned long and hard for thissettlement and in the context of a toughspending round it is good to know that thegovernment has listened to the case we put forthe arts. This increase will allow us to build onthe current excellent health of the arts inEngland.” Sir Christopher Frayling, Chair of Arts Council England.

The extra £50 million will result in thefollowing annual allocations to ACE which will rise from:

£413 million in 2006-7 to £429 million for 2008-09 £443.5 million for 2009-10 and£467 million for 2010-2011

James Purnell, Secretary of State for Culturesaid, “The spending review settlement is anexcellent deal for arts, museums and galleriesin this country …Our arts and culture matter.They are a key part of the life and identity ofour country, and that’s why the Governmenthas invested heavily in them since 1997. Thiscountry can hold its own on the internationalstage, producing brilliant, world-class andgroundbreaking work. This year’s settlementwill help ensure our arts sector - one of thenation’s greatest success stories - can go on toachieve even more.”

Funding for ACE’s RFOsACE wrote to all funded organisations in late

October to set out the timetable for fundingdecisions. This timetable is also available on theACE website. In mid-December ACE will write toall funded organisations to inform them of itsintentions regarding their funding beyond March2008. This is not the final decision, as it must be

confirmed by the relevant Regional Council. RFOswill be allowed a four-week response periodduring which they can state their case if theydisagree with ACE’s recommendations.

The Regional Arts Councils will then meet inmeet in January to make the final decisions on all funding, taking into account both ACErecommendations and any responses fromorganisations. ACE will then write to all RFOs toinform them of the final funding decision in thefirst week of February.

The Arts DebateThe report of the overall findings of Arts CouncilEngland’s arts debate - its first-ever first publicvalue inquiry – has just been published and isavailable on Arts Council England’s website. ACEsays the arts debate has been an unprecedentedand wide-reaching public inquiry and hasexplored how people in England value the artstoday and their priorities for public funding. It has,they say, enabled the public and the artscommunity to start a new conversation aboutwhat the arts mean to us as individuals and as a society.

One of the key outcomes of the debate so faris a new framework for understanding the publicvalue of the arts:

The arts are seen as part of our fundamentalcapacity for life - enabling us to interpret, adaptand understand the world around us, helping usto express ourselves, communicate with othersand broaden our collective horizons

The arts enrich our experience of life - theybring colour, passion, beauty and intensity to ourlives. They are a source of pleasure, entertainmentand relaxation and a means of escape from theday to day.

The arts offer powerful applications in othercontexts - contributing to health and well being,

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nalgao UpdatesIn the last issue of Arts at the Heart, we focussed on the likely outcome andimpact of the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) on the arts, the ArtsCouncil’s public value review and their review of their regularly fundedorganisations (RFOs).

We are pleased to find that our pessimistic analysis of the CSR for the ArtsCouncil was wrong. All three of these issues have an outcome in terms of artspolicy and direction and on organisations which Local Authorities co-fund. So, Arts at the Heart contacted Arts Council England for an update. Here’s what they had to say:

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to education and learning, a sense of belongingand community and so to social cohesion and ahealthy economy.

In addition, ACE says, the arts debate hasrevealed widespread support for an ambitiousprogramme of public funding for the arts. Peoplewould like the Arts Council to support ground-breaking work that touches the lives of morepeople in exciting, surprising ways be bold,visionary, transparent, fair and deeply accountablecontinue to foster public debate about the rolethe arts play in our lives.

ACE says it looks forward to responding tothese challenges. Over the coming months it willbe sharing and debating the findings widely anddeveloping a detailed response, combining shortterm actions in its next corporate plan and along-term policy response to be published inspring 2008. •

nalgao CommentWhilst the £50 million, no strings,uplift to Arts Council England is verywelcome, it is not possible to say atthis stage whether this means‘business as usual’ or whether the RFOreview that ACE has been undertakingand the Arts Debate it has initiatedwill lead to changes in emphasis orpolicy. Local Government is still asignificant contributor to regional andlocal arts development. There is roomfor more dialogue between ACE andLocal Government on these issues.

After well over a year of sustained advocacy for the arts, in the face of projected cuts of five and even seven percent, the NationalCampaign for the Arts (NCA) welcomes theComprehensive Spending Review 2007 (CSR 2007) settlement for arts. In the tightestspending review in the past decade, the aboveinflation deal for Arts Council England anddirectly funded museums is good news.

The NCA’s CSR 2007 campaign began in July 2005 and included meetings with theSecretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport,the Culture Minister, and many members andstakeholders; a delegation to the Chancellor, aletter from the NCA’s National Chair’s Forumto the Prime Minister, and a joint letter frommajor arts bodies to the Chancellor; an NCAtoolkit to help members to lobby their MPs, an opportunity for members to question theSecretary of State for Culture, Media and Sportabout arts funding, and communications toover 600 MPs across the UK, urging them tospeak up for the arts.

All this activity seems to have paid off: James Purnell told the press that the arts hadpresented a convincing case for sustainedfunding, citing the successes built on ten yearsof strong investment and, at a meeting withthe NCA, he added that the Government hadrecognised the intrinsic value of the arts. That

our advocacy has done the trick is music tocampaigning ears, but the overall response is,nevertheless, a sigh of relief rather thanjubilation. Taken at face value, the settlement isgood, and certainly a vast improvement on thecuts which the Department for Culture, Mediaand Sport (DCMS) was asked to model only afew months ago. However, it does not restorethe £112 million diverted from the Lottery tothe Olympics, nor can it solve large-scaleproblems such as the lack of acquisitionsbudgets for museums.

Purnell described a ‘step change’ away fromthe ‘prescriptive’ approach of former years to afew headline priorities to be agreed with fundedbodies and greater freedom for the arts to takespending decisions. However, if the money isnot there, it cannot be spent. Taking account ofthe Lottery and the Olympics it seems that, inspite of the settlement (and the £40 millionOlympic Legacy Trust), the arts will have lessmoney overall, and major new Olympic projectsto deliver. We are heartily thankful to haveescaped major surgery, but the DCMS’ newprescription is still no easy pill to swallow. •Chloë ReddawayCampaigns Manager, National Campaign for the Artswww.artscampaign.org.uk

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A ComprehensiveVictory?Chloë Reddaway

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Liverpool2008 Capital of Culture

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Liverpool 2008 - A Year of Living DangerouslyPaul Kelly

Britain’s first Capital of Culture in eighteenyears opens with a three day extravaganza onFriday 11 January. The event includes a freeopen air show on St George’s Plateauanimating familiar landmarks and including themost remarkable aerial spectacle and theatricaleffects the city has ever seen. The openingweekend includes a series of public events andconcerts overseen by the dynamic duo of NigelJamieson whose credits include the openingceremony for the Sydney Olympics and theclosing ceremony at the ManchesterCommonwealth Games, and Jayne Casey, oneof the driving forces behind Liverpool’s worldfamous Cream club. And it marks the officialopening of the Liverpool Echo Arena with astar-studded concert featuring Ringo Starr,Dave Stewart, the Royal Liverpool PhilharmonicOrchestra, Echo and the Bunnymen, IanBroudie, The Christians and many more.

MusicThe year’s music programme opens with theFresh Festival at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall(3-6 January) featuring cutting edge jazz, worldand contemporary music including tenor andsoprano saxophonist without equal, WayneShorter, who performs in a specialcollaboration with the Royal LiverpoolPhilharmonic Orchestra.

The programme continues with a jointperformance of Britten’s War Requiem withLiverpool’s twin city of Cologne. The RoyalLiverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's year willfeature a total of 30 new commissions,including major works by Sir John Tavener, Karl Jenkins, Michael Nyman and BBC Young

Musician and Composer of the Year 2007, Mark Simpson. And Paul McCartney plays thefirst and last ever global concert to be stagedat Liverpool Football club home’s of Anfield inJune, before they move to a new stadium.

Liverpool 2008 is also launching a nationalnew composer competition and sees a newlycommissioned work by Steve Reich performedby Eighth Blackbird. Liverpool Music Week, inNovember 2008, will bring hundreds of bandsand thousands of fans to Liverpool for morethan two weeks of concerts.

Free Events and ParticipationMuch of the 2008 programme is made up offree events. Building on Liverpool’s reputationfor excellence in the visual art world, the yearwill include a city-wide public art programmecommissioned by the Liverpool CultureCompany in association with LiverpoolBiennial. For more than 12 months, public artwill animate parks, plazas, pavilions andtransport. Impossible to miss, this will work intandem with a programme of local andinternational street theatre.

Artichoke, the company that brought ‘TheSultan’s Elephant’ to London, is planning a new

show, created specially for Liverpool 2008,called Will You Find It? which will take placeacross Liverpool between at the end ofSeptember. It will be a large scale,unforgettable piece of live theatre, played outagainst city landmarks.

Underpinning the whole year will be aparticipative programme working at differentlevels across the city’s many communities. Thiswill range from huge public participationevents in the streets and in the parks, throughto a ground-breaking programme of work(Creative Communities), which is changing theway the city works. Since 2003 it has engagedmore than 1.3 million people across the region.

In June up to 100 Superlambananas,specially designed by local artists, will animatethe city for a free ten week public art event.Go Superlambananas! will involve businessesand communities from around the region.

DramaThe drama programme opens with premieresof four new shows from emerging andestablished Liverpool companies: Big Wow,Ullaloom Theatre Company, Momentum, andLiverpool’s Rejects Revenge and continues >

Two issues ago Arts at the Heart reported on the way that the arts were helping to change the face of Liverpool inthe run up to 2008 when it shares the Capital of Culture mantle with Stavanger in Norway (see page 10).

Since then there have been worries, rumours and the sort of knocking that some elements of the British presshave become famous for. But now the Liverpool Culture Company has announced much of the programme and itseems a goodly mix of the adventurous, the imaginative and the populist. Could Liverpool have staged the largestculture-fest in its history without a homecoming from Ringo and Macca? Probably not. But dig beneath theobvious headlines and there is a wealth of exciting activities for all to enjoy.

This Arts at the Heart feature gives a brief overview of some of the cultural highlights, takes a look at how theyear is impacting on the style and nature of local government arts service delivery, includes a personal memoir ofthe city and answers the question how come Stavanger?

Sir John Taverner Mark Simpson Sir Paul McCartney Steve Reich

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with new productions 3 Sisters on Hope Street, avibrant new take on Chekhov’s classic and Eric’s -The Musical which celebrates this musicalhothouse of the late seventies and early eightieswhen The Clash, The Ramones and The Sex Pistolsignited a creative spark that fired a generation.And a ‘Liverpool Commissions’ strand forMerseyside-based companies, includes ‘An Audience with Shankly’ using extensivedocumentary footage to create mixed mediatheatre based on the life on the legendaryLiverpool FC manager, and Chinese Dub, whenlocal producer Zi Lan joins forces with JahWobble, Chinese musicians and the Pagoda’sChinese Youth Orchestra.

New commissions include Ghost Sonata anepic promenade by The People Show, with musicby Mike Figgis and One Step Forward One StepBack, by Dreamthinkspeak, a site specific workcreated for Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral basedon Dante’s Divine Comedy.

DanceMerseyside Dance Initiative (MDI) will host theUK’s premiere showcase for diverse and newdance performance, British Dance Edition 2008,featuring major dance companies. LEAP 08, MDI’sannual contemporary dance festival will follow

with a UK premiere of a co-commissioned pieceby Akram Khan with The National Ballet of China.The programme also includes Homotopia’s‘Liverpool Is Burning’, a bold, sensationalcommunity and participatory site specific piece,that the boundaries of dance and live art fusedwith club culture.

The Visual ArtsThe visual arts programme is marked by the re-opening of The Bluecoat, probably the UK’s oldestArts Centre and a leading contemporary visualarts space, after a £12.5 million refurbishment. Itsprogramme will include a piece of live artfeaturing 7 pairs of identical twins from Liverpooland its twin city Cologne. The overall 2008 visualarts programme features the UK's first majorexhibition of work by Austrian artist GustavKlimt. An exhibition of international calibre,Gustav Klimt: Painting, Design and Modern Life inVienna 1900 will present key paintings inspectacular settings at Tate Liverpool whichcelebrates its 20th anniversary in May.

The National Museums of Liverpool presentstwo blockbuster exhibitions and an importantnew commission . From the Cavern toCreamfields, Billy Fury to the Zutons, The BeatGoes On (July 2008 – November 2009) provides

a journey through 40 years of Liverpool music.Whilst, ‘Art in the Age of Steam’ (April – August)will explore the fear and excitement of early traintravel as it captures the artist’s response to theadvent of the steam locomotion, featuring artistssuch as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro andEdward Hopper. Also, after two years in themaking, Ben Johnson's Liverpool Cityscape (May –November) is a painstakingly detailed look atLiverpool’s famous skyline from a vantage pointhigh above the River Mersey.

Media centre FACT is devoting its 2008programme to one concept; Human Futures withinternationally renowned artists – includingOrlan, Al and Al, Zbigniew Oksiuta and PipilottiRist. FACT’s pioneering web-casting projecttenantspin, supported by Arena Housing, will takea leading role adding their voice to the debate onart and life in Liverpool. Throughout the year,tenantspin’s development into north Liverpoolcontinues will draw communities and artiststogether through creative technologies.

Cities on the EdgeThe main European project of Liverpool 2008 isCities on the Edge, featuring five other cities withsimilar characteristics – Naples, Marseilles,Istanbul, Gdansk, Bremen. They are all ports, citieswith great histories, cities which have battledwith their capital cities over many centuries,cities famous for their creativity, humour,distinctiveness and love of football. They are alsocities which are sometimes considered by theircountrymen to be difficult and unruly.Throughout the year there will be a series ofcollaborations, exchanges, conferences, debates,performances and activities. Further details areabout to be announced.

The ClosingPortrait of a Nation is a campaign being run in 2007 and 2008 by the Liverpool CultureCompany, 17 member cities of the Urban CulturalNetwork and the Heritage Lottery Fund. It seesyoung people using a diverse range of mediumsto explore their heritage and local identity anddefine how the past is central to a vibrant presentand optimistic future. A series of events in the 17cities will showcase the young peoples' arts andheritage projects, revealing what is special tothem about where they come from, their localcultures, communities and identities. Their workwill culminate in a spectacular festival at the endof 2008 to close Liverpool’s Capital of Culturecelebrations. Each city will be adopted by aLiverpool neighbourhood, as communitiescelebrate their own cultural identity alongsidethat of their hosts. •Full details of the 2008 Capital of cultureprogramme from: www.liverpool08.com

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If you’ve never been to Liverpool, go there.There is no city like it on earth. I lived theretwenty years ago, only for three years, but Ihave more memories from those crammed 36 months than just about any time in mycareer. I arrived just after Derek Hatton andhis merry Militants had been disbarred fromoffice and I left in 1990 for genteelManchester, just as Liverpool’s recoveryseemed to be starting.

When I arrived in the city, the Albert Dockrenovation had just been completed. TateLiverpool opened there not long after withbrilliant exhibitions of Rothkos and fabulouslyeccentric contemporary British sculpturemeanly crammed into too-tight spaces. Iattended dinners and receptions in Liverpool’sfabulous Town Hall and sat in the richly formalCouncil House listening to Labour Leader HarryRimmer advise his members not to grant acrucial £50,000 to keep the Bluecoat ArtsCentre open. Fortunately, they overruled him.

I saw Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensembleat Liverpool’s Catholic Cathedral, sat behindthe French Horn section listening to Mahler’sNinth (the best place to hear Mahler) in thegorgeously cosy Philharmonic Hall and stoodon the Kop at Anfield the night that Liverpoollost the League title to Arsenal – a centralpoint in Nick Hornby’s reality-novel, ‘FeverPitch’. I saw Russian avant-jazz pianist SergeyKuryokhin perform in the grossly ornate StGeorge’s Hall with a huge community cast. It was a born-again 60s multimedia happening,

which culminated with queen of Liverpool’scounter-culture, Jayne Casey throwing rawsausages at the audience from the Hall’s organloft. I heard Imrat Khan and his sons playecstatic raga variation after variation in anoverfilled and blisteringly hot Bluecoat concerthall and later saw the 80 year old Sun Ra and

his Orchestra whip up the same sort of stormthere. I saw Cathy Tyson and Michael ‘Sinbad’Starke (from Brookside) in a brilliant Hamlet atthe Everyman Theatre and later saw the La’splay sublimely sweaty melodic rock in thatvenue’s basement bar. And I stood in atemporary auditorium at an un-reconstructedKing’s Dock when Paul McCartney played hisfirst concert in the city since the 1960s. Whenhe launched into ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ I felt a

surge of electricity run through the hairs on myneck. Straightaway it was 1964 all over again.

I was in Liverpool when the Hillsboroughdisaster happened. Everyone knew someonewho was there – and most knew someone who had died in the cattlemarket crush. Forweeks, an extraordinary collective griefengulfed the city. And I remember theincredible stillness and emptiness in the citycentre, on a normally bustling Saturday, whenthe memorial service took place at theAnglican Cathedral.

More recently, I attended a nalgao AGM at Liverpool’s Bluecoat, a venue I once ran.Nothing in the Bluecoat hall or its annexe barseemed to have changed in 15 years. My pastcrawled out of the walls at me. It was likemeeting one’s own ghost.

Liverpool will do Capital of Culture proud,because Liverpool is proud. It is untouchable. It tells it like it is. It is wracked with tragedyyet has an optimism and a spirit that keepsbouncing back and fighting for more. It is edge city in geography and in spirit. Andwhatever the physical changes since I left, I have absolutely no doubt that the richly-madcharacter that runs through it, is still flowing.Liverpool is the most extraordinary place I have ever lived in. They have a fantasticprogramme for 2008. But the real programmeis Liverpool itself. •Paul Kelly was Director of Liverpool’s BluecoatArts Centre between 1987 and 1989.

Rubber SoulLiverpool - a personal reflectionPaul Kelly

Bluecoat Arts Centre

Liverpool and Stavanger?Until 2008, winners of the Capital of Culture accolade had the benefit of sole title. But in 2002, the Council of the European Union, whichmanages the award, decided to add a city in a non-EU European country and make the Capital of Culture a joint award. So, all futureEuropean Capitals of Culture will be two city awards. Thus 2008 sees Stavanger, a 117,000 population city on the Norwegian coast, alsodesignated European Capital of Culture. nalgao believes that Liverpool were unaware of this when they won the UK nomination.

“The panel,” reports the official Norway in the UK website, “were impressed with the daring programme that Stavanger proposed…(and) the jury commented that the artistic quality of Stavanger 2008's programme was excellent, including a remarkable contemporaryprogramme of challenging nature.” We are unaware of any joint Liverpool-Stavanger initiatives and if further research turns up anything ofrelevance to nalgao members we will report it in the next issue.

More details of Stavanger’s programme can be found at: www.stavangerweb.com/stavanger2008

A World Turned Upside Down

Arts at the Heart asked Phil Taylor, Arts Development Manager forLiverpool City Council whether and how Liverpool’s Capital of Cultureprogramme was changing the way the Local Authority delivered itsarts services and also what impact the year was having in the ofteninvisible domain of community provision. Here’s what he says.

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Having won the nomination for Capital ofCulture 2008, Liverpool City Council had aradical rethink on the delivery and managementof its arts development, tourism and eventsservices. The Council made major changes to theway cultural services had traditionally beendelivered and set-up a new agency to deliverthe city’s cultural agenda – the Liverpool CultureCompany.

In particular, the city was determined tomake culture central to its whole regenerationprocess and to harness the inherent creativity of its people to produce future success. This isdemonstrated by the fact culture is seen as anaccelerator for delivery of the Local AreaAgreement.

A new organisational structure was put inplace bringing the former Cultural Services and bid team together. The Liverpool CultureCompany has now assumed responsibility forthe creative and cultural agenda of the city,integrating the normal functions of arts, events and tourism services with forward-looking, inclusive and dynamic programmesacross other city departments. Other serviceareas falling within the definition of culture have recently been brought together to createthe Culture Media and Sport directorate. As a result Liverpool has broken the mould oftraditional arts service delivery, with hugelybeneficial results.

“There has been participation on an unprecedented scale”

Creative Communities- The Largest Community ArtsProgramme in EuropeWe want 2008 to be relevant for all. It wasalways recognised that for 2008 to have a realvalue and legacy, its spirit would need to bestrongly felt at grass roots level, in and amongstall the communities of Liverpool.

Involvement is central to neighbourhoodrenewal. As regeneration goes on around them people can feel left behind. The absence ofparticipation can lead to isolation and suspicionof any opportunities. Creative Communities is afundamental part of the solution to this,delivering across key policy areas. Projectparticipants are enthusiastic about theprogramme because it gives them a voice andbrings people together. At the heart of theCreative communities programme are residentsand communities. They are supported ratherthan dictated or ‘done’ to by practitioners andcultural organisations. Thus the programme enables communities and schools to take the driving seat indeveloping art work that is relevant and life-enhancing.

A significant development that has had an impact on engagement is the level ofpartnership working that has developed,between the City Council, communities, cultural and strategic partners. There has been participation on an unprecedented scale – this is the largest community artsprogramme in Europe.

Key partnerships with English Heritage, Arts Council Northwest, Sports England,Environment Agency, National Health Serviceand Arts and Business have enabled the CultureCompany to establish a Creative Communitiesteam. All members of the new team aredeveloping a programme of activity thatimpacts on the creative regeneration of the city.They are also working closely with culturalpartners and developing key strategies tosupport their growth to 2008.

Culture and Civic Renewal are cross cuttingthemes underpinning the acceleration ofdelivery of Liverpool’s Local Area Agreement.Colleagues in the different city council portfoliosare experiencing first-hand the endless potentialfor arts and culture to support the successfulachievement of targets and priorities forhousing, health, environmental improvement,and educational achievement and a betterappreciation and respect for our diverse heritage.

The areas of the programme outlined on page12 demonstrate how we are working inpartnership to support delivery of corporatepriorities.

In conclusion, Liverpool has substantiallychanged the way things are being done andaims to put culture and creativity at the centreof the nation’s thinking. •Phil TaylorArts Development Manager, Liverpool City Councilphil.taylor@liverpool.gov.uk

Phil Taylor

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It’s Not OK!It’s Not OK! is Liverpool Culture Company’sviolence prevention education programme. It’s Not OK! works with young people usingcreativity as a vehicle to tackle issues. At theheart of creative activity is film and radio dramaproduction and the resulting high-quality, hardhitting products are rolled out to a local, regionaland national audience. Crucially, the youngpeople involved are those closest to the issuescovered including young offenders, those on thefringes of the law or those identified as being atrisk of offending; helping many individuals tochange their behaviour and to understand thechoices that are open to them.

Wide ranging partnership working with:• Merseyside Police• The Fire and Rescue Service• Connexions• Children’s Services• LA Productions• Ariel Trust• Healthy Schools• The Primary Care Trust• Citysafe

Creative Health workshops;Midsummer DreamsThere have been several initiatives that havecontributed to the development of a creativehealth network bringing together creativepartners and the health and social care sector tocombine their different experiences and skills toenhance people’s well-being. These have includeda series of creative health workshops, thedevelopment of Midsummer Dreams and the Artof Living events, targeting the community, healthand social care workers and people who usehealth services. The workshops raised awarenessof how creativity can enhance health settings,recovery and well-being. Partners include:

• The Ambulance Service• The Primary Care Trust• The Libraries Service• St Nicholas Church• Neutral Spoon• Alternative therapy practitioners

Four Corners of the CityFour Corners is a reminiscence arts projectreaching out to Liverpool’s neighbourhood areas.The initiative’s ‘dream catcher’ theme allowed thememories of ordinary people to be ‘caught’ andshared through various media – creative writing,visual arts, photography, music and audio. All theareas involved were experiencing major changesthrough regeneration works. Many residentsfound living through these upheavals stressful andunsettling, and part of Four Corners’ remit was toengage with people and to help them make senseof the change, in both its negative and positiveaspects. The project also targeted neighbourhoodsthat had not been previously involved in LiverpoolCulture Company activities; areas that may wellhave felt unconnected to Capital of Cultureprogramming. Partners in the programme are:

• Neighbourhood Management Services• The Regeneration portfolio• Bluecoat Arts Centre • International Centre for Digital Content (ICDC)• Arts in Regeneration• Encounters, Sheffield• Everyman Playhouse• Community associations and groups in the

five areas •

Culture 2008 - Engaging the Community

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The creative industries are one of Britain’s post-war successstories both economically and socially. They account for 7.3per cent of the economy, comparable in size to the financialservices industry. They employ 1 million people themselves,while another 800,000 work in creative occupations.

1

Whilst the policy focus and development is relativelyrecent, especially at government level, the creative industrieshave existed ever since someone commissioned and paid anartist or craftsperson to create a piece of work.

The UK concept of a group of creative practices existing as‘the creative industries’ or ‘the cultural industries’ as they aresometimes called, emerged in the early 1980s when KenLivingston was looking for a new cultural policy for the GreaterLondon Council.

2

This led to the use of cultural policy aspolitical strategy encompassing the cultural enfranchisementof disadvantaged ‘communities of interest’. Under theguidance of Professor Nicholas Garnham the GLC’s Industryand Employment Committee defined the cultural industries as:“Those social practices which have as their primary purposethe transmission of meaning”.

The creative industries (CI) entered political orthodoxy inthe mid-1990s. As academic Andrew Ross memorablyexplains it, “with Britain's economy no longer fueled by theextractive resources (like mining and steel production), thecountry's managers were on the lookout for serviceindustries that would “add value” in a distinctive way. In thebowels of Whitehall, an ambitious civil servant came up withan interesting statistic: If you lumped all the economicactivities of arts and culture professionals and created asector known as the “creative industries”, you would have, on paper at least, a revenue powerhouse that generated £60 billion.”

3

Today, the numbers just keep getting bigger. But there hasalso been a significant and welcome effort by a wide range ofgovernment and academic institutions to understand how thecreative industries really work, what their needs and socialimpact are and where barriers to growth lie.

The explosive growth of the CI sector has been possibleparticularly through four things: creative education,technological development – particularly in reproductivetechnology and digitisation - globalisation and an increase in consumer markets and consumer choice.

Yet not all creative industries rely on the above and someremain small cottage industries producing work that isindividual, distinctive and unique. Whilst there have beenincreasing amounts of research, much focusing on economicvalue of the sector, the policy outcomes are not yet defined.Despite project-based Regional Development Agency supportthere is no overall national policy for CI development. It is stillnot apparent where, if anywhere, government will providesupport, and of what sort or what the role of the local is inthis set of global industries.

This article outlines some recent policy developments,particularly focussing on The Work Foundation’s report“Staying Ahead”, which we think marks a turning point insome of the policy thinking. We also give you some facts and figures and highlight some key issues which we hope are helpful. Further on we present a number of snapshot case studies which show where local authorities and otheragencies are getting involved. These case studies show adiversity of approaches. Some CI initiatives are addressingtraining, some local regeneration, some physicaldevelopment to provide workspaces. All are helping to re-define our perceptions of culture and creativity. •Paul KellyEditor, Arts at the Heart

1 Staying Ahead: The economic performance of the creative industries, The Work Foundation,20072Adorno, Horkheimer and the Frankfurt school of philosophers invented the term ‘the CultureIndustries’ in the 1930s to critique American film and radio which they felt threatened thetraditional European high art practices. 3Number Racket, Artforum International Magazine, 2001

What’s Happening in the Creative Industries?

MySpace orMy Studio?The Irresistible Rise of the Creative Industries

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ParadigmShift

Paul Kelly investigates The Work Foundation’s “Staying Ahead” Report

“Staying Ahead – the economic performance ofthe UK’s creative industries” by The WorkFoundation, does a good deal more than it sayson ‘the tin’. The Work Foundation report not onlygives a valuable and very readable assessment ofthe UK’s creative industries (CI) and the issuesthey face. It sets these in a wider context that, for the first time, explains the relationshipsbetween this sector, the subsidised arts and therole of both of them in the wider social andcultural milieu. In an era of increasing specialismthis ability to approach the specific from abroader contextual perspective makes it one ofthe most significant and valuable cultural policyreports of recent times.

It is good that this fact has been recognised bypoliticians, for as Tessa Jowell, the commissioningMinister, says in her introduction, “The WorkFoundation (report) puts at the heart of the UKeconomy scriptwriters, computer programmers,designers and musicians. It brings into focusinstitutions like the Victoria and Albert Museum,the British Library, the BBC and the NationalTheatre. In doing so it recognises not just theircultural influence but also their critical economic value.”

And Jowell goes on to recognise the pubic-private interface at work here saying, “The WorkFoundation analysis firmly endorses the value ofpublic investment, but widens the scope toembrace the vital role of education, skills, diversity,networks, cultural investment and publicinstitutions, access to finance, business skills, theintellectual property framework, access to market,regulation, competition and crucially thecollection of evidence and data.”

“Staying Ahead” examines four areas:• Economic performance• The knowledge economy• Defining the creative industries and• Drivers of the creative industries

As Work Foundation Director, Will Huttonexplains, “One important objective was toattempt to see what binds the creative industriestogether… What are their distinct characteristicsand challenges?”

The report acknowledges the changingsignificantly environment we operate in saying,“Knowledge and creativity have always played a

key role in the economy. The concept of theknowledge economy goes further. It captures aparadigm shift in which a critical mass ofeconomic activity falls into the category ofknowledge production.” And it points out thatculture and creativity are at the core of knowledgeproduction.

But, “Staying Ahead”, clearly the result ofextensive research and debate, then doessomething that no similar reports havesuccessfully achieved. It separates the variouscreative industries into functional types andshows the relationships between these – seediagram on following page.

At the core of these functional types are ‘corecreative fields’. These include, softwareprogrammers, painters, scriptwriters, musiciansand others. These are the people who originatematerial which involve expressive value and whichcan be protected in copyright.

Outside of these originators lies a significantindustry, which “Staying Ahead” calls the ‘culturalindustries’. These focus primarily or solely on thecommercialisation of pure expressive value. Theyare largely engaged in developing and reproducingexpressive work. These activities includebroadcasting, music recording, publishing andproduction, film, TV and video games production.

They also include, as the report implicitlyacknowledges, publicly funded institutions such asthe BBC, the Victoria and Albert Museum, theNational Theatre and, by logical extension, allsubsidised professional and voluntary sectorbodies that produce and promote expressive work.As they report, “Subsidised theatre also plays animportant part in succoring the creative industries.In the United States over the past 20 years, 44 percent of new plays to appear on commercial/for-profit Broadway can trace their roots to the non-profit sector. The figures are similar for the UK.”

A further tier, which “Staying Ahead” calls the‘creative industries’ which it describes as ‘firstcousins’ to the cultural industries. These industriesturn expressive work into functional products.They include architecture, design, fashion andadvertising. This work is also vital to the successof the cultural industries.

Finally there is an outer tier of manufacturingand service sectors which is not necessarily ordirectly creative, but which is crucial to the massdelivery of creative goods. This might be anything

from tile manufacture to the design andproduction of the Apple iPod to Television designand manufacture.

Finally, and significantly, “Staying Ahead”recognises that a successful creative and culturalindustries sector, is the result of a particular socialclimate and has a relationship with a widercultural ecology. The report’s definition of‘expressive value’ includes symbolic, social andspiritual value. “There is,” they say, “compellingevidence that the presence of a large, diverse poolof artistic talent in a region can create a ‘leadmarket’ for artistic and creative products…Creative businesses and a well-developed culturalsector may make regions more attractive for firmsoutside the creative sectors to do business…The more creative and vigorous the core of ournational creativity,” they argue, “the more creativeand vigorous are likely to be the creativeindustries and the wider economy and society.”And, the report concludes, “Societies that aretolerant, self-confident, diverse and articulate arethe hand-maidens of such creativity. Thus are thecreative economy and creative societyindissolubly linked.” >

Making work at Flameworks Creative Arts Facility,Plymouth

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Creative Industries:

Creative Industries: Facts and FiguresIn Britain, the Creative Industries:

• Account for 7.3 per cent of the UK economy

• Are comparable in size to the financial servicesindustry.

• Employ 1 million people themselves

• Help employ or support another 800,000 increative occupations.

• Outperform the creative industries in every otherEuropean state

• Is largest creative sector in the EU, and relativeto GDP probably the largest in the world.

• Include five million active musicians, one quarterof a million who play in bands.

• Includes over 4,500 live gigs every evening.

• Support employment in other sectors. Forexample 100% of art and antiquesprofessionals work in the art and antiquessector but only 40% of advertisingprofessionals do.

• Promote tourism. The UK Film Councilestimates that UK films promote tourism to anestimated value of £800 million per year.

Defining the CreativeIndustries

The “DCMS 13” CreativeIndustries• Advertising• Architecture• Art and antiques markets • Computer and video games • Crafts • Design• Designer fashion• Film and video • Music

• Performing arts • Publishing• Software • Television and radio

The Frontier EconomicsDefinition“Layer One”Origination – eg composing music, writing forpublishing or programming a computer game Layer TwoActivities that support layer one – eg casting forthe performing arts industryLayer ThreeManufacture of hardware which directly supportsthe creative processEg manufacture of TV camerasLayer FourManufacture and wholesale of raw materials and manufacture of hardware used in the consumption of CIproducts – eg arcade machines for the computer gamesindustry

The timeline in the middle of this page outlines some of the keydevelopments in Creative Industries R&D since 1997.

Much of the initial policy focus has been economic and sectoral in nature;it has sought to quantify the size of the sector and to identify particularissues facing each of the ‘DCMS 13’ sectors. – see section on defining thecreative industries.

More recent policy papers have produced a more sophisticated analysis ofthe CI sector, defining it by the nature of the processes the various segmentsundertake and starting to acknowledge that CI impacts have as much to dowith social objectives and impacts and such soft outcomes as ‘well-being’ aswith hard economic outputs.

The Creative Economy Programme examined seven different aspects of thecreative industries - infrastructure, competition and intellectual property,

access to finance and business support, education and skills, diversity,technology and evidence and analysis. It produced 32 detailedrecommendations – too much to detail here. But the Creative EconomyExecutive Summary can be found at www.cep.culture.gov.uk

From our research, several things remain clear; the key driver for policymakers is still economic growth. As a result they are more focussed on thebigger players than small individual practitioners, be they a website designeror a visual artist. Secondly, many research institutions have subtly differentdefinitions of the sector. The DCMS (from its website), the FrontierEconomics report, “Creative Industries Performance” and the WorkFoundation report “Staying Ahead” all adopt slightly different definitions. Ismusic a performing art or part of the digital media sector? We have seenreports that place it differently.

CreativeIndustries PolicyTimeline

1998 and 2001

DCMS Creative IndustriesMapping Documents

2002 – 2005

Working groups

Intellectual PropertyPolicy Forum

November 2005

Creative EconomyProgramme launchedwith seven workinggroups on:• Education and skills,

infrastructure• Competition and

Intellectual Property• Access to finance and

business support• Diversity• Technology and • Evidence and analysis

Summer 2006

Draft Creative EconomyProgramme (CEP) Reports

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Policy Developments and Issues

Layer FiveConsumer retail of creative industries products –eg Music CDs and DVDs or computer gamesconsoles.

The Work Foundation Definition- See Diagram

Drivers of success in the creativeeconomy1. Demand2. Greater diversity3. A level playing field4. Education and skills – ensuring balance

and the appropriate supply5. Networks – harnessing capacity6. Public sector – fit-for-purpose public

architecture, grants and institutions7. Intellectual property – a clearly defined and

enforced regime8. Building greater business capacity

Source – “Staying Ahead” – The Work Foundation •

Thirdly, there are a large number of agencies with an interest or a directrole in creative industries delivery including:• The DCMS• The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

(formerly the DTi)• The Regional Development Agencies• The Regional Cultural Consortia• The Creative Industries Development Agencies –

there are at least 15 of these• Universities and Colleges• Local Government• Other independent agencies• And obviously, the private sector and private sector investors

But we have no sense of whether and how these are working together as a sector. From a policy perspective it all seems quite piecemeal.

Finally, we live in a society where if you can’t measure something it haslittle or no value and in the CI sector, for all manner of technical reasonsmeasurement remains a difficult problem. If you get picked up in nationalstatistics – for example through VAT rating – you will be counted. But if youare a small business below the VAT threshold, you will probably not becounted. And there is a danger that not being counted and valuedeconomically, means that the ‘below the line’ sector are not going to getvalued in policy terms either.

The DCMS’s creative industries team is currently developing a consultativeGreen Paper on the creative industries which is expected to be published latethis year or early in 2008. •

November 2006

Final CEP reports

2006 & 2007

A series of sector studiescommissioned including onefrom Jan 2007 by The WorkFoundation to undertake ananalysis of the nature of thecreative industries – their size,the factors that have shapedtheir comparative success inrecent years, and thechallenges which they face in the years ahead inanticipation of a Green Paper.

2007 Jan – April

Eleven industry summits –organised by the DCMS and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

2007 – June

The report “Staying ahead: theeconomic performance of theUK’s creative industries”published by The WorkFoundation. 1

2007 – September

“Creative Industryperformance - A statisticalanalysis for the DCMS”by Frontier Economics Ltd. 2

1 Available from: www.theworkfoundation.com2Available from:www.cep.gov.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.viewSection&intSectionID=334

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Creative Industries Concepts

Whales and Plankton1

Plankton is the name given to all the little plantsand animals which live in water and just floatalong with the current. Some of them can swimbut they can't swim strongly enough to swimagainst the flow of water. Most plankton are tiny,tiny little organisms which we can only see byusing a magnifying glass or microscope. 2

The larger animals are then eaten by even larger animals – like whales. Without the planktonthere wouldn't be much life in the sea at all! Even some of the enormous whales eat planktonand others eat the fish which live on plankton.

The creative industries ecology is one of whales and plankton - a handful of high-profileglobal players, stars and multinational companieslike Disney, Sony, the BBC, Universal, Microsoftand News International, who are dependent upon vast shoals of project-based micro-enterprises. From the surface, only the biggerplayers are visible, but these big fish are highlydependent on the small fry further along thesupply chain.

Governments may not be able to do much toinfluence or change the whales in the creativeindustries sector (much as they might like to thinkthey can). But they can certainly do a lot to createan environment in which CI plankton can surviveand thrive.

Creativity and InnovationCreativity is about the origination of new ideas.either new ways of looking at existing problems,or of seeing new opportunities,

Innovation is about the successful exploitationof new ideas. It is the process that carries themthrough to new products and services or evennew ways of doing business.

Source – “Staying Ahead” – The Work Foundation

Patents andCopyrightPatentsA patent is a limitedmonopoly granted to anindividual for a period of 20years in return for the publicdisclosure of technicalinformation of an invention.Critically, patents protect‘useful ideas’. To qualify, anidea must be novel, involve aninventive step, must becapable of industrialapplication and not be

‘excluded’. Aesthetic creations – including music,art, dance and literature – are specificallyexcluded.

CopyrightCopyright protects original expression. Theproperty protected by copyright is special in thatit comes into effect automatically and is generallyfor the benefit of the author, a key concept thathas shaped the development of copyrightdoctrine. The term of protection for literary,dramatic, musical and artistic works is life plus 70years due to historical reasons, although there aremany exemptions, such as so-calledentrepreneurial works.

Source – “Staying Ahead” – The Work Foundation

ClusteringClustering involves grouping a number of smallcreative businesses under the same roof in a‘creative industries centre’ or in managedworkspace. There are several advantages including:• The ability to offer specialist services to several

companies at the same time – for example,business advice, marketing or financial services

• Higher profile and identity and a sense of criticalmass

• Greater opportunity for support between • Greater inter-company trading opportunities• Greater security for fledgling start-ups

A number of cities have created dedicatedworkspace opportunities including TheWorkstation in Sheffield, Dean Clough in Halifax,The Leicester Creative Business Depot, Paintworksin Bristol and others – some outlined in casestudies in this issue of Arts at the Heart.

The Value or Supply ChainEvery business has a producer and consumer and

involves a transaction between the two. Some businesses sell direct to market. Some sellthrough intermediaries. In some cases there areseveral stages in the production chain, before aproduct can be sold. Each of these stages has the potential to add value and involves otherbusiness to business transactions.

To take three examples; a potter makes potsand sells them direct to the public. That is theextent of the value chain. A painter makes workand places it with a gallery who sell the work.That adds a stage to the value chain and both the painter and the gallery benefit from sales. A film producer buys an idea from a writer,assembles the finance, fires a director andtechnical team, employs script re-writers and allthe technical paraphernalia required to shoot the film and sells the film to a distributor – andother stages and processes we have omitted! That is a complex chain that potentially addsvalue at each stage. Developing the creativeindustries can be enhanced by increasing sales.But they can also be developed if one understandsthe value chain of the specific CI sector (and theydiffers from sector to sector) and find ways ofremoving barriers or enhancing opportunitieswithin the value or supply chain.

Measuring the Creative IndustriesThe SIC Code ProblemThe size and importance of the creative industriesis reliant on capturing data on employment and financial turnover of the sector and its variouscomponent parts. SIC is the ‘Standard IndustrialClassification of Economic Activities‘ which is theofficial way of describing and measuring industrialactivities, size and overall, the economy. The SICcodes give creative industries researchers severalproblems in data collection and analysis. Firstsome newer occupations are not recognised in thecodes. Secondly, the codes have several levels. You can get some data from 4 level SIC codes, butthese tend to only pick up the data from largerVAT registered companies. 5 level data drills downdeeper but not all occupations are coded at the 5 level depth. Hence there is an inherentunreliability in SIC code data.

For more information on SIC codes – see:www.statistics.gov.uk/methods_quality/sic/contents.asp •1 Thanks to Lucy Wurstlin formerly Creative Industries Officer with CultureSouth West and now Director of Melt and Development Manager of TheCulture Company for this very helpful concept.2 Thanks to the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust for this description.

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Growing Arts &Communitiesnalgao Conference ReportCambridge, September 2007

The 14th nalgao annual conference, took place in September in Cambridge -the first time in the Eastern region. And for the first time we secured aMinisterial speaker. The programme attracted a wide cross section ofdelegates and speakers from local authorities and arts organisations acrossthe UK for three days of presentations, interaction and networking. We alsohad stimulating keynote speeches from Margaret Hodge, Minister forCulture and Creative Industries, John Holden, Head of Culture at Demos and Lia Ghilardi of Noema Research and Planning.

The conference included, as ever, some artists in residence, this year writerJohn Row and photographer Bob Clayden whose photos adorn this sectionand include shots of the two young Cambridge bands, Hot Bang and BryonyLemon and Friends, who entertained delegates.

We start this 13 page report on the conference with John Row’sunforgettable reflections followed by edited speeches from Margaret Hodgeand John Holden and then feedback from the first day’s Open Space Forumwhich allows delegates to forward their own topics for discussion.

Supported by

Think of the potential… It’s not going to get any easier…John Row, Conference writer in residence

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Stepping down from the platform,Stepping up to the plate,Expressing thanks,Electing to ride the AGM fast trainWith no other businessBut to make it to the conference before the points are thrownAnd the whole agenda becomes derailed.HAVE YOU READ THE MINUTESIt took to get here,Squeezing two years into one.Despite our current precarious positionAnd serial over optimism in the artsWe make it to the short break in record time.We may be brassed off but we ain’t misbehavin’ And this is a lovely day for a daydreamAnd growingAnd growing artsAnd growing communitiesAnd growing ourselves.

“It’s not just about jobs and housingWith forty thousand employment driven new homesComing to the areaAnd the competing pressuresOf roads and education.It’s about buildingDynamicVibrant Diverse communities,Taking on the challenge of the carbon footprintAnd supporting arts and entertainment across the cityWhen nine out of ten people use our venues.And minister,I don’t want to abuse my position hereAnd complain about the financial effect of the OlympicsBut all this isEXPENSIVE.”

“We know the arts is important,Over seventy percent of adults participate in arts activitiesAnd for if I really want to unwind after a hard dayI sit at the piano and play Chopin’s NocturneAnd we know those engaged in arts activitiesAre more able to relate to their neighbours We need to articulate,Make sure we are measured,Get the arts into the new round of local area agreementsMake the case that arts are fundamental to big agendas And shout that cultural services are one of the most used in the public sector.With my red box that allows me to use a lot more of those tickets I get sent

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And with the cultural Olympiad,Big screens,Smoke and mirrorsIn the centre of every city,A nationwide cultural festival,An international Shakespeare festival,And eight regional creative programs,THINK OF THE POTENTIALAnd it’s not going to get any easier.”

“Minister,what are your top tips for young, disenfranchised femalesin the corridors of power?”

“Networking with other womenand leadership.”

“Minister,Is arts provision going to becomeA statutory duty of local government?”

“No,We’ve just got to get smarterAnd win the argument for culture.It’s such a good argumentAnd if we work together we can win itAnd local government doesn’t need one more thingwhere we in central government tell them what they have to do.”

And bridges need to be built to the wealthy.The question is“How do we get back to those halcyon days of Victorian philanthropyand would we want to?”But giving the chairman of the bank the chance To fly in Peter Pan’s harness across the stageOf a Scottish Theatre did clinch the deal.WE ARE ABOUT THE UNIQUE EXPERIENCEAnd making a difference.WE BELIEVE ARTS MAKE A DIFFERENCE,WE WANT ARTISTS TO MOVE FORWARDSo we need to become horrible people who read the obituaries And know where the money is.It’s in participatory artsSo we need to connect strategically With the big boys.We need to get into the men’s toilets.It’s a while since a health minister noted by using just half a percent ofthe health budget on the artsThe nation’s health would be significantly improved

And the cultural sector adds thirteen billion pounds a year To our trade balance.We need to educate our children for this new creative economy.While creating shared ground for proud parentsAt presentationsFor winning designs at BordersSmall grants in kind making things possibleAs we stimulate thinking about cultural heritageWith Bangra and Molly dancersAnd create a seaside at SawstonBecause some poet worked with the communityAnd they produced a poem entitled Sawston-on-SeaAnd one of the residents thought it was a nice ideaSo the swimming pool became salt for a SundayAnd everyone came for freeAnd while no arts project can cure all society’s illsIt can be the glue that brings and holds people together.

Concluding with a senseOf nourishment,From being togetherIn the extraordinaryPeculiar world we live inWhen the other world of local government is a bloody mysteryWith their budgetary cuts being bigger than ever.But we will shout with joy and inspirationAnd celebrate togetherBattles wonNext year in Liverpool.

John RowWriter in Residence at nalgao conference 2007info@johnrow.comwww.johnrow.com

The unabridged version of this poem is available (or will be by publication date) at: www.arty2007.blogspot.com

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Margaret Hodge, Minister forCulture and Creative IndustriesKeynote speech, nalgao conference, Cambridge, September 2007 1

I’m really pleased to be here today and I can’ttell you how pleased I am to have this job. Ithink my title of Minister for Culture, CreativeIndustries and Tourism is about the best job ingovernment. I think from our shared point ofview the fact that I’m the first Minister to haveresponsibility for both Culture and CreativeIndustries can do nothing but help. Becausebuilding the links between the arts, and cultureand the economic impact it can have oncommunities is one of the key messages I wantto give you as you try and defend and promotearts and culture within your local authorities inwhat I know are tight fiscal times.

I’ve always been passionate about the arts.I think I am now in my 10th year as agovernment minister and one of the enormousfrustrations of the job has been for the last 10years I can’t remember the number of artstickets I have had to give up at the last minutebecause of red boxes. Now, it’s become my redbox which it is a real joy.

I think the joy I get from the arts is whatmakes them so important. That emotion that Iget matches what I think what millions andmillions of people feel, the emotion, the curiosity,the joy and the beauty that is fundamental tothe nature and the quality of our lives.

We know that the arts are important. We know from the Taking Part surveys that wedo each year that over 70% of adults attend or

participate in arts activities. And we know aboveand beyond the importance the arts have forindividuals. They bring communities together inways that few other sorts of public engagementachieve.

So, I’m pleased that you are one of my firstaudiences as Arts Minister and I’m glad it’s alocal government audience because in my timein local government - and I was in localgovernment for twenty years - it was completelyobvious and clear to me how important arts and

culture are to communities and how it allowsthem to experience those very unique times andmoments in their lives. Whether it’s a localcultural festival, whether it’s a community artsproject, whether it’s voluntary groups doinganything from drama to singing to dance, allthose are the life blood of the community. So what you are thinking about in yourconference over the next three days, growingarts in communities, I think is particularlyimportant. And I think that link between theexperience of the arts and the strengthening ofcommunities is one of the messages I want todevelop in my period as your Minister.

At a time when people are thinking and talking

about identity, whether it’s national identity orlocal identity, when we are talking about whatare the levers that we can employ and pull thatwill bring communities together and strengthencommunities, that appear to be so fractured fora series of very complex reasons, I think that therole that arts and culture have to play in that arereally crucial.

Now I could talk about lots of things but Ihave decided to focus on three. The first is howwe try and ensure that arts feature in the biggerpicture of local government, particularly at atime of great change with the local governmentwhite paper. The second is what more we can doto open access - there’s a lot that has beenachieved in the last ten years, but what morecan we do? And thirdly how can we all benefitfrom the 2012 Olympics, because I see it not asa negative but as a positive.

“Cultural services are some of themost used services in the publicsector. Probably second only tothe bin collection.”

Let’s take the first one, and I know it’s a toughchallenge for you all. I’m not coming here witheasy messages about loads and loads of money.We’ve actually had a period of pretty substantialgrowth, but we are now entering a fiscally tightperiod. So we do all have to get much smarter inhow we use our money. One of the things Iwant to see in the arts world is try and see howwe can get to see philanthropy playing a muchstronger role in our local areas and how we canbring together in partnership people like theregional development agencies to see thatinvestment in culture and the arts will lead to astrong sense of place where people will want tolive and work and which can also lead to thegrowth of the creative industries sector which isone of the great growth areas in our economy.

So, how can I help you profile the arts in yourcommunity? I can articulate the arguments -you can do that too. We can try and ensure weget the arts properly reflected in theperformance measurements we have of local

“The link between the experience of the arts and thestrengthening of communities is one of the messages I want to develop in my period as your Minister.”

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authorities. So that’s the first thing I can do,make sure you are measured because that’s willgive you a way of ensuring you get a propervoice in local authorities.

The other challenge is to get the arts into thenew round of local area agreements. And I amgoing to take Suffolk as an example here. Whowould have thought that getting young peopleinvolved in rock bands would go some way tomeeting a local area agreement - Suffolk did. TheAmplifier project that was run in Suffolk, withtheir workshops, their gigs and their summerschools is seen by all as a successful venture. Thewhole programme there is a really good exampleof connecting the cultural programme with localarea agreements. Culture has been placed bySuffolk at the centre when they are shaping theirlocal priorities. And that’s what you need toendeavour to do within your local authorities.

I think together making the case that the artsare fundamental to the big local authorityagendas, fundamental to education, tocommunity cohesion to regeneration and tobuilding a strong sense of community identity isthe first step.

And just keep remembering this: culturalservices are some of the most used services inthe public sector. Probably second only to thebin collection. And that needs to be aligned tothe centre of policy decisions and developments.

The second thing is how can we get morepeople involved in arts activity? Well, we arealready doing well. There’s been a real shift ofresources and you see the impact of that on artsactivities right across the sector. And often it’snot the formal organisations that make thegreatest contribution in local areas. It’s often theinformal; people who take part in a huge rangeof arts and crafts activities, anything from a bookclub to an amateur orchestra to a theatre group,from lace making to bell ringing and ballroomdancing. The potential is absolutely enormous.

And that’s why we’ve started this work fromthe DCMS working in partnership with the ArtsCouncil and we are undertaking this researchproject which will look at the voluntary artssector to try and actually map it and give us thatnational picture of the sector so we have a much

better idea of what prompts people to take part,what the barriers to people taking part are andwhat the impact is of that voluntary arts efforton the local communities. I know that nalgao ison the project steering group and I hope all ofyou here will be able to contribute. We areworking hard with colleagues in the newdepartment for children, families and schools tosee whether we can extend building on the verysuccessful sports offer that we’ve got, with acultural offer for children in schools.

“The purpose is to have projectswhich leave us with a lastingcultural legacy.”

Finally, let me say a little bit about theOlympics. I direct the cultural Olympiad streamof work that comes under the Olympics. TheOlympics is a fantastic opportunity which fitsinto participation. The concept of the Olympicsraises aspirations and gets young people engagedin things they have never done before becausethey think they just might be able to participatein the event [The Olympics]. And maybe theycan in four or five years time in some way oranother, as a volunteer or a spectator if not as aparticipant. So what we need to make sure isthat we can make the most of the opportunitiesthat the 2012 Olympics give us. Do remember

there’s still going to be £500 million of newmoney right through to 2012 coming from theArts Council. And what we need to focus on isusing the concept of the cultural Olympiad,which is a four year celebration of arts andculture leading up to and including 2012, tobuild that alongside everything we’re doing inrelation to the games.

And what is the purpose of that culturalOlympiad? The purpose is to have projects which should be drawn from the grassroots fromyour local authority areas - grass rootscommunity projects which engage local

communities and which lead to an increase inparticipation and which leave us with a lastingcultural legacy.

Now the cultural Olympiad so far has got alegacy trust of £40 million most of which will go to the arts and cultural organisations. Somehas gone to sport, but well over two thirds willcome to culture and the arts. But we are hopingto use that to kick start sponsorship and we arealready having people who want to be linked tothe whole 2012 idea coming forward withparticular projects under that cultural olympiadbanner and who wish to participate in it.

“None of this will happenwithout you guys. So localauthority arts officers areabsolutely central to our success.”

So I have talked about ensuring that the artsare at the heart of policies and at the heart ofthe agenda at local and national level, recognisedfor their own worth and their intrinsic value aswell as for their institutional and instrumentalvalues. I have talked about the continuing workwe must do to extend participation in artswhether it is enjoyment of events or whether itis participating in making the arts. And I hope Ihave started to excite you, those of you that are cynical, about 2012, and how we’ve just got to grasp that as a catalyst to ensure wecapture the cultural Olympiad with much greater activities both in our community and inour nation.

Now none of this will happen without youguys. So local authority arts officers areabsolutely central to our success. I know youshare my passion for the arts. What we need todo is by working together in partnership is totranslate that passion into action which willbring a lasting contribution to our communities.

Thank you. •1 This is a slightly edited version of Margaret Hodge’s speech. The full versioncan be heard as a podcast at www.artsprofessional.co.uk and will be postedon the new nalgao website in the New Year.

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Growing Arts And CommunitiesJohn Holden, Head of Culture for DemosKeynote speech, nalgao conference, Cambridge, September 2007 1

Good morning everyone, and thank you for inviting me to come and speak on the subject of “the case for arts and communities”. I would like to start with a few facts and figures:

of the population attended or took part in some type of cultural or sporting event in the UK last year.

went to or participated in an arts event.

of people voted in the last general election.

of the population voted in the local elections in 2006.

of the public are satisfied with their museums and galleries.

are satisfied with their Local Authorities.

The sources of these figures are the Office of National Statistics, the Electoral Commission and theNational Consumer Council - not the Arts Council or Sport England, so in other words they come from a neutral source.

Now for a couple of graphs. This one shows the average household spend on culture and leisure inEurope, and as you can see, the UK comes out top, with almost 8 euros per household per week:

And here is a graph from the sustainabledevelopment commission that shows the point at which rising wealth ceased to make people any happier.

Finally, according to your own latest survey75% of Local Authorities have cut their spendingon the arts and culture in the last three years.

When you put all these figures together theyseem to me to highlight something very odd.Because it appears that more and more people,from all parts of society are getting increasinglyinterested in culture and the arts.

It also seems to be the case that fewer peopleare satisfied that politicians are giving them whatthey want, and they are failing to vote as a result.And yet strangely, instead of realising theimportance of the arts and culture in people’s livesand investing in it, politics is travelling in theopposite direction.

If you need proof of that, just look at the AuditCommission's last comprehensive performanceassessment report. Where they say that, whilecouncils across the country continued to improvetheir overall performance in 2006, with 79% ofcouncils achieving 3 or 4 star performance, whichis a 9% improvement from 2005, performance indelivering cultural services declined by 18%.

When it comes to culture only 56% of councilsare performing in the top two categories in 2006,compared to 68% in 2005. And that state ofaffairs is self-defeating, because the arts, and otherforms of culture are central to the achievement

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It appears that more and more people are getting increasinglyinterested in culture and the arts ...(and) fewer people aresatisfied that politicians are giving them what they want...

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of many Local Authority goals, not least thenurturing of community life. I want to return laterto inherent paradox in that last sentence, becauseI think we need to look closely at the tensionbetween the idea of a Local Authority as adelivery agent, and the idea of community, whichis something that we build together, as a mutualenterprise.

But before that, let me try to articulate theways in which we can express the value of thearts to local communities, because that will helpus to understand this rather odd dynamic thatexists, where the arts so often fail to be a centralconcern and a high priority for local government.

I am briefly going to reiterate something thatmay be familiar to some of you, and that is theidea of cultural value. I think we can express thevalue of the arts in three ways.

The first is their intrinsic value, which is the setof values that relate to the subjective experienceof culture. It is this set of values that people arereferring to when they say things like “musicmoves me”, or “I am proud of our Town Hall” or“writing poems helps me understand who I am”.In other words intrinsic value applies at a personallevel. In some ways the term "intrinsic" isunhelpful because nothing has value in itself, thevalue is only there in the encounter between anindividual and the cultural experience or artefact.In other words, intrinsic value embodies the ideaof mutuality that I was talking about in relation to community.

“Diverting 0.5% of the UKhealthcare budget to the artswould improve the health ofpeople in Britain.”

The second type of value that we can find inculture is instrumental value, where culture helpsachieve some other aim - such as economicregeneration or improved exam results, or betterpatient recovery times. These are the knock-oneffects of culture, looking to achieve things thatcould be achieved in other ways as well.Instrumental values also express the ways in

which the arts affect people and communities.And although there are many methodologicaldifficulties in pinning down the exact connections,and proving cause and effect, between culturalactivity and these economic and social goods,there is an increasing and increasingly persuasivebody of evidence showing how the arts benefitcommunities across many areas of life. Last yearat Demos we produced a synthesis of a hugenumber of individual project evaluations andreports from the museums and libraries sector,called Knowledge and Inspiration.

2

At the level of general correlation for example,who can doubt that the North East region’sinvestment in iconic buildings and public art, likeSage and Angel of the North, has given the peoplethere a renewed sense of identity and pride. Again,it is incontrovertible that cultural facilities such asSnape Maltings bring in tourists who spendmoney. Nationally, we get 37 million tourists ayear, who spend £14.7 billion. Over 70% say theycome here because of our heritage sites, museumsand the arts.

And the arts don’t just have economic impact,they reach other parts as well.

This is what Dr Richard Smith, the editor of theBritish Medical Journal, said about the arts andhealth: “My contention is that diverting 0.5% of thehealthcare budget to the arts would improve thehealth of people in Britain.”

0.5% of the UK's healthcare budget, by the way,would be £525 million pounds, which is about17% more than the entire expenditure of LocalAuthorities on the arts, heritage and musuems.

In education too, the benefits of the arts areclear. Last year Ofsted produced a detailed studyof the creative partnerships scheme, whereschools work in close collaboration with artistsover long periods. They concluded that as a result,“Schools offered evidence of improvement inachievement in areas such as literacy, numeracyand information and communication technology(ICT).”

I don’t agree with everything that Tony Blairsaid and did during his decade in office - far fromit - but I think he was absolutely right when hesaid this earlier this year:

“A country like Britain today survives and prospersby the talent and ability of its people. Humancapital is key. The more it is developed, the betterwe are. Modern goods and services require highvalue added input. Some of it comes fromtechnology or financial capital - both instantlytransferable. Much of it comes from people - theirability to innovate, to think anew, to be creative.Such people are broad-minded: they thrive oncuriosity about the next idea; they welcome thechallenge of an open world. Such breadth of mindis enormously enhanced by interaction with art and culture.”

But let's get back to our triangle, because I

haven't said anything yet about this third type ofvalue that I think can be perceived in culture, andthat is what I call institutional value. This is closelyrelated to the idea of public value, and it is allabout the way that cultural organisations act.They are part of the public realm and how theydo things creates value as much as what they do.In their interactions with the public, culturalorganisations are in a position to increase - orindeed decrease - such things as our trust in eachother, our idea of whether we live in a fair andequitable society, mutual conviviality and a wholehost of other public goods. So the way in whichour institutions go about their business isimportant.

“Culture is the major place wherecitizens interact voluntarily withthe public realm.”

Things like opening hours, meeting andgreeting, providing opportunities to grow andlearn are not simply about customer care as theywould be in the commercial world. No, they aremuch more important than that, they can act tostrengthen our sense of a collective society andour attachment to our locality. After all, culture isthe major place where citizens interact voluntarilywith the public realm: you have to send yourchildren to school, you have to go to the doctor ifyou’re ill, but you go to a gallery or a theatrebecause you want to.

Institutional value seems to me to be veryimportant when thinking about the arts andcommunity building, because it stresses the publicnature of the arts and the sense of being involvedin a mutual enterprise.

So we have these three values – intrinsic,instrumental and institutional, and as we all know,when it comes to the arts , the politicalimperative over the last thirty years has been toshow the value of the arts in instrumental terms.Under Thatcher it was all about arts and theeconomy, under Blair, a whole raft of social issueswas added. There has been a recent shift in therhetoric, with a welcome, speech from the newsecretary of state James Purnell that hassuggested a desire to move away from targets andtowards a greater recognition of the intrinsic valueof the arts, but this has not yet fed through to theworking regimes of Local Authorities.

In fact, I think there are perfectlyunderstandable reasons why politics struggleswith the arts and culture. As the American writerPhilip Roth says, “Politics is the great generaliserand literature the great particulariser, and not onlyare they in an inverse relationship to each otherthey are in an antagonistic relationship. How canyou be an artist and renounce the nuance? Howcan you be a politician and allow the nuance?” >

Intrinsic

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Lenin put it another way when he said that hehated listening to Beethoven because it made himwant to caress people's heads when he should bebanging them together. The point here is thatculture is essentially about individual responses,while politics is about mass social outcomes. And so there is a philosophical conundrum at theheart of the relationship. Although culture isfundamental to most of things that local politicsis trying to achieve, it doesn't feature centrally inthe rhetoric or thinking of Local Authorities.

The recent Local Government White Paper,“Strong and Prosperous Communities”, all butignores culture, while the regulatory regime forLocal Authorities expresses its priorities only interms of what culture can do for "other agendas”.

“The words ‘leisure’ and‘recreation’ seriously misrepresentthe importance of the arts.”

In other words, the discourse talks entirely interms of instrumental values. There is nothingthere about cultural goals, or culture as a good inits own right. There is nothing that acknowledgesthe real importance of culture in people’s lives.Words like fun, pleasure, shock, relaxation,stimulation, beauty, emotion are missing.

The second effect of the philosophical problemhas been a drift into managerialism, and theadoption of language that actually divides localpolitics from local communities. When we talkabout the delivery of services and about provision,that implies not a communal relationship but adivided relationship, where one party, thatpresumably knows best, does something to, or onbehalf of, the other. If we want a local politics ofcommunity and if we want the arts as acommunity activity and an expression ofcommunity then we should ditch the idea thatwe are delivering services and instead think moreabout the arts as the embodiment of collectivewill and expression, about the arts as a placewhere culture and community are mutuallycreated not merely provided.

The third way that you can perceive thephilosophical problem between the arts andpolitics is in the way that "culture" gets shiftedaround in some councils, from leisure toeducation to tourism to economic development.It's always a sign of confusion and marginaliationwhen people can't decide what to call something.But I think that the words "leisure" and“recreation” seriously misrepresent the importanceof the arts and culture in contemporary society.They suggest that culture is a nice-to-have add-on, that it's something we do, and something wecan afford, when all the serious business of work is done.

It's obvious from all this that the arts don’t

feature as something that should be councilpriorities in their own right, but neither are theytreated everywhere as central to the pursuit ofthose "other agendas" that we hear so muchabout. In many places culture is not embedded inLocal Area Agreements, and it does not feature toany great degree in the comprehensiveperformance assessment regime either (councilscan neglect culture and still do well).

Because culture isn't valued in its own right,councils don't have to fund it. Except for providingpublic libraries and looking after listed buildings,councils have no statutory duty to give theircitizens the makings of a cultural life, even though,as we have seen, 94 per cent of their citizens getinvolved in culture in some way.

That leads to problem number three: theservices that councils are obliged to spend moneyon are expanding, and sometimes overspending;council tax is capped; so areas of discretionaryspending, like culture, get squeezed. This squeezehas been tightened by the Gershon Review, thatrequires councils to achieve overall savings year-on-year. To achieve an average of saving, cuts arelikely to fall most acutely on those areas, like thearts, where money does not have to be spent.

“Culture is central to most of thethings that local politics wants toachieve.”

On the other hand there are plenty of LocalAuthorities doing very positive things, includingnew investment in infrastructure andrefurbishments, and education initiatives in music,

theatre and the visual arts. There have beenstriking cultural success stories from the SageGateshead to Gosport Discovery Centre. Oneother piece of good news is that I believe there isbetter co-ordination now at a local level betweencultural agencies and Local Authorities.

My point here is absolutely not to say thateverything is terrible; but I do say that because ofthe way that culture is treated – legislatively,financially and philosophically – my fear is thatnalgao is right to be worried and that moreauthorities are going to put the squeeze on thearts and culture. And that is a tragic error,because culture is central to most of the thingsthat local politics wants to achieve.

If elected members want to build legitimacy,engage local people, and make their towns andvillages distinctive and enjoyable places to live andwork, they need to start by building the focalpoints of community life - which means the arts,museums and heritage as much as anything else.Local Authorities neglect culture at their perilbecause cutting culture will undermine many ofthe things that they are trying to do. Take awaythe local arts centre and what does that do foryoung people's well-being, exercise regime, self-reliance, self-help and the rest? How do you builda sense of community if the community hasnowhere to come together, to express its wishesand to enjoy itself?

The decisions that Local Authorities makedetermine, in large part, the look and feel of ourcities, towns and villages. Similarly, the range ofpossibilities for what citizens can do, what theycan learn, and how they can grow is powerfullyinfluenced by the infrastructure and activities thatLocal Authorities choose to invest in.

Local authorities need to treat the arts, heritageand, culture more generally as a central concernbecause they are now of crucial importance tomany of the issues facing society. Whether weexpress this in terms of personal intrinsic value, orin the language of outcomes and instrumentalvalues, or in the public language of institutionalvalue, the importance of the arts in not justbuilding communities, but allowing communitiesto build themselves, is clear.

And of course , the other reason foracknowledging the arts as important is becausethey are treated as such by a substantial majorityof voters. •John HoldenHead of Culture, Demos020 7367 6324john.holden@demos.co.ukwww.demos.co.uk

1 This is an edited version of John’s speech. The full version will be on nalgao’swebsite in the New Year.2 Knowledge and Inspiration’ can be downloaded free from www.demos.co.UK.

Sage, Gateshead – a striking cultural success story

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Consultation and the Arts• A benchmark of good consultation practice

would be useful• Methodologies are important, especially new

ones: “conversations” and “photos”, etc, inengaging the hard to reach

• We need definitions:• Define “culture” for consultees (does this

include libraries, parks & open spaces, etc)• Define different methods in different contexts• Define the terms of reference of the

consultation: the scope and scale• Manage expectations: of both consultation and

of outcomes and resources• Abolish poor consultations and establish

good practice

Surviving the Threat of closure: • The case must be made at a corporate and

political level, so lobby at different levels anduse high profile partners and community leadersto argue your case for you, and make sure thatthey are well briefed

• In the current financial climate, the BusinessCase must come to the front

• Become a multidisciplinary chameleon• Be clear about how well the facts about the arts

are travelling up the management chain• Gets arts into your Local Area Agreements• Increase awareness of what cultural produce is

on offer and how can this be raised and betterpromoted

Arts Officer Standards1. What makes a good Arts Officer? • Do we need a National Standard? • If so, what would it look like?• Is this a quality standard for the service/

the local authority or the person/people offering it?

The group discussed the key attributes of what

constitutes a good arts officer: • There was some disagreement as to whether

these can be measured and whether a “standardfor arts officer” was appropriate or possible.

• There was however agreement that nalgaoshould take on the task of exploringthe possibility of developing acompetence model for arts officers,as the most appropriateorganisation representing the peoplewho do it.

• Nalgao can only do this if it consultsclosely with its membership on acontinuing basis.

2. Attributes of a Local authority Arts Officer• Ability to work in partnership• Advocacy• Excellent Admin skills• Imagination• Facilitation skills• Creativity and an interest in the arts• Celebrating success• Diverse experiences• Being influential• Being able to think and act strategically• Good at relationship building• Having good business advice• Sustainability & succession

planning beyond the individual• Political astuteness and

acumen• Good communication skills and

articulate• Flexible abilities: able to think

big and small• Good management skills• Knowing and accepting the

challenge• Passion • Flair >

Open Space FeedbackThe Open Space sessions have become a distinguishing and vibrant feature of recent nalgaoconferences. They are a way of the delegates of both defining the agenda and sharing informationand experiences.

Any delegate can propose a topic, which they then lead, and which hopefully attract both thecurious and the determined to speak, listen and share. This section outlines the bullet point findingsfrom a selection of the Open Space sessions at nalgao’s September conference. We hope you findthem intelligible and useful.

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3. More complex attributes:• You can tell the story about how

people engage• Acting as bridge-builders• Motivated to make a difference• Tenacity• Critical confidence and strong

analytical skills• Able to make the

complicated simple

Philanthropy• It is not just about money • Patronage is not new• How do we reach/find wealthy people and how

do you tick their boxes? Could be throughsocial interaction such as Rotary Clubs,Chambers of Commerce, Masonic Lodges etc

• We need the financial equivalent of speeddating for the arts to put projects andprospective patrons together

• There are big endowment funds, but how do weinfluence this? Legacies can be a potentialsource of major funding

• There are issues of better tax relief on individualgiving

• We may need to know board make-up and whoboard members know

• What is the role of LA arts officers in this?Could be enabling, information & advice and alobby for better tax relief

• We may need a broker or partnership• Lottery as philanthropy? But not fulfilling

original intentions• In Spain, banks have to give a proportion of

profits to culture• The arts can provide speakers to Rotary clubs,

Masonic meetings, Lions events etc and thismay lead to contacts

• Philanthropy and sponsorship are different• People like giving, but the arts sector can be

bad at asking• Wealthy people want unique experiences.

The arts can be good at providing these.

Helping Voluntary Arts groups develop

1. Do Voluntary Arts Groups need growth anddevelopment?

• Yes, but It depends on whose agenda you areapplying

• There is a danger of putting too much emphasison voluntary arts groups in the delivery of thefull participatory arts experience

• The majority want to carry on doing what theydo, and not feeding other agendas

• The majority of arts groups don’t want arelationship with the council

• We may be missing a trick that voluntary artsgroups are good at getting people to participate

• Voluntary arts groups are very strongeconomically, and contribute a large economicinput to the arts sector

• We don’t always know they exist• Sometimes they are fine and should be left to

develop on their own• Can we make volunteers more “professional”

without scaring them away?• Better to train the CVS to support voluntary

arts groups that to try to do it all within localauthorities.

2. What areas do voluntary arts groups needhelp with?

• There are gaps in where available help get to• Marketing: using new technologies• Risk Assessment and H&S: skills and time• Event Management and licensing compliance:

crowd safely, traffic control, etc• Chairing a meeting, organisational management

and capacity development• Settling realistic goals and monitoring/evaluation• Membership recruitment• Fundraising• Child protection3. What can local authorities do to help?• Implement a small pot of community arts

grants• Working with CVS network to inform them

about umbrella arts groups• Joint initiatives with Arts Council: for specialist

arts support for voluntary groups and artformdevelopment

• Introduce Valuing Volunteers Awards• Ask voluntary arts groups how we can help them• Information, including information about the

statutory sector and how it works• Advocating what VAN does and use the VAN

website• Documenting and celebrating successes from

training• Get groups you have worked with to talk to

others• Networking opportunities in exhibition,

fundraising and capacity development

Arts development by Stealth(sneaky ways to get things done!)

1. Play the System• Policy• Arts @ the Strategic Centre• Networks• Understand the ethos and culture of your

authority• Find out who is influential and where the

power lies• Find out what language to talk (especially on

planning and regeneration issues) and talk it• Find others who share your values and passions

and use them• Prove that what you say is true - do it!• Go and do it first - get a track record, use facts

and figures • Ask for it, don’t wait to be told, but watch

your back!• Have professional confidence and belief in

yourself

Note: read:• Orbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon McKenzie

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• Breaking the Code (about Westminster andpolitics) by Gyles Brandreth

2. Buck the system• Don’t be too defensive – ask why not, not why! • Take your leader on study tours and use case

studies from other areas that have worked(don’t re-invent the wheel)

3. Talk it up• Be confident and talk with authority - you are

the expert and they won’t often challenge you.• Knowledge• Call it an Arts Service - call it an arts base (even

if there is only one of you)

4. Using arts policy as a defence?• Arts at the strategic centre is a good tool, and it

will enable you to talk to members• Allow other people to take the credit for your

ideas (and especially politicians!)• Give the quote/photo opportunity to your

cabinet member, chief executive or linemanager but make sure your line managerknows who really did it!

• Use key messages and get independentoutsiders to say the same messages

• Create your own safe testing ideas group• Establish networks and forums• Sometimes do not ask permission (be

economical with the truth!) - be aware thatyour line manager may not be able to say yes

• Be clever and strategic with support for others• Never get angry – Mr Angry does not get

invited back for tea!

Participation to Partnerships:what chance a productive future?

• We need to grow with partners andpartnerships

• What makes partnerships work?

The mind set:• What approach can we take to develop

partnerships• We need to be at the table when the money

is there• Arts people have credibility• Integral to forums

How to get invited to meetings?• We are fundamentally engaged in the bigger

picture

Strategic Partnerships: LSPs and LAAs• We need to question where arts sits in the local

and regional framework• 50% of ADOs were not involved in LAAs

(nalgao LA Spending Survey 2007). Informationhas to come top-down, and those at thebottom might not know how or even know tolook at this

• We need to apply a strategic approach to sit atthe table: If you want to be involved, go andtalk to others, get them to agree that youshould be at the table

• Should ACE & DCMS facilitate the cultural

agenda? Think sideways! Support the creationof cultural partnerships where they do not exist.

• Work with RDAs (and broker with organisationswho understand RDAs and areas to advocate).RDAs have money!

What Culture means to LAs:• Community strategies• Seeing arts as the voluntary sector• What could ACE do?

• nalgao is in a good position to encourageofficers to join in.

• 97% of nalgao members are involved instrategic planning

Do we follow money?• Part of our core business is to access money

and us it to deliver the arts agenda• Seeing other services deliver this in a non-

participatory way is gutting!• In the future, should LAs engage with the

voluntary sector to deliver on LAAs?• Look at Missions, Models, Money (Google it)• We work to ever-changing agendas, and

forward planning is difficult. There may beclashes of timescales in relation to agendas andfunding. >

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Key actions:1. Strategic focus on cultural partnerships2. We need to be more strategic3. Build sustainable partnerships and recognition

through promotion and advocacy to get aplace at the table

4. Build on the “Arts Performance Checklist”5. Connect strategically with key players (in the

cultural sector and wider) and use them toadvocate for you

6. You can be the one to develop cultural forums,don’t wait for someone else to do it

7. Make your outcomes work8. Be better informed on strategic planning and

LAAs/LSP’s.9. Build sustainable relationships10. Align with the voluntary sector11. Seize the day! This is the time of opportunity

Conference Feedback86% 1 of delegates thought the venue wasgood or excellent – thanks and well done theCambridge Corn Exchange!82% of delegates thought the keynoteconference speakers were good or excellent. 81% of delegates thought the breakoutsessions were good or excellent.70% of delegates thought the study tourswere good or excellent.80% of delegates thought the catering wasgood or excellent.88% of delegates thought the conferencewas good value for money.84% of delegates thought it met some of theirtraining needs and 96% said it met some their CPD needs.

The conference attracted 186 delegates - an increase of 7 on the 2006 conference.

Not there? Hear…Podcasts of some of the conference keynotespeeches can be found on Arts Professional’swebsite - www.artsprofessional.co.uk

Conference Thanks:nalgao wishes to thank Arts Council England forGrants for the Arts support for the conference.Cambridge City Council, CambridgeshireCounty Council, South Cambridgeshire DC andEast Cambs DC (through ADeC) were attentiveand supportive hosts, our grateful thanks tothem. EUCLID and Arts Professionalsponsored this year’s conference. Many thanks to them for their support. •1 Who expressed an opinion.

Gail BrownMy arrival at this conference filled me with botha sense of excitement and nervousness. I waskeen to engage with as much as I could in termsof doing my own organisation Surrey Arts proudand that of being part of nalgao.

The keynote speakers were inspirational andhuman, real people with a compellingunderstanding of the challenges we faceworking with arts at a government level, fiscalbudgets, achievement pressures from on highand conflicting agendas. Break out sessionsrevealed greater areas of similar challengesacross the UK and suddenly I felt less alone asan arts provider… there was a sense of support.Margaret Hodge spoke of “putting passion intoaction that will result in a lasting legacy withincommunities”. I believe that this is what thenalgao conference began to achieve. As Ientered each break out session, the knowledge I was gaining gave me courage to comment, toenter into debate and to draw clarity from themany colleagues whom surrounded me.

On leaving I felt overwhelmed, almost tearful for the experience to be ending. I hadconnected with a new city; a collective ofpeople working in the arts across the UK whounderstood the challenges I felt and embracedthe cartoon like light bulb above my head,which flickered consistently throughout theconference. I left with more friends than when I arrived and had made unexpected allianceswithin a SE Group that will always be known as“Adam and the 5 Eves”. Cambridge was kind tome and showed me her history, courage and

boldness in accepting change within herarchitecture, artistic landscape andcommunities. If this was a taste of what nalgaothe community, can and does offer the artssector, then I was hooked. If nalgao had been apudding I would have invariably gone back forseconds and indeed I will as I look forward toattending the 2008 Conference wherever thatmay be…

Gail M BrownDance Development Officer Surrey Arts DanceAnd SE Region nalgao Rep ( job-share)

Tracey ShawI’ve become a bit of a conference cynic over theyears - too many gigs spent feeling disgruntledthat the content and learning weren’t nearlyenough to justify precious time away from theoffice. But the relevance of nalgao 2007’s focusto my own work – managing arts andregeneration projects in a range of challenging

community contexts – plus the need forrefreshment in the face of so many LAAs, LDFs,NRFs, HMRs and LEGIs, were just enough tohook me in. Off I went in search of three i’s -information and ideas, and with a modicum ofhope that I might even find some inspiration.nalgao, not only did you not disappoint, youexceeded expectations.

I found my three i’s in liberal helpingsthroughout, but especially in two workshopsand a bus ride. Ixia’s workshop gave invaluabletechnical information on integrating public art

policy and strategy into local planningprocesses. Green Heart Partnership’s work inHertfordshire on the development of publicspaces provided new ideas aplenty, in thearguments for early involvement of artistswithin inter-disciplinary approaches to“placeshaping” and in the examples of artist-ledcommunity consultation using GHP’s ‘PerceptionAREA’ model. The trip into rural South Cambstook in two brand new housing developments at Arbury Park and Cambourne, offeringinspirational examples of artists’ contributionsto the nurturing of newly formed communitiesto take back to our own housing marketrenewal programme in Dewsbury.

Quite unexpectedly I found a fourth ‘i’ too – sufficient invigoration to feel that I reallyneeded to do something with all these juicyideas, examples, contacts and reference pointsback home in Kirklees. With something akin tomissionary zeal, I returned with notions ofgetting some balls rolling, by writing a couple ofpapers and instigating some dialogues with

colleagues in Planning, Housing andRegeneration which could maybe begin to have some influence (ok, the ‘i’ theme’s gettingtedious now!). Notions of the kind that easilyget lost sight of in the back-to-work hurly burly.But six weeks on the papers are written, thedialogues are starting… nalgao 2007 it was all down to you. Customer delight indeed!

Tracy ShawProject Director, LocaKirklees Culture & Leisure Services •

Two randomly chosen newcomers to nalgao conferences give their views on what it was like for them…

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In the Valleys of South Wales, since the mines closed down over 15 yearsago, we have become very good at telling everyone how bad things are.Statistics trip off the tongue - over 20% of the working age population holdno formal qualifications; almost 30% of the working age population areeconomically inactive (40% in some wards); 25% of the population have alimiting long-term illness and one in three children live in poverty. 80% offormer miners in South Wales still haven’t found work.

But the mining industry had an important by-product, which has provedto be relatively sustainable – a resource which has not yet run out…

MiningCreativity

The Art of Regeneration in the Welsh ValleysPolly Hamilton

Culture – a Bi-Product of theMining IndustryCulture, particularly in the form of choirs, brassbands, amateur musicals and Eisteddfoddau,was an essential part of community life. MinersInstitutes, theatres and cinemas can be foundall across the Valleys, built by the mine-ownersand supported by workers through theirinfamous ‘penny in the pound’ weeklycontribution, an early form of ‘percent for art’.This impressive heritage has instilled atremendous passion for music and theperforming arts, and the history of socialjustice in the area has resulted in considerableexpertise in socially-engaged contemporaryarts practice, not to mention really greatevents in theatres right on your doorstep. Thereare some notable artists associated with thearea – in commercial music, Tom Jones,Stereophonics, Manic Street Preachers, LostProphets, Funeral for a Friend. Jazz musicianPaula Gardiner, playwrights Laurence Allan,Frank Vickery, Patrick Jones, writers RachelTrezize, Harri Webb. In visual arts, ErnestZobole, Robert Thomas, the Model House andmore recently, Platform Arts. Spectacle Theatreand Gwent Theatre - delivering quality theatrein education, youth theatre and communitytheatre, The Pop Factory, Rhondda Cynon TaffCommunity Arts, Valleys Kids, Dance Blast,Zoom Cymru and others are forginginternational reputations for their work.

The Role of Local Authority ArtsServicesLocal authorities in the South Wales Valleyshave had a programme of Arts Developmentsince the early 1990s, following a successfulinitiative by the then Welsh Office. Valleys Liverefurbished cultural venues and recruited artsand marketing professionals to run a year-round programme of events. This created anew infrastructure of directly-managed artsservices in the Valleys, from Neath Port Talbotin the west, to Torfaen in the east, covering apopulation of almost 1 million, over a third ofthe population of Wales.

Rhondda Cynon Taf – A Case StudyHere in Rhondda Cynon Taf, like other artsservices, we have been managing a gradualprocess of change from a leisure-basedprovision to a greater focus on wider cross-cutting issues, from community safety, tolifelong learning and health and well-being.Having been relatively successful at improvingthe quality and accessibility of our artsprovision, and creating as stable a financialbase as is possible within today’s climate, wehave turned our attention to boosting our >

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Challenges todeveloping the CreativeIndustries in the Valleys

• Limited resource to invest in research and development, policy and planning.Currently our arts budgets are tied up in funding activity, and not industry. We need to find ways to transferresources to developing the means ofproduction, not simply product.

• Low levels of specialist expertisewithin our own department, EducationServices and Business Supportdepartments, or independent mainstreambusiness advisory services, leading toineffective advice, inappropriatesignposting and unresponsiveness.

• Lack of shared language.All professions come with their ownjargon, and terminology differs betweenthe arts, education and economicdevelopment sectors. An example wouldbe the description of, in our terms, ayouth arts project. To the educationsector this would be “entry-levelengagement”, our economic partnerswould describe it as “talentdevelopment”. However described, thelanguage is pretty impenetrable to the very people supposed to benefit fromthe work.

• National strategic priorities do notalways match local needs: CreativeBusiness Wales, the ‘hub’ for the creativeindustries based within the WelshAssembly Government has prioritisedhigh-end venture capital, IntellectualProperty and large-scale investment infilm, media and music – sectors basedprimarily within the metropolitan coastalbelt. This means little or no support forthe micro-businesses operating in Valleyscommunities.

• Image and place marketing– the consistent profiling of the Valleys as the depressed former Coalfields both locally and outside the area simplyreinforces the worst aspects of life in theValleys – it’s an untrue picture. The realityis that the Valleys are a great place to live.

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Tom Jones, International Superstar!

Fight Night, Muni Arts Centre

Kelly Jones, Stereophonics

support for the creative industries. The Valleysqualify for EU Convergence funding, thesuccessor to Objective One. This time, we wantto make sure that people working in thecreative industries sector benefit in such a wayas to make their businesses genuinelysustainable when Convergence funding ends in6 years time. We also want to give youngpeople a reason to stay here.

Like others, we have encountered a numberof challenges, beyond those of our geographicallocation and demographics, which impact onthe development of any industry.

So, to get over these challenges, we’ve beenworking on a number of projects, which bringtogether partners from local government,education, the independent cultural sector andthe private sector. These include:-

Sonig Youth Music Industry(www.sonig.org.uk) has been running for 7years. It’s supported by Cymorth funding fromthe Welsh Assembly Government (for youngpeople at risk of disaffection) and helps createpathways into the music industry for youngpeople in Rhondda Cynon Taf. The programmeis run by Tanya Walker, herself a well-knownsinger-songwriter on the Welsh music circuitand a PRS Foundation award-winner. As well asenabling people to compose and play their ownoriginal music, and supporting and showcasinglocal bands, the project supports youngentrepreneurs through seminars, mentoring andadvice sessions. In 2006, Sonig won The PopFactory award for Community Music.

Zoom(www.zoomcymru.com) is new social enterpriseand film/media development initiative thattargets young people. The project is helping tobuild confidence, media literacy and the kind of skills and experience that young people willneed to help them access the film, media andbroadcasting industries. The focal point of itsannual programme is Wales’ only annualinternational festival of young people’s film –screenings of the best work for and by youngpeople, whether the latest Pixar or a short filmmade by young people in Poland. The project was instigated by ourselves and the University of Glamorgan, set up with the support offunding from the Coalfields Regeneration Trustand the Arts Council of Wales, inspired by theannouncement of a major new film studios,Dragon, to be built in the south of the county.By the time the studios are ready to open in a few years time, it is hoped that Zoom willhave given young people in the Valleys somehope of getting work in an industry where jobswould otherwise go to skilled people fromoutside the area.

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Magic Voices Welsh National Opera – WNO MAX and local school children

Black Umfolosi with Treorchy Male Choir

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We set up the Valleys Creative Industries Forumto bring together local, sub-regional, andnational partners with an interest in supportingthe development of the sector. This createscritical mass, pools knowledge and helps spreadtime, energy and funding further. Through thisforum, we are organising consultation andnetworking events for creative people andbusinesses in the Valleys, monitoring thedevelopment of Convergence and seeking along term research partner to provide us withthe information we need to establish abaseline and monitor improvement. We’re working in the long term to:

• Better make the case for the creative andcultural sector

• Make the sector more accessible, particularly to a more diverse range of people

• Create more, better quality, jobs in the sector• Grow creative businesses, enabling them to

achieve their creative, business and socialobjectives.

• Promote the Valleys as a great place to do business, because of its creativecommunities, beautiful landscape anddistinctive culture.

Supporting the creative industries requiresdifferent competencies and contacts. As artsofficers, we have already begun to considerhow we need to develop our skills andknowledge to better support the sector in ourarea. As a starting point, we are…

• Re-thinking our role.Be clear that with creative businesses ourrole is to support, signpost and facilitate. We are not a gate-keeper but an opener ofdoors! Sometimes we just need to get out ofthe way!

• Educating ourselves– there are now loads of websites andpublications out there with the facts youneed to demonstrate to colleagues inEconomic Development and Education that a strategic, joined up approach is required.Find out what’s happening at a regional leveltoo, through the Regional DevelopmentAgency or Regional Cultural Consortium.

• Asking people– what do local artists, arts organisations andcreative businesses need from us? Let’s notassume we know, ask them! We are talking torelated support agencies to find out what wecan do to encourage creative people to usetheir services.

• Building our networksFinding out who is offering the best businessadvisory support in our area. If there isn’t aspecialist service for the creative industries,then those offering support to the socialenterprise sector are often a good startingpoint. Or, are there some good, mature arts and creative organisations in the areawho could offer mentoring to new start-upsand young entrepreneurs? Local further and higher education institutions are oftengood sources of support. And let’s not forgetour regional nalgao grouping. nalgao Cymrumembers have proved to be a great source of support here in the Valleys – we reallycouldn’t do this work without them!

The creative industries are seen as animportant part of the new service-based andknowledge-based economies in the UK.

Our urban areas and cities have long-sinceseen the benefits of investment in the creative economy. In the dead traditional industries of South Wales Valleys, it was physical strength thatmattered. It remains to be seen if we canhelp our workforce make the transition from ‘brawn’ to ‘brain’: but surely the best atalyst is our magnificent, intriguing, shared culture. •Polly Hamilton2006/07 Clore Fellow (supported by the Arts Council of Wales)Head of Cultural Services,. Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Councilpolly.c.hamilton@rhondda-cynon-taff.gov.uk

Kelly Jones photo: Tom Sheehan

Silesian Dance Theatre photo: Tomasz Zakrzewski

Aspiring photo-journalist with The Lost Prophets, The Full Ponty 07

Park and Dare Theatre, Treorchy Silesian Dance Theatre, Poland

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In 2004 Canterbury City Council’s EconomicDevelopment and Regeneration teamcommissioned consultants Yellow Book to carryout a concept study for a proposed creativeand cultural quarter in Canterbury. Two of thekey findings were:

• The creative and cultural industries have akey role to play in modernising the cityeconomy

• Creative industries are under-represented

It was something we all already knew but washighly useful in supporting the work wewanted to develop. We knew that we neededto try and establish some creative spaces as apriority so undertook a period of desk-basedresearch and site visits to various studio spacesin the region to study other models and seewhat did and didn’t work in the real world.

The team also initiated the search forprospective buildings. Several council-ownedproperties were viewed but the majority of thebuildings required major capital investment upto £40,000 in some cases, which we simplycould not afford. Our spaces needed to workon paying for themselves and as a pilot projectwe needed hard evidence before we couldsecure further council investment. To make thiswork we needed to find a relatively low costbuilding, in a central location, partners to workwith us and most importantly find goodtenants to occupy the space. Easy!!

After lots of searching, a small office block inthe heart of the city centre was secured as themost suitable. The building was capable ofproviding 8 spaces.

The overall leasable space of the building is70.78 metres. The building provides 8 smallstudios (2 of which are lockable), toilets,cloakroom, shared kitchen, storage area andsmall covered outside area. There was nomajor structural work needed to the building.Dividing screens were made in order todemarcate the studio spaces, electrical socketswere fitted into each individual space and afire door was fitted.

A change of use for the building was notrequired. The team took on the building in itsentirety. We became responsible for the day today running of the building from maintenance

of boilers and implementation of a fire plan.Red Dog Creative Studios were born.

We almost became a nuisance!We needed both internal and external partnersto make the project achievable. Our internal partners included. Estates, Legal,Building Services and Economic Developmentand Regeneration. We had to convince themajority of them that this was a worthwhilepartnership and highlighting the importance ofcreative industries and there value to thedistrict. (No mean feat!)

The demand from other departments forvacant council owned buildings is high. Weparticularly had to position ourselves high onestate’s priority list. This was achieved by

constant emails andvisits fromourselves until wealmost became a“nuisance”! Thistactic worked asthe building we hadchosen was soughtafter by at least 3other departmentswithin the council.

We also spent aconsiderableamount of timewith the legaldepartmentdiscussing the besttype of lease to use.We wanted toprovide creativeswith any easyin/out lease of 1month. In order toachieve this weoffered licenceagreements, whichafter a year wouldhave to be changedfor leases. This typeof agreementmeans thatcommon areas suchas toilets, kitchenand passageway are

the responsibility of the landlord i.e. us. Thismeant the hiring of a part time cleaner (a costwe had not accounted for). As well as the mainlicense agreement we have a separatecontract, which stipulates basic house rulesand the ethos of the studios. This secondagreement is sent out with the main licenceagreement.

“Red Dog Studios is providing avaluable support for thecreative industries in that theynetwork, share resources andsupport each other as theyprogress their businesses”Dorothy Thom – GatewayEnterprise East Kent Director

Canterbury Gets Mitch Robertson

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CreativeThe Economic Development and Regenerationteam had already realised the importance ofthe creative industries and were keen to workwith us to set up workspaces. The teamsignposted us to other partners, in particularBusiness Link and Gateway Enterprise, whobecame involved in providing one to onebusiness support for the fledging companies byoffering practical advice, identifying clustersand networking opportunities in the area andacting as a signpost to other relevant partners.Tenants are typically in the very early stages oftheir careers, some of themhaving just left university.Every effort is being made toencourage and support themin developing theirbusinesses. The Arts teamalso spent considerable timeworking in conjunction withthe Health and Safety officerto put into place a fire plan.

Our external partnersincluded the threeUniversities in ourcatchment area It was hoped that theywould take on workspace fortheir graduates within thebuilding on a permanentbasis but this did nothappen. However the linksmade were very positive as itled to wider marketingopportunities.

The East Kent GatewayEnterprise Manager has beena vital part of the studiossuccess. She provides one toone business support andacts as a signpost to manyother useful agencies. Shehas included the creatives inmany networkingopportunities and has actedas an advocate for thestudios at business meetings throughout thearea. This may lead to future sponsorshipopportunities.

The council has provided funding for capitalcosts of £10,000 over 2 years to develop and

support the start up units for creativesthroughout the district.

Currently, approximately five hours a weekof officer time is spent running the Red Dogstudios alone. This involves day-to-day healthand safety inspections, marketing, businesssupport and signposting for the workspacesfrom the main council offices. Regular emailand personal contact ensures all the creativesare made aware of any local and nationalopportunities (bursaries, exhibitingopportunities and professional development).

Conclusions:There are now eight creatives workingindustriously within the heart of Canterbury inan ideal location with excellent business adviceat hand. They are excited, organized and

energized. The Red Dog creatives meet once a week to discuss opportunities andmanagement issues. They have sought advicefrom other agencies to create opportunitiesand develop their practice. Currently they areseeking advice in order to form into a morelegal organisation. They have had two jointexhibitions and are currently participating inthe Open Studios East Kent.

I know that the provision of this facility hasmade a difference.

Mitch Robertson, Arts Development Officer, Culture &Communications, Canterbury City CouncilTel: 01227 862405 Email:Mitch.Robertson@canterbury.gov.uk

The Context:Canterbury is a thriving city of 135,000people situated in East Kent, approximately50 miles from London and Brighton and ishome to three major universities,University of Kent at Canterbury (UKC),University College for the Creative Arts(UCCA) and Canterbury ChristchurchUniversity (CCU). All have a reputation forcreative courses, many in the visual artsand currently there are approximately30,000 students, who live and work in thedistrict, many of whom leave the area ongraduating due to the limited opportunitiesavailable for them to develop their practice,moving to creative hubs in London andBrighton.

Aware of these issues, in 2003Canterbury City Council adopted theCultural and Creative Industries Policy,which highlighted the drain of talent awayfrom the area and looked at ways we couldbegin to support and nurture our youngcreatives. Our key ways of moving forwardwere to:

• Develop spaces for artists• Develop an intern programme• Introduce interest free loans

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The Red Dog Ethos:As a team we talked long and hard about whatwe wanted to achieve, it had to be more thatjust a straight ‘let’ if we wanted to grow acreative community our main principles are:

• Be committed to the development of Red Dog Creative Studios and to create anenvironment for exchange, discourse andprofessional development

• Take part in: Technology Enterprise Kent (TEK) Look Before You Leap programme. (The programme uses the modern facilitationprocess to help would-be entrepreneurs find out about starting a business. With thehelp of three user-friendly booklets, theprocess moves through from personal issues to the rules of business and businessplanning)

• Actively encourage further fundingopportunities that will benefit you or othermembers of Red Dog Creative Studios

The selection criteria are wide. We want tosupport recent graduates that live and or work within the district. We are looking fortenants that are interested in their ownprofessional development and passionate to take their businesses further and beprepared to work together to forward the aims of Red Dog. Currently there are visualartists, ceramicists and sculptors occupyingspaces.

What would we do differentlynext time?The studios are a success in that we have fulloccupancy and a waiting list but there arethings we would do differently next time. They are:

Do not become “landlords” for the buildingTaking over the management of the building in its entirety, changing light bulbs and dealingwith vagrants for example, is time consumingand not an effective use of time. Whereverpossible simply act as a link between the artistand the owner. Currently we are opening threenew studio spaces working in partnership withEconomic Development and Estates. We willnot collect revenue from this initiative but wewill be achieving our main priority of creatingnew workspaces and retaining creatives withinthe district.

Work more closely withstakeholders/partnersRed Dog was seen as a pilot project. More time must be spent in future projectsdeveloping relationships with possible partners

and stakeholders in outside agencies. Time must be spent securing commitmentfrom other council departments and outsidebodies.

MaintenanceFrequent officer time is spent maintaining the building on a day-to-day basis. Next timewe will encourage one of the creatives to takeon more of a care-taking role within thestudios in exchange for a reduction in rent.

What the artists say…

“I love the community of Red Dog - art can bequite an isolated practice, so to have sevenother people around you creating is fantastic…

making friends and inspiring each other.”Emma Blackwood - painter

“Red Dog provides greatly needed workspace for artists in the Canterbury area. It creates anon-going, active dialogue for the individualsinvolved and connects them to outside agenciesthat can help develop their practice.” Kate Mathews - sculptor

“Red Dog is a place where I feel at home. The presence of other artists gives me greatencouragement to continue my art. I enjoy ourinformal talks and small discussions. I alsoappreciate the help from the art officers who trytheir best to make the place friendly andartistically alive.”Lucy Pawlikowski – painter •

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Creative Leicestershire began as the Leicester,Leicestershire and Rutland Arts Partnershipproject in 2005. Many of you will rememberthat, as subscriptions to the Arts Council bylocal authorities came to an end, all parties were keen to keep that local authoritysubscription money ring-fenced for arts activity.Hence the partnerships between Arts Counciland the local authorities to start new, jointly-funded, activity.

This partnership decided that the focus in theLeicestershire sub-region was to be ondeveloping the creative economy. We had anumber of large capital projects beginning inLeicester (Creative Business Depot, PerformingArts Centre, Digital Media Centre); developingcapital projects in Leicestershire (in Hinckleyand Loughborough); two Universities withstrong creative courses (De Montfort and Loughborough) and a strongdesign sector.

So, with two years worth of funding alreadysecured, we set about writing a Business Plan forthe programme. What seemed clear was that wecouldn’t do everything for everybody in thecreative sector. We wanted an arts focus, butalso recognised the strength of the design sectorin the sub-region. So we decided to focus on theneeds of small arts, media and design businesses– mainly freelancers and those employing up to

three people. Theseseemed to be thecreatives who weremore isolated and lesslikely to get supportfrom Business Link,enterprise agencies, Arts & Business, ArtsCouncil etc.

‘If it ain’t broke,don’t fix it’.We allocated staffresources as follows:there are 1.5 employedstaff - Clare Hudson(Creative IndustriesManager) & EmilyHorwood (who works

part of her time on Creative Leicestershire andpart-time on arts development for the CountyCouncil). We also employ a freelance businessadviser (part-time), a freelance project managerfor one of our showcasing projects and buy intrainers and presenters for all our seminars.

When local authority/Arts Councilpartnerships came to an end in our region wehad a number of things in place to help supportthe continuation of the Creative Leicestershireprogramme:

• Evidence from our first independent evaluationsaid that we were doing a good job andneeded to develop the programme furtheralong the same lines

• All local authority partners agreed that theywere getting good value for money from theprogramme and were keen to support itfurther

• Arts Council England were supportive of theprogramme, even if partnership agreementfunding was no longer forthcoming.

Our external evaluation had looked at manyaspects of the programme including our hostingarrangements with Leicestershire County Counciland our client focus on small arts, media anddesign businesses. It came to the conclusion ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.

As a result, we drafted a Forward Plan 2008-11 for the programme. This Forward Plan isbeing based on a partnership agreement

between the 10 local authorities involved. Arts Council England has awarded us significantGrants for the Arts project funding for the next three years and therefore come on board as a funder rather than a directpartner. We are also awaiting the outcome of a bid to the Regional Development Agency forother parts of the project. Reportingperformance indicators to some 14 funders intotal will be a challenge.

If you’d like to know more about the programmesee www.creativeleicestershire.org.uk or contactClare Hudson on chudson@leics.gov.uk

Things we are proud of include:• Building up a brand which artists and freelance

commercial creatives know and trust• Reaching people who other agencies have little

contact with• Looking more holistically at what the sector

needs including advocacy, support forworkspace/premises development andshowcasing projects

Things which need more workinclude:• Working with Business Link and their providers

to tailor their work to creatives rather thantrying to provide a complete alternative

• Trying to get more co-ordination and contactwith relevant College and Universitycurriculum leaders

• Getting a more representative and diverse client base >

Leicester Leaps InClare Hudson

Concentric neckpiece, Alex Williamson

Three Graces by Laurielorry Theatre Company(Creative Leicestershire bursary winners 2006)

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The Bristol Estate in Brighton is one of these.Tucked away on a hill behind the Royal SussexCounty Hospital, and only three minutes fromfashionable Kemp Town, it is home to 700people in 368 ‘units’. The units themselves are arranged in low andhigh rise blocks, built at a time whenutilitarianism and grey uniformity werethought to equal good design. They havegorgeous sea views and there are a greatmany worse looking estates in Britain, but allthe same, the buildings were fifty years oldthis July and it shows. (The outside walls are begging to be painted in a range ofstrong vibrant colours that will resonateagainst the sky – sponsorship anyone?)

Bristol Estate has a large proportion of twovulnerable groups: the elderly and singleparent families. Rates of unemployment arehigh and there is a high proportion ofpermanently sick or disabled residents. Four years ago it became designated aNeighbourhood Renewal area and since then,the Bristol Estate Community Association hasbeen developed enabling a range of projectsto take place.

Of course several projects have been arts focussed and these have proved verypopular amongst residents. During this period,there was discussion in the CommunityAssociation about some disused ‘drying areas’at the bottom of the blocks becoming a focus

Drying to be The Bristol Estate Studios Dany Louise

Creative Leicestershire –What We Do:1) Communicating with businesses: initially it was

important to create a separate brand for theprogramme. Then came the website (hosted byLeicestershire County Council); database, printand PR. As well as web-based resources we sendout an ebulletin every month to over 1200creatives plus students, local authority officers,business support agencies. Although time-consuming to compile it’s about the mostuseful and cost-effective thing we do.

2) One to one advice: quite costly, but certainlyworthwhile. We currently employ a specialistfreelancer to deliver the majority of this work.The specialist knowledge of the sector as well assound understanding of business practices is vital.

3) Training: we focus on creative-specific seminarswhere people can update skills and information.Examples of previous seminars include musicdistribution seminar (issues of downloading etc),publishing for visual artists.

4) Networking events: some of these are generaland some specific (eg Performing Arts Network).Although Leicester is a geographic centre for thesub-region, it’s really important for us to haveevents in the market towns.

5) Development Bursary scheme: providing£2,000 bursaries for 15 businesses per year tocarry out an agreed development plan todevelop the sustainability of their business. Thescheme is competitive and open to anyone withup to 3 employees.

6) Showcasing: we support projects ranging fromOpen Studios to a download album of urbanmusic. Our main projects currently indevelopment are Artslink (for participatoryartists) www.artslinknetwork.org.uk and MadeIn Leicestershire (to help sell visual art & craftsdirect to the public).www.madeinleicestershire.org.uk

7) Workspace development. We commissionedresearch on workspace needs and support anumber of feasibility studies into developmentof new creative workspace.

8) Advocacy and profile: Everything from talkingto local Councillors, keeping engaged with ourDMP (tourism agency) to trying to attract keyconferences to the area.

9) Higher & Further Education links: Includingsupport for creative careers fairs at theUniversities and advisory work with Colleges. •

Brighton & Hove may be the creative hub of the south coast,and generally known as a prosperous dynamic and delightfulplace to live, but it also has pockets of serious deprivation. On the one hand, it acts as a powerful magnet for creatives and exiles from London; and on the other are a few forgottenestates that have generally missed out on Lottery, SRB andNew Deal money.

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for anti-social behaviour as was beginning tohappen on a neighbouring estate. What could bedone about this? What more positive use couldthese spaces be put to?

Excited discussionsEnter the Council’s Arts and Creative IndustriesUnit, who have long been aware of the growingshortage of affordable artists’ studio space in thecity. And so the idea was born: Why not convertthe disused spaces into studios, provide a self-sustaining cultural input into the estate and easethe studio shortage in the city at the same time?

We consulted estate residents and the resultwas a resounding ‘yes please!’ with 74% insupport of the project (and a further 14% whowould support it if their concerns aroundsecurity and car-parking were addressed).

We then commissioned a feasibility study,which demonstrated that several of the ‘dryingareas’ were suitable for conversion into pairs ofstudio spaces of about twenty square metres,each pair being self-contained and having itsown loo and kitchenette. They would be brightand airy, with a glass shopfront (and rollershutter for security). One would be twice thesize and designed specifically for wheelchairaccess. These would be basic but purpose builtart making spaces; in visual arts terms, highlydesirable indeed. But just to check, we asked forexpressions of interest from artists and

indications are that these spaces will be over-subscribed.

Excited discussions ensued between the ArtsUnit and the Community Association, and thescope of the project has been further defined:The spaces will be prioritised for artists residenton the Estate or living close-by.A condition of tenancy will be that artistscommit to providing a range of participatoryopportunities for residents throughout the year.Rents will be kept low and affordable, butpitched to provide enough income to do twothings: ensure maintenance costs can be metinto the future, and provide a surplus to pay for a part-time arts and community engagementworker who will manage the studios and be abridge between the artist-tenants and theCommunity Association and residents.

A period of creative chaosSuddenly the opportunities seemed exciting andendless: it will be possible to bring the Estateinto the Artist Open Houses event that happensevery year during the Brighton InternationalFestival and so reduce its isolation from the restof the city. They could apply for more money torun specific projects and events targeted atdifferent age groups and needs. Residents wouldhave a choice of workshops, classes,opportunities and collaborations that would takeplace on their doorstep. There could even be a

Phase 2 with more drying areas converted, a community IT room and/or laundry perhaps;maybe this model could be rolled out on otherestates?

But first the practical details had to be sorted.Most significantly, the cash applied for andsecured, largely thanks to SEEDA, our RegionalDevelopment Agency who have supplied themajority of funding, and thanks too to theNeighbourhood Renewal Fund and the Brighton& Hove Arts Commission. (The Arts Council hasnot offered any financial support for this projectat all). Secondly, planning permission applied forand gained to make the conversions. And third,permission to go ahead via the elected membersand our committee system of governance.

All far more easily written about thanachieved, however achieved it has been and we are now, finally, entering the constructionphase. There will be a period of creative chaosand some disruption on the estate for a fewmonths. But by the end of March 2008,residents will have these brand new spaces and a different sort of input into life on the estate. We very much hope they will experience this asa positive and life-enhancing development foryears to come. •Dany LouiseCreative Industries ManagerBrighton & Hove City Council

differentProject, Brighton

The current units Artist’s impression of the proposed development

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Centred around the towns of Batley andDewsbury, North Kirklees is an areacharacterised by industrial decline. Followingthe demise of its heavy woollen textilemanufacturing base, it has been the recipientof substantial regeneration programmes sincethe early 1990s, and is now home to Loca, aspecialist arts and regeneration agency whichoperates as a direct provision of the Council.

The birth of Loca and the beginnings ofcoherent support for the creative industries inNorth Kirklees can be traced back to at least1989 when the membership organisationCultural Industries in Kirklees (CIK) wascommissioned by the Council to analyse therange and quality of services provided by thevoluntary and not for profit arts sector. Thatanalysis and advocacy enabled the case to bemade for Batley City Challenge to invest in asignificant Cultural Programme (£450,000 over

four years 1994-98) managed by KirkleesCultural Services, as it was then.

The success of Batley Cultural Fund withinthe wider City Challenge regeneration context- captured by Comedia in their research on thesocial impact of arts programmes, Use orOrnament? (1997) - led directly to theestablishment of Loca as a new developmentagency in 1998. A small team of five then andnow, Loca was set up with a specific arts andregeneration remit which aimed to build on

the Batley successes and capitalise on the newopportunity offered by the first ERDF Objective2 programme in North Kirklees. Loca was andstill is located within the Council’s Culture &Leisure service, albeit operating slightly atarm’s length with a base in a refurbished millbetween Batley and Dewsbury and a focuslargely (although no longer exclusively) in thenorth of the district.

One of the main opportunities afforded byERDF in 1998 was the chance to initiate twointer-related programmes of Business Start-upand Business Development support, targeting‘SMEs’, ‘micro-businesses’ and newly emergingsole traders operating in the local creativesector. With little in North Kirklees in the wayof creative industries – digital, media andmusic-based enterprises being thin on theground – Loca’s challenge was to translate thedemands and expectations of ERDF into

business start-up/supportinterventions thatwould havemeaning forindividual artistsand creativepractitionersoperating in thevisual arts,designer-makerand crafts sectors.Key in all this wasthe concept ofLoca’s role beingto translate thelanguage andexpectations of“business support”

into something that was appropriate, targeted,understandable and palatable for self-employed artists; and thence to createpathways from Loca’s brand of user-friendly,sector-specialist support towards the moretraditional offers of business support that wereavailable via Business Link and others.

The delivery experience and administrativerigour gained from 4-5 years of managingEuropean funding, and the confidence whichcame with hitting all the attendant output

targets (business start-ups assisted, growthsupported, jobs safeguarded, new jobs created,VAT registrations secured, productivityincreased…) stood Loca in good stead. NowERDF-free and with the only significant fundingfor business support being in the form of onededicated salaried post paid for by Culture &Leisure Services, Loca continues to deliver anannual programme which is regularly accessedby 25-30 individual clients at any time, andwhich receives consistently positive feedbackfor being personable, relevant and accessiblewhilst delivering real business growth results.

Now run by Creative Enterprises ProjectsManager Robin Widdowson, who came to Locain 2001 with a 10-year track record as asculptor and business owner-manager in hisown right, the programme operates on veryslim resources. A large proportion of Robin’stime is spent delivering tailored, one-to-oneadvice sessions focused on action planning,financial management, product and marketdevelopment, time management, costing andpricing, and general problem-solving. His rolealso involves brokering links with and makingreferrals to other business support agencies,funders and training providers that can offerspecialist support; forging connections betweenclients and encouraging collaborative venturessuch as group exhibitions; and searching outopportunities and contacts which allow clientsto show, promote and find customers andoutlets for their work. A 12-month rotatingprogramme of exhibitions in a café-bar in2005-6 which is now being sustained withoutLoca’s involvement, and first-time involvementby a cohort of North Kirklees artists in thewell-established Huddersfield Open StudiosTrail this autumn, are recent examples of theadded value this brokering and connection-making role brings.

Since the ties with ERDF funding wereloosened Loca has maintained the monitoringand measuring disciplines which enable it todemonstrate quantifiable business growthoutcomes from the programme – increasedproductivity, financial turnover, new sales andcustomers, job sustainability and so on. But itis arguably the small and individual successes,the personal triumphs and transformations, theleaps in confidence and self-belief that aremost worth reporting - impacts that would notbe on the monitoring radar of mainstreambusiness support but which are hugelysignificant in terms of local enterprise growthand the nurturing of a thriving, confident, localcreative sector.

The ongoing relationship between Loca andCIDA, involving cross-referrals and signposting of opportunities provides broad support. Forexample, Andrew Warburton set up ‘Area Rugs >

Loca-motionJon Rust

Jon Rust describes how a creative industriesagency is supporting new creative businessesin Yorkshire.

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& Carpets’ in 2002 after many years as adesigner in the carpet design industry. Duringhis first crucial 5 years in business Andrew hasenthusiastically taken up all the support onoffer, including regular attendance at Locaworkshops and also a number of managementtraining sessions organised by CIDA. Andrew isalso a regular delegate at both Loca and CIDA’snetworking events. Specific help with businessplanning and financial management has led toan increase in production and sales, ordersfrom international corporate clients, a move tolarger premises and – recently - the company’sfirst two employees.

Loca’s early work in providing creativebusiness support was set within a widercontext and given a strategic boost whenCreative Transactions – the Kirklees CreativeEconomy Development Strategy – wasapproved by the Council’s Cabinet in 2003. TheStrategy’s geographical approach is to facilitateand enable appropriate business supportinitiatives in Huddersfield (particularly throughThe Media Centre and CIDA); in North Kirkleesthrough Loca; and in the rural South andValleys through a possible creative businesscentre as part of the Market Town Renaissanceprogramme.

Contacts:www.loca.co.uk Robin Widdowson - robin@loca.co.ukJon Rust, Creative Industries DevelopmentOfficer - jon.rust@kirklees.gov.uk

The ContextKirklees in West Yorkshire has a long andhonourable tradition of creative industriesdevelopment, much of it focused inHuddersfield as the urban centre of thedistrict. There, the last decade has seenthe advent of the Creative Town Initiative, the subsequent emergence of CIDA as adedicated creative industries developmentagency and the flourishing of MediaCentre, housing 72 digital, media anddesign businesses and now with a state-of-the-art new building recently openedby HM the Queen. A further 47 businessesaccess remote front desk services.

The Annual Loca ProgrammeThis has developed over the years but withsome consistent, tried and testedingredients:

• “Starting out” seminars and workshopsdelivered by experienced creative sectorspecialists, designed to inspire, informand motivate people who have recentlystarted in self-employment/business, orwho are just considering turning theircreative skill into a business opportunity;

• Business Skills workshops relevant topractitioners who are already tradingwith the aim of making a living fromtheir creative practice and want tostrengthen their professional skills – on topics relating to business andfinancial management, marketing andselling, self-promotion and self-presentation, e-commerce and IT as a business tool;

• Go-and-See research trips – visitsorganised in small groups to top industrytrade fairs around the country, to makecontacts, see how others are doing it,pick up ideas, inspiration and tips;

Quarterly “Creative Connections”networking events. Opportunities forcreative practitioners and entrepreneurs to meet like-minded people make usefulbusiness contacts, receive informationabout work/promotional/fundingopportunities and gain exposure forthemselves and their work. A recent“Creative Connections”, organised withBusiness Link, attracted 90 people.

Loca-l Success Stories

1) After accessing support from Loca,recent graduate Helaina Sharpleyhas secured a number of commissionsfor her wire sculpture work, deliveredcreative projects within schoolssettings and gained a place at theBritish Craft Trade Fair, Harrogate,where she won two awards - the “WowFactor” award and a “Commendation ofExcellence”. Designer-maker Helainawas also able to make valuablecontacts with galleries and retailersacross the UK at Harrogate, and got afurther showcasing opportunity withan invitation to exhibit at theprestigious Affordable Art Fair inLondon.

2) As a newly emerging visual artspractitioner, Shameela Hussain has been concentrating on developing herorganisational and creative deliveryskills. Work with Loca has involvedaction planning and visioning, portfoliodevelopment and pricing her work.This has enabled her to gain valuableexperience delivering arts, crafts anddance workshops in community andeducational settings around Kirklees.Shameela was recently invited toexhibit her artwork as part of thisyear’s high-profile Yorkshire Bollywood Awards.

3) With an already thriving business,Brains Fairies, sculptor and makerSamantha Bryan won a British CraftTrade Fair award for Excellence in 2006. This year she has been selectedto show her unique work at theinternationally renowned ‘Origin’exhibition in London and 'Air' inHamburg. Loca has helped Sam withgeneral business planning, timemanagement and finance issues,successful grant applications, and theproject management of her first publicart commission – a large-scalesculpture for the atrium of a newhealth centre in Batley. •

Top left & Bottom left: Children at HyrstmountJunior School, Batley design garments and stagedecoration

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The Creative Industries Training Scheme has beeninitiated by Bridgend County Borough Council’sArts and Culture Service with partnershipfunding from Arts Council of Wales. The aim ofthe programme is to provide a comprehensivechoice of training specifically targeting the homegrown talents of those people wishing to pursuecareers in the theatre and/or for members of thecommunity with an interest in extending theirknowledge and skills in the Arts.

Opportunities in the performing arts inBridgend are well established and careers andaspirations have flourished either through furthertraining or through employment as performingartists. The scheme therefore is seen as a naturaland sustainable progression and aims to extendartistic creativity throughout the County

Borough. It is available to all age groups withopportunities for members from the many wellestablished voluntary organisations to join theprogramme. Also whilst many people leave thearea, a large proportion choose to remain, thisbeing especially prevalent in the more deprivedareas with the consequence of many talentsremaining untapped.

The programme covers a variety of technicalskills which include directing, producing,choreography, set and costume design, stage

management, sound and lighting, writing, film and video and project management. As a kick-start to a possible career in the creativeindustries, trainees are given opportunities whichare overseen by professional tutors to work onproductions, with professional companies andpractioners.

First feature film!Initially all those registering on the scheme weregiven an overview of the programme and then towork on a specific production/performance areaof their choice.

Bridgend Youth Theatre’s presentation ofFiddler on the Roof was used as the main studyfor year one of the scheme and focused on thespecific skills needed to oversee a production.

Fiddler was premiered at the Sherman Theatre,Cardiff and was part of the 2006 CardiffInternational Festival of Musical Theatre. The show then toured to three of Bridgend’svenues thus giving the trainees an in-depthunderstanding of the challenges of touring.Trainees have also throughout this first stagebeen able to access opportunities via otherservice outputs such as events and one-offshows. Those who have demonstrated a highdegree of competence have secured

employment. Two such examples being, one intechnical management, and the other incostume design, and shortly to leave for Irelandto work on their first feature film!

Now in the second year, and with over 100people registered, trainees are preparing for thefinal project which has been specially tailored soas to utilise the different disciplines which havebeen explored over the past eighteen months.

Trainee writers are working with playwrightGary Owen, (winner of the Arts Council England2003 Meyer-Whitworth Award for new writingfor the theatre) to create the script based onMari Lwyd, from the Welsh Mabinogion.

During this final stage a leading trainee will be chosen from each discipline with theresponsibility for leading in their ownproduction/performance area. In addition toshowcasing the trainees’ skills and development,the project will provide opportunities forcommunity involvement using the talents oflocal artists. The production will be premiered atthe Grand Pavilion, Porthcawl as a large scalemulti media performance and complemented bythe talents of the Arts & Culture Service’s YouthTheatre, Youth Dance and Youth Orchestra

This project will also celebrate Bridgend’s richcultural heritage and the service’s mission inaiming “to increase the number and range ofpeople experiencing the arts through access andparticipation and to further opportunities acrossa wide range of art forms which will enrich,educate and provide enjoyment.” •Guy O’Donnell Arts Project OfficerBridgend County Borough CouncilTel 01656 642727 e-mail guy.odonnell@bridgend.gov.uk

New Skills On StageBridgend’s creative industries training schemeGuy O’Donnell

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CITS Lighting Workshop, Porthcawl Grand Pavilion Trainees at The Sherman Theatre Kate Jackson training on sound

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Hothouse is the new creative hub on London Fields, Hackney developed by Free Form Arts Trust.

Research and consultation through the ArtistsNeeds Audit of 1997 and a local needs audit in1999 highlighted the potential to develop a‘creative cluster’ to create opportunities forartists and a focal point for whole communitiesto play a meaningful role in arts, regenerationand economic developments.

Having secured a plot of land in East London, Barbara Wheeler-Early, a FoundingDirector of Free Form, set in motion the task of transforming the contaminated brown-field site.

Free Form, a leading public and communityarts charity, has developed the project.Designed by Ash Sakula architects, the newbuilding plus adjacent railway arches offerversatile work-space available on medium-termlets plus a range of hot desk spaces for smallindividual creative practices. The buildings’green credentials are enhanced by majesticviews across London Fields to the heated open-air Lido from all floors, including the excitingdecked roof terrace which incorporates twoindividual studios and gallery suite covered witha solar photo-voltaic roof.

Hidden Art FairThe new floors more than double the original

workspace and provide for the growing demandin the area for quality, green workspace withinan enclosed courtyard.

Free Form will bring to Hothouse a widerange of creative opportunities includinginternational exchange projects and work which addresses community and environmentalneeds from a creative perspective, using these to engage local young people.

Eluna is a creative LLP based at Hothouse –their ethos is to bring beautiful, sustainable and saleable 100% recycled glass products tothe building industry market. The ambition is

to produce recycled glass products to meet fit-for-purpose standards comparable fortraditional products used in building, be theystone, ceramic, concrete or synthetic materials.

Hothouse Open hosts the 2007 Hidden ArtFair, London Fields on the last weekend ofNovember and first weekend of Decemberwhere craftspeople will both sell and exhibittheir work and there will be the stimulating‘Sunday Roast’ debates about Crafts forArchitecture and The Business of Craft.

Hothouse has received partnership fundingthrough London Development Agency, English Partnerships, Heart of Hackney SRB,ERDF, the London Borough of Hackney, FreeForm Arts Trust, and the EuropeanEnvironmental Loan Fund. Built in two phases,the development is now complete.

Jane Bell Free Form Arts TrustTel: 020 7241 7479Email: janeb@freeform.org.uk

About Free Form Arts TrustWe offer design & technical services, youth and community arts activities,neighbourhood regeneration and public artconsultation to local authorities nationallyand work with them to deliver on a range ofcreative regeneration projects engagingcommunities through the arts.

Through partnerships with the HousingCorporation and registered social landlords e.g. Guinness Trust and East Thames Housing,Free Form is delivering creative approaches tocommunity safety on estates.

Free Form’s youth work includes RAP YouthArts (a current finalist in Young People Now!Magazine Awards 2007) and Hackney YouthPrint Project with Hackney Youth OffendingTeam; Slough Young People’s Centre for SloughBorough Council (a finalist in the Big LotteryAwards ‘Best Arts Project’ 2007).

Our Public Art Development includes thestrategies for Bullring, Birmingham; Oracle,Reading; Spitalfields, London.

For more information visit:www.freeform.org.uk •

Dizzy HeightsJane Bell

Hothouse: First Floor Interior Design Studio Hothouse: View from London Fields

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The Cultural Summit held in Lincoln, in March2007, brought together key speakers, workersand cultural policy makers to discuss the issuesof the day, including the emerging CulturalOlympiad, Cultural quarters and what keynotespeaker Dr Franco Bianchini described as the newdeveloping ‘Jigsaw city’.

The conference was organised by the City ofLincoln Council in partnership with BishopGrosseteste University College and the ArtsCouncil of England and aimed to examine thechanging 21st century cultural landscape, inwhich Lincoln was launching their new CulturalSector Partnership structure. The day comprisedof a mixture of key speakers, breakout sessionsand artist in residencies.

Dr Franco Bianchini, as the keynote speaker,introduced the conference to an emergent ideaof the ‘Jigsaw City’, a metaphor that captures thecomplexity and interconnections of a moderncity, with a myriad of social, cultural, economicand environmental pieces, which form a distinct

space, structure and function when placedtogether.

“Culture is far more thanentertainment or place”Debates discussed ways as to how barriers werebroken down for the definition of culture, andthat it is about ensuring communityconsultation, and empowerment, gauging theirviews and involving them in the marketingprocess – from word of mouth to initiatingambassador schemes.

What was evident, from both the research andconference debate, is that culture is far morethan entertainment or place. Culture is a meansby which we represent ourselves, understand ourexperiences and communicate our aspirations;and see all these things in the context of ourlocal community and larger society, in the cityand across our county. The meaning of culture isfluid, it means different things to different peoplebut encompasses the majority of things that

reflects lifestyles or leisure time.It is important to understand the breadth of

culture’s influence and the nature andimportance of cultural sustainability, theconference offered conclusions as further foodfor thought – see box for details.

For the eighty or more delegates whoattended the cultural summit, the conferenceprovided a valuable opportunity to betterunderstand that culture can be a mechanism for,or an obstacle to, human development, and it isintrinsic to sustainable development and growthwithin our rural communities, urban areas andcity centres.

Therefore the Cultural Summit to Lincoln wasa means of setting a benchmark for our culturalaspirations as organisations, communities,businesses and individuals. Our first test in theCity will be through our response to the CulturalOlympiad and to embed culture in our portfoliofor growth and change. •For more information contact:Sara Bullimore, Arts and Cultural Sector Officer,Lincoln City Council Tel: 01522 873844 Email: SaraB@lincoln.gov.uk

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“My head is buzzing from the extraordinary juxtapositionof ideas and themes, the experience has inspired me. If wewant our cities to be creative then we need creativepeople to help guide the process.”

The Lincoln Cultural SummitConclusions

Culture is a resource; it makes money and can contribute significantly to theeconomy and balance of trade in the city and beyond.

Culture adds value; competitiveness, inmany sectors, depends less on productivitysaving or efficiency gains and more on addingvalue to what we do. Culture can add orcreate value through styling, marketing andbranding our distinctiveness – promoting thethings that set us apart from other cities.

Culture creates employment; it supportsthe widest range of employment, fromindividual artists, designers and makers,freelance or self employed, through to thevarious organisations and businesses, whichadd creative, innovative value to our city.

Culture grows people; culture is all about people, individual and collective, and learninghow to understand and appreciate all ourcultures encourage creativity, and fostersconfidence and expression.

Culture communicates; our heritage, historyand background are important aspects ofwho we are, but growing people inneighbourhoods and communities dependsincreasingly on communicating thesedifferences and commonalities as aneducation tool. Culture, through creativity andexpression, and through reminiscence andcelebration, help us to communicate who weare and share our background.

Culture strengthens communities; as weshare differences and commonalities, culturehelps us to grow from recognition tocommon identity to shared values. It is theties of shared values that bind people with

collective obligations and individualresponsibilities.

Culture and human society; culture can be a source of rich sustainable development, or a brake on change, an obstacle todevelopment and a source of division; it iscrucial then that cultural strategy andplanning takes account of people’s beliefs and cultural practices, because the success ofour planning and deliverability of strategy willbe dependent on upholding collectiveobligations and recognising individualresponsibility.

Culture and development objectives;if culture can make or break strategy andplanning – both in itself and as an enabler ofother actions and plans – then it is arguablewe must put culture at the strategic centre ofour concept for change or context fordevelopment from the beginning.

Now here’s a thought – do we need artsdevelopment officers?

In West Sussex, the Revolutionary Arts Grouporganises an annual arts festival across two areas,Horsham District and Worthing Borough. And whileHorsham has a whole pack of excellent Arts Development Officers, Worthing has none.

At the heart of the annual Artists and MakersFestival is a trail of open houses and studios. Witharound 30 venues and nearly 200 artists, makersand designers involved, it's a big event, attractingaround 5,000 visits in sixteen hours of opening.Sales total between £50,000 and £70,000 – over £3,000 per hour.

As well as the open houses and studios, thefestival includes open-air Shakespeare on the SouthDowns, a textile trail woven into the fabric of shopsin Worthing town centre, small-scale theatre inunlikely venues and exhibitions by local clubs,studio groups and arts societies. And the Festivalhas brought guests like artist Bill Drummond,comedian Dave Gorman, writer and broadcasterAndrew Collins, and an evening of The Big ChillFestival to the area. In short, the Festival doeseverything we expect an arts festival to do.

The event started under Worthing BoroughCouncil's umbrella, as the Worthing Arts Festival.After running for four years, at a reported cost of£8,000 a year and the time of various officers, thecouncil pulled the plug to save costs. TheRevolutionary Arts Group, a local business who hadseen strong partnerships grow in the last threeyears of the Festival, decided to carry on, re-branding the Festival and building on alreadystrong links with venues at the South of HorshamDistrict, which borders with Worthing.

Respected, trusted andappreciatedSince then, the Artists and Makers Festival hasspread across Horsham District. And from myposition in Horsham I have been pleased to involveartists across the district, and have given theRevolutionary Arts Group administrative and moralsupport when needed

Local businesses have added their support,recognising the economic benefits of an eventwhich is getting national media coverage, andbrings day visitors into the area from the cities of

London, Brighton, Chichester and counties acrossthe south-east.

But fundamentally, the Artists and MakersFestival pays its own way, with anyone taking partbuying into the guide; there's no great difference inwhat happens in Worthing Borough and HorshamDistrict. The cost to Horsham District Council isminimal, and Worthing Borough Council hascontributed nothing since 2003. In fact, the Festivalruns commercially across a geographic area aboutten times the size, but on half the budget thatWorthing Borough Council previously spent.

The Revolutionary Arts Group also runs theArtists and Makers website, visited by an average1,800 users every day. Any club or group, studio orgallery, or individual artist can add an event to thewhat's on guide; individuals can write reviews;anyone can add comments to the stories on thesite. Again, there's a degree of flexibility andadaptability which a council-run service couldn'tdeliver. And the website acts as an artsdevelopment tool, building audiences, and acting asa network amongst professionals and practitioners.

But even with these examples, dedicated officersworking in local authorities have delivered a rangeof benefits for the arts. We now see the artsembedded in local policy, with projects cuttingacross services and delivering benefits, fromcommunity development to economic impact,which are monitored and measured. In the bestlocal authorities, arts officers are respected, trustedand appreciated by fellow officers, councilmembers, arts professionals and practitioners, andultimately the community they serve.

But is a local authority officer always the bestsolution? Different authorities work in differentways, and maybe in some places more can beachieved outside of the tight structure of a localcouncil. So it's unsurprising that, in an age of cost-cutting, a growing number of local authorities arelooking at different models and finding goodexamples where external partners have deliveredthe benefits of the arts, like the Artists and Makers Festival. •Luna RussellArts Development Officer, Horsham District Council01403 215253luna.russell@horsham.gov.uk

No Subsidy?No surrender! Luna Russell

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Like many places, there is a perceivedproblem with crime and anti-social behaviourin North East Derbyshire, even though this isnot reflected in the actual crime figures. The area lies on the edge of the Peak DistrictNational Park and the Local Authority serves100,000 people.

The Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) for thisarea has produced a Community Strategy. The strategy recognises that some groupsexperience discrimination and disadvantagewhich can result in social and economicexclusion. Socially excluded and alienatedpeople may not be able to actively participatein our society. NE Derbyshire and Chesterfieldare committed to taking positive action tocounteract the effects of discrimination anddisadvantage. The community strategy aims tosupport all people to be able to be activecitizens. As a result the Arts service has beenasked to deliver an arts programme thataddresses youth crime.

Therefore, recruiting socially excluded peopleas the Film Animation project did via the youthworker, to participate in a positive activity, filmin this case, aims to have the positiveoutcomes as outlined in the project and helpthese citizens become more active and lessexcluded.

The NE Derbyshire arts service is seen as akey means of helping to deliver this strategyby providing positive activities for youngpeople, helping them to become active citizensby taking part in community activities. Thiscan also be a distraction away from crime andanti-social behaviour another Governmentagenda for local authorities to meet.

Francesca Redmore the youth worker,recruited a group of young people to give thema chance to do something in their spare timethat was a positive activity, film animation inthis case. The theme of the project was crimeand anti-social behaviour and its effect on thelocal community.

The Clay Cross film animation project wasfunded by the Derbyshire Crimebeat fund.Young people had to make the applicationthemselves with help from youth workerFrancesca Redmore and Arts Developmentofficer Kay Ogilvie and the theme of theproject was crime and anti-social behaviour.

Wallace and GromitClay Cross is a town of just under 9,000people. It grew from a small farmingcommunity into a dynamic industrial town,dominated by the Clay Cross Companyfounded by George Stephenson, the famous

railway engineer, who decided to develop coalmining in the area. With the demise of the coalmining industry and the closure of the ClayCross Company, Clay Cross is changing to meetthe demands of the modern world.

The workshop used the skills of animatorand film maker Oscar Stringer, founder andDirector of Wiltshire-based South StreetStudios. On the day, 17 young people turnedup to do the workshop. Andrew Fox, the group leader, supported the workshop and gavethe young people encouragement throughoutthe day assisted by Youth OpportunitiesUnlimited staff.

First, Oscar informed the participants aboutwhat they would be doing and talked themthrough some essential information. He thengave them an hour to each make a model thatcould be animated. When all the models weremade the young people then got into five

groups and began working on a story. Theywere asked to make a story by writing actionbullet points. This was a great team activityand all the young people worked really hard onputting their stories together. After the storieshad been produced, Oscar demonstrated howto produce animated films with theircharacters. Each group was given equipmentincluding a camera and a laptop to producetheir stories. They then had to work together ina team to produce the film. The young peoplelearnt how to use the film equipment and howto use the software on the computer.

Each film was between 20 seconds to oneminute long. At the end of the session Oscarput the films together and put a soundtrack >

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Filming in ClayMeeting Government Targets by providing arts activitiesKay Ogilvie

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The Brindley, a state of the art centre fortheatre, cinema and visual arts in Runcorn, atown within Halton Borough Council in NorthWest England, is now the home base of a two-handed professional women’s theatre companyknown as HAIR. In 2006 two of the dramafacilitators who worked within the Centre andwere also professional actors decided tocollaborate in forming a company based in The Brindley Studio theatre where both womenhad previously performed with the shows;“What the Dickens” and “Margaret RutherfordRe-called”.

As Halton’s Drama and Literature Officer, Iwas pleased to support the pair in gaining Arts

Council funding for a first big project in thefollowing Spring. However in the meantime,Louise Nulty and Jacqueline Pilton werecommissioned by The Brindley to present somesite-specific drama as part of “Talkwrite”, TheBrindley’s literary festival week in May 2006.Both Louise and Jacqueline, who have betweenthem over 40 years experience of treading theboards, have also run other theatre companiesand were used to producing, directing, writingand adapting as well as acting.

Cross-gender actingSo, with commission contract in hand theyscripted some extracts from well-known novels

to be performed around The Brindley entitled“Novel Lives”. In the cafe; Graham Greene’s“Brighton Rock” came alive to the festival goerswho were taking lunch. By the box-officeSherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were in closediscussion. (Oh, yes, these actresses areexceedingly versatile and cross gender actingholds no fears!) In the Art Gallery “Oranges AreNot The Only Fruit “was a dark and energeticperformance; then for children of all ages RoaldDahl’s “The Witches” was played out at the topof the stairs and finally an abstract piece ofperformance art relating to Angela Carter’sshort stories was presented by using the spacearound the glass walls of the cafe area and the

over the top. Whilst he was putting the filmstogether the young people watched Wallaceand Gromit on a projector screen. After learningthe techniques of animation they were all inawe of the skill that went into putting Wallaceand Gromit together. They were then able towatch the films that they had just produced onthe large screen and they got to take a copy ofeveryone’s films home with them.

The workshop was a great success, the youngpeople engaged with Oscar and everyone gotreally involved in the day. The young peoplealso achieved a lot. Each young person hadcontributed and each one could be proud ofthe film that they had produced. The day wentsmoothly and all the young people enjoyedthemselves. Many showed an interest in

continuing to make animation films and Oscarwas able to give them information as to howthey could continue to make animation. •Kay Ogilvie, Arts Development Officer, NE Derbyshire District Council 01246 217510 Kay.ogilvie@ne-derbyshire.gov.uk

Francesca Redmore - Project Co-Ordinator: The YOU Project (Youth OpportunitiesUnlimited)07870 39235501246 859654

Oscar Stringer South Street Productionswww.southstreet.org.uk

Specific Achievements Of The Workshop

• 17 young people developed skills in filmmaking

• One of the young people attending had anASBO and his attendance not only meantthat he was engaged in an activity but asthe theme was around anti-socialbehaviour he was thinking about thedamaging effects that it has on society.

• Several of the young people hadbehavioural difficulties and the workshoppromoted teamwork, patience and activeparticipation.

• One of the young people had been takenout of school due to extreme bullying andthe workshop helped him to gainconfidence in a safe, welcomingenvironment.

• Several young people expressed a desire todevelop their film skills to a greater leveland the workshop was seen as a stepping-stone to a bigger film project.

What the Dickens?Halton Actors in residenceClaire Bigley

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balcony beyond. Linking these performancestogether the two snobbish characters of Juneand Jane the ex-National Theatre dressersguided the audience around and about to theplaces where ‘Novel Lives’ could be seen. Ofcourse Louise and Jacqueline played all thevarious parts and with consummate skill!

Later that year the work of applying for ArtsCouncil funding and finding a play and adirector was the main focus for Jacqueline andLouise who were now considering their maindebut performance. By this timethe pair were working under thetitle; “Halton Actors in Residence”(HAIR). Eventually, a challengingwork by Sarah Kane, entitled “4.48Psychosis” was found and HAIRseized upon this piece of ‘in yerface theatre’ written in 1999shortly before the suicide of itsauthor. The play looks at thesubject of suicidal depression froma perspective of within thetroubled consciousness of awoman suffering from thiscomplaint. The play is unusual inthat it is written like a poem withno specially designated charactersand can be presented in a varietyof ways with one, two or moreactors. For a theatre piece dealingwith such delicate matters in acomplex and unusual way theright director had to be found.Eventually HAIR and The Brindleysigned up Mark Chatterton -director at the Everyman,Liverpool, Oldham Coliseum andother theatres. The Brindleymanagement, and I agreed tosupport HAIR in a number ofways; giving rehearsal and performance space,support with marketing and technical support.An application to the Arts Council came fromHAIR in conjunction with The Brindley and earlyin 2007 funding was agreed. Mark Chattertonhelped the two female actors to bring tofruition a delicately crafted, emotionallymoving and thought provoking productionwhich played to full houses on March 30th and31st 2007.

Washing her blood-stained handsFollowing this success HAIR was asked toperform the piece at The Brewery Arts Centre,Kendal, for the Women’s International festivalthere, in May this year. Louise and Jacky weredelighted to accept the invitation as both hadplayed the Brewery in other productions inprevious times and loved the idea of promotingthe work of The Brindley Arts Centre in another

venue. Again “4.48 Psychosis” was greeted withmuch appreciation and many accolades andHAIR hope to return to Kendal in the futurewith another co- production.

Immediately after the tour to Kendal, HAIRwere at work again with another Talkwrite -Literary Festival commission. This time the twoactors were to present a play containing afilmed soap opera, scripted and produced bythemselves and with the aid of Mr WilliamShakespeare! The idea of the play, is that if

Shakespeare were writing today no doubt hewould be commissioned by BBC or ITV or anIndependent television company. The playreveals what happens when Shakespeare(Louise Nulty) goes to meet the commissioningeditor of Swan Television - Liz Tudor (JacquelinePilton). He is asked to show the film of his pilotepisode of his newly crafted soap opera aptlynamed “Shakespeare Street”.

The film was the central element of the showand had been shot in the area local to theBrindley, with regular theatre and workshopgoers from Halton Borough performing asextras. Scenes were filmed in modern dress andon location in Runcorn and Widnes and weretaken from “Romeo and Juliet”, “MidsummerNights Dream”, ”The Merry Wives of Windsor”and “Macbeth” and each represented a slice ofa story as in a television ‘soap’. On 14th and15th May 2007 the audience at the Brindley

Studio Theatre watched amazed and intriguedas each of the four story lines unfolded backand forth as in “Coronation Street” or“Eastenders”; only this time the places on thescreen were very familiar. So too were theactors; as Louise and Jacqueline played all thecharacters. Laughter at the antics of Runcornian‘rough mechanicals’ (“Midsummer Night’sDream”) was subdued only by the sight of LadyMacbeth washing her blood-stained hands inthe bar of “The Ring O’ Bells” pub in Widnes.

“Shakespeare Street” was so successful thatLouise and Jacky are now planning a moreambitious take on the same theme in the nearfuture. The two female actors are gearing up toanother full scale production and are hoping topresent “Comedy of Errors” in the same film/live format with Louise and Jacqueline playing18 parts between them! Mark Chatterton is onboard as director again and all are happy to besupported by The Brindley once more, in thisnew venture, which they also hope to tour. So look out in April 2008 both at The Brindley,Runcorn and other venues for a comedy tour-de-force the like of which has seldom beenseen before. •Claire BigleyDrama and Literature OfficerHalton Borough CouncilClaire.Bigley@halton.gov.uk

In 2004, the Greater Manchester Strategic ArtsFund was established. The product of aPartnership Agreement between the Associationof Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) andArts Council England, North West (ACENW), thefund aims to realise growth, broaden access to,and raise the quality of the arts experience acrossthe ten Greater Manchester local authorities.

The fund operates on a two year funding cycle.It is managed by the Greater Manchester CultureLead Officers’ Group with support from theGreater Manchester Arts Officers’ Network. Bothgroups comprise officers from each of the tenlocal authorities and representatives from AGMAand ACENW.

The first funding round for 2004-2006 involvedan allocation of £334,000 to eight differentcross-authority projects: each meeting a numberof key criteria, and each falling under one of thefour broad themes of Arts and Health; Youth Arts;Research, Support and Training; and, CountywideCelebration. All eight projects involved at leasttwo local authorities in their implementation,with several involving three or more.

Evaluating The FundIn June 2006, Arts About Manchester wasappointed to evaluate the fund, to document itsachievements and to provide recommendationsfor its development. Having developed a numberof evaluation criteria, and assessed the projectsagainst these, we found that in outputs alone, thefunded projects employed more that ten staff,over 50 volunteers, 200 artists and communityworkers. Over 60 different events were delivered,involving 2,500 participants and achieving acombined audience of over 100,000.

Garden of DelightsThe most notable outcomes were the positiveimpacts on local communities, involving a broadrange of people from different backgrounds andabilities, developing their skills and showcasingtheir talents at community, countywide, regional

and national events. We also found demonstrable evidence that,

together, the projects had increased theproduction and distribution of the arts withinGreater Manchester. This is perhaps bestrepresented in the Garden of Delights project,which showcased the achievements of theCarnival Exchange project as well as providing aplatform to present a broad range of new anddifferent works to an estimatedaudience of 50,000 people.

Through the projects, the fundhad achieved a number ofbroader aims. In particular,improved joint working acrossauthorities and between thesector and other sectors; andincreased third partly investment,with over £465,000 of third partycontributions having beenachieved.

Other impactsAn unexpected, but very valuableoutcome from the fund has beenthe purpose and focus it has

given to the network of arts officers involved,with all ten local authorities being wellrepresented throughout.

The fund has directly benefited those involved,through information and knowledge sharing, peersupport and/or formal training. It has providedan opportunity for many of the Arts Officersinvolved to think more strategically, and it hasbolstered relationships between ACENW and thelocal authorities.

Finally, through our evaluation, we founddemonstrable evidence that by working togetherin this way, the partners have not only achievedsuccess in meeting the specific funding aims, but,together, the Arts Officers’ Network, AGMA andACENW have achieved a funding process that istransparent and equitable and which benefits thebroad range of stakeholders involved. •Helen CorkeryStrategic Research & Marketing Manager, ArtsAbout Manchester, Tel: 0161 234 2960 email: helen@aam.org.uk

The full evaluation report will be published onnalgao’s new website in due course.

Crossing BoundariesAn evaluation of the Greater Manchester Strategic Arts FundHelen Corkery

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The Projects

Theme: Arts and HealthGreater Manchester Arts and Health projectto develop a Greater Manchester Strategy forarts and health, led by Wigan local authorityand an appointed Project Coordinator.

This project, whilst still underway, hassucceeded in developing joint workingarrangements across several districts; inidentifying best practice; and, in disseminatingthis through a number of cross sector seminars.

Theme: Youth ArtsGreater Manchester Youth Games’ Arts Festivaland Carnival Exchange led by Bolton localauthority working with Oldham and a freelanceProject Manager.

Crossing Boundaries: a youth theatre projecton diversity and difference, led by Oldham localauthority and project managed by the OldhamTheatre Workshop.

Luminocity, involving the creation of large-scale themed lanterns led and delivered byOldham local authority.

All three of these projects achieved successin bringing together a range of young people (ofvarying age and from different backgrounds andabilities) to develop their skills and showcasethese at a number of events across the countyand beyond.

Theme: Research, Support and TrainingGreater Manchester Creative Industries (CIDS)project, to build a professional network ofcreative industry expertise and knowledge base,led by Bolton local authority and delivered bythe Creative Industries Development Service.

Continuing Professional Development ArtsTraining (CPD) programme, to develop trainingproducts and programmes that develop skillsand capability, offering CPD for both gallery

staff and artists. The project was led by Boltonand delivered by Arts + Media Training Ltd.

Arts Impact Study, to evaluate theperformance of the countywide element of thefund and develop an advocacy instrument tofurther promote the fund and its achievements:led by Manchester local authority and deliveredby Arts About Manchester.

The CIDS and CPD projects have bothsucceeded in developing the capability of thesector, the CIDS project, in terms of establishingboth human and systems based knowledgenetworks and, the CPD project, in developingthe skills of arts professionals from across thecounty.

Theme: Countywide CelebrationGarden of Delights: A district wide celebrationand collaboration project led by a Cross-Authority Steering Group and delivered byManchester International Arts.

The countywide project provided a showcasefor local arts provision and succeeded inattracting significant additional investment,local and national media coverage and,audiences of up to 50,000 people.

Some Project Feedback‘After the carnival, the groups performed in theirown communities and in other parades in theirown boroughs.’Project Manager, Carnival Exchange Project

‘New friendships have really flourished under thebanner of diverse youth arts... this is just thebeginning of new collaborative partnerships.’Participant in Crossing Boundaries Project

‘...it felt lovely to walk around, experiencingmore and varied arts, music and culture than Ihave ever been exposed to.’Member of the public, Garden of DelightsProject

‘It was great to share information and skills acrossthe boroughs.’Participant, Luminocity Project

‘... before, we were all more or less isolated... I don’t see the fund as a burden, but a fantasticopportunity to work with other boroughs. Thereare advantages on very many different levels.’District Arts Officer

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The arts in Wales are at an excitingturning point in their history. In May2007 the Welsh Assembly Governmentelections took place, resulting in nooverall majority. Labour needed to lookfor an ally in order to form a coalitiongovernment or opt for forming anadministration without a majority. After weeks of discussion andnegotiation, a coalition governmentwas formed between Labour and PlaidCymru, and a new cabinet structure was put in place. In the followingweeks, a document was published bythe new government, One Wales, whichoutlined the government’s plans forWales during the period of itsadministration.

Although only a seemingly smallsection was given over to arts andculture within the document, what isset out within it are some ambitiousplans for the development of the arts in Wales. Of course, many arts officers in Wales are keen to see investment inthe arts and progress throughout Wales,but as nalgao members, we areadvocating on behalf of localgovernment to input into the processand are looking closely at those thingsthat affect arts services in LocalAuthorities in all areas of Wales.

Following talks with key partners inWales, we are in the process ofdeveloping a response document tothese proposals, which outlines ourpriorities for change, and, bearing inmind that the Local Authorityexpenditure in Wales is equal to theinvestment made by the Arts Council ofWales, we feel that we have a strongcase to make.

The most interesting proposal, andthe one which has sparked the most

debate is the one which states:

“We will place a statutoryobligation on localauthorities to promoteculture and encouragepartnership to deliverhigh-quality culturalexperiences for theircommunities.”

Making the arts statutory andinvestigating a cultural entitlementpolicy has within it the scope formaking a radical difference – potentiallyboth good and bad. We are lobbying toensure that this is a change for thebetter, encouraging investigation intothe minimum requirement set andworking with our Scottish colleagues tolearn lessons from what they haveundertaken to try and make this asattractive a proposition as possible.

We want this notion to encouragebest practice, to raise the profile andstandard of the delivery of the arts inWales, and to act as an advocate forutilising and accessing the arts on alllevels, allowing for formal endorsementof standards at all levels within LocalAuthorities with designated officers inplace to oversee the strategic planning,management and delivery of the artsand arts development. Within this thereis a recognition that there needs to bean increase in levels of training andcontinuous professional developmentopportunities to nurture the culturalleaders of tomorrow and encourage thepotential that is within all of us to raisestandards and ambitions.

WinningIn Wales

Carys Wynne

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The other two statements that we are driving forward are the implementation ofthe recommendations of the Stephens Review, into future funding of the arts in Wales, andenshrining the concept of artistic freedom inWelsh law. These are seen to be the mostrelevant and strategic to Local Authority deliveryof arts services, bearing in mind that a majorcomponent of this is the development ofRegional Strategic Partnerships. This could seeLocal Authorities in Wales with more power andaccountability to deliver key governmentobjectives, and develop joint strategies thatrecognise the potential of the arts to deliver localsocial, economic and environmental outcomes.

Of course, this is not to be seen in isolationand we are firmly advocating on behalf of LocalAuthorities to be consulted on future

developments, highlighting the important rolesthat officers at all levels could play in thisprogress. Enshrined in our thinking is that ofensuring that nalgao is involved in discussions on the implementation of the Stephens Reviewand One Wales. We are, as ever, fighting for therecognition of the arts as an effective means ofdelivering other agenda and the advocacy needed at national level to allow others to realise their potential and utilise the arts inhealth settings, non-formal educational settings,play settings, care settings etc. We believe that ifthis principle is applied, then the next naturalstep is to work with the arts services of LocalAuthorities at all levels and at all times to

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investigate the potential work to be done;developing relationships with those who have an understanding of their communities and theimpact the arts can make in the life of Wales as a vibrant and creative community.

Of course, as always, none of this can be donewithout adequate levels of funding in place tosupport it. Funding needs to be sought that issustainable from outside the current resourcesavailable, and it would be naïve to believe thatthis change can happen overnight. If we are tohave the capacity to transform the future of thearts in Wales then we need to capitalise on thesedevelopments now and be at the forefront ofdiscussions as they take place. nalgao Cymru isdriving forward this approach to the WelshAssembly Government and are hoping to meetwith the Minister for Heritage to look at how we

can realise these ambitions in the comingmonths and years. Now is the chance to make areal difference in how the arts in Wales areperceived and delivered, and to set the vision forthe future. •Carys Wynne, Arts Development Manager, Blaenau Gwent County Borough CouncilTel: 01495 322510email: wynne_c@blaenau-gwent.gov.uk

The One Wales response is still in draft format, ifyou wish to discuss its content or be a part ofshaping its future then please get in touch withyour local nalgao representative.

IntroductionIn June and July 2007 nalgao conducted a surveyof its membership considering Arts Officer’straining needs. The survey was conducted by theTraining Working Party on behalf of nalgao’snational Trustees, through a questionnaire emailedout to all members. The survey was alsopromoted using the nalgao ezine. The aim of thesurvey was to consider training opportunities forarts officers in local authorities to further developskills in specific areas of work, and to test theneed for a Continuing Professional Developmentprogramme (CPD) that may consider mentoringand skill-sharing/peer training amongst themembership.

Sample SizeAt the time of survey, nalgao’s membership was405. Fifty members returned completedquestionnaires, representing a sample size of 12.35%.

Length of Officer ExperienceThe first set of questions requested informationon years of experience in delivering arts services.Responses demonstrated that:• The average duration in their present

employment was 3.7 years (down from 4.9 years in the previous 2004 survey).

• Officers responding had an average of 5.5 years experience in all present and previous local authorities (up from 5.32 years in the 2004 study).

• The range of experience in all local authoritieswas between 2 months and 20 years, whilst thelongest duration in employment in their presentpost was 14 years, showing a considerablevariation in the officers responding.

• Officers also demonstrated a considerableknowledge of arts, with an average of 5.9 yearsexperience of arts development outside of localauthorities (down from 6.74 years in 2004).Again, the range of experience was between 1 year and 25 years.

This demonstrates the wealth of experience of arts officers employed by local authorities, with an average of just over 11 years in artsdevelopment per person.

The survey also covered training budgets andtraining issues, the development of Arts strategies,service developments and mentoring.

Nearly two thirds of respondents said theirauthority had an arts strategy and over 80% hada cultural policy or strategy. However thesepercentages have declined slightly since 2004,possibly owing to the lack of pressure or incentiveby the DCMS and Arts Council England to createthese, and over 20% of these reported that theirpresent strategy was out of date. >

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Everyone knows that our current government isconcerned about the democratic deficit andwants to encourage us all to feel we have bothrights in and responsibilities to the society weinhabit. The call to be proactive extends to thefield of culture as much as to the morefrequently referenced third or voluntary sector.

The story for arts engagement with this currentversion of the access debate starts with thePublic Service Agreement (PSA) targets that wereset for all government departments by the

Treasury in the last three year spendingsettlement. A Specific target (PSA3) for theDCMS was to increase participation in the all thecultural areas within its remit by sociallydisadvantaged groups. In particular for the artsthe target was to increase audiences for eventsby 3% and active participation by 2%. Sociallydisadvantaged groups were further defined asblack and ethnic minority communities, disabledpeople and social classes C2, D and E.

The DCMS had two big problems for delivery

here. Firstly, how do you prove your percentageincreases without clear agreed baseline figures?Secondly, even if the vast majority of your artsspending is passed on to the Arts Council, howrealistic is it to assume that this body alone willbe able to effect the changes sought?

About two years ago the DCMS began totackle these problems. It persuaded its main NonDepartmental Public Bodies (NDPBs), e.g. ACE,Sport England, the Museums and LibrariesAssociation and English Heritage, to all contribute

86% of respondents said they would like to takepart in regional Action Learning Sets (AL) andover half said they were prepared to train as afacilitator to help develop AL sets in their ownareas or nationally. The survey asked what peoplefelt their core competencies were and theresponses showed that the three highestcompetencies, amongst art officers, out of 18categories are:• Arts Development• Arts Management• Arts Policy/Strategy Development

The three lowest scoring competencies were:• Personnel & people management• Negotiating Skills• Training needs assessment

People felt they needed most support indeveloping competencies in:• Advocacy/Making the case for arts• Monitoring & Evaluation• Financial regulations for Local Authorities

They needed least support in:

• Self-Management• Project Management• Report writing1

A large majority of respondents were in favour ofa CPD strategy that included skill sharing andpeer learning from within the nalgaomembership. • 52% stated that they were interested in

becoming a mentor, and • 72% stated that they were interested in

becoming a mentee.• 74% were interested in taking part in a regional

mentoring programme• 34% were interested in taking part in a national

mentoring programme.

National Seminar Programmenalgao is committed to offering at least twonational seminars a year on key issues affectinglocal authority arts services. Respondents wererequested to rank prospective national seminartopics in order of preference. The five mostpopular topics (out of 17) for seminars were:• Reaching out to low participation groups

• Evaluation & monitoring arts projects andprogrammes

• Developing arts & cultural strategies• How arts can influence departmental objectives

and senior officers• LAAs & local strategic partnerships

Most people wanted full-day seminars heldduring the week, which involved group working orone-to-one working. Only half the respondentswere concerned about accreditation. Workshadowing was also favoured as an informaltraining and skill-sharing mechanism.

The nalgao Training Working Party will beconsidering the outcomes of the study whendeveloping further training and CPD programmesfor its members.

A copy of the full report is available fromnalgao – nalgao@aol.com and will be posted onthe new nalgao website in the New Year. •Pete Bryan, nalgao AdministratorNalgao@aol.com

1 Again, out of 18 competencies

nalgao Arts Officer Skills Audit and Training Needs Survey 2007

PSA3 Update:

Sue Isherwood

The Participation Manifesto –Whose Agenda?

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to the Taking Part survey which has used regularquarterly sampling to establish baseline data forparticipation by the target groups. The first fullyear’s figures were available from December2006. These and subsequent quarterly data canbe checked on the ACE and DCMS websites. Then it invited a group of national organisationsinvolved in arts delivery to join an advisory group,initially to oversee the ACE delivery plan for PSA3.

Moments of FrustrationSo back in January 2006 a group of people,including representatives of the DCMS, ACE,Voluntary Arts Network (VAN), NationalDisability Arts Forum (NDAF), Visual Arts andGalleries Association (VAGA) and nalgao, met forthe first time as equals round the table. As well asreceiving progress reports on ACE work and theTaking Part statistics, we also needed to knowhow each of our organisations understood thetarget and our potential contributions to it. Atsubsequent meetings the different segments ofthe target group were examined and eachorganisation presented its own role, reach andambition. As we progressed it became clearer toall concerned that the workers and organisationsrepresented by such bodies as nalgao, VAN andNDAF had a far wider reach into communitiesthan ACE could ever have. ACE too needed todevelop a delivery plan which moved beyond apredominant reliance on the work of its regularlyfunded organisations (RFOs) towards betterpartnerships with those around the table and onethat made its commitment to access moreobvious to the public.

During this process there were also momentsof frustration when it seemed to some of us thatwe were endlessly explaining and listening, butnot getting anywhere near action on the target. By the summer of 2007 although the personnelfrom ACE and the DCMS had seen considerablechanges, the other representatives had formed astable group who now knew a considerableamount about one another. We decided that weshould move on from being sounding boards forgovernment and NDPB policy and should stake a

clear claim to a piece of the action. We wantedto do more than talk and so the idea of theParticipation Manifesto was born. We meant thisto be a contribution to increasing participationfrom outside the circles of government, fromnational organisations who all believe that theopportunity actively to engage with culturalproduction is a fundamental human right. At thispoint the National Campaign for the Arts joinedthe original group and attended the final meetingof the PSA3 Advisory Group.

Launch in Autumn 2008We chose to think of a manifesto, because wewanted to have a clear statement of beliefs thatpeople could sign up to, to acknowledge thepolitical context we were operating within and to use a concept that the DCMS were familiarwith through their involvement with both themusic and dance manifestos. The idea is simple.We want to create a public declaration ofpolicies, principles and intentions which willexplain why participating in the arts is beneficialto society as a whole, to local communities andto individuals. It will draw attention to thebarriers that exist to active participation for manypeople and suggest ways in which organisationsof every kind from amateur dramatic societies tolarge local authorities, from community mediaworkshops to national galleries could all sign upto, to deliver particular actions which would offermore opportunities to participate. And all willpledge to demonstrate and celebrate thedifference they make.

We wish to see more investment in aninfrastructure that fully supports qualityparticipation, a coalition of delivery agencies andthe dissemination of a wide range of successfuldelivery mechanisms.

Go for ItSo far this is an outline set of ideas coming froma particular grouping. We drafted a Vision, Valuesand Principles document, a timeline for getting to a manifesto launch date and animplementation budget. We have also consultedon the feasibility of the idea with the DCMS, butalso with interest groups at the nalgaoconference, through the NDAF’s forum and at theACE Public Value Open Space event. Inevitablythese sessions have raised issues of definition –what counts as art, what is the definition ofparticipation, what sort of group could sign up,what do we really know about what people

want? However, the main message was ‘go for it’.We now need to take the work to the next stage,casting the net wider to achieve a knowledgeableand influential steering group, setting up a widernational consultation and getting buy-in frommore national associations.

The intention is to launch the manifesto inautumn 2008, so there’s plenty of work to bedone. It will need to have synergies with the newACE participation delivery plan which includes apublic campaign to alert people to the existingopportunities to participate. For local authorities

it will need to align with the body of 200headline local PIs which will include one oncultural participation. For all the active ‘doing’organisations out there it will need to make sense in terms of their own visions to sign up.And if we are to make a difference we need to be able to demonstrate it, so the base-line datathat the Taking Part survey has amassed is only a beginning. There needs to be much more localdata on participation, particularly by‘disadvantaged’ groups collected consistently by local authorities and arts organisations of all sorts.

nalgao members have been working onextending access to the arts for years and canpoint to plenty of excellent projects and partnerorganisations. Now is the time to let me andyour Executive Committee know what you think of the Manifesto concept, what resourcesyou think are needed to get it off the ground,what would get your authority to sign up, andwhat you could pledge to undertake. nalgao looks forward to hearing from you. •Sue IsherwoodExecutive officer, nalgaoTel 01749 871110sue.nalgao@btopenworld.com

“We wish to see more investment in an infrastructure thatfully supports quality participation, a coalition of agenciesand the dissemination of a wide range of successfuldelivery mechanisms.”

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In January 2006 nalgao invited tenders for the job of managing a pilot mentoringprogramme for local authorities in the NorthWest of England. G & M Associates Ltd inassociation with Business in the Arts: NorthWest, were awarded the tender in February2006. Thirty individuals were interviewed,recruited and inducted for the mentoring pilot which ran from April 2006 to June 2007. The pilot has recently come to an end and has been internally audited and externallyevaluated.

nalgao decided to pilot mentoring as adirect result of a survey of its members’ needs in 2005/06. There are of course anumber of ‘non-training’ personal developmentmodels available, such as coaching, shadowing,secondment and advice giving. On the surfacethey appear to share some common elementsbut in practice and application they are verydifferent. Using a mentor is about developingthinking, building confidence in an individual’sapproach to issues, developing self-awarenessand stretching the mentee’s ability to tackleproblems, in order to develop their breadth. It’s important to establish more specificallywhat we mean by mentoring.

A helpful definition of mentoring is:“An individual using their experience, skills andknowledge to help another person to developtheir full potential”

We designed a mentoring process that wouldhelp arts officers achieve specific individual,personal & performance objectives. Thefollowing core values are central to thementoring relationships we established:

• A one-to-one focus• Non-judgemental• Client (mentee) focussed• Open, honest and sharing• Challenging• About mutual learning and growth

In order to take part participants went througha carefully devised process to assess theirreadiness and motivation. It included thecompletion of a detailed self assessment form, followed up by a telephone interview toexplore key issues in more detail. The resultswere fed into a matrix that separated andprioritised core needs (in the case of a mentee)and core competencies (in the case ofmentors).

The programme managers then met to draft a list of potential matches of mentors to mentees. This required detailed discussionand a detailed knowledge of the abilities of the mentors in particular. The individuals were then called and the pairing was discussedwithout prejudice. Only at this stage, if bothparties were able to sign up to a partnership,did we draft a contract and action plan for the pairing.

All of our 15 original proposed matches for this pilot were agreed, and all 15 pairsproduced effective mutual benefits. All 15 werestill in place at the end of the programme. In addition, 9 of the pairings are continuing tomeet after the pilot had finished.

From the evaluation reports we have beenable to highlight key indicators of achievementsuch as:

• Increased confidence in personal decision making

• Increased confidence in task management• Reduced dependence on advice and assurance

from Line Managers• Increased ability to plan and present a case

at work• Increased ability to take responsibility at work

and to offer guidance to others• Reduced sense of isolation

Monitoring of the pilot was carried out by asteering group, which received monthly reports.Project management was overseen byKatherine West, Arts Development Officer atVale Royal Borough Council and supported bythe nalgao administrator. At the end of thepilot Karen Smith carried out externalevaluation and the results wereoverwhelmingly positive.

nalgao is currently studying the results andconsidering how to facilitate a further

A good mentor ….

• Listens• Supports the client’s striving towards

development goals• Challenges the client to develop self-

awareness• Helps the client to develop powers of

problem solving• Encourages self-confidence• Provides positive and negative feedback• Encourages focused reflection • Remains totally confidential

BUT a good mentor ….

• Does not give instructions (clients areencouraged to reach their own conclusions)

• NEVER says “If I were you I would...”

• Does not take over a situation

• Is not over-critical

nalgao North West RegioMentoring ProgrammeMike Faulkner

Characteristics of a good mentor

ACE DoesOpen SpaceOver the weekend of 29-30 September, gettingon for 200 people gathered in North London toassist Arts Council England in setting itspriorities for the next few years. We used anOpen Space process, which should be familiarto anyone who has attended a nalgaoconference in the last four years.

This, I‘d wager, was a scary experience forArts Council officers. Two whole days with nopre-set agenda and a load of committed artsworkers with many axes to grind. It was nosurprise, therefore, to find sessions led by ACEstaff with such titles as “How can we trusteach other more/How can I convince you thatI’m on your side?” There were 83 sessions in alland some of the other titles demonstrate whatACE might be nervous of – forexample ‘Should ACE exist?Should RFOs be scrapped? And‘F*** this – angry andpassionate artists andmanagers’. All credit then toACE for making the spaceand to Peter Hewitt forstaying the full course.

There were many ways toexperience the event, but myown impressions included anawareness of the predominance ofperforming arts workers – no surprise really asthat’s where the bulk of ACE funding isdirected. I was also aware of the strength offeeling among some sections that artists areseparate beings from the rest of society andhave a right to support, while elsewhere theideals of the community arts movement of the1970s was more than alive and kicking.Creative Industries were hardly mentioned, butthe necessity of thinking about arts as businesswas strongly evident in such sessions as ‘Howcan we create mixed and new economies?’ and‘Arts and venture capital.’

There were only a few local authority artsofficers present, but those with a localauthority background who were there were

vocal and spent quite a lot of our timeexplaining how and why local authoritiessupported the arts. Nevertheless, readingthrough the session summaries later, I’ve beenstruck by how often the local authority rolewas referenced, not only in the sessions wherethis was the explicit topic. I found clearsupport for strong ACE/local authoritypartnerships in several places and calls for localauthorities to be creative in how they offersupport. For instance, local authorities asowners of buildings and open spaces wereasked to be flexible about availability ofredundant sites, temporary planning consentsand rates relief.

But why don’t you dip into the deep well of voices yourself`?

You can read all the sessionsummaries, produced on the day

by the self-selected groupleaders, on the ACE website.There has been some minimalediting when comments wereconsidered too scurrilous or

personal, but some strongflavours and really thoughtful

contributions are there. The keyquestion that ACE asked at the

beginning was ‘If you were the Arts Council,what would you do?’ Of course they got noclear answer, but more than enoughcontributions to give them both heartburnand hope. •Sue IsherwoodExecutive officer, nalgaoTel 01749 871110sue.nalgao@btopenworld.com

The ACE Open Space discussions were part ofthe Arts Debate and the full 94 pages of notesfrom the various discussion groups can be found at: www.artscouncil.org.uk/artsdebate/2007/10/open_space_event_report_1.php

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development of the mentoring scheme. An announcement is expected sometime in early 2008. •

What the mentees had to sayabout the programme

Perhaps the final word on the value of thepilot should go to the recipients. Here are a few quotes from mentees about theirexperiences:

I don’t get as mad about things anymore. I accept that it is life. I am doing less buttrying to ensure that what I am doing iscompleted with efficiency.

I am much more focused about what I wantto do and what I need to do to achieve this,leading in part to a recent change of post.

Having a mentor has given me theconfidence to assume I have the right tovalid opinions and ideas rather thanneeding to wait for validation from acolleague. It has increased my feeling ofbeing able to pursue projects on my own,with confidence. The fact that mentors areindependent means that support andencouragement is unconditional. It hasalso helped me to realise that I haveoutgrown the job by talking through whatis happening at work.

There is a marked difference towards thework that I do. I am more positive in what is happening. My line manager would saythe same.

If you would like to know more about thementoring pilot programme please contactMike Faulkner from G & M Associates Ltdmobile 07709 229 284e-mail: m.faulkner6@btineternet.com

onal

Sue Isherwood

As the interest in and discussion surroundingthe term “Social Enterprise” sweeps the land,many arts organisations are wondering howthe term relates to them given that most, if not all, arts organisations fall within theusual definition of ‘businesses that tradewith a social purpose’.

I advise arts organisations of all sizes andshapes and across all art forms and feel itwould be helpful to arts organisations, in anumber of different ways, to considerthemselves as social enterprises. The mostfrequent ‘Social Enterprise’ enquiry mycolleagues and I receive is whether anorganisation should consider running part orall of its operation through a CommunityInterest Company (CIC).

To CIC or not to CICThere is still the assumption that artsorganisations should be run throughcharitable companies limited by guarantee,but increasingly this is an assumption thatshould be questioned. It is not just that theanticipated bottom-line benefits of being acharity may not always cover the additionalset up and administration costs but it is alsothat the decisions of a board of trusteeswho are volunteers may be unduly cautious.As a trustee myself, I do not want to bepersonally liable should the charity go under.But an inherent element of artsorganisations is an ability to take calculatedfinancial risk to enable artistic risk. Somearts organisations may be refreshed byhaving artistic and executive directors and a board of paid directors. This is currentlyavailable through companies limited byguarantee, including CICs (see box).

CICs allow organisations to operate on anot-for-profit or a for-profit basis. Butwhichever their motive, the organisation’sassets are held for the community interest.This may be a particular attraction for LocalAuthorities when considering hiving off arts

facilities whether as Community AssetTransfers or otherwise.

Whilst I do appreciate the importance ofbottom-line calculations, I feel it is alsoimportant that organisations ensure thattheir legal structure best enables theobjectives of the organisation to beachieved. In many instances being a charitywill be the right structure. But there areinstances, particularly for arts organisationsthat do not own property, when there is noreal advantage and such a structure canhold back the organisation.

Social Enterprise FundingArts organisations undertake innovative andhighly cost effective work in communitiesthroughout the UK and I feel that to someextent, this work may be limited by artsorganisations’ own perception of their placein the not-for-profit sector.

Though the sense of difference isimportant, I feel that it may hamperorganisations forming partnerships withother third sector organisations and localfunds to deliver arts work, whether as partof regeneration, education or otherprogrammes.

SummaryThe situations where CICs may beparticularly useful for arts organisations are:• Stand-alone arts organisations formed fora special purpose but whose aim is profitgenerating and where directors are to be paid.

• Trading opportunities where funding is tocome from social investors. For instance,investors in a theatrical venue as a profitgenerating enterprise where the asset is tobe retained for the benefit of the localcommunity.

• An alternative to independent trusts wherea Local Authority no longer wishes to ownor control arts assets.

CICs: The key facts• Cannot be charities• Can either be companies limited byguarantee or by shares

• The first CIC was registered in 2005 andnow 1295 have been registered

• Applications for registration are handled bythe CIC Regulator who regulates all CICs

• CICs must satisfy the community interesttest and assets are subject to an assetlock which ensures that the assets andprofits are used for the benefit of thecommunity

• CIC directors can be paid• There are no tax advantages of being a CIC

• CICs can have equity investors and offerdividends subject to set limits thereforeenabling commercial investors to investin CICs

• CICs can be lottery funded andgovernment funding can be obtainedcurrently on a case-by-case basis

For further reference I would suggest looking at these websiteswhere there is a great deal of usefulinformation:

• The CIC Regulatorwww.cicregulator.gov.uk

• Social Enterprise Coalitionwww.socialenterprise.org.uk

• Mission, Models and Money – looking at many of the issues facing arts organisationswww.missionmodelsmoney.org.uk

Sean Egan is head of Theatre and Arts atBates, Wells and Braithwaite solicitorsEmail: s.egan@bwbllp.com website: www.bwbllp.com

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Legal structures andmindsets Arts Organisations and Social Enterprises

Sean Egan, Bates Wells and Braithwaite

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Working Party Chair Contact details

Member Services: Helen Miah (Swindon BC) T: 01793 465353e: hmiah@swindon.gov.uk a

nalgao Conference Committee Andrea Bushell (Salford CC) T: 0161 7780835e: andrea.bushell@salford.gov.uk

nalgao CPD & Training WP TBA

Communications WP Christine Willison (Pembrokeshire CC) T: 01437 776079; e: christine.willison@pembrokeshire.gov.uk

Research & Advocacy:

External Organisations Jonathan Cochrane (Redditch BC) T: 01527 63051e: jonathan.cochrane@redditchbc.gov.uk

Improvement Agenda Charlotte Gardiner (Waverley BC) T: 01483 523390e: cgardiner@waverley.gov.uk

Resources Carys Wynne (Blaenau Gwent CBC) T: 01495 322510e: wynne_c@blaenau-gwent.gov.uk

Task & Finish Groups

Regional Meetings/Toolkit Nickola Moore (Poole BC) T: 01202 633973e: n.moore@poole.gov.uk

nalgao Identity Andrew Kitchen (Waverney DC) T: 01502 523397e: andrew.kitchen@waveney.gov.uk

The current nalgao WorkingParties and their leads are:

The Last WordWas it really Arts Council lobbying that got them the extra £50 million? Martin Kettle, writing inNovember’s Prospect magazine, has a different, and altogether more human theory. It seems that afour year old by the name of John Brown is showing considerable musical promise and has beenattending music classes at the Wigmore Hall. And if a child takes an interest in something, quiteoften, so do the parents, who in this case just happen to be Gordon and Sarah…Brown that is. AsKettle says, young John Brown may have turned his father into an arts supporter and thus be themost influential child musician in London since the visit of the young Mozart.

Name Officer position Authority Telephone Email

Lorna Brown Chair of nalgao West Sussex CC 01243 756770 lorna.brown@westsussex.gov.uk

Katherine West Vice Chair & NW Regional Rep: Vale Royal Borough Council 01606 867522 KWest@valeroyal.gov.uk nalgao ( job-share)

Jane Wilson Treasurer: nalgao Arts Development in East 01353 669022 jane.wilson@adec.org.uk Cambridgeshire (ADEC)

Mark Homer Secretary: nalgao Lincolnshire County Council 01522 553300 Mark.Homer@lincolnshire.gov.uk

Janet Mein Counties Representative Hampshire County Council 01962 845468 janet.mein@hants.gov.uk

Catherine Davis Counties Representative Hertfordshire County 01992 555679 catherine.davis@hertscc.gov.uk Council

Jayne Knight Eastern Regional Rep ( job-share) Suffolk County Council 01728 724793 Jayne.Knight@libher.suffolkcc.gov.uk

Andrew Kitchen Eastern Regional Rep ( job-share) Waveney District Council 01502 523397 andrew.kitchen@waveney.gov.uk

Sharon Scaniglia EM Regional Rep: nalgao ( job-share) Nottingham City Council 0115 9158604 sharon.scaniglia @nottinghamcity.gov.uk

Sara Bullimore EM Regional Rep: nalgao ( job-share) Lincoln City Council 01522 873844 SaraB@lincoln.gov.uk

Catherine London Regional Rep: nalgao ( job-share) London Borough of 0208 270 4816 catherine.millar@lbbd.gov.ukMiller-Bassi Barking & Dagenham

Leah Whittington London Regional Rep: nalgao ( job-share) London Borough of Lambeth 0207 926 0763 lwhittingham@lambeth.gov.uk

Andrea Bushell North West Regional Rep: nalgao ( job-share) Salford City Council 0161 778 0843 andrea.bushell@salford.gov.uk

Zoe Channing North East Regional Representative: Sunderland City Council 0191 5148459 Zoe.Channing@sunderland.gov.uk nalgao ( job-share)

Neil Hillier North East Regional Representative: Durham County Council 0191 384 2214 neil.hillier@durham.gov.uk nalgao ( job-share)

Michael Johnson Southern Region Representative ( job-share) Test Valley Borough Council 01264 368844 mjohnson@testvalley.gov.uk

Hannah Cervenka Southern Region Representative ( job-share) West Oxfordshire DC 01993 861554 Hannah.Cervenka@westoxon.gov.uk

Charlotte Gardiner South East Region Representative ( job-share) Waverley Borough Council 01483 523390 cgardiner@waverley.gov.uk

Gail Brown South East Region Representative ( job-share) Surrey County Arts 01483 776128 gail.brown@surreycc.gov.uk

Nickola Moore South West Region Rep: nalgao ( job-share) Borough of Poole 01202 633973 n.moore@poole.gov.uk

Helen Miah South West Region Rep: nalgao ( job-share) Swindon BC 01793 465353 hmiah@swindon.gov.uk

Jonathan Cochrane West Midlands Regional Rep: Redditch Borough Council 01527 63051 jonathan.cochrane@redditchbc.gov.uknalgao ( job-share)

Lizzy Alageswaran Yorkshire Regional Rep: nalgao ( job-share) Rotherham MBC 01709 823636 lizzy.alageswaran@rotherham.gov.uk

Gill Cooper Yorkshire Regional Rep: nalgao ( job-share) City of York Council 01904 554671 gill.cooper@york.gov.uk

Carys Wynne South Wales Regional Rep Blaenau Gwent CBC 01495 322510 wynne_c@blaenau-gwent.gov.uk

Gwawr Roberts North Wales Regional Rep ( job-share) Gwynedd CBC 01286 679721 GwawrR@gwynedd.gov.uk

Sian Hughes North Wales Regional Rep ( job-share) Conwy CBC 01492 575572 sian.hughes@conwy.gov.uk

Chris Willison West Wales Regional Representative Pembrokeshire CC 01437 775246 christine.willison @pembrokeshire.gov.uk

Sue Isherwood Executive Officer nalgao 01749 871110 sue.nalgao@btopenworld.com

Pete Bryan Administrator nalgao 0116 2671441 nalgao@aol.com

nalgaoTrustees Membership 2007/08

If you would like information about nalgao pleasecontact: Pete Bryan, nalgao Administrator 01269 824728 email: nalgao@aol.com.

If you would like to write an article for the next issue,the next copy deadline is Friday 28 March 2008.Please also talk to our editor Paul Kelly, Tel: 01752 217281 email: paul.kelly20@virgin.net