Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were provided by Councillors Lisa Homan and

Andrew Jones and Sylvain Malburet from Bush Theatre.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 17 September 2018.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 September 2018 were agreed as an accurate record subject to the amendment that Councillor Lisa Homan had submitted her apologies and was not present at the meeting.

The report sets out the Council’s intention to establish an Arts Commission in 2019, in order to ensure that its collective arts and cultural strengths are maximised to deliver greater economic prosperity to the Borough.

Joanne Woodward, Chief Planning Officer and Economic Development Officer, Growth and Place, introduced the report which explained that it was the Council’s intention to establish an independent Arts Commission in 2019. The aim of the Commission was to maximise the Boroughs’ collective arts and cultural strengths to deliver economic prosperity to the Borough.

Providing context, Joanne Woodward explained that The Commission would build on the vision outlined in the Council’s Art Strategy, The Connected Borough (2016), refreshing the strategy and making practical steps to ensure that its goals were achieved under its three core themes of: Destination, Creation and Inclusion.

The report provided details on the activities of the Commission’s steering team. It was noted, that to date, the steering team had assembled a Committee Panel which comprised of representatives from the borough’s cultural institutions, local practitioners and expert witnesses from inside and outside the borough. The Committee were informed that this would be led by Jonathan Church (Independent, Director) and comprise of four other members.

Joanne Woodward explained the intention of the Commission was to meet for approximately six sessions and explore a number of themes which were likely to include:

1. Scope of vision and visioning session.

2.    Destination - Infrastructure, Financial investment and sustainability. 

a)    Infrastructure - what do we have to do to make this work? 

b)    Financial investment - subsidy being replaced with sponsorship and commercial investment.

3.    Sustainability, audience inclusion and investment, cross fertilisation of expertise and knowledge.

4. Creation - Anchor Institutions and Arts Trust  

Who are the key players? How do we strengthen partnerships? What will the Arts trust look like, why establish one and what outcomes do we want to achieve?

5. Inclusion - ArtsFest, Irish Cultural Centre, Offenders Theatre Company, all other community arts organisations.
6. Encapsulation -  A final session to run through research undertaken and outline the way forward.

The Committee was provided with details of the draft timetable for the Commission. The Commission would determine its own programme scope and timetable.  It was anticipated that the Commission would be delivered in three distinct phases. Phase 1, taking place throughout December 2018 sought to establish the Arts & Culture Commission, agree Panel Members and expert witnesses and also the Terms of Reference. Phase 2, January to the summer of 2019 would entail the holding of Arts and Culture Panel sessions, meetings and consultations. Finally, Phase 3 would see the publication of the Commission’s report in September 2019. The Committee were informed that the Commission was expected to  report to meet the following objectives:

• Investigate how arts and culture can be harnessed to deliver tangible economic benefits to the borough by making our town centres destinations of choice, raising the borough’s profile.

·         Developing a strategy as to how arts and culture can be best used to attract and retain businesses and skilled employees.

·         Harness the arts within our developing science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) sectors to integrate the borough’s creators into multi-disciplinary fields (STEAM). 

·         Explore how planning, licensing, enforcement and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.