Agenda item

This report provides an update on the work of the Arts Commission.

Thomas Dodd (Arts Development Officer, Economic Development, The Economy) introduced the report. He explained that since the Committee’s last update, the Council’s Arts Commission had transitioned online with a revised programme to address the sector wide impacts of Covid-19. It was noted that two sessions had been held online, with the Commission’s remaining five sessions projected across the next quarter and its findings due for publication by the end of 2020.

 

On the 26^th May 2020, the Commission met to explore the theme of ‘Arts & Culture in Extraordinary Times’. Commissioners were asked to report on their observations of the impact of the crisis on Hammersmith and Fulham, and the wider arts and cultural sector.

 

The Chair thanked Thomas Dodd for the overview and invited questions from the Committee.

 

Referencing the 2018 EHA PAC meeting on the Arts Commission, Councillor Rowan Ree explained that the Committee had highlighted the need to involve young people in the arts / cultural offerings (in terms of access or providing them). He commented that the report before the Committee suggested that none of the Arts Commission evidence gathering sessions had focused on young people and none of the Commissioners appeared to be representing young people or youth groups / schools. Specifically, he asked what was being done by the Commission to harness the enthusiasm of young people. In response, Yvonne Thomson (Interim Strategic Manager, Economic Development, The Economy), explained that several people on the Arts Commission worked with young people and in terms of the expert witnesses, the Bush and Lyric theatres had been involved, which did lots of work with young people. The Commission had also spoken to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art(LAMDA).  Yvonne highlighted that Hammersmith and Fulham had been successful in gaining a London Borough of Culture Impact Award which was based around young people, using music as a medium. One of the Commissioners is involved in music production, taking music from the bedroom scene into studios, and overall, the Culture Impact Award meant that the borough was working with hundreds of young people, so the Arts Commission had been mindful to involve young people. Councillor Rowan Ree thanked Yvonne for the update and asked that future reports include these types of updates.

 

The Chair mentioned the timetable of the Arts Commission, its reporting schedule and requested that the Committee have sight of the Arts Commission’s final report

 

Action: That officers ensure the Committee considers the final report of the Arts Commission at an appropriate EHA PAC meeting, early in 2021.

 

With regards to the timeframe for the Arts Commission, Yvonne confirmed there were five further Arts Commission meetings planned. Pre-Covid, the Commission had hoped to hold a large public consultation meeting where the draft recommendations could be considered, but given current circumstances, these plans had needed to be altered. As a result, the next meeting would involve about fourteen community representatives which had been nominated by members of the Commission and this group would provide their feedback on the draft recommendations. This would be followed by a further meeting of Arts professionals who would also review the draft recommendations, before these were then refined or amended. Yvonne confirmed that the final meeting of the Arts Commission would be used to sign off its report.

 

Councillor Adronie Alford commented she was disappointed the report highlighted there had been several Arts Commission meetings, but it did not provide details of any of the outcomes. Councillor Adronie Alford also questioned the timescale to produce the final Arts Commission report by the end of the year (2020) and whether this was realistic.

 

Yvonne  explained that all the reports were produced by People Make It Work (an organisation commissioned to manage all the work of the Arts Commission), so when officers and Councillor Andrew Jones attended Arts Commission meetings, they attended as observers and all the reports were produced by a Doctor and his colleague, David Micklem, who also produced the research papers. Yvonne stated that the research papers would be published on the Council’s Arts Commission website link. Yvonne confirmed that all the papers for the Arts Commission had been produced in a timely fashion and she had no concerns about the timescale for the production of the final Arts Commission report.

 

Action: That officers ensure the research papers to the Arts Commission sessions are published on the Council’s Arts Commission website link.

 

Councillor Ann Rosenberg asked where the venues would be located  for small events (theatre and music) for young people to attend and use in the future. Yvonne confirmed that venues had been discussed by the Commission and some new venues were in the pipeline through existing Section 106 agreements. Yvonne highlighted that there were numerous small venues in White City as well as adaptive space at the Riverside Studios where filming was currently taking place, but which could perhaps be used differently in the future. She explained that a mapping exercise (of venues) had been undertaken by the Commission and, as a number of smaller organisations were represented on the Commission, they had an expertise which could be tapped into.

 

Asking a supplementary question, Councillor Ann Rosenberg enquired whether these new venues would be affordable to small organisations to use. In response, Yvonne confirmed that the Arts Commission had taken a holistic approach to the resources / venues in the borough and taken the needs of different sized organisations into account. Yvonne explained that she was not able to share the draft recommendations of the Arts Commission at this stage, but she hoped the Committee would be pleasantly surprised by these when they came into the public domain.

 

Through the Chair, Ros Scanlon, Cultural Director Irish Cultural Centre provided an overview of the activities which had taken place at the Irish Centre since March 2020 (including concerts, films, music and story-telling) and how ICC Digital had been used to produce and air new content to over 50,000 viewers. Ros highlighted the devastating impact of Covid on performance venues and the efforts which were being made  to support those which had lost their incomes. Ros explained it was important to recognise that the internet meant global audiences could be reached and it was vital that some good emerged from the pandemic.

 

The Chair asked Yvonne if she could comment on how the Arts Commission were considering the issues posed by Covid. In response, Yvonne confirmed that there was a national programme called Culture Reset and Hammersmith and Fulham was integrated into this programme. The Committee noted that some smaller venues had started to reopen, such as the Bridge and prominent residents such as Vanessa Redgrave had been petitioning outside the National Theatre (and as a Borough, Hammersmith and Fulham were supporting them) in their campaign to ask the private sector to bailout the arts in some shape or form. The Council were also working with the GLA to address the ramifications of Covid.

 

Yvonne explained that in her view, it was the financial impact which would be felt most keenly and how business models allowed venues to survive with such reduced footfall. Yvonne confirmed that the Arts Commission was aware of these issues and were actively investigating these. The Chair welcomed this response and reiterated it was important the Arts Commission recognised a national and local cultural reset was required.

 

Echoing the sentiments of Ros Scanlon, Councillor Helen Rowbottom underlined it was important to know what was happening to the Arts now, given the degree of uncertainty created by Covid. Councillor Helen Rowbottom asked if a comedy festival was still going ahead and secondly, in relation to the Arts Commission report, whether once the recommendations were formed, what the different nodes would be for its dissemination, including where the report would be sent after it had been approved.

 

Yvonne confirmed that the Leader of the Council was steering the comedy festival, supported by his Team, which might be virtual, given the current social distancing constraints. In terms of how quickly the Arts Commission recommendations could be translated into an action plan, Yvonne explained that draft action plans based on the draft recommendations had already been prepared so the ‘agreement to action’ phase should be quite swift.

 

The Chair explained that he had received several written questions in advance and these were read out as follows:

 

How can residents share the insights the Commission are gaining  and either contribute their own experience to the process or learn from it?

 

In response, Yvonne explained that the extensive research papers which accompanied each Arts Commission session could be published on the website and as previously mentioned, as large public consultation meetings are currently prohibited, then the commission would actively seek feedback from resident representatives and (arts) professionals. The Chair confirmed that if residents which wanted to feed into the Arts Commission contacted the Council, then officers would pass the resident’s details to the Arts Commission.

 

What are the priorities the Commission is going to pursue, for example does it see itself focusing on participation or on audience experience or on gap filling or things that are working well – community or professional artists or the needs of specific sectors of the population?

 

Yvonne explained that one of the largest work areas had been ensuring equality and diversity ran across all themes and was effectively a golden thread through all recommendations. Yvonne confirmed that the Commission had been looking at building on the strengths of the borough, as well as the shift towards citizen led decision making around the Arts and looking at the Local Authority as an enabler.

 

In terms of finance, whether its conclusions focused on reshaping of existing investment or a different approach?

 

Yvonne confirmed there would be a recommendation which focused on finance.

 

How is it anticipated that that the strategy which comes out of the Commission will be implemented and managed?

 

As previously mentioned, Yvonne confirmed an action plan would be implemented on the recommendations which would include SMART objectives to ensure these were strategic and could be measured. Yvonne confirmed that the action plan would be the document within the borough which illustrated the Council’s commitment to the strategy and provided details of how this would be delivered.

 

 

Could the Commission share a few key insights which have been gained through evidence  sessions to date, and does the Commission see these insights as leading towards radical change in the council’s approach to the arts or gradual change or something else.

 

Yvonne commented that for any change to be successful, it needed to be incremental, but she also explained that she was unable to comment on the Arts Commission recommendations at this time.

 

In relation to funding, Ros Scanlon, Cultural Director Irish Cultural Centre asked whether the fast track funding which had been used to great effect in Hammersmith and Fulham in the past, could be adopted, given the current situation. And whether an emergency fund could be created to support all the artists / projects in the borough.

 

In response, Yvonne confirmed that the Arts Commission had already looked at the Covid period and the implications of the cultural reset. However, she explained she would take a note of the points Ros had mentioned and raise these with the consultants at the next Arts Commission meeting.

 

Lucy Pittaway, Director Scariofunk Dance asked about the music workshops and whether anyone had been appointed to lead theses and push them forwards or whether these were just a concept at this stage. Lucy explained that music, comedy and an arts gallery had been mentioned, but asked what support was available to the other arts sectors. Asking a final question, she noted she had attended the PAC meeting in 2018 when engagement with young people had been discussed, but she had heard nothing further on this and wished to know what steps the Commission were taking to publicise its work and  engage with young people directly.

 

Yvonne explained the as part of the London Borough of Culture Impact Awards, the Borough had been working with HQI (a music organisation) and  key for life (an organisation reducing knife crime) to engage with young people. In terms of dance, Yvonne confirmed there was a broad representation of all art forms. Natalie Carrington – dance, Becca Pelling-Fry – art curation and UK TV was on board. Yvonne explained she was interested in Lucy becoming more involved in the work of the Arts Commissions and so she agreed to take this forward with Richard Watts of the Arts Commission.

 

Melanie Nock, Project Manager Hammersmith & Fulham Arts Fest asked about the implementation process of the Arts Commissions’ recommendations and how long these would take – six months, a year / five years, and whether there was scope for the Arts Commission recommendations to evolve. Yvonne acknowledged that Melanie had been invited as a part of a professional body to review the Arts Commission draft recommendations and to provide feedback. In terms of implementation, she envisaged this would be an incremental process which might span 12 months. Yvonne acknowledged that Covid would have an impact, and some of the recommendations which had been at the forefront earlier in the year would slip down the list.

 

Ros Scanlon, Cultural Director Irish Cultural Centre congratulated the borough for all its community care work and assisting residents with food during the pandemic. She explained that the Irish Cultural Centre had established a culture hot line, which was a phone line for elderly residents, which provided music, stories and people’s reaction to these down the phone. She hoped that the borough would be able to publicise this facility as it helped engage people with the arts and also reduced loneliness and a sense of isolation which many people had felt during the pandemic.

 

Helen Rowe, Interim Chair Hammersmith & Fulham Arts Fest, explained that during the festival this year, Hammersmith & Fulham Arts Fest had established a partnership with Hammersmith  Bid, where street performers provided doorstep performances for people who were isolated or immobile. Helen explained this had been very successful and would continue into the autumn. She underlined the importance of H&F Arts Fest and other festivals as a means of creating employment for artists.

 

Lucy Pittaway, Director Scariofunk Dance highlighted that she had been offering online dance workshops and inspiring interviews to inspire the local community . She asked whether an online element could be added to the Arts Commission in view of the uncertainty created by Covid.

 

The Chair asked how proactive the borough had been in advertising the online arts events / offerings through the Council’s website or through the weekly emails that were sent to residents, and if this had not been done, whether there was an opportunity for the Borough to help advertise future events.

 

Yvonne welcomed the comments that had been made and confirmed she would contact Ros outside the meeting and help promote the Irish Cultural Centre’s hotline. She also confirmed that maximising the impact of local arts and culture was regularly discussed by the Arts Commission when she attended as an observer.

 

Helen Rowe highlighted that an online platform was being produced for the H&F Arts Fest and confirmed that she and Yvonne would need to discuss how this could be developed further with the Council outside the meeting.

 

Summing up the discussions, the Chair thanked everyone in attendance for their contributions and reiterated that Yvonne would be in contact with a number of the contributors to see how they could engage with the Arts Commission or to otherwise be involved in providing further information which could be fed into the Arts Commission. The Chair explained it had been a useful exercise to learn what activities and events had been taking place and was reassured by Yvonne’s comments that the Arts Commission had been undertaking a wide breadth of work.

 

outside the In terms of the Arts Commission’s report, the Chair explained the committee hoped to see working with children and promoting young people, the issues surrounding venues / supporting music and the impact of Covid-19 and the recovery from that for our arts institutions and community arts. Further points which the Committee were keen to see incorporated into the Arts Commission’s report were improving and promoting the Council’s online offerings for the arts and enhancing overall access and engagement. Concluding, the Chair explained the Committee looked forward to considering the Arts Commission’s report early in the new year and he asked for the supporting papers from all the Arts Commissions meetings to be published on the website .Yvonne encouraged the participants or their contacts to get in touch with her with further questions which she would be able to provide fuller answers to outside the meeting.

 

                                                        

RESOLVED

That the Committee reviewed and commented on the report.