Agenda item

This report sets out the eight recommendations made by the Arts Commission in its final report, for consideration by the Council for adoption.

Yvonne Thomson – (Interim Strategic Manager, Economic Development) provided an overview of the report, which sets out the eight recommendations made by the Arts Commission in its final report, for consideration by the Council for adoption.

The Chair thanked Yvonne Thomson for the overview and invited Councillor Andrew Jones, Cabinet Member for the Economy to address the committee. Councillor Andrew Jones expressed his thanks to Jonathan Church, the Commissioners and all the participants in the Arts Commission review which had taken over two years. He acknowledged the degree of adaption which had been required to overcome the challenges posed by Covid in producing such a comprehensive document.

Turning to the report itself, Councillor Andrew Jones highlighted that it outlined a set of early successes and the process the Commission had followed. He explained that there was a significant amount of work to do to build on the recommendations set out in the report. However, the report was a tremendous achievement which put the Authority in a strong position to develop the Arts in the future.

Chair introduced the Commissioners and invited Jonathan Church, Chair of the Arts Commission, to speak. Mr Church thanked Richard Watts, Consultant  and his organisation for providing the research and documentary backbone for the Commission. He explained the reason everyone participated in the Commission was the belief they had in the Authority to take what was already excellent in the borough and develop it further.

Jonathan Church provided details of the report and explained that recommendations 1 and 7 were significant. Recommendation 1, which focused on the new knowledge base and making the new strategy and recommendation 7  which centred on building capacity and developing the economic growth of the Arts sector, alongside the Cultural Strategy. Richard Watts, Consultant, highlighted the importance of the new Cultural Strategy, its ability to address the challenges posed by Covid, the inequities (of opportunity) across the borough  and the need for additional investment to amplify and leverage all the (arts) activities in Hammersmith and Fulham. He highlighted that it was important that a representative group of people had contributed to the Arts Commission’s report but underlined the importance of Recommendation 1 and developing a Cultural Strategy to further enhance (cultural) representation across the borough.

Victoria Brignell, Arts Commissioner, commented the Commissioners had been drawn

from a diverse range of backgrounds. Numerous in-depth evidence-gathering sessions were held, and these informed a number of underlying principles. She explained that the challenge was not only how the Borough nurtured excellence in the arts, but also  how to ensure it was as  inclusive as possible. She felt that the Arts worked best when the Authority was seen as an enabler rather than as a  producer. Highlighting Recommendation 5, it was noted this focused on joining up arts events across the borough.

The Chair invited Melanie Nock, H&F Arts Fest, to explain how arts organisations had been involved and contributed to the Arts Commission’s work. Melanie Nock commented that the work had been invaluable in starting conversations about the Arts and underlined that H&F Arts Fest hoped to be heavily involved in the implementation of the recommendations.  She commented that a considerable amount of culture occurred in the borough but lots of it was hidden and not seen (and so not supported).

Melanie listed the types of activities which had occurred during the pandemic and highlighted the life changing impacts these activities had for residents. She underlined the importance of children and young people and how arts competitions had energised those schools which had participated. She hoped that H&F Arts Fest could continue to work in partnership with the Authority to enhance and publicise the arts in the borough as widely as possible.

The Chair invited Councillor Andrew Jones to comment on what the next steps were in the overall process. Councillor Andrew Jones acknowledged the impact of the pandemic, the level of challenge in relation to resources and the need to integrate the arts into the Authorities overall recovery programme, linked to the industrial strategy. He reiterated it was important the Authority acted as an enabler, joined activities together and championed the arts. He confirmed the Authority needed to absorb and think about how the Arts Commission recommendations could be taken forward and ensure a continuing dialogue was maintained with arts organisations in the future.

Councillor Helen Rowbottom noted the section in the Arts Commission’s report entitled art and extraordinary times and asked if arts organisations required assistance to pitch for funds / business plans to assist with their  financial sustainability. And secondly, she asked whether arts / artists felt aligned with objectives of the industrial strategy or whether additional work was required in this area to make arts more explicit within the strategy. In relation to the linkages with the industrial strategy, Jonathan Church confirmed that one of the Recommendations sought to integrate, small local organisations to the strategy and in relation to the first aspect, Richard Watts explained needs included: space, connection with communities, skills sharing and highlighted the role the borough could play in commissioning. He suggested one of the best ways to gauge the effectiveness of assistance provided to arts organisations was through impact assessments. Adding her thoughts, Melanie Nock commented that micro-organisations did not affiliate themselves with the industrial strategy and assistance needed to have an arts tag.

Responding to some of the points made by Richard Watts, Councillor Andrew Jones agreed space was important. The changing face of highstreets and retail space meant there was an opportunity to look again at how to use this, as well as the boroughs’ outside space.

Councillor Ann Rosenberg raised concerns about performance space and the need for venues across the borough as this was not explicit in the Arts Commission’s report. In response, Jonathan Church explained the Commission had discussed the changing usage of the Bush and Lyric Theatres and how the fringe had tended to disappear. He explained that enabling space that was affordable was a challenge, but performance and space were interlinked factors which had been explored in some detail by the  Commission.

Councillor Adronie Alford noted the report stated it was envisaged there would be a Director and several members of staff and she asked how likely this was and when this might happen. And, given the current economic climate, where the Council foresaw receiving the funding from to enact these ideas. And secondly, in relation to the creatives – the painters, potters and jewellers, Councillor Adronie Alford commented that the report had not addressed how these groups would be assisted and helped. In response, Councillor Andrew Jones explained that in relation to funding streams, the Authority had been looking at best practice across the country and was in conversation with larger venues such as Olympia about how further funding opportunities for the Authority might be generated. While there were financial challenges, Councillor Andrew Jones explained there was scope to look at how the Authority was organised, to ensure the best use of resources, as well as its current communications strategy to improve its outreach.

In relation to creatives, Richard Watts explained the Arts Commission had taken a very broad view of what culture was and these groups needed to be considered against the backdrop of the Cultural Strategy. The Committee noted that the Arts Commission had never attempted to reflect every art form or backdrop within its report. Music, theatre and dance was better reflected in the borough, as historically, they had seen more investment than the visual arts in the past. However, projects such as Slung Low, in which a lamp post gallery was created for residents, was cited as an example of an innovative and creative way of expanding the visual arts.

Councillor Andrew Jones agreed there was an opportunity surrounding the visual arts to look at reimagined retail space, including the use of the high street, post-pandemic.

The Chair thanked all the contributors whom had fed into the Arts Commission’s report and for the road map which had been produced to develop the arts in the borough in the future. The Chair drew a parallel with the types of work which had been conducted on the Industrial Strategy, in the way in which businesses had been brought together and saw this approach could be used to further the arts offering.

Councillor Rory Vaughan noted one of the recommendations focused on the creation of an African Cultural Centre and asked how this idea came about and how it would be developed. In addition, he asked about the role of children and young people and how they would be integrated within the report recommendations. In response, Jonathan Church commented that the concept of an African Centre stemmed from a desire to bring diversity to the centre of the recommendations and appreciated that the borough needed to have further conversations about its adoption (or not). In relation to children and young people, Jonathan Church explained that organisations across the borough already appreciated that young people were the future of arts and were already doing lots of good work at grass roots level. Richard Watts added that fostering ‘a cradle to the grave’ approach to support the arts was important.

Victoria Brignell reiterated that a strong foundation in the arts (for young people) already existed within the borough, but there were always opportunities to enhance this. Arguably, there were other groups which were less well represented in the arts, such as those residents with learning disabilities, young parents, and older residents whom faced greater barriers to access. 

Councillor Ann Rosenberg highlighted that a new community centre in (Sands End) Fulham would be opening in the summer of 2021 which had space for performance and visual art, but there was also the intention to establish a pottery, jewellery making and stained-glass mosaic activities.

Closing the item, the Chair confirmed the Committee welcomed the Arts Commission’s report and the effort which had gone into producing such a comprehensive body of work. After the recommendations had been fully reviewed, he hoped the Authority would be in a position to take many of these forward and that H&F Arts Fest and other Arts organisations were heavily involved in doing so. The Chair characterised what had been achieved so far, as ‘the end of the beginning , rather than the beginning of the end’. The Chair commented there was scope for further investment to bring organisations together and the committee wished to monitor the progress of the report in the future.

In relation to the next steps, Councillor Andrew Jones confirmed the Arts Commission’s recommendations needed to be digested and the Authority had to consider how these could be implemented and progressed. It was also important that the Arts Commission’s report was brought to a wider audience and steps were taken, as Covid restrictions lifted,  to share this more widely with residents across the borough.

RESOLVED

That the Committee note and comment on the report.