aahautumn06

ARTS AT THE HEART

Working for local government arts and creative industries The nalgao Magazine Issue 17 Autumn 2006

Sustaining Communities Through the Arts

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The next copy deadline will be 30th January 2007.

If you would like to contribute copy to our next edition, write to us with: • Any good practice case studies • Issues or problems that other members may assist with • Send us information on arts projects in your area • Send us letters for a letters page If you would like information about nalgao, please contact: Pete Bryan, nalgao Administrator, OakVilla, Off Amman Road, Lower Brynamman, Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, SA18 1SN or Tel/Fax: 01269 824728.

You can also e-mail us at nalgao@aol.com www.nalgao.org Any opinions or statements expressed in this newsletter are those of the individual and not necessarily those of nalgao.

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This issue of Arts at the Heart highlights both community and change.

It contains some vivid and inspiring case studies showing how arts officers can help sustain and grow communities at a time of considerable change. We also have some practical information on some of the policy issues that are changing the landscape we live in and on the government initiatives which need our serious response.

Local Government is not alone in facing these challenges. Bodies like the Arts Council are also having to rapidly adjust to new political realities. nalgao warmly welcomes the Arts Council’s new strategic priorities with their focus on participation and the creative economy.

For the first time that I can recall, the two principal public funders of the arts in England have really closely aligned objectives. We now just need to agree how to measure outputs and outcomes in a way that is simple, efficient and effective. nalgao is continuing to make the case at the highest national levels for the unique role that local government arts officers play in cultural, community and economic regeneration. We know it’s not always easy on the ground. As you head from a warm, and I hope restful summer into the busy Autumn season, I hope you find this issue of Arts at the Heart both practical and inspiring.

Sue Isherwood Chair of nalgao

Paul Kelly, Editor, Arts at the Heart and Secretary, nalgao

Changing to grow nalgao is to change its status and is seeking to become a charity. The proposals were unanimously supported at nalgao’s AGM earlier this year. The organisation is currently an unincorporated association, and this will continue, but charitable status will help us to further our development programme. In order to raise the funding it needs to grow, nalgao needs charitable status and that has prompted a wholesale review of its structure. The development will also have one further

Licence to kill?

Following our report in the last Arts at the Heart on the impact of the new Licensing Act on live music, nalgao has been researching the impact and will shortly be passing its findings to the DCMS. The picture, says Jane Wilson, is still confused and it will take some further time for the impact to clearly emerge. People report that they are seeing slightly less live music locally. Where this is the case it seems that this may be down to the complexity of the application process and possibly also due to cost implications. The trends seem to more pronounced in the amateur music sector than the professional sector. The findings, when complete will be highlighted in the nalgao ezine, and posted on the nalgao website.

nalgao news

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Arts at the Heart is seeking a new Editor. I’ve had great fun re-shaping the magazine and putting the last two issues together. I think we’ve now got a really good product with room to grow and improve further. But I now need to step back to create the time to focus on other projects. It’s a really satisfying and worthwhile project to take on. You get to hear all sorts of news before anyone else. You get a chance of shaping nalgao’s national voice, reflecting the wide range of work going on across England and Wales and it’s a valuable way of enhancing your cv. If you’d like to take on this worthwhile challenge, contact Pete Bryan on 0116 267 1441 or email him at nalgao@aol.com

2006

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…and it’s goodbye from him

A £77,000 Grants for the Arts bid means that nalgao’s members services will be enhanced over the next three years. The three year bid seeks funds to develop a three-year conference and case study development programme recording local authority case studies across England and Wales against the 7 shared national priorities, with progression recorded on a year-by-year basis to give a longitudinal profile of development. The annual nalgao Conference will serve as a vehicle to profile case studies, with the conference being further developed and improved to meet needs. Case studies will be collated and published as an interactive website and as a Case studies report at the end of the 3 year period.

ARTS AT THE HEART

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Bidding to succeed

Autumn

nalgao reports Local Authority Arts Budgets: The gloom continues Good practice and shouting about it.

Countdown to 2008 Looking to Liverpool Make the arts Olympic fit in just 5 years features Culture and Local Area Agreements In it to win it ...

The Lincolnshire approach A Dream of an event You never forget an Elephant Cravin’ Culture in Shropshire Sustainable Communities case studies Burnley: The Universe in the Centre Remember Filey – The Butlins Oral History Project Film in the Community: Back To The Future Embracing Change in Walsall Larkin’ about in Richmond Breathless in Havering nalgaoWales: Dancing in the Valleys partnership news Changing Places Inspiring By Degrees Drawing Inspiration reviews nalgao Executive Membership 2006/07

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Living in a world of increased justification and measurement, it is sometimes possible to lose sight of why we do what we do. But if you set aside all the CPAs, LAAs, PIs commentaries and inspections that increasingly clog the life of the local government arts officer, there are two concepts that I think sum up why we are here and what our role is; and those are community engagement and creating change for the better. Both are, of course, specific to place and time. But wherever you are and whatever your circumstances, neither are going to go away and we need to continue our commitment to both.

Welcome to another packed issue of Arts at the Heart, and many thanks to everyone who has contributed. I’ve had great feedback about our last issue and I hope you enjoy this one just as much. If you’ve got any comments or thoughts on what we are missing or how we can make it even better, please email Pete Bryan at nalgao@aol.com.

And if, as I suspect, you are planning or implementing great projects, why not write an article for the next issue? We expect it to be out in April 2007.

significant implication. Up to now the nalgao Executive Committee members have been regional representatives voted for by their peers and responsible back to them.

Executive Members will become Trustees of the new charity, with personal liabilities and responsibilities under the Charities Act. The constitutional change is likely to be taking place by the end of 2006.

nalgao Magazine

editorial nalgao news

“Two concepts sum up why we are here and what our role is; community engagement and creating change for the better”

Contents

Change, Culture and Community

It’shellofromme…!

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ARTS AT THE HEART

New Executive

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A new nalgao Executive was elected at the AGM earlier this year. Andy O’Hanlon stood down as co-Vice Chair and is replaced by Lorna Brown. Paul Kelly replaces Lorna as nalgao’s Secretary.

The nalgao administration office is moving!

The nalgao office has moved to Wales.

The new address for nalgao is now: OakVilla Off Amman Road Lower Brynamman Ammanford Carmarthenshire SA18 1SN The new administration telephone number will be 01269 824728, although there will be a divert placed on the old telephone number (0116 2671441) for the next 3 months if you forget the new number. The email address will remain the same at nalgao@aol.com.

We will be sending out a circular with this nalgao magazine, and would be grateful if you can inform your accounts section of the change of contact details.

05-06

%

06-07

%

26

30.6%

16

38%

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47%

15

36%

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22.4%

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26%

85

100%

42

100%

Whilst the 2006-07 sample is smaller than the 2005-06 survey, it represents around 10% of all English and Welsh Local Authorities and it shows that the trends are not getting better.

In 2005-06 77% of those surveyed indicated budget cuts or standstill budgets (which taking inflation into account equals a budget cut).

Whilst the figure of cuts or standstill in 2006-07 is slightly less than in 2005-06, 80% of 2006-07 respondents reported budget cuts in the previous two years – so what we are seeing is not a series of small one off reductions but a year-onyear financial degradation of arts services. And the rate of budget cuts in 2006-07 has risen by a

At the nalgao seminar – Good practice and shouting about it - in Nottingham in April delegates discussed the challenges faced by Arts Officers working in an increasingly politicised environment.

The seminar covered the following topics: 1 The role of arts within the Councils services 2 The public profile and perception of the service 3 Member perception of ways the service addresses the needs of the area and responds to issues raised 4 The perception and support from others within the council 5 Views of the regional agencies for commentaries 6 What to do if you feel your service is under threat The chief role of the arts service was seen as increasing participation in the arts and the ways of doing this were seen as: 1 Actively including participation in the arts policy and planning process thus ensuring that the arts community are signed up to and deliver on this.

2 Working with planners to ensure that the arts are included in the planning process.

3 Ensuring the arts are included in the council’s information and communications strategy.

It helps if you can get the arts onto the agendas of the Departments with the biggest resources. Senior managers need to be persuaded that arts work is frequently groundbreaking.

The seminar looked at what to do if you feel your arts service is under threat. Here are some bullet point tips they came up with: • Get into other people’s ‘play parks’ • Use their language • Talk to the Chief Executive and leader of the Council • Meet and challenge ‘difficult’ politicians and senior managers.

• Become aware of how members read council reports – ask them!

• Make personal connections • Take advantage of any training in political influencing and memberbriefing skills • Become a cross-directorate champion – lead on cross-departmental projects. Talk to people with different agendas.

Fuller notes on this seminar session are on the nalgao website – www.nalgao.org Andy O’Hanlon and Doff Pollard

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nalgao reports

Position Service budget cuts Service standstill Service budget increase Total Surveyed

How to fight your corner in the political framework

ARTS AT THE HEART

If you are looking for examples of how the arts can engage with young people and how your arts service can develop an effective partnership with Children’s Services, look no further than Stokeon-Trent. In March of this year they produced Arts at the Heart of Learning, a new Arts strategy for Children and Young People’s Services full of case studies and project examples.

The attractively illustrated 25 page document proposes clear outcomes that could come from young people engaging with the arts and many practical ideas.

You will find the strategy on Stokeon-Trent’s website www.stoke.gov.uk if you have difficulty in accessing and downloading it contact Paul Bailey, Community Arts and Performance Officer at Paul.Bailey@civic2.stoke.gov.uk

The nalgao Executive covers all of England and Wales except the North East where there is a long-standing vacancy. The full Executive is listed, with contact details, on page 30.

Good practice and shouting about it.

2006

nalgao Magazine Autumn 2006

nalgao news

Arts at the Heart of Learning

In 2005-06 nalgao, worried by reports of cuts in Local Authority arts services, undertook a national survey of Local Authority arts expenditure. The results made alarming reading, prompted articles in the trade and national press and are cited in John Holden’s acclaimed recent policy paper Capturing cultural value- the crisis of legitimacy. We reported the figures in the last Arts at the Heart. nalgao has now updated its survey to cover the likely scenario in 2006-07 and the findings are as follows:

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Autumn

The gloom continues

with upfront funding and if these trends continue, Arts Officers may lack the essential resources they need to shift focus in this direction. nalgao is keen to receive data from more of its members about their 200607 budget settlement and to hear on-the-ground anecdotal stories of the impact of budget freezes and service cuts. Email the nalgao administrator, Pete Bryan at nalgao@aol.com Pete Bryan and Paul Kelly

nalgao Magazine

Local Authority Arts Budgets:

worrying 8% over the 2005-06 figures.

Given that the impact of the 2012 Olympics and the likely shift of emphasis has probably yet to fully bite, the longerterm trends are worrying. 83% of those surveyed expected budget cuts or standstill budgets in future years.

Arts Council England and presumably the DCMS are keen to encourage the arts to form part of Local Area Agreements (LAAs) thus servicing a regenerative social purpose. Yet LAAs do not come

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ARTS AT THE HEART

nalgao Magazine Autumn 2006

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It was a process, writes Paul Kelly, that for a short period at least, got the nation talking about culture. The bidding was intense; would it be NewcastleGateshead, Bristol, Birmingham or Liverpool? Who would win the coveted crown to be capital of Culture in 2008?

And would it be a crown of cheer or, ultimately, a crown of thorns? Well the national news will report more speedily on the latter than Arts at the Heart possibly could. But that old sporting phrase about taking part rather than winning being the most important comes to mind. And whatever the final outcomes and judgements, incremental developments are bound to happen that will change Liverpool – and Britain – for the better. And with just over a year to go till it all starts, Arts at the Heart will be carrying a regular feature on some of the less obvious developments and outcomes of Liverpool’s successful 2008 bid.

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‘The shops look amazing’ Roller shutters, graffiti and grime have been stripped away to reveal a brighter look for owners and shoppers. A similar scheme has already been carried out in Glasgow, and the Liverpool Culture Company hope to repeat the economic success.

Project manager from the Liverpool Culture Company, Alicia Smith, worked with co-ordinator Sonia Bassey from TIC consultancy. Alicia Smith said: “The shops look amazing and it’s a real surprise to see the difference between the before and after pictures. It’s been well worth doing and I’m sure the

Artwork instead of Flyposting It is hoped that the success of this scheme will encourage other developers to make creative use of their hoardings and develop a welcoming environment for local people and visitors alike. Another major bonus of the scheme is that

Make the arts Olympic fit in just 5 years It hardly seems believable, but in less than six years Britain will have the largest cultural festival/spectacle/event that we are likely to see for a lifetime. Yes the Olympics are coming!

Whilst there is fear that 2012 will focus on sports to the exclusion of all else, London’s gain can also be of benefit the arts, especially the participative arts. A new document: “Getting in shape: how

flyposting is expected to be drastically reduced by displaying artwork instead.

This scheme complements the City Council’s ‘Community Postering’ programme, which provides designated sites for promoting events and products with posters.

The Look of the City project is supported by the Liverpool Culture Company and Cityfocus alongside the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund. Finally, the cleanliness of the city is being addressed with grants for groups who want to run creative environmental

local authorities can maximise the benefits of London 2012” with ideas as to how the Olympics can benefit a wide range of cultural areas has recently been published by The Local Government Association and a report has been developed by the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) and is available as a downloadable file on the LGA website at: http://www.lga.gov.uk/Documents/Agend a/Regeneration%20Board/270306/Item% 203.pdf. It’s not too early to start planning.

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projects, everything from making public art works from items that would otherwise be thrown away to fashion parades of recycled outfits have been carried out so far.

For more information about any of the projects, please visit www.liverpool08.com or email clare.trenholm@liverpool.gov.uk Sir Thomas Street, Stanley Street and Whitechapel sites were set aside for artwork, free of charge by Milligan.

Documentary Illustration students at John Moores University’s School of Art & Design were the artists responsible.

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nalgao reports

nalgao reports

Claire Trenholm

Neighbourhood Renewal Fund money from Europe through the Liverpool Culture Company. The shopkeepers were consulted about the revamp, with artists working on their designs before they were brought into reality.

nalgao Magazine Autumn 2006

Countdown to 2008

With multi-million pound constructions like the Paradise project (worth £920 million at the last count and the biggest retail construction project in Europe), it’s easy to forget the smaller scale projects.

But to the people involved on the smaller budget constructions, the work is no less vital. In the latest project to be finished in the Toxteth area of Liverpool, artists were integral in the revamping of a row of eight shop units, totally transforming a blighted area. In just a couple of weeks feedback has been amazing and there are hopes for the economic boost to the businesses concerned.

Initially, the shop owners were consulted extensively about what they wanted from the transformation, and artists were brought in to help achieve this. An exhibition of work kept the public informed and involved so there was great community engagement with the project.

Shops Upfront is a scheme funded by

ARTS AT THE HEART

Looking to Liverpool

neighbourhood will benefit from this project for years to come.”

Partners in the Shops Upfront project include the Liverpool Culture Company, Liverpool City Council’s Regeneration and South Central Neighbourhood Management team, alongside Agency Services and the Liverpool Biennial.

Another way the city was made to look fantastic in the run up to 2008 was masterpieces by Liverpool students which are being used to create the largest outdoor art gallery in the city.

Construction sites provided the background for innovative paintings and drawings to give budding young artists the chance to display their art publicly.

Two projects with students from Liverpool John Moores University produced almost 300 square metres of art for the Milligan ‘Met Quarter’ development on the site of the city’s old post office. The project is now part of the university’s course syllabus.

Rapid change within Liverpool is the theme of the pieces, looking at how the city is being transformed for its year of celebration as European Capital of Culture in 2008, with the first series of vinyl banners set to be unveiled next month.

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features 2006

ARTS AT THE HEART Autumn

nalgao Magazine

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Culture and Local Area Agreements Adam Coleman

LAAs Local Area Agreements (LAAs) are one of the most significant public policy initiatives of recent years. They seek to support the development of genuinely sustainable communities and devolved forms of local governance through the building of a new, more flexible and responsive relationship between central and local government. Artists, arts organisations and arts officers have an important role to play within this development and the opportunity to align cultural and community planning objectives should be looked upon not as a matter of concern but as an opportunity to further embed arts and culture at the heart of public life.

LAAs are essentially three-year agreements that set out the priorities for a local area as agreed between Central Government, represented by the Government Office (GO), and a local area, represented by the lead local authority and other key partners through Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs). Drawing into one the plethora of public funding streams currently available, they seek to

‘join up’ public service delivery and give councils and their partners more flexibility to make decisions about how they tackle priority issues within their locality.

Guidance issued by the Office for the Deputy Prime Minister (now the Department for Communities and Local Government - Ed) for the pilot round of LAAs acknowledged the unique contribution of culture to the sustainability of a local area and its cross-cutting impact across all four of the statutory LAA blocks- (Economic Development and Enterprise, Healthy Communities and Older People, Children and Young People, Safer and Stronger Communities). With some isolated exceptions however, the pilot round of LAAs (signed off in March 2005) failed to elevate the status of cultural concerns within an integrated local area agreement planning process.

Lessons have since been learnt and many round two authorities have begun to address arts and culture in an increasingly ambitious way through reflecting the cultural contribution to a

wide range of shared priorities. In light of the imminent arrival of round three (due to be signed off in April 2007), in which LAAs are to be rolled out to all county and unitary authorities, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has released guidance which lists an optional cultural outcome to “Enrich individual lives, strengthen communities and improve places where people live through culture and sport, including libraries and the historic environment”. With the support of an approved indicator set this optional outcome reflects a breakthrough for the cultural sector, but is not one that should be taken for granted. There will still be much advocacy work to do.

Artists, arts organisations and arts officers within third round LAA authorities need to demonstrate the contribution of arts and culture to local public life and embed this thinking within the corporate heart of community planning processes.

But we cannot do this alone. At a local level leadership and direction from our key cultural non-departmental public bodies (including Arts Council England, Museums,

Libraries and Archives, and Sport England) has varied significantly to date in both in its form and effectiveness, leaving many authorities without adequate levels of support. At a regional level we must seize the opportunity generated by the 2012 Games to work in closer unity with our sectoral partners within the broader cultural field. Our regional cultural consortia must surely be held accountable for this task. At national level we must continue to work with DCMS to highlight the realities of the rhetoric as we work toward the creation of a transferable cultural evidence base and a unified national message, as promoted through programmes such as the DCMS/LGA Cultural Pathfinders project. nalgao exists at the core of this complex dynamic. Already our seminars have featured the work of our members in West Sussex and Dorset where arts and culture are well embedded in their LAAs. nalgao is also producing a set of case studies which will provide strong evidence of the impact of local authority arts work through using the Cultural Pathfinder

evaluation framework. We have started collecting material already and will be promoting the programme through our own website and the IdeA. The message has been made clear that LAAs are here to stay. In the performance management controlled world of local government their significance can only continue to expand. It is the responsibility of artists and arts organisations to rise to the challenge of LAAs and to ensure that the contribution of culture to the development of sustainable communities is rightfully claimed. This is not simply an argument for justifying why the arts are good or why they should receive public support. Nor is it an argument for the arts as tool for achieving broader governmental objectives. Rather, it is an argument for the inherent and unique value of culture and for the role it can, and must, play at the heart of public life and local government community planning.

Adam Coleman is Arts Co-ordinator for the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. He can be contacted on a.coleman@richmond.gov.uk

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ARTS AT THE HEART

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Reinforcing the silos The second challenge is one that will

become of greater importance as existing LAAs get “refreshed” in the light of experience – how Cultural Services can be part of the process of creating drafting and developing the LAA? In most cases to date, arts officers have been striving to show how their work impacts on the prescribed outcomes of one or more of the four Blocks – how arts and health impacts on Health Communities, how developing Creative Industries impacts on the outcomes of the Economic Development block, and so on. The danger with this approach, important though it undoubtedly is in these early days, is that it reinforces the silo approach that LAAs are designed to shake off.

In Lincolnshire, the LAA will become an operating document from 2007, so the 06-07 year is a crucial one in laying the foundations and learning from the experience of those authorities who have trod these paths already. Lincolnshire Cultural Services recognised the dangers, but also the opportunities that a coherent approach to the Lincs LAA would bring.

With the support of the regional cultural agencies – Arts Council, Museums and Libraries Association and Sports Partnership - they brought together a Cultural Advocacy Team of 3 people with independent specialisms in the areas that marked Lincolnshire’s distinctiveness as an area: its diversity of arts, libraries and sports. The role of the team is to advocate to the four blocks for the role of culture in delivering Safer & Stronger communities, Economic Development, Children and Young People and Healthier Communities and Older People. Already one significant success has emerged, in that Culture is now perceived to be a cross-cutting theme against which the 4 blocks will be measured.

Intrinsic value The team is designed to work from its own specialist knowledge, but also to work as a coherent package with the emphasis on culture. This offers the chance to negotiate around a cultural vision for the emerging Agreement, to propose cultural outputs for inclusion in the Agreement, and to argue for the intrinsic value of culture in the County (not just for what it produces in outputs).

Crucial to this will be consultation with, and the engagement of, the cultural agencies in the County who are much more likely to be key partners if they can see how their role is of value in delivering the Agreement. The Agreement, in other words, will be stronger for the buy-in from key cultural deliverers and the professionals (and volunteers) that they represent – in the arts, the 100 voluntary groups who regularly stage rural arts programmes, the Youth Music Action Zone programmes with immigrant communities, the impact on tourists of the Public Art Network. These will be mirrored and extended by the work of the County Libraries and Archives Division, as well as the Lincolnshire Sports Partnership and the Cultural Advocacy Group plans a conference this autumn to ensure a twoway flow of communication between the whole sector, and the Local Area Agreement.

The Lincolnshire LAA will be signed off in March 2007 and become operational from April. At that point, we can measure the extent to which culture is part of the new Agreement, and the impact of the Lincolnshire approach.

Watch this space...

Tim Harris, Arts and Culture Consultant, and Member of the Lincolnshire Cultural Advocacy Group

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A Dream of an event Gill Horitz Bournemouth town centre, late one September Saturday evening, and a man’s got caught up in a procession crossing the main square, nearly one hundred local people and professional performers pulling illuminated sculptures and vehicles carrying animated screens and dancers ejecting ribbons and fire streams across the pavements, and all of it throbbing to Bhangra rhythms. The man doesn’t know where he is, he’s being carried along until, after ten minutes, he finds himself in a dark park with the promise of fire and light over by the perimeter trees. He phones his mates, waiting for him in the town centre. ‘Sorry I’m late, I’m surrounded by light and fire, there’s a steel elephant, dancers and fireworks. It’s amazing; I can’t believe it. I’ll see you later.’ Nearby, another man: it’s the end of a hard day spent on a building site, and he’s been relaxing for a while in the pub.

Now, he’s also caught in the stream of

light and music and sculptures, and he’s worrying that his wife wont believe him when he tells her he’s late home because he followed a life size steel elephant and some crazy horsemen to a park lit with flares and...

Almost four thousand other people watched the processional performance of Emergency Exit Arts’ Runga Rung show, as it passed through the town centre and up into Meyrick Park for the dynamic finale of fire and light. People came out of bars and pubs, stood on the pavement with their drinks, on their front door steps, as the parade went by.

features

All over the UK, Cultural Services Officers are grappling with the new challenge of Local Area Agreements, and how to ensure the work of their Departments are reflected in these new delivery-orientated contracts with Government. The importance of the - still relatively new LAAs is becoming obvious to those of us who toil in public service from within Local Government; it still has a way to go to ensure understanding among the agencies and client organisations outside the local authority “family”.

So, there are two primary challenges for the cultural sector; the first is to ensure that Culture as a whole – creative activity, museums and archives, tourism, sports, the natural and built environment and anything else that we human beings choose to engage with – is reflected in the language and outcomes of the LAA. If we cannot achieve that, we are at a significant disadvantage; to quote from the Minister for Local Government “Partnerships should be so close and seamless that to the customer, the area is the brand delivering local public services”.

The LAA will become the governing strategy for resource allocation, so, to put it crudely, we need to be in it to win it….Cultural Officers will rightly claim that the work they are responsible for – arts centres, libraries, sports development teams, visitor attractions, architecture and so on - are at the heart of the local brand, and defines what makes Lincoln different from Worksop, for example. So the first challenge is to ensure the LAA reflects those realities, and that the evidence base for their impact on local people is available.

nalgao Magazine Autumn 2006

nalgao Magazine Autumn 2006

features

Tim Harris

The Editor writes: The arrival in London this summer of the “The Sultan’s Elephant”, the spectacular and gargantuan piece of street theatre by French company Royal de Luxe, quite literally stopped the traffic. It transfixed all Londoners who saw it, from MPs to shopworkers and through the media coverage spread its impact to many more who live outside the capital.

But the Sultan’s animal was not the only artistic Elephant to have turned

heads.Our first two case studies report on another elephant, a British animal, created by the London based Emergency Exit Arts, (EEA) also working in a multi-cultural context, but with and for local communities. ‘The Sultan’s Elephant’ was inspirational, majestic spectacle at its very best.

But creating sustainable communities and lasting community cohesion needs a longer, deeper and more diversified approach. As the following two articles show EEA’s Runga Rung has created a local impact that we hope will last rather longer and drill a little deeper than national newspaper headlines.

ARTS AT THE HEART

In it to win it ...the Lincolnshire approach

You never forget an Elephant

Bournemouth Belle The event was programmed by Bournemouth Borough Council’s Arts Development Unit with three clear aims: to raise the profile of good quality participatory arts work in Bournemouth; to highlight how suitable the town centre

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So what was the trigger for peoples’ special reaction, their raised spirits, and their engagement? What provoked superlatives, caused a ‘buzz’, a ‘thrill’, an experience like ‘an extraordinary and magical dream’, where people were ‘entranced by the sheer brilliance of it all’, and the ‘beauty’ of the finale, the visual feast of it all?

Firstly, the quality of artistic design, direction and vision of EEA’s imaginative fusion of British urban life with

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Cravin’ Culture in Shropshire Sue Goodwin As an Arts Development Officer it isn’t very often you have the pleasure of doing a project that achieves all your expectations and much more besides.

For each project we undertake we have our aims and objectives and then our private hopes and dreams. For me this project was a milestone in the development of the County Council Arts Service because in just one day our profile within the organisation was raised by demonstrating the unique role arts can play in delivering corporate priorities whilst inspiring communities.

Runga Rung, the colour of colours is an ambitious, large-scale production conceived and performed by Emergency Exit Arts. It had previously been performed in major cities in the UK and Europe and this was the first time it had been performed in a rural venue.

ARTS AT THE HEART

nalgao Magazine Autumn 2006

features

Giant flowers

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Over 200 children, young people and their parents attended arts workshops during the Easter holidays and on the night carried their lanterns, flags, giant flowers and puppets through the streets to celebrate their community and the rich cultural heritage of Shropshire. The procession led the 3,000 strong audience to a finale performance site where the show unfolded with a fusion of images from different countries and cultures.

Bringing this unique experience to the people of Shropshire delivered activities which contributed to the corporate priorities which at the time were • Supporting inclusive communities • Promoting lifelong learning • Stimulating a thriving economy

Pride in the community Key to the success of this project was the high quality of the artistic product of the show itself and the quality of the workshops offered to the community. The ability to bring work of this calibre to Shropshire has enabled the Arts Service to achieve the following for the community of Craven Arms and surrounding villages:

• Stimulated people’s imagination and inspired them to join in with local community activities thereby increasing their participation and creating social inclusion.

• Created a sense of pride in their community, a sense of worth and wellbeing.

• The opportunity for a Shropshire community to embrace, explore and celebrate a diversity of cultural images and traditions alongside their own.

The Arts Service plans to build on the achievements of this project by creating the partnerships and resources to roll out a programme of performance based arts projects that engage directly with communities. We evaluate the outcomes of our work through a methodology called ‘The Value of Culture’ which measures outcomes against four quality of life indicators. To measure the impact of this project we produced a DVD of feedback from people who took part in this project .

Runga Rung: ‘thinking outside the box’ The Craven Arms Minority and Diversity Group are now planning their own project called ‘Face It’ with the aim of encouraging community cohesion and presenting a positive image of the town to residents and visitors through a photographic project documenting the faces of 3,000 residents.

From the day I saw Runga Rung being performed in Bolton town centre it took us four years to bring this large-scale show to a rural community in Shropshire. Significantly the event was attended by our Chief Executive, the Director of Community Services and the Assistant Director for Learning and Culture was a volunteer steward chaperoning a policeman on stilts! This led to the Asian Bollywood dancers being invited back to ‘Celebrating Shropshire Day’ at the Abbey in Shrewsbury where they were warmly welcomed by the County Council members.

The film of the participant feedback has been a very useful tool for us in communicating the impact of the project long after it took place. It enabled us to present it as part of the Council’s successful bid for the Beacon Award for services to rural communities and the project was praised as a unique approach to addressing equality and diversity in rural communities. Even now 13 months later people talk about the project and often use ‘Runga Rung’ as another word for ‘thinking outside the box.’

Sue Goodwin, Senior Arts Development Officer, Shropshire County Council The Value of Culture Methodology is available from the website Sue.goodwin@shropshire-cc.gov.uk www.shropshireonline.gov.uk

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Project Benefits The Runga Rung project provided the following benefits: • Artist-led creative workshops for parents and children to work together.

• Opportunities for people with special needs to work collaboratively.

• Opportunities for the elderly to be included in a project involving a range of ages.

• Development of local partnerships between Shropshire County Council Services and voluntary organisations.

• Training for local artists.

• Economic benefits for local businesses through employing their services and through visitor spend.

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Touched by an experience of communitas

contemporary British Asian culture and Indian legends; plus the exuberance of being connected en masse, as participant or viewer, to the movement, noise and spectacle.

And something less tangible occurred, something inside touched by an experience of communitas? Of provocation? Of ritual and festival? A sense of the arts keeping faith with the enjoyment of creative action for its own sake, for the intrinsic quality which gives people a sense of being alive and spirited. That’s what the arts are good for, which we know, having been ourselves participants and audience; but also, as arts professionals, having listened to the views of participants and audience. Based on this, the imperative is to build a case, gather sponsors and committed partners, and embed the event into the town’s cultural calendar. Watch Bournemouth’s space!

Gill Horitz, Arts Development Officer Bournemouth Borough Council gill.horitz@bournemouthlibraries.org.uk 01202 451805

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from Portchester School.

And new artists were offered paid placement opportunities to work with experienced workshop artists. Nothing special about that; good quality arts development practice has a duty to work in this way, without making a song and dance about issues such as inclusion, mentoring, new audiences and cultural diversity.

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is for this kind of event (‘Better than anywhere in Europe’, according to Les Sharpe, EEA’s Artistic Director) and, most importantly, to persuade decision makers, sponsors, and the public that this could become an annual event with economic impacts to benefit the local economy.

Emergency Exit Arts spent two weeks in the town (funded by Arts Council of England’s Grants for the Arts and Bournemouth Borough Council, Soundstorm at Dorset Music Service and Wave), leading free open workshops in the Lower Gardens and the town square.

They also worked with groups already involved in arts participation through existing arts development projects: TOPS, a theatre group of actors with learning disabilities, and a group of women attending Sure Start Bournemouth, who made a 15 foot Bournemouth belle in a blue and white striped bikini. New groups also took part: parents and children from Boscombe Neighbourhood Nursery, and students

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Sustainable Communities

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transport, education and wealth and immigration, including that from EU enlargement has changed many of the very streets we live in.

Some, if not all, of the work you are doing as a Local Authority arts officer concerns communities in one way or another. Your work is probably being directly or indirectly shaped in some way or form by the Government’s sustainable communities plan. But unlike the CPA or Local Area Agreements or Best Value it is possibly a less tangible programme and you may not be fully aware of it.

The background In 1999, the government commissioned the architect Richard Rogers to examine

how to address the needs of an estimated 3.8 million new households by 2021 (multiply by 3 or 4 for the number of people) – an increase of 19%.

There was allied concern of a fragmenting of Britain’s cities with the middle classes moving out to suburbia, creating addition pressures on greenbelt lands and leaving behind ghettoes.

Rogers delivered his report, “Towards an Urban Renaissance”. Some felt it was sidelined, others, including Rogers himself, that the government just cherry picked bits of it and failed to adopt its more radical aspects.

Then a year later, John Prescott launched the Sustainable Communities Plan and an allied report “Sustainable communities: building for the future”.

Prescott then asked Sir John Egan to review the skills required to build sustainable communities, resulting in The Egan Review – “Skills for Sustainable Communities” (see end of article for download addresses).

Then the government supported the establishment of a Sustainable Communities Academy, whose interim Chief Executive was Chris Murray, formerly of CABE and before that Principal Arts Officer with Milton Keynes Borough Council.

Finally this work has been picked up by Regional Spatial Strategies examining where population growth is likely to occur (and be encouraged) and the planning and transport implications of this.

What is the sustainable communities plan? - Part 1 The sustainable communities plan was launched by John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister in February 2003 with an initial budget of £22 billion. Its initial three year funding programme came to an end in March 2006. But it’s far from complete and the reason you may not have heard of it is that, on the surface at least, much of it is and was about housing.

But the background is somewhat more complex. The notion of ‘sustainable communities’ is an environmental one and stems from a growing realisation that the current model of development is unsustainable and the concept of sustainable development. But the concept of sustainable communities is

not just about the physical environment.

It has a more rounded approach and that is what makes it relevant to arts and cultural professionals.

So, what do we mean by sustainable communities? - Part 1 “A sustainable community,” says the Academy of Sustainable Communities, “is a place where people want to live and work now and in the future. A place that is prosperous and vibrant, that will improve everyone's quality of life.”

“Places where people want to live – and that are sustainable”, says the Egan Review (see below) “do not happen by chance. They are the product of visionary thinking and commitment by highly skilled civic and national leaders,

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Where and how did you grow up? Who and what framed the values you hold today? Who lived next door to you?

How well did you know your neighbours? If you were a teenager in the 1960s and 1970s the answers to these questions, unless you lived in an inner city area, will quite possibly paint a picture of a stable community with some change. But essentially of a place that knew itself and its inhabitants and maintained an orderly progress that had not changed significantly for many years.

By the mid-1980s this idea of an unchanging, timeless community was in flux. Much was changing and that change continued through the 1990s.

Industrial restructuring, population growth, increased mobility through

nalgao Magazine Autumn 2006

A bluffer’s guide

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Paul Kelly

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Defining sustainable communities – part 2 “Sustainable communities, says the Egan Review, “meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, their children and other users, contribute to a high quality of life and provide opportunity and choice. They achieve this in ways that make effective use of natural resources, enhance the environment, promote social cohesion and inclusion and strengthen economic prosperity.” And they then define seven components (see table at end) that are needed to make a sustainable community. You will of course note straight away how similar these seven components are to the ODPM’s seven

priority themes and the subsequent four Local Area Agreement themes. It is also good to see that a social and cultural component is included in the seven. An expansion of their understanding of the role is set out in the box below and it acknowledges a role for culture.

The sustainable communities plan - Part 2 The 2003 Sustainable Communities plan sought to address seven issues: • Accelerating the provision of housing and creating four growth areas in - Thames Gateway - London-Stanstead-Cambridge corridor - Ashford - Milton Keynes-South Midlands • Creating affordable housing especially for “key” public sector workers (nurses, teachers, policemen etc) • Tackling homelessness • Addressing low demand and ‘housing abandonment’ - in 2003 there were around 1 million abandoned homes, especially in the North and Midlands, with consequential effects on local communities, • Bringing social housing up to a decent standard • Improving the local environment of all communities with better parks and public spaces • Protecting the countryside – by using more brownfield sites rather than greenbelt land.

Who is driving the sustainable communities agenda and what messages are emerging?

Aside from the government, IDeA is now involved and they say, “Local government is playing a lead role in the delivery of this vision, tackling the practical challenges of the policy framework. These challenges can include the provision of decent homes, creating access to employment, protecting the environment and regenerating community spirit. In short, the stewardship of both human and natural resources.” IDeA’s role is to provide support and guidance to local government and to use its pivotal role between central and local government to foster alliances and partnerships.

Sustainable communities, says IDeA is about “giving ordinary people more control over the decisions that affect them, focusing on delivering solutions to problems that communities themselves have identified and working to tackle social, economic and environmental concerns in a balanced, constructive and sustainable way. It may not be absolute power to the people, but it is about articulating a vision that local people may actually recognise... the essence of a sustainable community is likely to be one characterised by: “a sense of community, a sense of place and a sense of direction or vision”.

The Academy of Sustainable Communities is a new national and

international centre of excellence for the skills and knowledge needed to create communities fit for the 21st century. There are, it says, , there are huge gaps in the skills and knowledge required to create these communities across the country - in particular, generic skills such as community engagement, leadership, project management and partnership working.

So why is this relevant to the arts and culture and what are the opportunities?

First, there is much attention in many Local Authorities on Local Area Agreements. But as you will gather, this is merely a mechanistic delivery tool to help deliver sustainable communities. Trying to think sensibly about LAAs without an awareness of the sustainable communities agenda is like a sauce without the meal.

Secondly, as we said at the start, some, if not all, of the work you are doing as a

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Resources IDEA – www.idea-knowledge.gov.uk sustainable communities pages are under

The seven components in sustainable communities • Governance • Transport and connectivity • Services – public, private, voluntary • Environment – quality of • Economy – quality of • Housing and the Built Environment • Social and cultural

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL Dimensions of Sustainable Communities – Expanded • Vibrant, harmonious and inclusive communities • A sense of community identity and belonging • Tolerance, respect and engagement with people from different cultures, background • Friendly, co-operative and helpful behaviour in neighbourhoods • Opportunities for cultural, leisure, community, sport and other activities • Low levels of crime and anti-social behaviour with visible, effective and community• All people are socially included and have similar life opportunities

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Well, it’s because of some of the factors we outlined above. Because of wealth, population growth, immigration and increased mobility, communities have started to become more diverse and hybrid, less fixed and more fragile.

And this has huge economic and social impacts. It also raises questions. “…what sort of communities are we trying to create?” asks the Egan Review, “and how should we measure achievement; what are the most effective delivery processes, and who is responsible for these; and finally what skills are needed to make the processes work effectively, and how do we bridge the gap between our current skills base and the skills we want?”

the ‘Improving your Council’ section ODPM - the ‘Sustainable Communities: building for the future’ – the ODPM report of 2003 is at: www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1 139870 The Egan Review – ‘Skills for Sustainable Communities’ is at: www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1 502251 The Academy for Sustainable Communities is at: www.ascskills.org.uk

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So, why the sudden need for ‘sustainable communities?’

Local Authority arts officer concerns communities in one way or another. This contextualises that work.

And it gives you an opportunity. Whilst social and cultural matters get a mention in the Egan Review, we suspect that they are still peripheral.

Housing brings people to a site, yet it is culture that normally brings them together and defines a place. Without culture your sense of place is like a house that lacks the trappings of a home.

Thirdly, where new communities are being built, especially in the four designated areas, there are massive opportunities for arts and culture.

Communities need facilities, schools, health centers, libraries and community centers. Arts Officers are already at work trying to influence developments through public art, new facilities, dual-use facilities [see “Jewel in the Crown” – last issue- Ed] and provision of arts services. In Swindon a substantial video project was recently undertaken to help integrate people into new housing developments through helping them tell and share their stories.

Finally, places are made by people.

Engage with them and get them engaging with each other and the places will come alive and that’s a key component in sustainability. And what better vehicle than arts and culture to achieve that?

Paul Kelly is Principal Arts Officer for Plymouth City Council and Secretary for nalgao

ARTS AT THE HEART

developers and professionals, with the full engagement and support of local partners and communities.”

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Samantha Schneider

The work is a 3 metre diameter woven copper sphere weighing over 60 kilos that will be suspended in the main atrium, illuminated by a range of light sources sequenced to create changing moonlike

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Developing oral history skills The project has given East Riding residents the opportunity to recount their holiday memories from the former camp, which have been captured through the use of photographic, video and audio methods.

The grant also enabled artists to work in a local primary school, using the oral histories of Butlins, to increase the children’s understanding and appreciation of the local heritage.

Work has also taken place with Seaside Radio - a local community radio station with the aim of engaging local people and encouraging them to develop their oral history skills through training opportunities in interviewing, recording and editing.

The project culminated in a final celebratory exhibition of all the work produced which includes a book of memories with an attached, CD or DVD. Alongside the exhibition was a weeklong community radio broadcast, ‘Filey Butlins Remembered with lots of memories gathered during the project.

There is a project website at www.rememberfileybutlins.co.uk Samantha Schneider,– Arts Development Worker, East Riding of Yorkshire Council tel. (01482) 392653/ 07795657056 and e-mail samantha.schneider@ eastriding.gov.uk

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experience and it has been the aim of the project to document the Filey camp’s existence in an innovative and accessible format for future generations by researching and recording its unique history.

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crescents and colourful shadows on the inner walls. It will have a strong visual presence whether experienced from inside or outside the building.

The spherical piece designed specially for the centre is now being woven - or rather plaited – by the artist and his team of collaborators - globe makers Arabella Heskett and John Gooding; lighting designer Neil Foster, and artist John Gilbert - in 10mm copper tubing on site at the new health and leisure centre, still under construction. It is hoped that the public will be able to observe the installation of the lights later in the process via video link.

The concept of a woven sculpture may be seen as an oblique reference to Burnley's weaving tradition, but the work is far from a monument to tradition; rather, it is a curious, unusual and very lyrical form - a geometric totem for good health and fitness that will be relaxing to watch. The health connection helped secure additional funding for the work from Arts Council England.

Artist Liam Curtin commented “The work is enigmatic and allows people to contemplate it and develop their own interpretation as to what it might mean to them.” Victor Jull of the Burnley Patient Group says, “The Burnley Patient Group are justly proud to have been involved in the St. Peters Centre public art project and are pleased that varied views have been listened to and acted upon. This was an 15 16 object lesson in consultation.”

nalgao Magazine September 2006

When Artist Liam Curtin was chosen by property developers The Eric Wright Group, Burnley Borough Council and the Burnley, Pendle & Rossendale Primary Care Trust to create an eye-catching piece of artwork for the new LIFT-funded St. Peters Health & Leisure Centre in Burnley, little did the commissioners suspect that he would promptly set up a studio and laboratory in the local squash courts. Designed by architects Nightingale Associates, the St. Peter's Centre provides a new £27million capital investment into the town centre of Burnley, with the new facilities promoting the regeneration of the eastern side of Burnley Town Centre.

Liam Curtin, who is responsible for award winning projects such as Blackpool's High Tide Organ and the Great Promenade Show, has an enigmatic approach to public art. Holding open house for the public in the squash court, he and Burnley-based artist/collaborator John Gilbert experimented with light, shadow, colour, reflections, movement and materials. The artwork was developed through this open workshop process that invited the public, staff of the centre and various consultative groups to take part, influence and discuss ideas as they emerged.

You may never have been on holiday there, but for nearly 70 years Butlins has played a major part in the lives of many ordinary British people. Before the rise of package holidays, and worldwide travel, Butlins afforded an annual chance to relax, to socialise, meet new people, and have fun. In 2005, Yorkshire Council’s East Riding Arts Development Service received a grant of £43,900 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to run an oral history project that aimed to document Butlins’ Filey camp’s history from its opening in 1939 to its final closure in 1983. The project started in September 2005 and ran through until May 2006, when a final exhibition took place in Bridlington, East Yorkshire.

Butlins is a familiar part of British culture and at one time central to the British Holiday

ARTS AT THE HEART

The Universe in the Centre

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ARTS AT THE HEART Autumn

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Burnley:

Moonlike crescents

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Remember Filey – The Butlins Oral History Project

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e h t n i Film unity: m m Co To The Future Back

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More than just a cinema Derbyshire Film uses local venues, mostly village halls in rural areas, to create a mini cinema for the night. Everything to do with the evening, including selecting films, liaising with film distributors, using the projection equipment, publicising the films and providing a bar and refreshments - is done by volunteers. Local people turn their chosen venue into a temporary cinema – be it for an afternoon matinee

with popcorn for children, or a big night out in the village hall for adults.

The villages show an eclectic mix of films (anything from “Brief Encounter” to “The Motorcycle Diaries”) to an equally eclectic mix of audiences the length and breadth of Derbyshire. When local people discover that “Pride and Prejudice” or “The Constant Gardener” is showing in their local village hall, (usually just a walk away) – they turn up in droves. This is the real strength of the project – the fact that it is only just a walk away. No public transport needed. This also makes it a very inexpensive outing for most people, especially families. Refreshments add to the evening and are always much cheaper than at a pub or multiplex and usually home-made. Some villages theme their refreshments to the film so for “Sideways”, Calver village organised a wine tasting. For “Chocolat”, Holymoorside raffled a box of chocolates and provided chocolate biscuits with tea. Other villages have provided Sangria and tapas with

Spanish films and German beer with the award winning film “Downfall”.

Attracting loyal audiences The films prove to be not only visually exciting but also an opportunity to meet up with friends and chat, a feature which is noticeably absent from any run-of-themultiplex screening. A large proportion of the audiences are made up of older people who haven’t visited a cinema for over 30 years. Having a chance to walk to their local village hall to see a film has made a great deal of difference to the quality of their lives, especially during the long winter months.

The people screening the films have not only developed technical skills in film exhibition, research, marketing and publicity, they are also attracting loyal audiences. All of the comments from local people have been very positive and very complimentary. Cinema has been brought back to some villages for the first time in 50 years.

The project uses portable state-of-theart cinema equipment including a digital projector, a 12ft by 10ft big screen, a drape kit, sound mixer, two speakers and stands, and a DVD and VHS player.

Everything is housed in a flight case and hard-wired so that operating the equipment is very simple. All of the equipment fits into the back of an estate car.

Animated film is popular Derbyshire is served by only 2 cinemas.

This project has proved that there is an appetite for film screened at local venues chosen by local people. Some of the villages have gone on to successfully apply for grant aid to buy their own digital projection equipment. The attraction of the mini-cinemas is that local people have control over what they choose to watch and are not forced to put-up with what the nearest multiplex offers. Quite often films are shown a year after being shown at the nearest multiplex, merely because

the distance and expense and the multiplex venue is not to everyone’s taste.

When given a choice of walking to the local village hall, having a glass of wine and nibbles and watching a film on the big screen, rather than the blander more expensive option of the multiplex, many people choose the latter.

A number of artist-led workshops have run alongside the screening of films. This has helped develop the audiences. The Film Animation workshop whereby children get to make their very own animated film was the most popular. This also meant that their short films could be screened before the main feature and also encourage a different audience to attend the film night or afternoon.

If you would like to find out more about this project check out the Derbyshire film website on www.derbyshirefilm.org.uk or contact Kay Ogilive Derbyshire Film fieldworker on 01629 823495 or kay@derbyshirefilm.org.uk for more details.

Kay Ogilvie, Film Fieldworker

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case studies

help them through their first film season and subsequent seasons. She organises technical training in the use of the projection equipment, audits each venue and provides advice on improvements. The Fieldworker helps with the set-up of the groups, provides advice in the form of a regular newsletter as well as being on hand for one-to-one discussions. She manages the storage and booking out of the shared equipment and also organises artist-led workshops, training sessions and network support meetings.

nalgao Magazine Autumn 2006

There was a time when cinema going was a mass popular occupation. The rise of multiplexes, DVDs and individual hi-definition television has changed all that. This may be fine if you are an urban dweller, but it puts rural communities with few cultural facilities at hand, at a disadvantage.

Derbyshire Film is a project developed by the Derbyshire Arts Officers’ Group that brings cinema to local communities that may not otherwise have access to the big screen. It has been an outstanding success in its first year having sold over 3,000 tickets and screened nearly 100 films.

The project provides a fieldworker, three sets of digital film projection equipment, training and technical back-up to make everything run smoothly. Workshops with a ‘film’ theme are also available for the groups to book to help promote their season of films.

The fieldworker works closely with each group providing support and advice to

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e Kay Ogiliv

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new corporate management team asked us to use our skills, within the organisation and alongside the authority's partners, to use participation in the arts and creative thinking as a way of developing borough-wide projects that meet the needs of the vision.

Walsall Creative Development Team As a result, we changed our name to Walsall creative development team and are now taking on work that uses community arts techniques to move on corporate agendas, whilst keeping our people- centred, participatory focus.

Described below are two projects.They are very different in their set up and desired outcomes but are similar in that they both use the arts in consultation with people to achieve results. Both tackle difficult problems. They are borough-wide projects rather than just a concern of one community. Both have been created and developed through consultation and creative workshops with local people.

Boundary features and town centre markers: Artist Tim Ward

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The 'Gateways' project The Borough of Walsall was created by boundary changes in the 1970's and lacks the gravitas of the shires or weight of the cities. It has no clear time-honoured idea of itself as a place. Walsall was constructed from bits of other regions clustered around the old Staffordshire town of Walsall creating a unitary 'Metropolitan' local authority. Few areas in the borough have any natural affiliation governmentally with Walsall.

Funded by the Walsall Borough Strategic Partnership of which Walsall Council is a key partner, the 'Gateways' project is a £250,000 public art project, aimed at improving the visual impact of entering the borough and helping address the problem of identity in Walsall.

At the start of the project there was no consistent 'look' as people entered the borough via its 'gateways' on the edge of the borough and it is in these very places that resistance to being a part of Walsall was most vociferous. A steering group of the funders, the council’s senior management team and politicians from the Cabinet was brought together to oversee the project.

The 'Confronting Chlamydia' project Chlamydia is one of the fastest rising sexually transmitted infections (STIs) amongst Walsall's young people, reflecting a national trend. Walsall’s Teaching Primary care Trust (tPCT) and Health Action Zones, in partnership with

Creating Entrance Features The creative development team managed the project. Its main aim was to create a visual package for the borough through agreement and consensus. A creative way of working was thought to be the best approach.

Artist Tim Ward of Circling the Square was employed to work with us on creating entrance features for main road routes in and out of the borough as well as six 'district centre' markers. During the project's 18-month lifetime workshops have been held with all nine Local Neighborhood Partnerships in Walsall to create and design 21 boundary features and six town centre markers.

Consensus over style, size, look, images, words and locations was agreed at public meetings chaired by elected representatives as well as at other locally held workshops. These workshops gave

Endorsed by Senior Health Professionals

Brownhills Miner: Artist John McKenna

Glen Bluglass outlines how one of the fastest improving Local Authorities in England has used culture and creativity to deliver its corporate priorities.

Walsall Council has had to have a long hard look at itself in its efforts to improve as an organisation. The council spent time and energy working with Walsall's people to draw up a vision to create a better borough.

This vision has been created by consulting with local people, partners and the authority's staff. The council published 10 pledges aimed at improving life in the borough which drives everything the council does (see table).

Walsall's community arts team embraced this vision. The council's

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Glen Bluglass

Once the raw materials had been made, an evaluation day was set up. Some 50 people attended including original project participants, other health professionals and youth workers. All were invited to give their feedback on the effectiveness of the prototypes. Crucially, the factual information presented in each pack was informed by experts and included reference to local venues and sources

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Walsall’s 10 pledges 1 Ensure a clean and green borough 2 Make it easier for people to get around 3 Ensure all people are safe and secure 4 Make our schools great 5 Make Walsall a healthy and caring place 6 Encourage everyone to feel proud of Walsall 7 Make it easier to access local services 8 Strengthen the local economy 9 Make it easier to access local services 10 Transform Walsall into an excellent local authority

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Walsall

Walsall Council's creative development team identified a clear need for better ways of giving young people the information they need to stay safe.

A project steering group led by the creative development team included staff working in sexual health, youth workers and health development workers.

The matter was brought to the attention of the tPCT by a youth worker, who wanted to explore ways she and her colleagues could answer specific questions about sexually transmitted diseases being asked by young people in their youth clubs. The steering group invited artists to come up with ways of getting appropriate and accurate information to young people in a fun and non-threatening way.

Walsall Youth Arts won the commission to deliver the project and set up workshops with young people, sexual health professionals and youth workers.

Initially the sessions, led by arts worker Kate Green, focussed on self-esteem and positive self- image. This led to an exploration of different creative methods which could help approach issues around sexual health. These methods had to be accessible for the workers implementing them and young people.

As a result four different prototype packages were developed, a board game, website, video and drama game.

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Embracing change in

of information and support for young people.

The project received match funding from Sure Start Plus. Evaluation and consultation will now develop of a final chlamydia 'toolkit 'and training programme for those working with young people to deliver the material. This will happen by the end of 2006.

This creative approach has been endorsed by senior health professionals, who are using creative ways of working and participation in the arts to inform service development and planning.

‘Confronting Chlamydia’ is part of a wider programme of initiatives led by the creative development team around sexual health.

The project is part of the effort to fulfill Walsall Council's pledge to 'make Walsall a healthy and caring place' and is supported by a number of partners from the voluntary sector, social services, tPCT, youth service and community services.

Creative work in Walsall has blossomed, as people who run and deliver services have been able to work together with the council on clearly set out objectives.

The creative development team is being asked to deliver 'in house' creative thinking sessions as people realise thinking differently and pooling creative ideas is a practical way forward. After all, expecting to get a different result from always doing things the same way is unlikely to achieve much. Walsall is using the arts to embrace change.

Glen Bluglass with Leah Wilkes and Moya Lloyd

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people a chance to speak out in an informal and non- threatening environment, as well as having their opinions and ideas ratified in more formal arenas.

People from Walsall, Moxley and Brownhills took part in creative workshops exploring their area's history, identity and hopes for the future. They created their own site specific pieces as another part of the 'gateways' project again agreed and ratified at local meetings and in the council house.

The Gateways project supports a number of Vision priorities, including 'encourage everyone to feel proud of Walsall' and 'make it easier for people to get around'.

The final phase of the project was due to be completed in August 2006.

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Chris Cole

nalgao Wales:

Dancing in the Valleys The Valleys Dance Initiative (VDI) has been established since 2003 and is the outcome of a pioneering partnership between the Arts Development Officers of six South East Wales Valleys local authorities - Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Torfaen – and Community Dance Wales (CDW). The 3 partner community dance organisations in the SE Wales valleys - Dance Blast, Rhondda Cynon Taff Community Arts and Valley and Vale Community Arts - and the communities they serve are an essential ingredient of the Initiative.

The concept of the VDI came out of a Feasibility Study jointly commissioned by the six local authority Arts Development Officers in 2000. The Feasibility Study was a result of discussions between the six

Bob Carlton’s Macbeth The commissioned local history play has been cast with nearly thirty speaking parts including the goal scorers of 1966 who all lived in Havering at the time, and for reasons too unlikely to explain, King Harold on his way to Hastings (1066) and the local churches are starting to build outdoor stages on The Queen’s Theatre Green ready for three massive outdoor performances of The Passion play over the Easter weekend.

Public art projects are coming to fruition both with sculptor Rob Ollins in the new regional hospital currently being decorated in Romford and the space outside the huge new Asda development where Studio Three Arts are project managing sculptor Stephen Stockbridge.

Breath is being held by The Bubble and

ADOs on a way forward in the SE Wales valleys for a collaborative approach to arts development. In these discussions dance was identified as the art from that required the most attention and investment. The vision for the VDI was that it would improve equality of access to dance across the network of the six local authorities.

Valleys Dance Initiative provides a new focus for dance development, with priorities on improved communication and co-operation, securing resources for joint events and initiating partnerships in cross-departmental working within County Borough Councils in the South East Wales Valleys and with external organisations.

Increasing access to professional performance Funding from the Arts Council of Wales and the respective Arts Development budgets of the six local authorities ensured the appointment of a Valleys Dance Co-ordinator in November 2003.

This post holder is managed by Community Dance Wales on behalf of the Initiative and is responsible for the

by the local Romford Summer Theatre group both of whom will be hoping for better weather for their performances in Raphael Park with Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night respectively while The Queen's Theatre is currently in the middle of a run of Bob Carlton's new treatment of Macbeth.

The special gift for the thirty fifth anniversary of the Twinning Association Poems for Peace attracted over a hundred successful entries and is being bound by a local craftsman book-binder.

There is more, but isn't it always the way - I have to rush off now to a meeting about budgets and this time next week I'm off for a quick transit of the Panama Canal.

Chris Cole. Arts Development OfficerLondon Borough of Havering

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delivery of an Action Plan addressing the identified needs of each participating local authority and its communities.

A Steering Group – consisting of the six ADOs or their representatives, CDW and the community dance partners - has been established to oversee the strategic direction of the Initiative and take reports form the Co-ordinator on the delivery of agreed objectives.

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The key aims of the Valleys Dance Initiative, as an unique partnership approach to dance development, are to: • Build on the dance infrastructure across its entire spectrum, from community activity to professional performance, within each of the six Local Authority areas • Raise the profile and awareness of dance within and across the six County Borough areas • Develop and maximise effective partnerships to create dance opportunities • Bring the very best dance experience to people in the South East Wales Valleys

case studies

The outcomes for participants included, recognition of their achievements by peers, family, project staff and general public, learning to negotiate with their peers and to resolve conflict through discussion, identifying new and appropriate role models, through direct contact with artists and project staff to whom the participants could relate and development of team work and collaborative skills.

The project also had a number of valuable outcomes for the arts service and its project partners including, building new relationships with young people who had no previous contact with the organisation and creating new relationships with the National Youth Theatre and several freelance arts practitioners. The project also created a successful collaboration with the Parks Department and an innovative use of a local open space.

What were the measures of success for the creative team? Peter Collins, NYT Associate Artist said: “There were many, but chiefly, retaining and actively engaging all participants for the full week; creating an environment to enable participants to lead and therefore own the creation of content for the piece and enabling the young people to engage with and reflect on their local environment and history plus, of course, building confidence, self-esteem and communication skills amongst participants. “ “The content of the work”, he added, “was always participant led and the piece reflected the concerns of those involved in the light of research done by them. The Hatherop Rap in particular gave the team a voice they were proud of.”

The last words belong to a participant…

“Larkin’ About during Summer 2005 was one of the best experiences of my life.” said project participant Charles.

The London Borough of Havering has a small but tremendously active arts team comprising an Arts Officer, Arts Development Officer, Arts Centre Manager and three part-time Arts Centre Assistants.

Our aim is to enable and deliver arts at the heart of everyone's life in Havering and we do actually work with pretty well every part of the Council as well as a wide range of the community.

A snap-shot today shows Havering Rock Band of the Year winding up for a record number of heats in a local night club and Junior Artist of the Year exhibition for 10 to 14s on show in The Queen's Theatre foyer gallery. Young Musician of the Year has just finished the masterclasses at The Music Centre and Fairkytes Arts Centre is knee-deep in Easter Holiday kids creating.

nalgao Magazine Autumn 2006

Larkin’ About was a site-specific theatre project which took place over one week in August 2005 delivered by the Arts Service at the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in partnership with the National Youth Theatre and the Parks and Open Spaces Department.

The Art Service’s annual programme encompasses exhibitions, arts festivals and educational projects in addition to a specialist programme of targeted provision that aims to support persons disadvantaged to accessing cultural

provision or at risk of social exclusion.

Building upon the success of our annual Larks in the Parks children’s theatre festival we were keen to develop a programme strand that would actively target excluded young people aged 13 to 16 years with cultural opportunities available in their locality. Working in partnership with the National Youth Theatre we decided to commission a group of young people to respond to their community, their history and their environment through the use of theatre and we set them the challenging them to create a piece of site-specific theatre in the space of one week. The result of that week was an outstanding promenade sitespecific performance which was attended by over 250 members of the local community in Hampton.

The astonished reaction of the audience to the performance is a testament to the creative talent and personal commitment of all the people involved and the creative team which helped to shape this unique project.

Breathless in Havering

ARTS AT THE HEART

t u o b a ’ n i k r a L chmond i R in

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Enormous pressure for ACE

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I supported the Head of Culture at NSDC on a project to develop an historically significant building in Newark town centre into a cultural venue, tying in the

neighbouring theatre, the museum and the ongoing programme of regeneration in the town. This allowed me to see funding applications from the other side as I was heavily involved in an application to the Heritage Lottery Foundation. I also led on the development of an advocacy tool for the recently adopted arts strategy. The result was a small fold up brochure highlighting the key priorities and outcomes, with case study examples from across the district.

Heather and I knew from the outset that we and our managers would have to be flexible in our approach to dates planned for the swap. Certainly for me it came at a time of enormous pressure for ACE Regional Partnership Officers, in terms of round 2 Local Area Agreements being drafted, the outcomes of the YEW Consulting Local Authority Partnerships report and the future of the partnerships and Performance Indicators for the CPA Culture Block being developed. I won't pretend that it wasn't a ridiculously busy time for us both and that flexibility and understanding as well as a sense of humour was crucial to the success of the swap.

Identify objectives With this in mind, but without wanting to sound too much like candidates for beatification, it did take a big commitment from both of us in terms of time and a mutual appreciation that we are both people to get on with the job in hand what ever it takes! It was a hugely valuable experience, we both felt that it opened up communication between ACE, EM and Arts Officers, we both gained greater understanding of the breadth of

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Inspiring By Degrees Matthew Blades With the launch last year of its Foundation Degree in Cultural Events Management, Bishop Grosseteste College (BGC), Lincoln, is leading the way in providing vocational, work-based training degrees for the cultural sector. Matthew Blades, Programme Leader, highlights the value of this approach.

Did you know that 17.7 million workers across the UK (63% of the working population) improved their skills last year and/or went on to gain a formal qualification from their learning and training? And evidence suggests the Foundation Degree framework (FdA) might well have featured as a very viable option with which the work force made the connection between vocational training and formal qualifications.

Almost a year on, what has been the impact on the UK cultural sector? Well news from the East Midlands, particularly across Lincolnshire, is positive. We are enjoying a vibrant cultural renaissance, across heritage, the arts, museums and through leisure tourism. This local revival, and indeed the renewed interest regionally, in what the local sector can achieve economically, artistically and socially, is fuelling a demand for new knowledge and different skills. Vocational wok-based training, and the ways in which knowledge and skills are acquired, and used, has taken on a new significance for practitioners throughout the sector.

This is good news indeed, particularly for a sector that tends to fall short in the

area of providing targeted training opportunities and where many hold the view that formal education and on the job training are two distinct, uncomplementary routes. Well, let’s be honest, education and qualifications have often distanced cultural sector workers from acquiring marketable new skills and extending their knowledge. You have to remember, the sector is made up of practitioners who have only themselves to rely on, to create, manage and extract value from their own work.

Bespoke response to particular needs They often lack the means or the time to devote themselves to learning, in the traditional sense and the evidence suggests this affects their long term economic and career prospects. But, with the help of employers, sector advocates and regional development agencies, BGC is turning this situation around, and the Foundation Degree framework provides a valuable route for engaging cultural sector practitioners in accessible, work-based learning programmes.

Described by the Department for Education and Skills as a “modern, vocational higher education qualification”, Foundation Degree’s can form a bespoke response to the very particular needs of both employers and employees and so really should reflect higher education’s support for the strategic growth of practitioners and their organisations.

BGC’s own programme is largely derived from training needs analysis research and aims to meet both current and future skills gaps, which emerged from that process. We have also come up with tools to help practitioners analyse their own preferred learning style for use at work.

An employer’s advisory group has been enlisted to influence our thinking on course maintenance, business and professional development issues, as well as innovation, research and enterprise, and we have a carefully crafted mentoring programme running alongside College based support. All features of the Foundation Degree ethos.

The workplace benefits are huge For Clare Freeman, an arts development officer at one of Lincolnshire’s district authorities, and a participant on the BGC Foundation Degree, the result is a learning opportunity very different to the normal higher education experience: “The course has everything I want . . . it relates directly to the work I am doing at the Council.

It’s allowed me to study at work, with projects based on real workplace experiences. I can feel it’s giving me more confidence in my job and helping me to think in new ways about how I could move my career forward”.

By working closely with employers and senior managers, BGC has also witnessed how Foundation Degrees, through delivery, encourage management to champion the development of vocational, work-based

partnership news

How can the Arts Council and Local Government get to know each other better and work more closely in partnership?

Jenny Rhodes describes a unique project in the East Midlands.

Whilst I was at Arts Council England, East Midlands (ACE,EM) I had identified in my training plan the possibility of working with, or shadowing a Local Authority Arts Officer. In the summer 2005 when I was seconded to Resource Development Officer we put a call out to the East Midlands Local Authorities suggesting a form of 'job swap' opportunity (we never did come up with a snappier title for it!)

Newark & Sherwood District Council (NSDC) came forward and in September 2005 Heather Cooper, Strategic Arts Officer and I started a two day a week swap. This involved one day a week actual swap and one day a week we would be together, alternating between Newark & Nottingham.

Rather than covering each other’s roles on those days, specific areas of work were identified. On her ACE days Heather worked on the Arts Officer resource pack, which NALGAO are now involved in and is being rolled out regionally, with a view to a national roll out and being coordinated by Tim Harris. Heather also worked on other areas such as ACE, EM engagement with the East Midlands Sub Regional Strategic Partnerships, funded through the East Midlands Regional Development Agency.

I would certainly recommend it to other ACE regions and to other Local Authorities, particularly where an ACE officer has little or no experience of working in local government and for a Local Authority arts officer to get a sense of the scale of work that ACE is involved in through our relationship with the DCMS and other national and regional departments and agencies. Jennie Rhodes, Resource Development Officer, South East Arts Council England, East Midlands.

nalgao Magazine Autumn 2006

Jennie Rhodes

from the outset and make sure the work you cover whilst you are there covers the aims, then evaluate the process with your line managers at the end. Work out contracts which include all the little things such as expenses, sickness, holiday leave, who will be your 'temporary' line manager, timing; current/ forthcoming workload and is there someone else who could cover areas for you / is this going to happen in the middle of a major piece of work that forms part of your substantive role?

ARTS AT THE HEART

partnership news 2006

ARTS AT THE HEART Autumn

nalgao Magazine

Changing Places

issues facing local authorities and Arts Council.

If anyone is thinking of taking part in a similar initiative I would suggest that, as in our case, specific areas of work are identified, rather than one trying to cover for the other on swap days. ACE regions are big and although in an ideal world the opportunity should be open to everyone, in terms of the commute to your temporary place of work it is important to be realistic!

Identify what you want to get out of it

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Drawing Inspiration The Big Draw 1 - 31 October 2006

ARTS AT THE HEART

nalgao Magazine Autumn 2006

partnership news

Clare Hansen

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The annual October Big Draw encourages creative learning and cultural and social engagement. 1000 organisers, including record numbers of local authorities, supported last year’s initiative, reaching an estimated 300,000 people UK-wide.

Drawing is a universal language, connecting generations and cultures: children draw to make sense of the world before they learn to write; yet most adults asked to pick up a pencil claim: ‘I can’t draw’. The events described here removed this barrier, allowing people of all ages to discover that drawing is fun and always at their finger- tips! Their organisers won Drawing Inspiration Awards – a prize of £500 or generous packs of art materials – an additional incentive. These accounts of successful 2005 events may encourage others to participate. For detailed advice on running your own Big Draw, visit the Campaign for Drawing website www.drawingpower.org.uk.

Arts Action, York’s community arts team worked with four artists over one

month, to create ten projects – high profile public activities and carefully targeted community workshops. A group of ex-offenders on a resettlement programme drew their first theatrical experience, a dress rehearsal at York Theatre Royal and a group of adult learners teamed up with an animator to make their first pop video inspired by Aladdin. Children listened to storytelling in the Theatre’s Studio and chalked their responses on the walkways. Crayons on long poles were introduced into weekly wheelchair dancing sessions for adults with disabilities.

Mammoth paperchain Sheltered housing residents drew over four weeks, inspired by a visiting artist and live music. At the National Centre for Early Music, children made colourful drawings of the Jai Kapur brass band from India; 300 people drew inside York Minster and 20 York primary schools ran events.

This project was funded by The Urban Cultural Programme as part of Illuminate.

Nottingham City Council Arts & Events and Hartlepool Arts, Museums & Events used the energies of young people to enthuse and encourage wider participation. In central Nottingham, 4000 participants joined Beat 13 artists and the teenagers who meet in the Old Market Square in sketching their city on giant paper rolls across the pavement, stairs and lampposts. Redcar’s Urban Art Festival at the R-Kade Skate Park celebrated large ‘graffiti’ canvases made by young people in response to three local museum collections.

After his third Big Draw, Tom Flemons Reading Development Facilitator for Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent, believes drawing plays a big part in developing literacy and that the enjoyment of staff and public are good reasons for adopting the Big Draw. ‘Consider an asylum seeker speaking little English or a teenager with learning difficulties, failing at school. At what other event could they join such a mix of people and contribute on equal terms?’ Another benefit is that the event

often reveals colleagues’ hidden talents; choosing projects to match these skills means they can be achieved ‘in-house’.

Tom’s 2005 event, The Chain Gang, literally united libraries, parks and museums via a mammoth paper chain, with lengths of links made in mobile libraries, community centres, scout groups and schools.

Celia Houghton, Arts Development Officer for Lichfield District Council promotes creativity by taking unusual activities to popular locations. Her month-long programme was launched in a shopping centre, with children chalking portraits on the pavement while being themselves caricatured by an artist. The following Saturday, crayons fixed to remote control cars proved irresistible to male shoppers; adding favourite places to a floor map of Lichfield and making sand pictures appealed to others. Celia also used closed group events and artistled workshops in nine schools to build relationships. Students with behavioural problems worked with a graffiti artist to transform an underpass into a bright, attractive space.

Since 2004, participation of West Sussex organisations has grown from 5 to 35, with more expected this year, thanks to encouragement from Clare Halstead, Arts in Education Co-ordinator.

‘The philosophy is very inclusive – you don't need to be good at art to get something out of the Big Draw. It offers the chance to work within formal and informal education (schools, museums, stately homes, libraries, theatres) and to help others think about drawing in ways that engage their audiences enjoyably’.

We hope loyal supporters and firsttimers will join in the seventh Big Draw, so that it opens even more doors to making our heritage tangible and accessible to children and adults. It’s free to register online at www.thebigdraw.org.uk You will receive a book and CD crammed with strategies and publicity materials.

Clare Hansen (Project and Web Manager) Campaign for Drawing 7 Gentleman's Row, Enfield EN2 6PT www.drawingpower.org.uk admin@drawingpower.org.uk Tel/Fax: 020 8351 1719

partnership news

We are now looking at the viability of establishing a bespoke centre for the creative & cultural industries, specifically to build partnerships between the local sector and regional sector support agencies and relationships between the sector and higher education. We envisage a centre that will not only raise the profile of the cultural industries through advocacy, but also provide infrastructural support services to underpin business growth and personal development, so that artist practitioners, cultural managers and cultural businesses across our region can move closer towards realising their full potential.

Matthew Blades, Programme Leader Foundation Degree: Cultural Events Management.Bishop Grosseteste College Tel: 01522 583717 e-mail: matthew.blades@bgc.ac.uk

nalgao Magazine September 2006

based experiences by offering time on campus to encourage the transfer of knowledge from one context to another, and to allow experimentation with different concepts. As a result, the relationship between workplace and problem-based learning becomes a catalyst for change and development, rewarding the organisation and the participant.

Although Foundation Degrees are employment-related we shouldn’t exclude from the debate the needs of freelance, contract and self-employed workers, who make up a considerable part of our sector.

Through work-placements and working alongside organisations as placement hosts, Foundation Degrees are able to equip practitioners who consider themselves and their work as a business with the skills needed by the employers.

ARTS AT THE HEART

training. Nicki Gardener, Senior Arts Development Officer and Clare’s line manager writes: “What we were not expecting was the fast return. In a matter of weeks the BGC course had an impact, which continues . . . providing Clare, and the Council, with practical methodologies to overhaul our systems, to plan new work to better achieve key aims, or at the very least checking that current practice is effective and worthwhile . . .the workplace benefits are huge, tasks that would ordinarily be vital in principle, but all to easy to overlook, have become legitimate”. As Nicki implies, done right, Foundation Degrees are effective because of the focus on day-to-day work experiences and on the workplace environment.

At BGC we compliment these work-

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reviews The Rise and Fall of the Victorian City Tristram Hunt Phoenix ISBN 0-75381-983-X PRICE £9.99 The core of modern British culture, and its post-war renaissance, is a predominantly city-based phenomenon fuelled by the theatres, museums, concert halls and galleries that are our cultural anchors. Our fixation with the British city renaissances of the last 20 years has left us rather blind to the fact that our great cities, especially places like Birmingham, Manchester, Bradford, Liverpool etc, are themselves modern phenomena whose significant growth is less than 200 years old. So a culture that appears long-established is in fact, in historical terms, extremely new.

What led to the rise of these new British cities and what values informed their development? And what role did culture play in them? In one sense the answers are obvious, the industrial revolution and significant migration led to their growth. But Tristram Hunt’s diligently researched and highly readable study also points to some crucial but less obvious causes; moralism and Methodism combined with entrepreneurial flair and vigour reshaped growing city slums into the public spaces and places that we know, love and take for granted today.

But ‘Building Jerusalem’, first

published in 2004, is not just about history; it has a contemporary relevance too. For Hunt, a former Labour Party activist and government advisor has a clear message for our national and civic leaders. Our great cities, built on the foundations of entrepreneuralism have become clogged by government and governance. “We [have] lost an understanding that public buildings shape the public realm…’ he says. And this has been accompanied by a dismantling of Victorian civic autonomy. The new post-war state has sought to run the country from the centre with an almost Jacobin vigour with an adherence to a uniform, geographical equality of public service.

We need, says Hunt, “to try to ensure urban culture is a truly indigenous product and not simply a high-ended marketing tool. For that civic leaders need to think more creatively about generating a stronger ethic of commercial and philanthropic patronage…”

Whether you work in a big city, a town or a rural area, if you want to know how and why modern British culture has developed since the 1830s and the values that informed it, then ‘Building Jerusalem’ is fascinating and anecdote-packed read. And if you want a short and intelligent critique of postwar politics and culture then its Epilogue is both thoughtful and bang up-to-date. Highly recommended.

Paul Kelly

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Name

Officer position

Sue Isherwood

Chair of nalgao and Strategic Lead

Lorna Brown

Counties Representative and Vice-Chair

Mark Homer Paul Kelly

Authority

Telephone

Email

01749 871110

sue.nalgao@btopenworld.com

West Sussex CC

01243 756770

lorna.brown@westsussex.gov.uk

Treasurer: nalgao

Lincolnshire County Council

01522 553300

Mark.Homer@lincolnshire.gov.uk

Secretary: nalgao

Plymouth City Council

01752 307016

paul.kelly@plymouth.gov.uk

Lorna Brown

Counties Representative

West Sussex CC

01243 756770

lorna.brown@westsussex.gov.uk

Susan Goodwin

Counties Representative

Shropshire County Council

01743 255078

sue.goodwin@shropshire-cc.gov.uk

Jane Wilson

Eastern Region Representative: nalgao

Arts Development in East Cambridgeshire (ADEC)

01353 669022

jane.wilson@adec.org.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

Abby Vines

London Regional Rep: nalgao (job-share)

London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea

020 7361 2916

Abigail.viner@rbkc.gov.uk

Caroline Dawes

London Regional Rep: nalgao (job-share)

London Borough of Camden

0207 974 1647

c.dawes@camden.gov.uk

Katherine West

North West Regional Rep: nalgao (job-share)

Vale Royal Borough Council

01606 867522

KWest@valeroyal.gov.uk

Andrea Bushell

North West Regional Rep: nalgao (job-share)

Tameside MBC

0161 342 2412

andrea.bushell@tameside.gov.uk

Vacant

North East Regional Representative: nalgao

Michael Johnson

Southern Region Representative

Test Valley Borough Council

01264 368844

mjohnson@testvalley.gov.uk

Nickola Moore

South West Region Rep: nalgao (job-share)

Borough of Poole

01202 633973

n.moore@poole.gov.uk

Jonathan Cochrane West Midlands Regional Rep: nalgao (job-share) Redditch Borough Council

01527 63051

jonathan.cochrane@redditchbc.gov.uk

Lizzy Alageswaran

Yorkshire Regional Rep: nalgao (job-share)

Rotherham MBC

01709 823636

lizzy.alageswaran@rotherham.gov.uk

Kate Strudwick

South Wales Regional Rep (job-share)

Caerphilly CBC

01495 228948

strudk@caerphilly.gov.uk

Carys Wynne

South Wales Regional Rep (job-share)

Caerphilly CBC

01495 224425

wynnec@caerphilly.gov.uk

Julie Meehan

North Wales Regional Rep (job-share)

Conwy CBC

01492 575086

julie.meehan@conwy.gov.uk

Ann Plenderleith

North Wales Regional Rep (job-share)

Flintshire County Council

01352 701562

anne.plenderleith@ clwyd-theatr-cymru.co.uk

Chris Willison

West Wales Regional Representative (job-share) Pembrokeshire CC

01437 775246

christine.willison@ pembrokeshire.gov.uk

Pete Bryan

Administrator

01269 824728

nalgao@aol.com

nalgao

We particularly welcome new officers onto the Executive, and would like to remind members that there is an opportunity at the 2007 AGM either to stand for regional representatives or for officer positions on the Executive Committee. As you will see from the above list of present Executive members, we particularly welcome job-shares as an effective way of sharing the responsibility that Executive membership brings. Nomination forms will be

sent to nalgao members in 2007 and will also be available from the nalgao website at www.nalgao.org We would particularly welcome declarations of interest from officers in the North East and if anyone wishes to find out more about becoming an Executive member, please contact Pete Bryan, the nalgao Administrator 01269 824728 or email nalgao@aol.com

nalgao Magazine Autumn 2006

Building Jerusalem

ARTS AT THE HEART

ARTS AT THE HEART nalgao Magazine September 2006

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nalgao Executive Membership 2006/07

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