Darlington Arts Project: Creative Darlington Group
Creative Darlington Towards a 2020 visio n for the arts in Darlington These are ideas for discussion by the Enquiry Group following the second meeting of the Creative Darlington group on 30 th March. Following that discussion, a draft of a vision document will be drawn up for discussion at the 10th May Enquiry Group. We suggest that the overall shape and content of the vision will look something like this: Why the arts matter to Darlington
The 2020 vision for the arts
The values we wil l act on (and paint, dance a nd si ng)
O ur arts strengths and priorities
Why the arts matter to Darli ngton We want our 2020 vision to get a strong purchase on why the arts matter to us as individuals and as a community in Darlington, a kind of local arts philosophy. This is potentially complex and multi-layered, and we will want to find a succinct and memorable way of capturing art’s diverse meanings and roles, and relating them to the context of One Darlington : Perfectly Placed. For the time being, here are some of the areas our discussions have touched on, and some ideas from other sources: •
We need the arts to help us come together to make sense of an increasingly complicated world. Young people, already grappling with the world and their role within it, need this opportunity more than most – see the box below
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The vision should articulate and reinforce a Young people’s cultural entitlement is codified in Article 31 of the UN Convention on the rights of the perception of Darlington’s unique cultural identity. We started our discussion with the child: physical townscape as something unique and 1. Parties recognise the right of the child to rest and valued, and went on to highlight the One leisure, to engage in play and recreational Darlington : Perfectly Placed recognition activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts of Darlington’s spirit of innovation and enterprise combined with social 2. Parties shall respect and promote the right of the philanthropy. This gives us a foundation to child to participate fully in cultural and artistic work from and the vision needs to express life and shall encourage the provision of how the arts are rooted in this spirit and appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, can help to take it forward into the future. artistic, recreational and leisure activity.
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We talked, memorably, of the arts as ‘dark energy’ or ‘the yeast in the dough’, as a way of thinking about and perceiving the world that infuses successful communities.
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Darlington Arts Project: Creative Darlington Group
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Art encourages an outwards, holistic mode of thinking (how things are) that balances the prevailing inwards, reductionist western tendency (how things work)
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This balancing is vital across all areas of life. Recent research from the University of Milwaukee demonstrates that good art makes good science – and we can extend that to include good engineering, economics and education.
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The arts are a vital community asset in terms of quality of life, attracting investment and jobs, learning – and lets not forget simple entertainment and enjoyment.
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Five reasons why we need art:
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Creating art is a natural human behaviour that makes us whole as human beings
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Art is communication that gives us a full range of expression
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Art can relax, soothe, enliven and stimulate – it helps to keep us healthy
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Art is history, culture (and cultural diversity) and autobiography and it enables us to share our individual and communal stori es
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Art is shared experience and celebration, and keeps us connected
Ethnographer Ellen Dissanayake has devoted her academic life to exploring why communities make art, and it all comes down to the phrase ‘Making Special’. Artists take the ordinary and chaotic material of everyday life and transform it into the memorable and the special, creating shared meanings, values and purpose.
These are ideas (and there will be many others) that need to be translated into a specifically Darlington take on why the arts matter, and discussion at the Enquiry Group will help us to move forward with this. O ur Arts Strengths and Prioriti es In this part of the 2020 vision we will focus on the central elements of Darlington’s future arts offer. Our thinking brings together three components: •
Our USP – the arts specialism and excellence for which Darlington will be known and acknowledged within the region, the country and internationally; our USP suggestions are outlined on the next page
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The broad and diverse arts offer required to meet the needs, interests and aspirations of our citizens
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Venues (spaces and places) are central to the vision - they are a strong part of our current arts identity; they physically root the arts offer in the community; and the buildings or spaces bring together the upward reach of the USP with the broad spread of the diverse arts offer in reciprocal and mutually reinforcing proximity
This vision of the three components interacting in a self reinforcing virtuous circle is illustrated on page 3. The USP Our discussions have repeatedly circled back to Children and Young People (CYP) combined with the Performi ng Arts as our potential USP. Other possibilities have been considered – digital arts, street theatre and visual arts amongst them – but these would see us competing with rather than complementing the established specialisms of our near neighbours in the Tees Valley. These other possibilities, with particular emphasis on digital arts, have a role in reinforcing a CYP specialism, whilst all of them are potential features of the broad cultural entitlement offer. The group’s proposal for CYP/Performing Arts is based on consideration of our current strengths and profile beyond the borough, but the proposal has legs in the wider context and from a One Darlington : Perfectly Placed perspective. Where society invests in its young people it shows itself to be forward-thinking, interested in developing citizens who can think and dream and aspire (across all areas of life, as indicated on Towards a 2020 Vision: Enquiry Group 12 th April
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Darlington Arts Project: Creative Darlington Group
page 1). Most importantly, a cultural offer targeted at the youngest can realistically reach those from all sectors of society, ensuring our cultural offer reaches traditional non-arts engagers. There has been much discussion at the working group about the importance of creativity in early years. There is now much evidence to support the economic and physical (i.e. brain development, empathy etc) arguments that strategic investment in families with very young children can have greater impact and reduce future social problems. Specialist provision here could see a 21 st century approach to investment in social good, building on the forward-thinking that has characterised Darlington’s past.
UNIQUE Regional and national identity and recognition
USP Children and Young People’s Performing Arts
CELEBRATE Attracting, producing and programming high quality arts activity
Venue(s) Spaces and Places – beacons for the arts where excellence/ specialism come together with a diverse cultural entitlement arts offer in mutually reinforcing relationships
INSPIRE Increasing engagement participation and enjoyment
Citizens’ Cultural Entitlement – Diverse Arts Offer
GROW Developing and retaining talent, creativity and production in Darlington
This suggested USP must be tested with key partners, and it is possible that other areas of focus, possibly creative industries innovation/incubation, may be encouraged. Our view is that talent development and retention is an important part of our vision, and we would argue that this too is a bulwark or reinforcement of the CYP/Performing Arts USP, rather than the central strength that we major on. The USP and the Diverse Arts Offer This structure illustrated on page 3 is analogous to a school with specialist college status. The specialism is equivalent to the USP, but it is also essential that the school continues to provide a sound educational offer across the curriculum. Similarly, the broad offer is essential for a rounded Towards a 2020 Vision: Enquiry Group 12 th April
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Darlington Arts Project: Creative Darlington Group
cultural experience, and is also the creative foundation out of which the USP/specialism can flourish. In the school setting the specialism is reflected throughout the curriculum, and we think the diverse offer could provide reinforcement to the CYP/Performing Arts specialism wherever appropriate – a visiting orchestra provides a master class for young musicians; professional artists exhibiting in the borough work with arts classes in schools. This tends to happen now of course, but we can really reinforce these kinds of collaborations through our vision. Developing the Diverse Offer The development of this model, subject to Enquiry Group support, would take us into identifying what a diverse arts offer for Darlington would look like, perhaps in terms of minimum requirements. If we can develop a clear vision for the role and value of the arts in Darlington, as suggested above, we can combine this with the public interests and preferences emerging through the Voices and Views programme, to help in shaping the arts offer. For example, we might set requirements like: •
Every child should experience live theatre whilst at primary school
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A professional orchestra will perform in Darlington at least once annually
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A weekly film programme will continue to be delivered, combined with an annual weekend festival of independent films from north east film makers
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An annual ‘Best of Darlington’ visual arts exhibition will be staged, with professionally-led workshops to develop and curate exhibits.
…and so on; these are top-of-the-head suggestions that may not be either practical or what is required/desired locally, but the shape of the arts offer should be developed in step with the shape of the spaces and places and governance/funding structures that will deliver it. All four working groups need to collaborate on this. Values There is talk around Darlington Partnership about values in public life. The way services and solutions are planned and delivered to meet local needs is changing radically, moving away from a top-down social welfare model with the Council at the centre of delivery, to much more diverse approaches to commissioning, partnerships and collaborations. The Darlington Arts project is an example of this change happening. In this changing world we need to know what we value and will stand by. The shift of emphasis from ‘doing for’ to ‘doing with’, combined with questions like, what does it mean to live a fulfilled life in Darlington, open up ideas about active citizenship., which in turn point to values such as: •
Enabling and encouraging active participation in public/community life
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Respecting the experiences and views of individuals
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Valuing decisions and actions shaped by community deliberation and influence
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Inclusion and fairness in access, participation and outcomes
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The principle of entitlement, to a good quality of life and to a share in the benefits of living in Darlington
This needs further work, linked to the debate happening around the future role of the Partnership. The relationship of art to values is ambiguous. We would expect arts programming and events to be framed by values such as participation, fairness and entitlement. Art is a something of wild card in thinking about values. We would want values around participation, fairness and entitlement to shape our arts programming and events. But some artists’ practice is, to a greater or lesser degree, about exploring and expressing aesthetic and ethical values, and perhaps sometimes we need to allow the art to shape the values. ‘Cathy Come
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Darlington Arts Project: Creative Darlington Group
Home’ springs to mind, and the seismic effect it had on prejudice and policies around homelessness, but perhaps Enquiry Group members can suggest more up to date examples. A value set needs to be developed in conjunction with the other working groups, and particularly Working Together, which has set out five key design principles for the governance of the arts: •
Fairness and collaboration
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Protecting everyone’s individuality
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Designed to support/facilitate an environment to work collaboratively
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Developing a bespoke model for Darlington that incorporates the best of other models and includes local good practices
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Designing something that works for all sectors
It is clear that we can develop values and design principles that dovetail together as a framework for programming and running an arts offer for Darlington. Next Steps Some questions to stimulate discussion at the Enquiry Group: •
The vision needs a name/identity – all contributions are welcome
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Is the overall structure of the three components – making a case for the arts in Darlington; our strengths and priorities; and values – the right basis for developing the vision?
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Is the USP of Children and Young People combined with the Performing Arts what we want to move forward with and discuss with key stakeholders?
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What do you think of the suggestion that other potential USPs, notably Digital Arts, Street Theatre, Visual Arts and Creative Enterprises should be considered as potential supporting contributors to the CYP/Performing Arts USP?
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Does the approach to developing a framework of requirements for the broad arts offer ‘feel’ right?
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Does the Value-infused approach help in moving our vision forward?
The Creative Darlington Group will produce a draft vision for the 10th May Enquiry Group based on the discussion and further work to be carried out.
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