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Agenda item

Update on the Borough of Culture

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is asked to receive a verbal update on the preparations for the Borough of Culture 2023.

Minutes:

The Committee received a presentation delivered by the Council’s Director of Culture and Community Safety, Kristian Aspinall, which provided an update on the preparations for the Borough of Culture cultural programme which was due to commence in April 2023.  This update had been included on the agenda to allow the Committee to seek reassurance that sufficient resource was being invested in the preparation of the programme to ensure the Borough of Culture in Croydon was a success. 

A copy of the presentation delivered by Mr Aspinall can be viewed on the following link: -

https://democracy.croydon.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=166&MId=2927&Ver=4

In addition to the Council’s Director of Culture & Community Safety, others in attendance for this item included the Cabinet Member for Communities & Culture, Councillor Andy Stranack, the Corporate Director for Sustainable Communities, Regeneration and Economic Recovery, Nick Hibbard and Dan Winder, Chair of the Borough of Culture Steering Group.

Following the introduction provided for this item the Committee had the opportunity to question the attendees on the information provided. The first question related to the plans for Croydon Pride event in the Borough of Culture programme. It was advised that the vision was for Croydon Pride to be an event for the whole of London and by bringing it under the Borough of Culture banner, it unlocked additional funding to attract more people to attend. It was planned that there would be an overarching ‘This is Croydon’ brand which was recognised and used across all the events scheduled as part of the Borough of Culture programme.

It was confirmed that there had been conversations with the previous Borough of Culture hosts including the London boroughs of Brent, Waltham Forest and Lewisham, to learn from their experience. This had highlighted the need for archiving across the programme and to have a specific communications budget in place to adequately promote Borough of Culture events.

In terms of equality and diversity, it was questioned how this would be applied on a geographical basis. It was advised that there was an intention to deliver an inclusive range of events across the Borough of Culture programme rather than targeting specific, underrepresented geographical areas, with access being the key issue. An Access Advisory Group had been set up to provide guidance on equality and diversity and was in the process of finalising a manifesto for all groups to sign up to.

In response to a question about the geographical spread of the events, it was advised that some of the flagship events would take place across the borough, such as one being organised by the Brit School.  As would be expected the majority of the large scale events were in the centre of the borough, where there were more cultural organisations. However, the Ignite Fund was a key opportunity to ensure there were events located across the borough.

As a follow-up, confirmation was requested on what percentage of the Ignite Fund would be awarded to local organisations. It was confirmed that although it was not possible to explicitly close off the fund to out of borough bids, its aim was to support local events within the borough, so it was likely that the majority would be awarded to local groups.

It was questioned how the organisers of the Borough of Culture engaged with local businesses and whether any thought had been given to using empty business premises for ‘meanwhile’ opportunity cultural events. It was confirmed that there was business representation on the Steering Group and the Croydon Stands Tall event was being run by the Croydon BID. The Steering Group was actively exploring activating empty spaces, particularly for events not in a fixed location. The Committee agreed that it endorsed the use of meanwhile space wherever possible.

In response to a question about what the organisers were doing to ensure that the Borough of Culture reached communities that would not normally have access to culture, it was advised that it was important to make the definition of culture as broad as possible. The Steering Group had chosen to expand its definition of culture to include food, faith and comedy events. It was highlighted that there was a specific strand aimed at ensuring the inclusion of the amateur arts sector in the programme to ensure there was as wide a reach as possible.

In response to a question about whether there was support available for smaller local groups, it was confirmed that funding was in place for three community producers to assist smaller groups in delivering events. There was also support available to assist smaller organisations with bidding for Arts Council funding.

It was suggested that Members could be used to disseminate messaging on the Borough of Culture to local community groups. In response it was advised that a large part of the planned communication with Members had been on hold until the programme was finalised. The Committee welcomed confirmation from those present that they would be happy to engage with the political groups on the Council about how to encourage community involvement.

It was confirmed that the total budget for the Borough of Culture was £3.989m, with the vast majority of this obtained from outside sources. £900,000 had been contributed through Public Health and Growth Zone funding from within the Council. It had been made clear to all event organisers that no additional support would be available to deliver events that went over budget. If an event could not be delivered within its original budget, it would not be delivered.

The Council’s Programme Management Office was providing support to the Borough of Culture and a comprehensive risk register had been prepared with specific criteria on the use of contingency funds. Support had been provided with fund raising for some of the programmes to help find additional funding sources. It was important to recognise that the Council did not have the skills to deliver the programme internally and as such needed to trust and work with its cultural sector partners.

It was confirmed that there were specific workstreams aimed at young people, such as one run by the Talawa Theatre Group and the Brit School working with other schools across the borough. The Brit School would also help to provide a focus on the infrastructure of the cultural industries such as lighting and other technical fields. The digital strand of the Borough of Culture programme would also be an area that would help reach young people in the borough.

Regarding evaluating the success of the Borough of Culture, the Committee was invited to make recommendations on potential indicators to measure its impact. Every grant awarded had several staple criteria that needed to be measured which would help to judge the wider impact. There was also a GLA evaluation framework that was being tweaked for local needs.

At the conclusion of this item the Chair thanked those present for their attendance at the meeting and their engagement with the questions of the Committee.

Actions arising from the meeting

Following the discussion of the Borough of Culture item at the meeting, the Committee agreed the following actions that would be followed up after the meeting.

  1. That a copy of the marketing strategy for the borough of culture is circulated to the Committee once it is finalised.
  2. That the evaluation criteria on which the success of the Borough of Culture will be judged is provided once it is finalised.
  3. That a copy of the risk register for the Borough of Culture is shared with the Scrutiny and Overview Committee for its information.
  4. That the amount allocated as a contingency fund for the Borough of Culture is confirmed to the Scrutiny & Overview Committee.

Conclusions

  1. The Committee commended the team for the hard work that had gone into preparing the Borough of Culture programme and agreed that all involved had fantastic intentions and demonstrated a commitment to the widest possible engagement.
  2. The Committee welcomed the approach from the organisers of the Borough of Culture to widen the definition of culture, beyond that defined by the Arts Council, to include areas such as faith based activity, food and comedy.
  3. The Committee welcomed confirmation that options for utilising unused business space, such as empty shop units, for Borough of Culture events were being actively explored
  4. The Committee welcomed confirmation that the Ignite Fund would be used to expand the reach of the Borough of Culture programme to under-represented parts of the borough and would encourage the Steering Group to continue targeting areas without representation in the Borough of Culture programme.

Recommendations

The Committee agreed that it would submit the following recommendations to the Executive Mayor and the Cabinet Member for Communities & Culture: -

  1. That an all-Member Briefing is provided in advance of the launch event to update Councillors on the Borough of Culture programme, explain how to encourage community involvement and detail the support available for individual artists wanting to participate.
  2. That the evaluation of the success of the Borough of Culture is tested by a group made up of Members and Officers.

 

Supporting documents: