Agenda item

Presentation from the Head of Arts.

The Head of Arts gave an update to the Committee on progress with the Cultural Strategy following the consultation that had taken place through the ‘Big Conversation’ launch in January 2019.

Themes of the strategy were Arts, Heritage, Sports and Sciences and workshop and dialogue had been held through the arts and heritage side with creative people in these areas.  Following the engagement of a sports development officer engagement from the sports side was looked at in connection with the cultural strategy and incorporated into the survey. 

1,000 responses were received to the survey with three main focus points;

- What residents were doing now?

- What were the barriers to participating in activities?

- Where work might progress, what were the priorities to work to in relation to activity plans and business planning? 

Consultation had taken place over three months from 1 March to 31 May with respondents filling in a web based survey form.   Findings from the consultation found that visits to the following were well supported, the cinema, theatre, heritage/museums and listening to music.  Strong responses were received in relation to participating in physical activity especially in relation to walking.

From speaking to groups participating in the Bourne CiCLE event it was found that physical activity was important and word of mouth to find out about events seemed to prevalent.  The effects of promotion involving technology such as social media were growing and developing constantly.

The barriers to participating in activities were often beyond outside influence such as work, study commitments and no free time.  Although other barriers included lack of awareness of events taking place, the cost of participation and the times that events/activities were being held.  Questions to be asked were how we might improve on promotion and better signposting to funding sources.  Communication came out strongly and support was shown for sharing events on social media but signposting of events needed to be done in a better way.

Other areas highlighted were that community engagement should feature in the Cultural Strategy, the standard and availability of facilities, transport, cost of events. There was support for festivals and exhibitions and residents were very appreciative of the events held with a mix of age range across the respondents and across the district, although it was noted that some rural areas were represented more than others.

The next steps were around the format of the document.  It was proposed to have a document that was simple and easy to read with clear priorities and how these priorities could be delivered.  The question of where the first draft of the document was circulated was asked.  Should it go back to the broader group     of residents involved, should there be a focus group?   Following the Georgian Festival work would continue to dig deeper into the survey responses received.

In response to the survey results it was suggested that a draft video be compiled, reference was made to the Discover SK video, with residents being asked about what they think to various aspects and this could be sent across social media.  Accessibility of the document was a key point and making people aware of the document. One Member mentioned about having a programme within the Strategy showing the various events across the district on a three monthly or yearly basis.  This would require a platform to enable people to access the relevant area and it would necessitate an overview to keep things current.  

The Committee were informed that the emerging Arts Council Strategy for the next ten years complemented the work undertaken in relation to the Cultural Strategy, including work on having a platform to share information and working with young people.

An example was given by the Chairman of how young people had come together to work with older people at the Deeping Lakes to cover unsightly graffiti and she agreed that the draft Cultural Strategy should be shared with the first people involved in the consultation.

Further discussion followed on access to the proposed Strategy on line and how and why people accessed it with examples being given of how groups could influence events and encourage people to be involved if they felt that they were part of an event.

The Head of Arts stated that a multi-faceted approach to circulating the draft strategy would be needed from the technology side to speaking to people face to face there was not one solo way of working.