Festival and Events Strategy Implementation Group

FESTIVAL AND EVENTS STRATEGY CO-ORDINATION GROUP

Wednesday, 23 October 2013 at 9.30 am in the Wighton Centre, Central Library

Present: Stewart Murdoch, Director, Leisure and Communities, DCC (Chair) Clare Brennan, NeoN (University of Abertay) Evelyn Cairns, Dundee Voluntary Action Kristina Johansen, Dundee Contemporary Arts Amina Shah, Information Services Section Leader, Leisure & Culture Dundee Angela Doran, Music and Events Development Officer, Leisure & Culture Dundee Vanessa Kelly, Communities Officer, Communities Division, DCC Peter Sandwell, Environmental Asset Manager, DCC Nikki Mulholland, Events Team Leader, Environment Department, DCC Merrill Smith, Head of Corporate Communications & Policy for Leisure and Culture, DCC

Apologies: Linda Leuchars, Dundee Science Centre Graeme Mackenzie, Risk & Business Continuity Manager, DCC Tara Wainwright, V&A at Dundee Elaine Russell, University of Abertay, Dundee Ian Alexander, Dundee Rep Clive Gillman, Dundee Contemporary Arts Laura Simpson, Hospitalfield

1. Note of Meeting Held on 12 June 2013

2. Updates

2.1 WW1 Commemoration Events

The HLF application for financial support to co-ordinate delivery of the Dundee Great War partnership plan had not been approved.

However, following questions about the reasons for this a review meeting had taken place and an invitation had been received to resubmit the application. (Action: Amina)

An application to SLIC for support towards an inaugural children’s book award had been approved. This will be awarded for the best novel aimed at children in the 9-12 year age range about the first world war. The award will be delivered in partnership with the Dundee Book Award and Cargo Publishers.

Abertay have received funding to enable a games designer to explore the use of empathy in gaming and a project relating to impact of the first world war is under development.

2.2 Outdoor Events

The Outdoor Events Database remains in the same position as at the last meeting.

Recent events which were taking place in outdoor environments and which had been, to different degrees, in conflict had highlighted the importance of maintaining one integrated outdoor events database.

Stewart agreed to raise this issue on behalf of the group with the Director of Environment and the Head of IT in the City Council. (Action: Stewart)

D:\Docs\2018-04-06\0e9b3523d5667da1738fc82b5ae2699c.doc 1 2.3 What’s On Database

Amina confirmed that the IT Department were currently working on development of “responsive design” for the website. This would effectively enable the website to be mobile enabled.

Amina also referred to the development of the What’s On app funded by the City Development Department and being produced locally by Waracle. The app was taking as its main feed content from the What’s On website.

It was suggested that members of the Website Steering Group and the Festival and Events Group should be given access to the app in order that they could provide feedback. (Action: Amina)

If successful, the app would also provide a link to an accommodations listing for events.

2.4 Inter-authority Liaison

Neighbouring authorities had committed to supporting the launch event and other events relating to the UK City of Culture 2017 should Dundee’s bid be successful.

These discussions had highlighted the significant variation in levels of support for events secured between the four authorities in Fife and Tayside.

There appeared to be a willingness to promote greater inter-authority liaison and the group agreed that this was something which was essential to the development of festivals and events in the city/region. It was suggested that an invitation to join the group be extended to EventScotland. (Action: Stewart)

2.5 Creative Communities Award Scheme

Vanessa gave a brief update on the status of the fund. At the most recent meeting a number of awards had been made and it was anticipated that the fund would be fully expended either shortly before or shortly after Christmas 2013.

Doug Rennie will develop a report on the allocation of funds, the assessment process and the view from recipients and others on its effectiveness. This report will go back to Creative Scotland and will accompany a request for a second tranche of funding. (Action: Stewart/Doug Rennie)

2.6 Music Development

Angela drew the group’s attention to the recently published Music Review which had been undertaken by Creative Scotland.

This review set a framework against which Dundee’s Music Development Strategy could be taken forward.

Billy Gartley has been liaising directly with Ian Smith at Creative Scotland to discuss the possibility of Creative Scotland partnering with the City Council and other local organisations to develop a five year Music Development Strategy for the city. (Action: Billy Gartley)

2.7 2014 Events

Following the low approval rate of applications submitted to the Open Fund, Merrill has asked Diane Milne (Senior Policy Officer, City Development) to produce a brief summary of the various funding sources to which the City Council and other local

D:\Docs\2018-04-06\0e9b3523d5667da1738fc82b5ae2699c.doc 2 organisations can apply in response to the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Merrill advised that this briefing would be circulated to the group as soon as it was available. (Action: Merrill)

Evelyn suggested that there might be benefit in the Tayside Funders Forum being reconvened. It was some time since this group met and she felt that there would be benefit in maintaining periodic meetings.

Nikki gave an update on the Celebrate Fund which had received £4m from Lottery, but which had only expended £0.4m to date.

2.8 UK City of Culture 2017 Bid

Dundee’s “full and final” bid was submitted on 30 September to great fanfare and excellent press coverage.

The engagement of partners across the city and much further afield with Dundee’s bid has created a very strong platform for the development of future events.

A technical assessment of the bid is to take place in London on 25 October.

The presentation of the bid will take place in Derry on 14 November. In the period between now and then a film is being commissioned, the Dundee Pitch Team will go through a rehearsal and a number of press and website related developments have been planned.

The question of what happens should Dundee succeed or what happens should Dundee’s bid fail has not yet been discussed in detail.

The view of the Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop is that “regardless of the outcome Dundee has demonstrated the impact of cultural led generation and should continue to pursue this strategy”. She had also indicated that the Scottish Government would work with Dundee in pursing these goals regardless of the outcome of the City of Culture contest.

2.9 Expo 2014

Kristina had been advised that the dates for Expo 2014 were 9 and 10 April. She suggested that organisations which had been involved in the 2013 Expo should contact Jennifer Caswell to confirm whether or not they are interested in supporting the 2014. (Action: All)

2.10 Temporary Raised Structures

There had been no final resolution to the issue of licencing temporary raised structures. Peter Sandwell recommended that, as a pragmatic approach, any structure which was higher than 600mm would need to be licenced if we were to follow the guidelines being promoted by EventScotland. (Action: All)

3. Festivals and Events

3.1 Breaking the Law 21/22 July 2013

Pete advised that this event, which had involved timed longboard runs down the Law access road, had been judged a success. It was innovative, different and had attracted media attention. It is likely that the event will happen again in 2014, but no plans have been submitted.

D:\Docs\2018-04-06\0e9b3523d5667da1738fc82b5ae2699c.doc 3 3.2 Dundee Dance Day 31 August 2013

Angela reported that over 1,000 people had attended events in the Caird Hall during the day. The media coverage had been excellent and it was hoped that the success of the event would be repeated in 2014.

3.3 Dundee Flower and Food Festival 6-8 September 2013

This year’s Flower and Food Festival had again been judged successful. There had been particularly strong numbers on the Sunday.

No significant changes were planned to the festival format for 2014.

3.4 Dundee Community Festivals

The 17 community festivals which had been supported throughout the city had attracted between 400 and 4,000 participants.

A review of these events was being undertaken. (Action: Vanessa and Nikki)

There were a number of issues to do with quality and support which staff felt needed to be addressed. Stewart expressed interest in seeing the outcome of this review and relating it to the discussions which had taken place with the BIG Lottery about building community capacity to run events between now and 2017.

3.5 Dare ProtoPlay

This year’s event had been excellent, with record attendances of 14,000. The dates for the 2014 event have still to be confirmed, but are likely to be in the second week of August.

3.6 Blue Skies Festival

Again feedback on the 2013 Blue Skies Festival had been excellent with over 3,000 attendances.

The dates for 2014 have still to be confirmed.

3.7 NEoN 3-9 November 2013

The NEoN Festival will take place between 3 and 9 November 2013. Clare circulated flyers and drew the group’s attention to the website which had information about events which are taking place in Roseangle Arts Café, the Vision Building, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Nilupul Foundation, the Hannah Maclure Centre, Café Borsa and the Olympia Leisure Centre.

Full details can be found at www.northeastofnorth.com

3.8 Dundee Literary Festival 23-27 October 2013

The Literary Festival is currently in full swing. The programme has been well received and events such as the Dundee International Book Prize have been heavily oversubscribed.

3.9 Dundee Science Festival 12-17 November 2013

Merrill advised that the programme for the Science Festival was complete. Group members had not yet seen copies of the programme and Merrill agreed to speak to the Science Centre to try and get these out and about as soon as possible.

D:\Docs\2018-04-06\0e9b3523d5667da1738fc82b5ae2699c.doc 4 3.10 Discovery Film Festival

Kristina confirmed that the Film Festival was going extremely well. It would conclude on 3 November. The bookings were expected to exceed the 7,000 target.

3.11 Soundbase 14-15 November 2013

Angela gave an update on the Soundbase event for 12-14 year olds which was taking place in the Caird Hall over two days in a workshop format.

3.12 Book Week Scotland November 2013

Amina gave an update on the event which will include the launch of a new book on the Tay Bridge disaster by Robin Lumley on 30 November.

3.13 Ignite 2014

It was assumed that City Development (One City, Many Discoveries) would be co- ordinating this event. The importance of having an early planning meeting was highlighted and it was agreed that Stewart should ask Jennifer for a briefing. (Action: Stewart/ Jennifer)

3.14 Scott/Amundsen Challenge

The continuing difficulty as a result of the failure of the lock gates at the Dundee Camperdown Dock had meant that the event could not be organised with confidence in 2014 and as a result had been put forward to 2015.

Norwegian partners the Royal Norwegian Yacht Club are still very strongly in favour of the event taking place, but it needs a clear indication from Dundee that it will have the infrastructure in place to host such an event.

3.15 Dundee Women’s Festival 2014

A report on the outcome of the 2013 Dundee Women’s festival had been circulated with the calling notice.

The 2014 event will take place in the first two weeks in March.

3.16 SDT Dance Event in City Square 4-5 July 2014

As part of the Commonwealth Games initiative, SDT has been funded to develop a two day dance event in the City Square targeted on the early years and their parents.

4. Co-ordinating Programming and Publicity

Merrill confirmed that she had opened discussions with the Directors of City Development and the Environment Department in relation to the way in which Dundee City Council supported outdoor festivals and events.

With other commitments, there was no timescale on concluding this review. (Action: Merrill)

Stewart advised that there had been no further meetings of venue managers since the meeting which had taken place in June. There had, however, been on-going discussions about greater integration of programming, marketing, publicity and box office services.

The issue of moving towards integrated programming and publicity was one which had been raised in the context of the UK City of Culture bid.

D:\Docs\2018-04-06\0e9b3523d5667da1738fc82b5ae2699c.doc 5 The LIST have offered to produce a Dundee, Fife and Tayside publication but would require to be contracted to do so. The issue of co-ordinating programming and publicity was key to the delivery of the City of Culture Bid/Tourism Strategy and to the future development of festivals and events.

It was likely that a report drawing together these different strands would be considered early in 2014 by the City Council. (Action: Stewart)

5. AOCB

5.1 Outdoor Music Concert – Camperdown Park 2014

Nikki gave an update on the licence application submitted by Jam for an outdoor music event in Camperdown Park. The event is now scheduled to take place on 24/25 May 2014.

5.2 Queen’s Baton Relay

Merrill confirmed that the Queen’s Baton Relay would take place in Dundee on Friday, 27 June 2014. It was anticipated that there would be 120 runners who would carry the baton at different points and that it would be present in each of the eight Local Community Planning Partnership areas.

The route for the event is still being finalised and once this is complete, information will be circulated to Local Community Planning Partnerships and others.

6. Dates of Future Meetings

Group members may still have in their diary a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, 11 December at 10.00 am in the Wighton Centre. We agreed that there would be little new business to discuss at that time and that it would be more productive to postpone this meeting until February 2014.

The new date for the meeting is Wednesday, 12 February 2014 at 10.00 am in the Wighton Centre.

D:\Docs\2018-04-06\0e9b3523d5667da1738fc82b5ae2699c.doc 6