Festival and Events Scoping Meeting
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FESTIVAL AND EVENTS SCOPING MEETING
Dundee Contemporary Arts – 25 January 2012
Present:
Judith Barnard, University of Dundee Mhari Macdonald, Duncan of Jordanstone Clare Brennan, University of Abertay, Dundee Stewart Murdoch, Communities and Policy, Jennifer Caswell, City Development, DCC DCC (Chair) Anna Day, University of Dundee Lorenzo Pergola, Phd Student, University of Joanne Deponio, Event Scotland St Andrews Clive Gillman, DCA Gill Poulter, Dundee Heritage Trust John Handling, Support Services, DCC Gary Robertson, Environment Department Vanessa Kelly, Communities and Policy, DCC Rhona Rodger, Leisure & Culture Dundee Graham King, Dundee Rep Elaine Russell, University of Abertay, Dundee Linda Leuchars, Dundee Science Centre Amina Shah, Leisure & Culture Dundee Philip Long, V&A at Dundee Laura Simpson, Duncan of Jordanstone Ciaran McDonald, Phd Student, University of Merrill Smith, Communities & Policy, DCC St Andrews Tara Wainwright, V&A at Dundee
Apologies:
Sheila Allan, Dundee College Graeme Mackenzie, Finance, DCC James Brining, Dundee Rep Lina Waghorn, Education, DCC Stuart Galloway, Corporate Services, DCC Brian Woodcock, Legal Services, DCC Sophia Hao, Duncan of Jordonstone
1. The Task
Dundee Partnership had agreed that a Festival and Events Strategy should be produced for the City for the period 2012-2017.
The strategy was intended to bring together all of the agencies in the City, to provide clear strategic direction, and to act as a mechanism for integrating the existing good work which was happening to date.
Group members all introduced themselves, and a number of issues were identified in introductory statements which need to be addressed through the strategy development:
Who was the strategy for?
If is was to be a strategic document, how would we define a strategic festival or event?
How would a series of events, such as the Dundee University Lecture Series, RSNO concerts, etc. be treated? Individually, they were relatively small events but, taken as a series, they had strategic impact.
There was no-one present who had knowledge of sporting events and music events. These now had significant scale and strategic importance. These needed to be integrated.
What themes would bind the partnership together? The Scott Centenary 2012, or the Commemoration of the Great War 2014-18? Ancestral tourism?
Would the strategy refer to the importance of supporting roles, such as creative
D:\Docs\2018-04-29\0f58233e84d757d61e72fc339ee1afc5.doc 1 learning teams/community engagement, etc?
How would the City’s strategy promote co-operation and positive relationships with neighbouring authorities (Angus/Fife/Perth and Kinross)?
If there was no new money on the table, what would be the added value of the strategy, and how would development work be funded?
2. National Events and National Events Strategy
Joanne from Event Scotland summarised the strategic priorities for Scotland.
She highlighted that Event Scotland, as an agency, would support events which had significant economic impact and media profile.
Their two main programmes focused on national events and international events.
She highlighted recent events in Dundee which Event Scotland supported and confirmed that the local authority or partnership strategy would become increasingly important in relation to securing future funding from Event Scotland.
Copies of the strategy for the events industry in Scotland were made available and can also be found on the Event Scotland website.
The following information for future years was exchanged:
2012 – Year of Creative Scotland UK City of Culture Bid 2012/13? 2013 – Year of Natural Scotland 2013 (September) – Impact International Print Conference 2014 – Homecoming Scotland 2014 – Ryder Cup; Commonwealth Games 2015/16 – Opening of the V&A at Dundee 2014 – 2018 Great War Centenary 2017 – University of Dundee 50th Anniversary 2017 - U.K City of Culture?
3. What do we have?
The group then focused on the assets which we already have in place in Dundee.
These are elements which an effective events strategy would require and which have been generated within the City over recent years.
3.1 Cultural Strategy
http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/dundeecity/uploaded_publications/publication_1354.pdf
Stewart highlighted the importance of the Cultural Strategy 2009-2014. Not only did this have the full sign-up of all the agencies in the City and the Dundee Partnership Management Group, but it had been well received nationally and was the umbrella under which this piece of work and other related initiatives were being taken forward.
3.2 The What’s On Database and Website
http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/events/
Amina described the website which had been maintained by the City Council over the last
D:\Docs\2018-04-29\0f58233e84d757d61e72fc339ee1afc5.doc 2 fifteen years. It was now regarded as a highly valuable asset, providing comprehensive coverage of events within the City.
The website was capable of being interrogated online by date, type of activity and location. Searches could therefore be refined and were being used by others as a way of providing information for their own purposes, i.e. the content of the Dundee, One City Many Discoveries website was generally downloaded from the What’s On database.
Joanne noted that links could be established between ScotCal (Visit Scotland’s Calendar of Events) and the What’s On website.
It was agreed to discuss this further. (Action – Amina/Joanne)
Information about major events/festivals for 2012 will be cross-checked with the “What’s On” database and identified as a specific searchable category.
3.3 The Outdoor Events Clash Diary
Gary confirmed that the Outdoor Events Team maintained a database of events in the outdoor environment of the City. This database had been established to avoid clashes and could be accessed via Nikki Mulholland, the Outdoor Events Team Leader.
The database was not currently in the public domain, but was used to inform the What’s On website, and could be interrogated by any group considering an event in the outdoor environment who wished to find out if there were any other events planned on the same dates.
Nikki Mulholland’s direct telephone number is 01382 433881.
3.4 Managing Safe Events
The link to the Events Manual is: http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/dundeecity/uploaded_publications/publication_1148.pdf
John maintains the Events Manual which had been produced by the City Council, with input from all departments.
The manual is updated annually, and is freely available on the City Council’s website.
It refers to specific requirements of the local authority in relation to licensing, gives information about key contacts, and provides a useful resource for groups who have not previously run events to consider the implications and to ensure that their events are safe.
3.5 Inter-Agency Co-ordinating Group
For a number of years, the City Council has operated a Festival and Events Co-ordinating Group. This has included representation from all departments that are involved with festivals and events, and from Dundee Voluntary Action.
It was suggested that the membership of the co-ordinating group could, effectively, be subsumed into an implementation group for the Festival and Events Strategy, and that the core group, who would be invited to develop the Festival and Events Strategy, might in the future act as the co-ordinating group.
3.6 Dundee.com – the “One City Many Discoveries” Campaign
http://www.dundee.com/
D:\Docs\2018-04-29\0f58233e84d757d61e72fc339ee1afc5.doc 3 Jennifer highlighted the importance of a corporate partnership image which all agencies in the City had bought into. She also highlighted the Dundee.com website as a strategic resource for the promotion of events within the City.
She indicated that the marketing budget of the “One City Many Discoveries” campaign could be used to promote the festival and events activity going forward. Stewart noted that partner agencies had, from their own resources, produced the Cultural Facilities Leaflet under the identity of “One City …” and that future reprints or refreshes of this publication, which had been well received, would require the support of the marketing campaign to take it forward.
3.7 Creative Dundee.com
http://www.creativedundee.com/
Clare highlighted this independent website which she felt played an important role in promoting Dundee as a thriving cultural destination.
The role of independent websites and the importance of feeding information to such sites was noted.
3.8 Strategic Objectives
The following objectives for the strategy were identified during the course of the meeting.
These had not been prioritised and will require some development.
Statement setting out the strategic vision/ambition of the City. To build on the existing informal collaboration which has developed between cultural agencies in the City. To identify and, wherever possible, avoid negative programme clashes. To promote the image of the City. To promote safe and legal events. To determine future investment priorities. To ensure strategic alignment (between the Scottish Government, Dundee Partnership and agency specific objectives. To promote participation and the social impact of festival and events within the City itself. To minimise the environmental impact of events. To maximise the economic benefit of events. To make best use of available funding, resources and facilities. To promote further integration of programming. To complement the City’s tourist/visitor strategy. To inform priorities for infrastructure investment.
Those present, or on the circulation list, were asked to add to this list.
4. Issues to be addressed/opportunities
The following issues were identified by participants through small group discussions.
4.1 Co-ordination
How will implementation of the festival and events strategy be supported/co- ordinated?
D:\Docs\2018-04-29\0f58233e84d757d61e72fc339ee1afc5.doc 4 Do we need a festivals organisation which has worked to great effect in Edinburgh? Is there scope to create a post of Festival and Events Co-ordinator who could work across different agencies, provide advice, meet with groups, and maintain momentum? Who are Dundee's “event angels” who could provide peer to peer support? If accountability is to the Dundee Partnership, how is this to be managed?
4.2 Dundee’s Offer
What is the message that the festival and events strategy sends? What is Dundee’s USP? How does this fit with other city strategies/profiles? How do we ensure that any new strategy is sympathetic to agency-specific objectives/visions? What do we understand to be behind the Dundee brand? (what do we stand for?)
4.2 Supporting Events
Who provides advice and encouragement to commercial events which are wishing to locate within the City? Who provides advice and support to community/local event organisers? How do we retain talent – “grow our own”? How do we add value by working together through joint marketing, sharing best practice, building ambition, etc.? Could we create a virtual community and share best practice locally?
4.3 Sharing Strategic Information
Do people support the maintenance of existing resources, such as the library based “What’s On” Directory? How do we get more advanced notice of opportunities for collaboration? How do we share information confidentially between partners without compromising commercial sensitivity?
4.4 Marketing
Would there be a willingness to share audience data and to develop a new, integrated marking tool? Could we do better in relation to joint publication of “What’s On”/programmes produced on a seasonal basis?
4.5 Commitment to Communities
How do we ensure that the efforts made in Dundee to engage communities are taken forward through this process? Community centres and community ambassadors need to influence the strategy and be in a position to promote it within their own networks.
4.6 Economic Advantage
Forward planning should consider how to maximise commercial gains, i.e. benefits to restaurants, bed and breakfasts, hotels, etc. Consideration should be given to exploiting the commercial value added of events. The strategy should include the attraction of leverage funding – it should give endorsement to those strategic events which the partnership believes should receive funding.
D:\Docs\2018-04-29\0f58233e84d757d61e72fc339ee1afc5.doc 5 5. The Next Steps
Stewart agreed to transcribe notes from the scoping meeting and to share these with all who were present, or who had apologies, for comment and feedback.
The group were then invited to identify if they wished to be part of the core group who would review the output and be responsible for writing/producing the first draft of a strategy.
It was clarified that those making this commitment would be expected to commit at least two half days of the next two months to this exercise.
The following volunteered:
Clare Brennan, University of Abertay Dundee James Brining, Dundee Rep Jennifer Caswell, City Development, Dundee City Council Anna Day or Judith Barnard, University of Dundee John Handling, Support Services, Dundee City Council Vanessa Kelly, Communities and Policy, Dundee City Council Linda Leuchars, Dundee Science Centre Mhairi Macdonald, Duncan of Jordanstone Stewart Murdoch, Director, Leisure and Communities, Dundee City Council Gary Robertson, Environment Department, Dundee City Council Elaine Russell, University of Abertay Dundee Amina Shah, Leisure & Culture Dundee Merrill Smith, Communities and Policy, Dundee City Council Tara Wainwright, V&A at Dundee Laura Simpson, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design
6. Closing Remarks
Stewart thanked those present for their participation in the meeting. He noted in closing that a number of the strategic partners in the City had indicated their interest in the City going forward with a bid for UK City of Culture status.
The next opportunity to bid for UK City of Culture would be announced during 2012 and would take place during 2017.
Key to progressing this would be the endorsement of the City Council and Dundee Partnership. Discussion on this proposal were on-going.
7. Follow-up Meeting
Subsequent to the meeting, a date for a follow-up meeting has been arranged for Thursday, 1 March 2012, 9.00 am to 12.00 noon in the meeting room at DCA
Amended 1 March 2012
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