For further information contact: Overview and Scrutiny Claire Evans claire.evans@.gov.uk July 2012 07917 836 698

Towards a Stronger Sense of Place (Pan Lancashire Arts Culture and Entertainment) Arts Development Task Group Report

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2 Contents

Executive Summary 4 Background 7 Membership, Terms of Reference and Methodology 9 Findings 11 What is Art and Does it Matter? 11 Context of Our Review 11 Austerity 12 Arts Council: Strategy and Funding 12 Arts Council: Governance and Accountability 13 "Achieving Great Art for Everyone" – Outcomes in Lancashire 15 Not Good 15 But not all bad 15 Exciting Opportunities to Refresh and Renew in Lancashire 16 What went wrong with the NPO round 17 What went right 18 Local Authorities Role and Performance 19 Support to the arts: financial investment; advocacy; generalised services 19 What is Lancashire? – a snap portrait 19 The current picture in pan Lancashire and Future Prospects 21 Arts Council England – Performance in pan Lancashire 24 Positive 24 Negative 25 Art and the Economy 26 Evidence of Impact: case study 26 Current situation in Lancashire 27 Economic impact study reports – Lancashire and Lancaster 27 Future Prospects 28 Cultural Tourism 29 Arts and the Minority Ethnic Communities 30 Role of Universities 32 Recommendations 34 Appendices 37 A - Witnesses and key documents 37 B - Glossary 39 C – Delivering the arts in Lancashire 2012 – a sketch portrait 40

3 Executive Summary "Achieving Great Art for Everyone" is the new This report examines the state of the arts in ACE ten year strategic framework. It has pan Lancashire following recent funding been widely welcomed across the sector for decisions taken by Arts Council England its clarity and openness. Future direction and (ACE), which began to come into effect from funding decisions will be determined April 2012. Funding decisions so far have according to this plan. Its key artistic goals brought mostly bad news in the sub-region are: (with notable exceptions) and have prompted • Talent and artistic excellence are thriving this thoroughgoing investigation of overall and celebrated performance by ACE, local authorities and • More people experience and are inspired arts organisations. Many recommendations by the arts are made, covering short, medium and long • The arts are sustainable, resilient and term actions that should be taken in order to innovative realise the full potential of the arts, culture • The arts leadership and workforce are and entertainment in this area. The keys to diverse and highly skilled success lie in vision and ambition, linked to • Every child and young person has the effective leadership and advocacy across the opportunity to experience the richness of board. the arts

ACE decisions taken in 2011 to develop a There are many different funding streams new National Portfolio of arts organisations now administered by ACE, which are detailed would reduce the overall level of their core- in the body of this report. These represent a funding (or known more accurately since new approach to arts funding by ACE and 2012 as National Portfolio funding) into pan they will impact on both local authorities and Lancashire by 39%, with the total number of independent arts organisations well into the local arts organisations core-funded reducing future. from 14 to 9. Core-funding spend per head of population is now significantly reduced and sits far behind that received in neighbouring sub-regions, such as , Greater and (indeed Cumbria has seen an overall increase in its core- funding spend by ACE). Only 4.5% of the total ACE core-funding spend in the north west region now goes into pan Lancashire arts organisations, even though 20% of the NW population live here.

The practical definition of the arts, currently in common use covers: • Theatre, Drama, Dance, Literature The shock of the outcome of the 2012-15 • Festival/Carnival, Music, Performing Arts core-funding, National Portfolio round has • Visual Arts, Public Art, Design and Public forced many arts organisations to re- Realm evaluate, refresh and reinvent their offer. • Photography, Film & Media, Digital Media Similarly, local authority arts teams have needed to examine what went wrong and • Craft why. This report, "Towards a Stronger Sense of PLACE", outlines these efforts and starts Austerity is a reality both now and into the the process of pointing a way to a better medium term future. ACE funds from HM future. Treasury for 2012-15 have been reduced by 30%. In addition, its internal administration Contributing factors to "what went wrong" costs are undergoing a 50% reduction include: lack of a cohesive arts vision and programme. ambition for the sub-region; poor quality of 4 funding applications; complacency; lack of co-ordination across arts organisations; ACE has recently taken on additional weak business models, with excessive responsibility for music education, libraries dependency on ACE funding, governance and museums. It is also committed to shortcomings; patchy performance locally by bringing added value to the work of local ACE; lack of effective support from local authorities, once their attention has been authorities to arts organisations through the secured. The diversity and complexity of the bidding process ( excepted); lack of local government landscape is a barrier to effective advocacy, political leadership and ACE developing a clear picture of what is inter-authority co-operation. needed in the sub-region and how it best can lend support. ACE is also keen to play a full Contributing factors to "what went right" for role in local economic development and successful bidders include: a clear sense of regeneration work. Many arts organisations ambition and vision; reflecting the and local authorities, though, remain unsure communities served; being a hub of good of the stance of ACE and have concerns practice; strong regional and national regarding consistency and accountability. connections; strong leadership and governance, with financial robustness and Liverpool is a beacon example of how to diversification of funding streams. place arts, culture and entertainment at the heart of economic development and Local authorities in the sub-region have a regeneration. Pan Lancashire needs to do long record of support to the arts sector and a the same. Key to this future will be the clear recognition that a thriving arts sector performance of local authorities and the contributes to the public interest and well- Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership being. In particular, they play a role in acting (LEP) in both accessing and providing capital as a lever to provide access to external and recurrent investment into the arts. Clear funding streams for arts organisations. economic analysis of all such investments, Relatively modest investment can lead to showing the benefits in terms of economic substantial further investment from non-local and jobs growth, is key to future success. authority sources. Key attributes of successful local authorities include: sound The arts are a central component in the financial investment; strong and effective tourism offer in the sub-region. "Marketing advocacy and well- informed arts Lancashire", the new local, lead body for development support. tourism (with a similar, sister organisation for Blackpool) has a critical role to play. Cultural Arts development units within local authorities tourism is a national growth area. Pan are generally located within community Lancashire has much ground to make up in services directorates, rather than being part order to punch its weight. of economic development, tourism, marketing or regeneration offices. Not all local Two other specialist areas are addressed in authorities have dedicated arts development this report. The first is minority ethnic officer posts, which is a shortcoming with communities, where we focus on the long- respect to grant applications support and a established, Asian immigrant (mainly Muslim) weakness when it comes to effective population in East Lancashire. There remains communication with ACE. There is, however, an under- representation in participation in a growing recognition locally of the benefits the arts by these communities, in spite of a and advantages of "joined-up" working across richness of talent on offer. There is a lack of boundaries to develop a coherent set of integration and cross-over, which serves to strategies for the sub-region. ACE is very disadvantage communities. There are areas supportive of local authorities operating more of high quality in areas such as Mela and cooperatively in collectively agreeing Caribbean Carnival. priorities. Grant funding mechanisms to arts organisations in some local authorities are in The second area is universities. Pan need of significant streamlining, while Lancashire has four universities, all with maintaining essential financial controls. significant strengths across arts disciplines.

5 There is very good community engagement arts" review for the sub-region; a stronger ("town and gown") and partnership working. role for arts in economic development, But there is substantial scope for Universities tourism development, with more effective to play a more prominent role in arts marketing and publicity; additional focus on development. BME communities; and enhanced contributions to Lancashire's artistic There are many recommendations made in landscape from Arts Council England. this report. These cover themes such as: political leadership and advocacy; more In short, this is a substantial agenda aimed at effective and intelligent investment and a sustained development in the arts, culture development of officer expertise; and entertainment infrastructure in pan development of a pan Lancashire artistic Lancashire over the next many years, with all vision and ambition; an annual "state of the the benefits to the people and businesses of the sub-region that this will bring.

6 Background now core- funded by ACE has reduced from 14 to 9. This joint overview and scrutiny task group • By comparison, the total number of began its work in October 2011, tasked to similarly funded arts organisations in review issues relating to the development of Cumbria (population 0.5M ) has reduced the arts in the pan Lancashire area. It was by only one overall, from 16 to15, and led by Lancashire County Council and furthermore with an increase in financial included members from Blackpool, terms of over £700,000. with , Preston and Lancaster councils. • 7 locally-based arts organisations in pan Its aim was to suggest possible solutions to Lancashire have lost completely their help develop a stronger arts offer for the regularised ACE funding; and 3 of the County. remaining 9 have been hit by significant reductions – one at 70% (although 2 The basis for its establishment was a meeting organisations, both of which are in of the County Council's Scrutiny Committee Blackpool, have become newly core- in June 2011, which considered the outcome funded) for arts providers in pan Lancashire of recent changes to national strategy and funding On the basis of the evidence made available, decisions by Arts Council England (ACE). members agreed that the result of this was Whilst acknowledging some notable very disappointing – in terms of the arts successes, councillors at that meeting infrastructure of the sub-region, the impact expressed concern about the levels of ACE this would have on the general public and the core-funding (or known now more accurately economy of the sub-region. However, neither as National Portfolio funding) secured for pan was the result entirely surprising, with an Lancashire arts organisations going forward expectation that some of the reasons behind from 2012-2015 and what this might mean for it would likely relate to varying degrees of the people and businesses of Lancashire. negative external perceptions; internal Reviewed core-funding decisions by ACE administrative, structural and organisational came into effect on April 1 2012. Highlights weaknesses; complacency within the arts of those concerns included: sector itself; poor self-image; and a lack of artistic ambition or vision. • Pan Lancashire has lost 39% (£610,860) of its previous level of regularised ACE support; the Lancashire County Council area has taken a 45% hit and Blackburn 100%. Blackpool gained by 100% • Whilst pan Lancashire has 20% of the population of the NW region, only 4.5% of the total ACE core-funding spend for the NW is going into arts organisations based here. Spend per head of population in pan Lancashire has decreased by 64%, down to £0.601. By comparison: o core-funding spend per head in the Merseyside area is £5.97, in Greater The Scrutiny Committee resolved to establish Manchester £4.18 and in Cumbria a task group to explore further the context £4.26 and reasons behind this outcome, the social o The total number of arts organisations and economic impact it was likely to have, in pan Lancashire (population 1.5M) and to consider how the sub-region might best prepare itself for the future. It was felt   this figure excludes one -based arts organisation, that only in this way would Lancashire's arts Curious Minds, whose remit as a new "Bridge Organisation" is organisations and overall creative talent to reach equally across the whole NW region in developing move forwards to a stronger position where access to the arts for young people they could begin to secure more robust levels

7 of ACE funding as well as investment from As such, it was anticipated that solutions for other external sources. developing a more robust arts infrastructure and offer in all parts of Lancashire going into County Councillors acknowledged that this the future would most likely involve all the was an issue that affected pan Lancashire: component authorities – county, unitary and district – better coordinating their efforts and • As is the case for other cultural services, exploring how best to maximise their there is a natural inter-dependence resources. These solutions would apply both amongst neighbouring authorities on in working with ACE and other key external audiences, arts organisations and artists stakeholders and with the established and themselves to deliver a vibrant artistic offer emerging Lancashire-based arts and strong public engagement in it across organisations that create and deliver the art authority areas. on offer. • There is also often a shared reliance on the common historical, cultural and Furthermore, already in place was a landscape heritage of the wider supportive network of local authority arts Lancashire to provide a framework and officers throughout the sub-region, ready and unique context in which to develop local willing to work together effectively to follow artistic activity. And sometimes, it is that through on any new political impetus that same heritage that can act as the catalyst might emerge. to initiate external interest and support to new and innovative artworks For these reasons, County Councillors • The attitudes of ACE and other significant requested that the task group review be external stakeholders tend to be towards carried out as a joint venture with elected the Lancashire area in its broadest sense members of neighbouring unitary authorities, and the artistic needs and ambitions of and Blackpool, and those therein, rather than the specific the two city councils, Lancaster and Preston. needs of those within Lancashire's This would ensure a full and broad pan component administrative parts Lancashire perspective in considering the issues.

8 Membership, Terms of Reference such that the artistic vibrancy and and Methodology engagement in the arts in Lancashire is strengthened and made more productive going into the future Membership The task group held its first meeting on 31 All partners approached by the Scrutiny October 2011 to set out the form and scope Committee accepted an invitation to take part of its review. It would be chaired and and each submitted one elected member of resourced by direction of the county council's their choice to sit on the task group Scrutiny Committee and its final report and Lancashire County Council recommendations submitted to that body for Cllr Kevin Ellard (Chair) approval. It was intended that scrutiny Cllr Fabian Craig-Wilson committees of partner authorities would also Cllr Janice Hanson approve the report. Cllr Allan Knox Cllr David O'Toole All members of the task group undertook to Cllr David Westley maintain a pan Lancashire perspective of Blackburn with Darwen these issues, rather than a parochial one. Of Cllr Phil Riley course, their own experiences and knowledge Blackpool of their patch was also important and valid. Cllr David Owen Recommendations made in the final report Preston would be directed to Executives across the Cllr Tom Burns pan Lancashire area and, as appropriate, Lancaster beyond. Cllr Ceri Mumford Methodology Terms of Reference The task group carried out its evidence gathering over a period from November to The terms of reference were agreed as: • May 2012, with a total of 18 Review the arts "ecology" and meetings/discussions/site visits. Sessions infrastructure in pan Lancashire and its took place in a variety of types and locations place within the north west region arts of arts and community-related settings across offer the sub-region, so as to ensure as wide an • Review the role and performance of Arts experience as possible for the task group Council England in supporting the arts in members and to maintain as broad and Lancashire objective an outlook as possible in their • Review the role and performance of pan approach. The culmination of this process Lancashire's local authorities in supporting was a meeting in early April with local arts representatives from ACE's North West • Review the effectiveness of arts Office at the sub-region's cultural flagship, development work in Lancashire to the The Harris Museum and Art Gallery, in achievement and development of other Preston. social and economic priorities of its local authorities. Oral evidence gatherings were organised • Review all additional sources of funding broadly around a number of key themes: and support available to the arts in • Perspectives from Arts Organisations Lancashire • Perspectives from Arts Officers • Review how local authorities, arts • Perspectives from Executive Members organisations and all stakeholders in the • Perspectives of Arts Council England arts sector work together to maximise their • Role of the universities in arts and cultural overall impact and support to the arts development • Make recommendations for improvements to current practices and arrangements,

9 • Artistic Ambition – towards an iconic experience the art itself across the county in Lancashire? its many and varied forms. • Arts and Economic Development • Arts and Tourism The task group is grateful to all those who • Arts and Cultural Tourism cooperated so eagerly with us, especially to • Social impact of the arts - including arts the artists and arts organisations– whose and ethnicity and with particular reference prime purpose is to create and deliver art - for to the Asian heritage minorities in the the time and effort they took to include the Pennine Lancashire part of the sub-region task group members in their work and to explain their artistic product. Comparative study visits were made to Cumbria and Merseyside (Liverpool, in But we must also make note of our gratitude particular). The task group is most grateful to for the support, input and encouragement that all those who engaged with us and who gave has been shown to us by the Executive so generously of their time, their insights and Members and senior managers of all five their encouragement to the efforts to secure Lancashire authorities whose members improved outcomes for Lancashire. comprise this overview and scrutiny task group. All have stated how they await with The task group also drew on a range of interest and a readiness to consider carefully documentary evidence relating to strategy, the findings and recommendations of this philosophy and impact studies. work.

In addition, and on a voluntary and adhoc Witnesses and Key Documents basis, members made extra effort to see and See appendix A

10 Findings The term "arts development" is used for those local authority services that support a robust What is Art and Does it Matter? arts infrastructure of professional artists and arts organisations across Lancashire which facilitate the delivery of a high quality arts It is not the intention in this report either to provision for the people and places of define the arts or to quantify accurately its Lancashire; an arts provision that: value and purpose to our individual and • supports Lancashire communities to collective well-being. It is fair to conclude become stronger & more cohesive, however that the arts are important and that • they have always played a significant role in protects and improves our environment our society and economy, even if a and culture • universally satisfactory definition and purpose promotes health and well-being • remains elusive. In a contemporary and local promotes sustainable economic growth context, the example of Liverpool's experience as European Capital of Culture 2008 bears testament to this. (see Liverpool Case Study p26).

Certainly, that is the conclusion of successive British governments, including the current Coalition Government, which support the Arts Council England (ACE) in its latest position on why art matters. This task group, too, endorses the latter's new 10 year strategic plan, "Achieving Great Art for Everyone" as a relevant, ambitious, yet realistic strategic One of the most striking findings from our framework for the arts. investigations is the role of the arts in fuelling economic development and as a "force What is more relevant for the purposes of this multiplier" in leveraging additional, external review is to identify how best our local monies into the local economy. We cover leaders and decision makers can support and this issue in significant detail in the chapter intervene in the natural "arts economy" to on Art and The Economy (p26) but it is help it achieve maximum productivity and important to note here that there is a powerful public benefit. In other words, what role – if and convincing body of evidence to indeed any – does the local public sector in demonstrate how arts and culture can be a Lancashire have in the promotion and key driver in economic development development of the arts? initiatives and how they can also play a key role in sustaining vibrant and attractive places The practical definition of the Arts currently in which to invest, live and work. Arts and recognized by local authorities in pan culture also play a key role in education, Lancashire covers the following creative health and social cohesion – each of which in practices or disciplines: turn contributes significantly to the vitality and vibrancy of the local workforce. • Theatre, Drama, Opera, Dance, Literature The advantage of investment in the arts is • Festival/Carnival, Music, Performing often under-rated, it has great benefits locally, Arts although hitherto measurement of those • Visual arts, Public Art, Design and returns has not been easily quantifiable. Public Realm Investing in arts and culture can mean that • Photography, Film & Media, Digital taxpayers get more for their money. It is also Media the case that some localities in the country • Crafts have truly grasped this truth and incorporated it successfully into their local economic development priorities and decisions.

11 Context of the review At the same time, local authorities throughout the country found themselves facing an Austerity increasingly tough period of necessary austerity. Acting in partnership with ACE, they too have traditionally played a key role in Arts Council England (ACE) is the lead body supporting the development of their local arts in England for arts development and the offer, albeit to a lesser extent than ACE. vehicle by which national funding streams Like others, Lancashire County Council has and support to the arts is delivered. This is had to deal with budget reductions on a major often supplemented to a greater or lesser scale: in the period 2010/11– 2013/14 it will extent by other funding sources, such as local have made an approximate 25% overall authorities or the private and philanthropic reduction in its budget. Blackburn with sector. For artistic activity in Lancashire, this Darwen, £40M over two years, with a 28% represents no mean sum of external monies reduction target across all services; Blackpool coming into the area. In 2010, it amounted to an overall budget reduction of 22%; approximately £2.7m (although that figure Lancaster 6% reduction; and Preston 23% has now reduced). This compares to the 2 reduction. It is a similar story for other approximate £7m that pan Lancashire's 15 districts in the Lancashire area. This context local authorities invest per annum. of austerity has brought into ever sharper focus the need for every council to articulate In late 2010, Arts Council England (ACE) a strong and convincing evidence base to published its new 10 year strategic framework justify all budget choices made. for the arts – "Achieving Great Art for Everyone". At the same time, it announced Furthermore, in spring 2012, the Regional that there would be an approximate 30% Development Agencies (RDAs) were reduction in its overall national budget and a dismantled. These had been the vehicles for commitment to streamline and scale down by channelling development funding from central 50% its own administrative costs. government and would be replaced in that role by Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). As part of this new strategy ACE created a Like other RDAs, the NWDA had a tradition of new National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) awarding significant resources to arts-related funding programme to replace the long projects where a clear economic or standing Regular Funded Organisation (RFO) regenerative dividend was expected. The programme. This programme is the Lancashire LEP was established in May 2011 cornerstone funding programme for arts and is still in the process of embedding its organisations in the country and acts as the modus operandi and developing its key foundation for the delivery of ACE's strategic priorities. Certainly, there is nothing yet on its priorities. agenda relating to arts development work, nor have any representations yet been made This funding programme was open to all, to it about the value of the arts in fuelling regardless of previous relations with ACE and economic development. in spring 2011 decisions were announced which came into effect as of 1st April this year. Its overall budget is £1.04 billion and includes the core funding to national institutions such Arts Council - Strategy as Royal Opera House, Royal Shakespeare Company, English National Ballet, the Overall, the new strategy of ACE, "Achieving National Gallery, and the Royal Liverpool Great Art for Everyone" was welcomed by the Philharmonic Orchestra. Funding will run for arts sector for its clarity, openness and its three years with renewal after April 2015. subtle shifts in emphases around priorities. Of particular interest to those operating outside the capital and major cities was the move towards championing public 2 well over half of this total spend goes into essential engagement in the arts. Unlike in previous maintenance and development of existing major arts venues, such as The Harris, Blackpool Tower, Grand Theatre and years, arts organisations and project Turton Tower 12 coordinators now had some clear and strict years 2012 – 2015 and is a fixed income from criteria about what their art must achieve if HM Treasury. they wanted to receive ACE funding. The arts sector also anticipated that the fall-out ACE has also developed a range of additional from the 30% budget cut would be mitigated investment streams for the period 2012 – to some extent by the renewal, focus and 2015 to enable it to meet aims and objectives efficiency that "Achieving Great Art for of its new 10 year strategy, particularly where Everyone" represented. And especially gaps in provision are identified. The source of welcomed were the commitments to make much of this investment is increasingly profits more National Lottery monies available for from the National Lottery. Specific areas the arts and to work harder with the private these funding streams aim to address include and philanthropic sectors to lever in further geographical gaps that have emerged from monies still from corporate sponsorship and the establishment of the National Portfolio donations. Organisations and areas identified as having low public engagement with the arts (in Lancashire, there are seven such areas: Preston, Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, , Wyre, Pendle and Burnley). The current value of these additional funding streams nationally, broken down into programme titles, amount to:

1. Grants for the Arts (GfA) £202m (2012 – 2015) GfA is especially valuable for arts organisations outside the capital and major cities. It offers significant opportunities for a wider range and reach of arts forms and In "Achieving Great Art for Everyone", ACE activities than the NPO infrastructure alone commits itself to working with arts can deliver. This programme pre-dates organisations and other partners - with a "Great Art for Everyone" but continues as an crucial role for local authorities – to help them important strand and with a commitment to deliver on 5 key artistic goals: increased investment levels into the future. • Talent and artistic excellence are thriving One important policy development to note is and celebrated that selection as a core-funded NPO, whilst • More people experience and are inspired providing security and continuity in funding by the arts from ACE, does preclude access to GfA • The arts are sustainable, resilient and funds. Some NPOs told us that this had a innovative limiting and constraining impact on them. • The arts leadership and workforce are However, this policy does protect access to diverse and highly skilled ACE funds for new and emerging arts • Every child and young person has the organisations and community groups. opportunity to experience the richness of the arts 2. Strategic Funds £440M (2012 to 2015) This is a particularly important funding stream Arts Council - Funding as it enables ACE to encourage greater audience development and to promote public The backbone of delivery of this new 10 year engagement in the arts in areas of strategy is the newly announced National traditionally low take up. There are so far Portfolio Organisations (NPOs). The NPOs three strands to this funding between 2012 provide a balance of provision across all 5 and 2015 artistic goals, with a diversity of art forms represented. ACE's budget for the NPO • Targeted Grants Programme covering programme is £1.04 Billion over the three

13 o Capital - £214.6m over the three years programme that enables schools, with a priority on NPO organisations, further education colleges and youth enabling them to develop their venues justice settings to evaluate, celebrate o Catalyst - £100m over three years with and strengthen a quality arts offer. focus on supporting arts organisations o Others still to be announced to diversify their funding streams and develop more philanthropic giving • General Strategic Grant Programme o Touring - £45m over the three years to o Details awaited but this fund will use encourage arts organisations to take remaining resources to fill in the gaps their work outside their usual venues left by all the above. and into areas with low engagement with the arts ACE Governance and Accountability. • Specific Grant Commissions o Creative People and Places - £37m. A While responding of course to the financial three year programme targeted at the constraints and priorities of the Government 71 local authority areas across the of the day, ACE continues to operate at arm's country identified as areas of low length from it and has a significant degree of engagement with the arts. seven are in autonomy over policy, selection and scale of Lancashire funding awards. It is governed by a National o Audience Focus - £7.5m. The Council comprising 15 members, which Audience Focus fund is designed to meets 5 times a year, and which includes the help funded organisations understand, Chairs of each of the 9 subordinate Regional retain and grow their audiences. The Councils that respond to the specific fund is intended to address major geographical needs and interest of their area. support needs in the sector; it will For Lancashire, this is currently the ACE support a small number of large-scale North West Council, the 11 members of national, sector-wide or major cross- which are selected by interview and served regional collaborative activities. by an approximately 24 strong Secretariat. o Arts Mark - £4.5m. The Arts Council There is one Lancashire-based member on has appointed a national provider to the North West Council, a councillor from deliver Arts Mark, the national Blackpool.

14 Achieving Great Art for Everyone outcomes for our neighbours, such as – Outcomes in Lancashire Liverpool, Manchester and Cumbria, the latter in particular given its predominantly rural population and distance from major cities. Not Good The opening paragraph of this report highlights the big blows felt in Lancashire But NPO Decisions Not All Bad. when the funding decisions in relation to the Despite the disappointments, it is also new National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) important to remember that there were some were announced in March 2011. As outlined successes for pan Lancashire based arts above, this funding stream is only one of a organisations in the NPO funding round. For number that the Arts Council will operate example: moving forward. But the decisions around the NPO funding stream are indicative of the • Blackpool was a strong winner in acquiring state of the arts in Lancashire today and are two NPOs – the Grand Theatre and mirrored in recent decisions around Strategic Grundy Art Gallery – having not previously Funding that have recently been announced. received any regular ACE funding. For example: • In addition, a couple of Lancashire • The first round of "Catalyst" funding organisations saw an increase in their announced in June 2012 saw £3.3m core-funding levels. More Music in invested into the North West but with none received a 52% increase and in Lancashire, even though four bids were Burnley Youth Theatre a 9.5% increase. submitted from within pan Lancashire. • Ours was the only sub-region in the North Curious Minds, based in Burnley, became one of ACE's so-called Bridge West not to see any "Catalyst" investment made. Organisations, and is tasked as the northern regional agency to develop the • The "Creative People and Places" experiences of children and young people programme (ACE's final decisions on in the arts. Whilst populations across the which are yet to be taken) saw competing north will benefit equally from their work, it bids submitted from different parts of pan is excellent news that Curious Minds has Lancashire, which some believe created such a strong presence in Lancashire and unhelpful tensions and possibly reduced has been encouraged to stay. chances of maximising income across the sub-region; In addition, Lancashire County Council was • In April 2012, ACE announced its latest awarded £47K to support those arts capital funding awards for this year – a organisations in its area which are now facing total of £114M. ACE can inject up to £5M an uncertain future. The intention is to to support capital development of an arts support them through a transition and re- venue. There were no awards made in modelling process, providing business pan Lancashire. That said, only one bid support and development, but also fostering had been submitted from within the sub- creative excellence and exploring other region (Blackpool Grand), indicating funding streams. perhaps how the problems don't lie just with choices made by ACE. Finally, it is also important to note that ACE monies spent on NPOs elsewhere, in It is fair to say that the outcome overall for particular NPOs in the North West, can be of arts in Lancashire is not good currently. As a direct benefit to pan Lancashire residents. result of NPO decisions local jobs have been For example, some NPOs tour into lost and some organisations have folded Lancashire, and the Royal Liverpool completely. Others are operating with Philharmonic, the Manchester Camerata and considerable difficulty at the present time. the Halle Orchestra all carry out work specifically in Lancashire, all of which is The reduction in funding for NPO's in pan heavily subsidised by their NPO funding. Lancashire comes into even greater focus when we make comparisons with the

15 approximately £1m for each year (over a Exciting Opportunities to Refresh and three year period). Renew in Lancashire • £0.04m –Strategic Touring programme It is also important to keep in mind that the (awarded to Get it Loud in Libraries)- National Portfolio is not the be-all and end-all already decided of ACE funding. Grants for the Arts (GfA) • £0.08m – Capital Funding (decision made and Strategic Funds are both substantial in 2011 in favour of More Music) – already funding streams. Furthermore, the decided opportunities and potential they offer are perhaps especially well-suited to the If we consider "Achieving Great Art for conditions and character of the pan Everyone" in its entirety and the potential it Lancashire sub-region, something which ACE offers, notwithstanding the many itself advised us. One positive example of disappointing outcomes to date, the GfA funding: prospects for developing pan Lancashire's • Preston Guild, as one of the biggest arts offer into the future begin to look more cultural events in the north west and promising – and certainly something on which happening only once every 20 years, won to build for the future. a GfA award of £300K, and while The Guild organisers were a little disappointed that the award was not higher, as we have seen in the urban areas of the North West, they are encouraged that the possibility is open for them to apply for additional funds building the Guild legacy.

The Strategic Funding programmes are still very much in their early days and now only just beginning to come on stream. Indeed, some programmes are still in the process of development and not yet formally announced as available. While it is true that the outcomes so far for pan Lancashire have not been so good (see above), we are It is also even possible to argue that the nevertheless confident that Strategic Funds in disappointing outcomes are in some small the longer term will be of benefit to the sub- way positive. The shock of the result was a region. The potential of this programme to wake-up call to many and it has catalysed support arts development in pan Lancashire arts organisations to re-evaluate, refresh and is significant. For example, a look at the reinvent their offer – and we came across current situation and the opportunities impressive examples of that in our evidence available suggest that in 2012/13, it may even gathering, such as The Dukes and The Horse be possible that pan Lancashire secures up and Bamboo Theatres, and which ACE also to £2.1m of Strategic Funds, which when tell us it has noticed. The result has also compared with the approximate £1.9m of motivated Lancashire's local authorities and NPO and Grants for the Arts funding in their arts teams to think hard about what 2012/13 demonstrates the size and might have gone wrong and how they as local significance of this additional funding stream leaders might help to fix it. In the words of to our sub-region: Cllr David Smith, Lancashire County • £2m –Creative People and Places Council's Lead Member for the Arts, "it makes programme. This process is still ongoing clear to us that our arts scene is not as so no decisions have been made yet. vibrant nor as healthy as it ought to be and it £2m is a speculative figure, but based on catalyses us to refresh what we do here and a potential opportunity for two successful how we do it." In other words, it makes us all bids from pan Lancashire, with the motivated to make a fresh start in creating a possibility of each gaining up to

16 stronger, more relevant and sustainable The spread and diversity of the Lancashire future for the arts. population, with their diverse artistic preferences and needs, go some way to This work of this task group begins that explaining this, which makes it an extra process, first of all by establishing why things challenge to be overcome. An ACE officer went wrong in relation to ACE's decisions on suggested that, "arts organisations in big NPO funding and why some things went right. cities have a natural advantage over many We have consulted widely on this in our of those in Lancashire in that there are evidence gathering, for example with arts many more opportunities there to connect organisations, ACE, arts officers, local and communicate with others of similar politicians and arts experts within Lancashire interest." and beyond. Some very clear reasons have emerged (although not all of these apply in all • There were some significant cases). organisational weaknesses too, such as: weak business models that were not robust enough to ensure sustainability What Went Wrong? over the 3 year funding period; poor financial resilience, including excessive • With some notable exceptions, the overall dependence on ACE funding; unreliability; strength and depth of NPO applications governance problems, with over-stretched coming in from the pan Lancashire area boards unable to address weaknesses was poor in relation to what Arts Council already raised by external funders; and was looking for. Having the best art on inertia to adapt. offer wasn't necessarily enough to secure funding: it was the quality of the • The performance of ACE in guiding and applications according to ACE's key advising Lancashire's arts organisations priorities that mattered – and the two could through their new funding programme was be different. patchy (see p24 ACE –Performance in Lancashire). • The bids submitted from arts organisations in pan Lancashire suffered by their not • The majority of arts organisations did not being set in the context of a clear and access the support and advice available to cohesive arts vision or ambition for the them from local authorities. For example, sub-region. The lead cultural services only one organisation approached officer in one authority said "as a result, Lancashire County Council during the bid- they (the bids) appeared to ACE as less- writing period for a letter of support. well focused, less well-coordinated and However, this is not necessarily the less complementary than the bids from "failure" of the arts organisations, because many other areas." neither were most of Lancashire's local authorities – County Council included - • Too many arts organisations in Lancashire sufficiently ready, equipped nor accessible had become complacent, stale and to provide effective support to the arts isolated. One local arts officer suggested organisations in securing successful NPO that "perhaps some had lulled themselves bids. Blackpool is one exception here, into a false sense of security that where the council's arts team were heavily continued funding was a right rather than a involved in the – notably successful - bids privilege they had earned." This had led to put forward by The Grand and The some weaknesses in artistic practice by Grundy. some art organisations, creating work that was perceived as tired or dated and failing • Local authorities in pan Lancashire did not to keep pace with contemporary practice. advocate effectively on behalf of arts organisations in their patch, at both a • There was insufficient cohesion and strategic pan Lancashire level and locality coordination amongst arts organisations. level. There was no local political

17 leadership or effective inter-authority ambition and act as ambassadors for their cooperation in promoting what the various product, fostering a sense of confidence in NPO bids had to offer and why they were others within their organisations and a relevant in the pan Lancashire context. positive external image and reputation for This is symptomatic of a long-standing work that they produce lack of advocacy and political leadership • They demonstrated financial robustness, for the arts – irrespective of political with a varied and diverse approach to the groupings. And the root cause for this is securing of funding and not an over- likely to be the tendency for the arts to be reliance on ACE included within the same political portfolio as other big budget services, such as Arts Lancashire – arts organisations coming social care. This contrasts with, for together example, the assertive lobbying performed Arts Lancashire is a new body forming around the by Liverpool City Council through the last 17 key strategic arts organisations in Lancashire. NPO round and the work they are already This informal network of organisations had been doing to ensure positive results in three meeting through facilitated sessions led by years time. Lancashire County Council and linked to its funding agreements. It has gathered some new impetus since the arts task group has been in What went right? progress and aims to • advocate for the arts as a whole in Lancashire Those of our arts organisations that were • create new opportunities for promoting and successful in the NPO funding process marketing of the arts across pan-Lancashire as display a number of key characteristics which deemed appropriate, and to develop links with others might learn from: the new Marketing Lancashire • develop joint evaluation approaches for arts • They portrayed a sense of ambition and activity, including measuring the social and vision in what they were seeking to economic impacts of investment, that can be achieve, giving ACE a clearer understanding of how they could help it standardised across the county • deliver the 5 artistic goals laid out in develop / discuss new coordinated activity "Achieving Great Art for Everyone" where suitable opportunities arise • They reflected the communities that they • support the development of artform specific serve and demonstrated how they are a projects as appropriate e.g. North by hub of good practice, continuously NorthWest and their visual arts programme developing their artistic programme in collaboration with local communities Arts Lancashire is developing its terms of reference and will be open to organisations • They highlighted their strong connections working on a strategic basis within Lancashire. regionally, nationally and indeed Organisations involved initially are internationally. For example, More Music • Lancaster Arts Partnership Members (The in Morecambe creates great work borne Dukes, Ludus Dance, Storey Gallery, Litfest, out of the local community and LICA, Green Close, More Music) environment. They are also • Burnley Youth Theatre acknowledged for presenting their work on • a national and international platform Mid Pennine Arts • • They provide training and/or paid Horse & Bamboo placement opportunities for local people to • Lancashire Sinfonietta become engaged with and involved in the • In Certain Places arts. They understand the need to develop • In Situ new talent and support a developing arts • Culturapedia infrastructure • They Eat Culture • Leadership quality and strong governance • Harris Contemporary arrangements are also features. Those • Bluestreak Arts organisations that did well have strong leaders who can articulate a strong

18 Local Authorities – Role and charitable sector, and often of a magnified Performance dimension. For example, in 2011/12 Lancaster City Council's investment in local arts organisations helped to lever in a Support to the arts further £1m, providing over 200, 000 The component parts of pan Lancashire have opportunities for public participation. a long record of support to the arts sector and • advocacy by a local authority of the merits, continue today to demonstrate that relevance and value of the contribution commitment. They play a vital role in made by particular arts organisations to nurturing and supporting the arts serving the public interest. We saw in organisations and activities in their area, Liverpool how this is a powerful and often working complementarily to the agenda effective mechanism of support , in of Arts Council England (ACE), or additionally particular in informing the funding in focusing on the local grassroots activity decisions made by ACE and in promoting that feeds in to professional arts infrastructure public awareness and participation in the and help to develop audiences and public local arts offer. participation. Local political leaders • Providing more generalised support recognise the value and importance of their services, such as guidance, advice, local authority contribution to the arts sector signposting, networking opportunities. and understand how a thriving arts offer The task group saw many examples of the contributes to public good. value of this service: in Lancaster, the City Council helped to establish and However, since local authorities don't "do" art nourish the (now independent) Lancaster in the way that they "do" other cultural Arts Partnership which has enabled local services, such as museums or libraries, their arts organisations to develop a mutually contribution can often be less visible and less supportive network; easily understood by the public. One of the played a significant role in drafting the big challenges that local political leaders face successful bids by The Grand and The in making decisions about the extent of their Grundy for NPO status; and Lancashire support to the arts is that evidence from County Council has recently run a series public opinion surveys places investment in of "Culture Café" events, aimed at making the arts as a low priority relative to other new contacts with grassroots/community budget choices. In times of austerity this is based arts organisations and to support especially relevant. And since local leaders them in developing their goals and are democratically elected, this evidence aspirations. cannot be discarded, which means that the arts sector must work harder to demonstrate Some local authorities also act themselves as and prove its worth. commissioners, working directly with artists on pieces to deliver works according to their In our view, the most significant role that local specifications. However, this model is the authorities do - or should - play is as a "force exception rather than the rule. multiplier", the "catalyst" or "lever" for local arts organisations to gain access to the additional external resources that are What is Lancashire? – A Snap Portrait essential to fuel their work and creativity. This leverage role is carried out in three History and Character. The area known crucial ways, to varying degrees of effectiveness in pan Lancashire: today as pan Lancashire has a complex governance and administrative structure, with some history of inter-authority conflict which • financial investment in the form of grants. continues even today. There are 15 Securing this "base" money is a sign of component local authorities in the sub-region: confidence in an arts organisation and 12 district councils complemented by makes them more eligible then to gain Lancashire County Council as the upper tier match funding from elsewhere, often from authority, together governing a population of ACE, but also from the private and

19 1.1 million; and two unitary authorities, component parts hold in common. Also often Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen, each lost can be opportunities for more effective with populations of around 140, 000. cooperative or collaborative working and Blackpool and Blackburn used to be part of resource sharing. the Lancashire County Council area until 1998, when they left the two-tier system of A Lancashire Brand – What might it look local government and acquired unitary status like? (although they remain in the county for formal There are numerous outstanding features of ceremonial purposes and for provision of fire, pan Lancashire's heritage, culture and rescue and policing services). Even the two landscape that contribute to a strong sense of major urban centres of the north-west region, identity and uniqueness, a Lancashire Story Liverpool and Manchester, were historically perhaps. They are helpful in particular in part of Lancashire too - along with the presenting an image - or a central theme - of southernmost parts of Cumbria - although pan Lancashire externally. Since ours is an both have been administered entirely in their area of significant size and diversity, these own right since 1974. features will apply differently in the different component parts of the sub-region, but are still something that all can relate to in some way. Indeed, we would suggest that it is our very diversity that is one of our strengths, providing the ingredients and the mix of traditions to forge something new. These features might include:

• Cotton trade, industrial revolution and world changing invention • Rise of the ports of Liverpool and Lancaster and their involvement in the slave trade • Historic, industrial architecture Pan Lancashire today is characterised by its • Sweeping, rural landscapes of rolling hills geographical spread and diversity, in and a rich farming heritage landscape, population and economy. • The development of Blackpool as a Covering an overall area of 3075km square leading, national tourist destination for (almost a quarter of the North West region), seaside vacations there are 4 main urban centres: Blackpool, • Blackburn, Preston, and Strategic canal network • Lancaster/Morecambe, along with areas of A strong tradition of major philanthropic urban spread throughout central and east investments in the public realm, including Lancashire and coast especially. the beautiful and inspiring Harris building 22% of the population is rural, with agriculture in Preston (Grade 1 listed) and the iconic and large landscapes of outstanding natural Ashton Memorial in Lancaster • beauty featuring strongly. The Lancashire Red Rose, its historic context in the Wars of the Roses and It is this very diversity that has contributed to Lancashire's contribution to heraldry the history of political and administrative traditions conflict in pan Lancashire, as localities strive • The Lancashire Witches Trial of 1612 to assert their own particular identity and • The role of Lancashire people in major needs, and often end up competing against political and social reform – development each other for national resources. It is of modern democracy by the outlawing of understandable that this has happened and "treating", or bribing, electors often for good reason, although it is • Long-established migrant communities unfortunate, too, in that it has sometimes and a cultural mix: a diverse population been at the cost of gaining advantage from those aspects of Lancashire which the

20 per annum. This compares to an The nuances of statistics Getting an accurate approximate £1.9m4 likely to be spent figure for how much is spent by local authorities by ACE on arts organisations in the on the arts is very difficult because financial sub-region over 2012/13 under their support can be channelled through a variety of National Portfolio and Grants for the budget headings, according to other council Arts funding programmes services and priorities, and it can be delivered as part of a wider cultural services programme and o difficult to separate out. Also, making Lancashire County Council arts spend comparisons of spend between authorities can be in 2012/13 is £725,000 (out of a total misleading because there are some which have budget for all cultural services of high building maintenance commitments for £20.7m). £570,000 is used to allocate physical infrastructure on top of any grants that (approximately 30) grants annually to they might provide for specific projects or arts arts organisations through the cultural organisations – such as Preston with The Harris; driver programme. The remainder is Blackpool with The Grand, The Grundy, Blackpool spent on dedicated staff salaries for 4 Tower and Winter Gardens; and Blackburn with full time posts and 1 part time post. Darwen and King George's Hall and Turton There are no building maintenance Tower. Lancashire County Council owns no physical facilities whose primary use is arts costs. related. Nevertheless, it is still possible to draw some relevant observations from the information o Blackpool Council spend on arts and that is available, and which helps us to identify heritage for 2012/13 is approximately what possibilities there might be for improvement. £576,000. This includes capital spend It has not been possible within the resource on The Grundy Art Gallery of circa constraints of this review to gather a detailed £79,000, a £92,000 grant for The Grand picture of local authority investment on the arts Theatre and staffing costs. Around across pan Lancashire. However, it is important £30,000 is spent on projects. that this work is done somehow as part of any evidence base for future arts development o policies, so we have made a recommendation to Blackburn-with-Darwen spend is this effect. £97,000 (2012/13) for arts development o Lancaster and Preston City Councils, The picture in Lancashire and Future as second tier district authorities but with significant local arts activity, spend Prospects. respectively: Z Lancaster £1,160,800 Following are key points that emerged from (2012/13). This includes The our evidence gathering: Platform and Museums, but does not include all the maintenance costs • Total spend on arts development support associated with these buildings and in pan Lancashire, and comparisons some staff costs. £251,600 of this between that made by different authorities, has been invested in local arts can be difficult to quantify. Some organisations this year for core authorities include arts spend within wider costs, projects and activities. cultural services budgets, others within capital and regeneration budgets. 4 However, below is an outline of some key The figure £1.9m is composed of just under £1m for core points in relation to this. funding of NPOs and an estimation of £0.95m for Grants for the Arts (the actual GfA spend will not be known until the end of the financial year as GfA is an ongoing process, so the o Total spend on the arts across pan figure we provide here is an approximated average of GfA Lancashire by local authorities spend for the previous two financial years and based on an 3 expectation that fluctuations for spend this year will not be approximates to approximately £7m different in any significant way. Significantly, the £1.9m spend excludes ACE's Strategic Funding programmes, as these are 3 new, additional since Achieving Great Art for Everyone was well over half of this total £7m spend goes into essential published, and in the main still under development. However, maintenance and development of existing major arts venues, it is reasonable to surmise that in practice these funds will such as The Harris, Blackpool Tower, Grand Theatre, and enhance the overall ACE spend in pan Lancashire in the near Turton Tower. future 21 Z Preston £3.8m (2012/13) The Harris • There is appetite across Lancashire's and The Guild Theatre buildings authorities to re-evaluate and renew how require major maintenance costs the arts are supported locally: this for each year, which impacts on individual local authorities, but also financial capacity to make project strategically as members of one sub- grants available to local arts region with a common heritage, aspiration organisations. £1.5m has been and unique selling points. This agreed invested in the Preston Guild view was reflected in the comments of one celebrations (although not all this Executive member, that when it comes to spend is arts related). the arts, "any one part of Lancashire lacks the necessary financial and political clout • In the main, arts development teams in acting on its own". pan Lancashire are organised within those council structures that focus on people • Witnesses identified numerous examples and community services, rather than those of how more could be achieved by local that focus on economic development, authorities working together, such as: tourism, marketing and regeneration (there sharing and growing audiences, expertise are exceptions here, such as Burnley). and resources for the arts organisations; This is in contrast to the examples of complementary rather than competitive Liverpool City and District programming; and, most significantly, councils, both of which enjoy a advocating more effectively with the major proportionately higher spend by ACE in stakeholders and funders. their area. (see p26 "Art and the Economy" for further detail). • This appetite extends to the development of a shared ambition and vision for the • Not all of pan Lancashire's local authorities sub-region that could be used to mutual have a dedicated or specialised arts advantage and provide a context within development officer. This makes it difficult which up-to-date local plans and strategies then for those authorities to advise could be developed. Indeed, ACE too accurately the local arts sector on where advised this approach, suggesting that to find additional external monies or Lancashire authorities "articulate a clear signpost them to other sources of advice and straightforward sense of what they and support such as the county council. want arts and culture to do for them, and Even in those authorities where there is a collectively agree a set of priorities for arts dedicated support, the council services and culture". ACE also said that this that are on offer are not always well shared vision would be best if limited only accessed by the arts sector, which means to the achievable, "ideally 2 or 3 big things that some opportunities for identifying and that everyone wants to work towards." nurturing new talent are being lost. ACE told us that it had noticed this in • This appetite is also shared by Lancashire and that there are some areas Lancashire's arts organisations and those of the sub-region where very few - and in beyond our borders, often quite vigorously. some cases no - bids for ACE grants have Just because Lancashire is not an urban been even attempted for over seven centre does not mean that it cannot years. In the words of ACE, "we can't develop a successful artistic and cultural fund arts organisations that don't bid for identity, nor its own artistic ambition, and funds." use that to local advantage. One Liverpool arts organisation described the potential • Support to the arts is delivered by a for pan Lancashire as a "String of Pearls", number of different models, according to rather like Germany's Ruhr Valley, which local needs and preferences. There is no as a disparate set of small urban centres cohesive artistic vision and ambition for coping with long term industrial decline the sub-region. won European Capital of Culture for 2010 .

22 • The current mechanism used by One Big Idea? – The Aerospace Commission Lancashire County Council for awarding grants to the arts is part of the council- In 2010, a group of influential former employees of wide "Central Gateway" system that is BAE and the wider aerospace industry came effective in maintaining control and together to press the case for a symbolic public artwork for Lancashire which would represent and oversight of the monies that are given to promote the importance of the aerospace industry the voluntary, community and faith sector to the local community and to the wider public. In in pursuit of the council's aims and partnership with BAE, Lancashire County Council priorities. However, this process is also arts development team undertook an initial recognised as a point of weakness in how feasibility study into options for such a project, the authority supports the arts. with findings presented in September 2011. Ian Stakeholders expressed concern that in Banks, a leading public art consultant, undertook serving the development of the arts sector, the feasibility work which outlined the potential for the process is complicated, heavily a major public art commissioning programme that bureaucratic and inflexible; that it creates could encapsulate the engineering and technological expertise that the aerospace a degree of staleness in the County industry in Lancashire encompasses. The Council's arts development service, and feasibility study was presented at a sensitive time, stifles opportunities for identifying and following redundancies announced by BAE and nurturing new and emerging talents. lately has acquired something of a low profile. Encouragingly, the task group saw at the Nevertheless this project perhaps offers an same time a keen interest by the County opportunity for a major symbolic arts programme Council's arts portfolio holder to develop a project to animate the aerospace industry and the new mechanism for awarding arts grants, importance of this technologically advanced but one which must not lead to loss of industry to the economic development of pan financial oversight. Preston City Council's Lancashire. grants system has hitherto been seen as equally unhelpful and effective reforms there are now being put in place.

• The relationships between the officer arts development teams and their respective political leads (and councillors generally) is less robust in many cases than it might be. Certain exceptions notwithstanding, arts teams often "get on" with doing arts development without necessarily keeping their political portfolio holder as fully informed as they might, nor seeking the support or the views of the latter on a regular basis. This makes it harder then for the politicians to advocate effectively on behalf of the arts sector in their area. It is understandable that this happens, since arts development budgets are very small relative to those of other council services, and responsibility for the arts is usually only one of a wider range of responsibilities within the relevant Executive member's portfolio. But it does, we observe, weaken the performance of local authorities in how they support the arts.

23 Creativity Works – a good example of Arts Council England – cooperative working Creativity Works is a strategic model of cross Performance in pan Lancashire district working across the arts. It is managed and delivered between the six district council areas of As lead public body for developing the arts in Pennine Lancashire (Blackburn with Darwen, England and the biggest single spender of Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, and public monies into the arts in pan Lancashire, Rossendale) Arts Council England is an influential player in the Lancashire arts sector. It is appropriate, Creativity Works was set up in 2002 by the therefore, that as public scrutineers we make Lancashire district and county arts officers to some examination of its performance in support and promote the creative industries in the sub region, and in 2008 moved to a new, wider Lancashire. model of delivery. It is managed by an Executive Management Committee and delivers strategic The task group sought views and comments projects through a series of themed groups. It is about ACE from a wide range of local supported by ACE North West. stakeholders. In addition, we received detailed written and oral evidence from ACE The Executive of Creativity Works has a themselves. A number of key points representative from each of the six local emerged: authorities. There is also representation from Regenerate (a local economic development Positive vehicle) and from the arts organisations Curious • Minds, Horse and Bamboo, Burnley Youth There is widespread support and respect Theatre. The Executive reports to the Culture for ACE's latest strategic framework, Leisure and Sport theme group of PLACE "Achieving Great Art for Everyone". (Pennine Lancashire Leaders and Chief Stakeholders are also supportive of the Executives). This theme group is the lead body for more open and robust systems for the Pennine Lancashire Culture Plan and Action awarding funding to the arts. All this is Plan. especially notable given the financial context and constraints in which this Creativity Works has been identified as a strategy has been developed successful key delivery organisation of cross- district work and is consequently responsible for delivering elements of the action plan, but also • ACE has recently taken on additional providing a voice for arts and cultural at this responsibility for music education and for strategic level libraries and museums. This positive development will help to improve the relationships between national and local level cultural services and present exciting opportunities for artistic development. This is especially so for Lancashire, with its rich historical legacy and the strong local commitment to libraries and museums even through this austerity period

• ACE itself recognises already the issues in pan Lancashire that the task group is investigating. Furthermore, it too believes that there is scope for the arts in Lancashire to fare better from its support than has been the case recently. ACE has for some time been aware that arts activity in Lancashire has been relatively thin on the ground and is motivated to nurture and support efforts towards a more robust future. ACE says that Grants for the Arts

24 (GfA) funding is a good means of consequentially, pan Lancashire achieving this which it has already been populations may not be receiving using to good effect: in 2011, 22% of the appropriate equity of opportunity and GfA pot allocated to the NW was spent in access to the arts. Lancashire (with 20% of the population). This amounted to just over £900K. But • There are some concerns that ACE is ACE would like to see that grow in future, distracted by its current internal pressures in particular by more and higher quality to downsize and restructure, such that it is funding applications coming in from not able to apply full attention nor Lancashire arts organisations continuity to its external commitments. One senior arts organisation executive • In addition, the support from ACE does not suggested to us in this context that, "right amount to money only. One of its now, ACE is not ready to listen - to designated roles is to bring added value to anybody". local authority support for the arts and to empower local arts teams. ACE told us • While ACE on paper commits itself to that it remains committed to this, as its working constructively with arts staffing structure demonstrates, but it also organisations and local government, we says that local authorities must work at received substantial anecdotal evidence to getting its attention because ACE too is indicate that there are some negative under resource pressure perceptions held locally about its performance in doing this. Most • ACE admitted that the complexity of significantly, these relate to issues of governance and administrative functions in consistency. For example: contrasting Lancashire does pose a challenge for it in advice given to local authorities about the seeking to develop a clear sense of what place of Preston in ACE's regional is needed in the sub-region and what its planning priorities with regards public role in that might be. ACE would welcome participation in the arts; the availability of a clearer steer from Lancashire localities funds for the "Catalyst" programme was about what is needed, and says it will announced with quite a tight time frame respond to that however it can and within attached and local stakeholders received its means. Indeed, ACE await this task different interpretations by different ACE group report and recommendations with personnel about what the programme was interest and enthusiasm asking arts organisations to achieve.

• ACE recognises that it has a role to play in • These negative perceptions manifest in local economic development and other regards too. Examples shared with regeneration agendas and would be willing us include: a sense that many of ACE's to participate actively in supporting those working relationships in Lancashire arts that contribute in particular to succeed more through personal economic development. It is already compatibility than from an objective active in doing this is some other sub- evidence base of public need; some regions in the country concerns that ACE is not sufficiently held to account for its local spending choices; Negative and relatively low levels of awareness • There is still a widespread sense of within the arts development sector about bewilderment and disappointment within the nature, composition and accountability the local arts sector about some of the of the ACE NW Council and its individual decisions taken in the NPO round and, members, and with this a view that ACE more recently, in the "Catalyst" Strategic should be reaching out and working much Funding decisions. There is a view held harder than it does currently to make itself by some that the fault for the "failures" accessible and understood throughout the does not lay entirely with local arts sector at a local or sub-regional level. stakeholders and there is a concern that,

25 Art and the Economy for 2008, the city has undergone a "major transformation". Tourism income is "If you can develop an ambitious artistic and increasing year-on-year; the arts and culture cultural vision of the right scale, and invest in sector is now a big employer in the city; and it, you will see a huge multiplier." there has been a revival in Liverpool's self- confidence and civic pride, filtering This was Paula Ridley CBE, former Chair of increasingly down to communities and the Victoria and Albert Museum, current Chair neighbourhoods. of the Liverpool Biennial and Chair of The Civic Voice, speaking to the task group. Ms Arts and culture in Liverpool retain a high Ridley believes that artistic vision of the right level of political and official commitment and scale creates such powerful financial promotion. The City Council Executive incentive that, once understood, outweighs portfolio holder told us that this happens "in a any competitive advantage that one way that 10 years ago it would not have". stakeholder acting alone may have over Local public investment in arts organisations another and drives local decision-makers to is seen widely in Liverpool as key to its overcome their differences and come continued regeneration. This applies even to together. It is also enough to override those organisations that do not attract big competing opinions over artistic merits. numbers of "bums on seats" because of their "iconic" value and the external kudos and respect that they command, which in turn brings benefits to the city as a whole, especially in its marketability for inward business investment.

"Liverpool Vision", the city council's economic development, regeneration and marketing vehicle, is very clear on this. This is demonstrated by the placement of the city's arts development services at the heart of the management structures of "Liverpool Vision". One of the priorities moving forward is to Another of our expert witnesses went further market Liverpool as a centre of excellence for to suggest that investors don't even have to mass participation arts events, over time like or appreciate the work or the project: just developing home grown artistic talent and the fact that it makes money and drives expertise to fuel the growth of its own regeneration is a compelling case. specialist creative industry.

The evidence that the arts sector is a key The very recent "Sea Odyssey" event, for driver for economic development and example, saw £1.5m investment by Liverpool regeneration is striking. Below is just some of City Council for an event held over three the evidence that we came across. It applies days. It is still early days for a full analysis, especially in a context. but initial reports are that an extra 250,000 But there also is evidence from well beyond people came into the city for this free event, our regional borders. It is also the case that generating an additional £30m into the local many localities in the country have grasped economy. In addition, the massive amount of this truth. publicity, external prestige and free advertising generated for the city is also to economic advantage. Furthermore, "Sea Liverpool – case study Odyssey" was also an event that succeeded at a neighbourhood level: it drew new people into the more deprived and under-exposed Liverpool-based witnesses to the task group parts of the city, spending their money and told us that since 2003, when Liverpool won appreciating these areas more positively. Set its bid to become European Capital of Culture in a local historical context, it also included

26 local people and communities, contributing to 15 years many parts of the country those "softer" elements of regeneration that have enjoyed improvements to their are more difficult to define and quantify, but arts facilities under this funding stream, important nevertheless. Liverpool is already but not pan Lancashire. The challenge planning its next Big Art event and its for pan Lancashire local authorities investment into it. under current arrangements is getting access to sufficient local capital that Liverpool City Council's Executive Member can then help to secure a successful for Culture, Tourism, Leisure, Sport and Civic application to ACE. Buildings also told us that support for grassroots and community-based arts is just • Economic development is a priority of as important to the council as so-called "Big Lancashire County Council. However, the Art", like Sea Odyssey or the Royal Liverpool arts are not yet a part of that programme Philharmonic Orchestra, because of the of investment and support. significant contribution they make to cohesion, place-making and health and well- • The arts as an economic driver have not being, although it is also the case that one yet featured on the agenda of the supports the other. Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). The Lancashire LEP is a government endorsed partnership Current Situation in Lancashire between public and private sectors, covering the full pan Lancashire footprint. There are some areas of Lancashire where It is charged with the lead role in there is good practice in linking the arts identifying and coordinating pan closely into economic development and Lancashire's economic priorities, but it regeneration, especially East also channels the much sought-after Lancashire/Blackburn for incorporating the government Regional Growth Fund and arts into regeneration frameworks Growing Places funds. That said, the and Blackpool for incorporating the arts offer Chair of the Lancashire LEP, Edwin Booth, into tourism development. But we must has expressed an interest in the work of conclude that overall, there is scope for the task group and what it might propose improvement in this area for pan Lancashire about arts and economic development. In as a whole. The evidence for this is below: addition, ACE has indicated to us that they would be willing and interested to • The funding stream that had been contribute in some way to Lancashire's available through the NWDA for arts LEP. projects that could deliver a high economic and regenerative dividend no longer • The majority of the overall local authority exists. There is currently no mechanism arts development effort in pan Lancashire for developing projects of any significant is organised separately from that of scale and ambition in pan Lancashire. For economic development, with some few example: exceptions. Internal links between arts o The Preston Guild, an historic festival development and economic development that takes place every 20 years and has teams are limited in many authorities. the potential for sustained economic impact for the sub-region, has struggled to gain structural funding of a scale that Local Economic Impact Studies can extend the reach and impact of the Guild much beyond Preston itself. Local Impact Study - Lancashire/Cumbria o Investment in capital arts projects. A study report "Why Art Works" in 2011 ACE has financial capacity to inject up examined the value of the contemporary to £5M for capital development projects visual arts in Lancashire and Cumbria. Below at individual arts organisations (the are a few of the illuminating conclusions of building work for which would provide additional local jobs). For the past 10- 27 the study that the author, economist James interest sweeping back down to Liverpool Rebanks, gave to the task group: and Manchester

• The impact of increasing (or indeed "Why Art Works" was commissioned by North reducing) arts budgets by a small by North West, an independent consortium of percentage is miniscule in relation to the publicly-funded contemporary visual arts overall budget of a council, but is major in organisations in Lancashire and Cumbria. relation to what it can then lever in to the This commission was funded through grants arts sector and/or the local economy from Lancashire and Cumbria County generally. Councils. http://www.creativeconcern.com/work/why- • Investing in contemporary visual arts in art-works Lancashire and Cumbria represents good value for taxpayers money: "every 3p per Local Impact Study - Lancaster person per week in taxation in Lancashire Another study report in 2011 "Economic and Cumbria leads to between £8.5 and Impact of the Arts" quantifies how public £14 million of economic impact generated investment in the arts in Lancaster and by the member organisations of the Morecambe district has impacted on the local partnership (80% of which is spent in local economy. Some findings from this study are: communities)". Put in another way, approximately £1.6m of local council tax • The arts in Lancaster is an especially invested in arts and culture in this area profitable sector of the local economy in can lead to £8.5 - £14m of economic which to make public investment: for impact. every £1 of core funding invested, £5.19 is then leveraged into the local economy • The local arts offer contributes significantly (this compares to an average return on to the tourism economy of Lancashire and investment in local economic development Cumbria of £2.80)

• Contemporary visual arts make a major • There are 600 arts related businesses in contribution to place-making and civic Lancaster and Morecambe district pride eg. Panopticons in East Lancashire, as featured by Lancashire's LEP on their • The net value of the component members website home page of the Lancaster Arts Partnership (LAP) is £7.56m which has generated 199 jobs. • Contemporary visual arts also make a major contribution to prospects for inward • The relationship between arts and tourism investment. It has been proven that the is strong: 10% of audiences to LAP main factors in what attracts companies facilities come from outside the NW region thinking of investing in an area include a and 25% from outside the Lancashire wide availability of arts and culture as part county boundary. of a "lifestyle" offer. It is also the case that there are prevailing negative external • There is scope for further development perceptions of Lancashire as something of and improved marketing of Lancaster as a a cultural desert, which will impact tourist and cultural destination. negatively on prospects for inward investment. http://www.lancasterartspartners.org/

• Lancashire and Cumbria have strong traditions and heritage to facilitate a Future Prospects. vibrant home-grown visual arts offer. Lead local politicians acknowledge these • The strength of contemporary visual arts in likely gaps in our current approach and say Lancashire is fragile, with the tide of that they would be interested to address them

28 in some way. The problem for them, formation, but there is potential here however, is that the case for a stronger certainly for a stronger role for the arts in investment in local arts development as part promoting its aims. Indeed, the newly of the economic development effort just has appointed Chair of "Marketing Lancashire", not yet been presented in a way that is easily chef and restaurateur Paul Heathcote, has understood by nor convinces the public. This an artistic background of his own which he makes it very difficult to justify decisions on has used to good effect in generating arts budgets, especially when set against the successful local businesses. contrary evidence from citizen surveys of the arts as low priority for individuals and in times Experience in some other local authorities of austerity. and LEPs show that proposals for cultural investments generate significant dividends in Lancashire County Council's Executive terms of economic development and Member for Economic Development, Cllr regeneration. Standard measurement Michael Green, told us that he encouraged techniques – including economic impact the arts sector in making their case clearly to assessment, economic footprint analysis, those in the sub-region charged with driving social return on investment and, especially, economic development. Based on the quality gross value added – can all be used to show of that case, he hoped that further the benefits of investment both in prospect, at consideration could then be given to the the decision stage, and in retrospect, at the merits of public investment in projects likely to subsequent review stage. A wider use of give high economic returns on investment. these techniques will bring more clarity and We hope that this report starts that process objectivity to the funding process. off. Cultural Tourism

Tourism is a significant element of the pan Lancashire economy. Parts of the sub- region, Blackpool and the Fylde coast especially, but also Lancaster/Morecambe and Ribble Valley – have a strong tradition and dependency on it. Furthermore, the tourist industry is a potential growth sector and a means of creating new jobs. Promoting tourism is therefore an important strand of the economic development plan for pan Lancashire. So-called Cultural Tourism, which includes the arts, is an important and fast developing part of the tourist sector. Cllr Green noted two significant exceptions to his comment about arts not being a part yet • It is widely understood that there is of our investment programme in the significantly more scope for growth in this economy: sector in pan Lancashire because of its • "Creative Lancashire", a loose consortium strong historical legacy, landscape seeking to support creative businesses heritage, and leisure infrastructure. such as the design and digital media Success in this, however, depends on the sector, which we believe has the potential effectiveness of the infrastructure and for revival and growth. marketing in place to support that. • "Marketing Lancashire" – a tourism/inward investment/visitor economy support and • Local authorities in Lancashire have made promotion vehicle that has been signed up good progress recently in re-orienting and to by all authorities within the Lancashire refreshing their tourism development effort LEP area, although not Blackpool, which and connecting to the overall economic has a unique selling point in terms of development offer. tourism. This is still in its early stages of

29 Arts and Minority Ethnic • The "Marketing Lancashire" vehicle is a Communities good example of this progress and offers strong potential for a role for the arts. Lancashire has a diverse population, with • communities of a range of ethnicities and Blackpool has made great strides in recent nationalities. In East Lancashire especially, years in using Cultural Tourism as part of there is a large and long-established Asian its regeneration programme. The aim community - mainly Muslim but with a Hindu here has been to improve access to presence - and that population is growing Blackpool's cultural assets for visitors, but proportionately faster than the average. (For also for local people at the same time, and pragmatic reasons, it is the Asian community to think carefully about how to maximise that the task group focused on, although we the contribution to jobs and the local recognise that there are different issues that economy that those tourism assets can arise in communities of other ethnicities.) produce. An excellent example of this success is the newly redeveloped There are some good examples in promenade, which has a strong artistic Lancashire of how the arts sector is relevant function and aesthetic. to and inclusive of the various groups. Work of this type can also have the added bonuses • However, it is also the case that the of breaking down unhelpful prejudices, complexity of Lancashire's governance promoting social cohesion and presenting structures and tendency to inter-authority diversity as an artistic and creative strength. competition has created challenges in Examples include: More Music (Morecambe), capitalising effectively on those common and its Chinese Ensemble piece; The Dukes characteristics (Lancaster) with their recent successful production of Quicksands, written by a local • The task group spoke to the (then) writer of Polish heritage dealing with local Director of Tourism for NWDA, Nick Brook- issues of immigration; and The Harris's Sykes about support for arts in pan current exhibition called Global Threads, Lancashire. He contrasted Lancashire which is "a ground-breaking fashion with Cumbria, saying that while Cumbria is exhibition co-curated by young people from a relevant comparator to Lancashire in Lancashire, mixing traditional South Asian many ways, when it comes to the arts - textiles with today’s catwalk, high street and and especially in relation to tourism student fashion". There are also long development - there has long been a standing Melas in Preston and Blackburn as collective will from all sides in Cumbria to well as the Preston Caribbean Carnival. collaborate and cooperate on the arts. This has contributed to Cumbria's stronger However, in Lancashire it is still the case that position with regards arts investment and there is an under-representation and external image. Brook-Sykes observation participation in the mainstream arts offer by was that Lancashire does not yet have a our Asian community, despite its size and similar collective will longevity. We understand that this is the case here even more so than established Asian communities in other parts of the country, such as London, Leicester and Birmingham.

ACE too recognises that there is an under- representation and participation in the arts by some significant ethnic groups, nationally and not just in Lancashire. Art of this genre is also something that it currently looks well upon and tells us it is keen to support. ACE's agenda in "Achieving Great Art for Everyone"

30 includes a renewed focus on this and their attitudes are borne partly out of fear that recent publication, "Beyond Cultural Diversity, encouraging the arts and engagement in the case for Creativity" makes informative them might lead to the community losing suggestions about how to develop a more sense of itself and its identity. However, inclusive – and therefore successful - arts the witnesses we spoke to all believed infrastructure that better reflects and caters quite differently; that their community for the diversity of interests. could only gain in confidence from developing a stronger support for the arts. They said that work is needed in Lancashire to influence more people in their community of the value and benefits in allowing art to thrive. They also cited the example of a relatively vibrant contribution by the Asian community to the art sector in southern England.

• There is scope for a more much effective and sophisticated marketing and presentation of "Asian" art, such that it becomes appealing to a wider audience from a range of cultural backgrounds. The task group spent some time with various This could really help to lever more "Asian" representatives from the arts sector in the art into the mainstream. Use of neutral Asian community exploring this. Our space to perform, exhibit or participate is discussions with the representatives especially important, so that it is the established a number of points of view on beauty and inspiration of the art itself and which there was broad agreement less its historic or religious context which speaks to audiences. • Ethnic communities in East Lancashire offer a rich tapestry for the arts. This • Reductions in financial support have includes heritage, dance, music, colour, impacted on those local "arts offers" that folklore, poetry and stories. It involves the typically have appealed to the Asian older generation with their traditionalist community and that provide a public perspectives, but also the perspectives of platform to showcase the "quiet vibrancy" the young, especially in how they might of their arts. One example of this is the fuse Eastern and Western culture to Blackburn Mela, which had developed as create a new and exciting genre unique to an annual festival and enjoyed mass Lancashire. participation by the Asian community. It was especially valuable to the young in • The BME community of pan Lancashire is giving them opportunity to express not served as well by the local mainstream themselves artistically. However, it arts infrastructure as its equivalent in the disappeared due to lack of support, south of England, where there is more although community representatives are available that will appeal. now working with the Blackburn Council to consider how the Mela might be • There are some generational issues within reinstated, with one idea that it might be the Asian communities that impact on fused with the Annual "Arts in the Park" participation in the arts. Different groups event on the same week-end. This would within the Asian communities have a create an arts and culture celebration of different approach to the idea of universal appeal and facilitate cross- participation in the arts. This isn't fertilisation of artistic ideas and surprising when one considers the journey experiences across racial and cultural that Lancashire's Asian communities have groups – showing off the strengths of taken over the last 40 years. Some diversity rather than the weaknesses.

31 • More could be done to generate Role of the Universities sponsorship and leadership from the private sector to promote art of Asian appeal, in particular for the Mela because Universities have a key role to play in of its potential to contribute to Lancashire's promoting development in the arts, tourist offer and how Lancashire markets particularly in talent development and itself externally. Lancashire could become research. Furthermore, there is an known for the development of "A expectation placed on them by government to Lancashire Mela", taking place in different do so, through the requirement to contribute parts of the County at the same time and positively to area economic and social creating a national event to be proud of. development, particularly in relation to knowledge transfer and graduate retention. • In addition, general financial pressures on councils have resulted in rising hire costs Pan Lancashire is blessed by the strength of venues traditionally used by some BME, and depth in its higher education and which have become prohibitive for many. research provision. There are four highly This is a challenge that applies to other regarded universities forming a large part of grassroots and community based groups. that: Lancaster, Uclan, Edge Hill and University of Cumbria. The latter two are also • Some suggestions for how improvements teacher training institutions. Each of these might be brought about included: more nurture highly regarded arts departments, voice for those who believe that art would some of which are arts organisations in their strengthen the community; goal-setting own right. LICA (Lancaster Institute of and leadership from the Lancashire Contemporary Arts) at Lancaster University, councils; searching for and encouraging for example, is a member of ACE's National those with "new eyes, new blood and new Portfolio. perspectives – freshen everything up ". Along with some of Lancashire's schools (in particular those recently built in East Lancashire), these institutions house performance and exhibiting facilities, some of which are of exceptionally high standard. Examples of this are the Rose Theatre at Edge Hill (), the Chaplaincy at University of Cumbria (Lancaster), the LICA building (Lancaster University campus); and the Media Factory/Sound Box at Uclan.

There are some positive contributions already being made by these institutions, sometimes with the help or partnership of local councils. Some examples of this include:

• Availability and access to these facilities for wider community use, sometimes at a reduced rate according to means

• Arts related courses include a strong element of professional training so as to equip students with the enterprise and employability skills alongside their creative skills to develop an arts-based career, ideally with a percentage of students remaining in the pan Lancashire area

32 • Programming events and exhibitions • Local authorities to work harder at targeted especially at the surrounding identifying opportunities for arts students local population, so as to develop public to gain experience, expertise and public awareness and develop regular exposure audiences. An example of good practice already is "In Certain Places", Uclan's • Universities to offer better guidance and long-established temporary public art advice to arts students about potential partnership with The Harris. employment experiences and sources of funding, such as from ACE and the • In Morecambe, local student artists were private/charitable sector, that might help granted permission to use a vacant high them to realise their creative ideas street shop using a grant supplied by the town council. Students were teaching arts • Stronger marketing to community arts to the general public and the venue was groups of campus-based facilities, open after hours to allow wider access. It ensuring that hire costs are appropriate to was a successful initiative. means of payment

However, there is also the capacity and • More effective publicity and promotion scope for pan Lancashire universities to play locally of students' work. Students need a more prominent role in local arts real audiences and the local general public development and for local authorities to work can provide that. This also serves to harder with them on that. For example: develop the local arts offer, often at significantly lower costs • Development of stronger more regularised links between universities and local authorities.

33 Recommendations arts relative to other areas of work. This should include o reviewing the proposed £100k Building on the enthusiasm, encouragement reduction for arts in funding in 2013/14, and support that we have received from all with an analysis first of the likely impact contributors to this review, from across the on local capacity to lever in additional Lancashire sub-region and beyond, and in external investment into the sub-region. o particular from the Executives of all the exploring how to support investment in participating local authorities and from Arts the voluntary and amateur sector Council England, we recommend that: without impacting on that made to the professional arts sector. o 1. Political Leadership and Advocacy. securing investment into significant Local authorities in Lancashire should each capital projects linked to Arts Council develop a clear political leadership for the England's capital fund. arts. The prime purpose of this role would be • Lancashire County Council should be to advocate for and champion the arts, both requested to review further its current internally and externally, and focus in arrangements for awarding grants to the particular on the value of the arts to local arts. The bureaucracy of any new system economic development and regeneration. It should be proportionate to the level of should include a commitment to work in investment requested, but will require the collaboration with local Lancashire partners to development of a new cultural driver develop a stronger advocacy effort with key investment programme with mechanisms strategic partners and in support of a more built in to ensure that impacts and strategic pan Lancashire arts identity and dividends can be measured and monitored ambition (see recommendation 4 in addition). in a way that is appropriate in scale for the money involved 2. Effective and Intelligent Investment. All local authorities should recognise their 3. Officer Expertise. individual role as a "force multiplier" investor All local authorities in pan Lancashire should in the arts and ensure that they have efficient employ dedicated arts development officer and effective funding mechanisms in place to support to: develop and promote the arts support the arts and, where appropriate, sector in their area; monitor progress and should review these. This should manifest value for money of funds awarded; and draw as: in additional, external funding resources. • a stated commitment to a minimum Possibilities should be considered for sharing percentage at least of annual budgets to arts officer resource and expertise across be so dedicated so as to facilitate the authorities. leverage needed for arts organisations to gain access to additional external funding 4. Pan Lancashire Artistic Vision and streams, but at the same time appropriate Ambition. to the financial plans and constraints in Local authorities and arts organisations alike each authority. should consult and collaborate to develop a • Further internal consideration given to pan Lancashire approach to supporting the ways in which a stronger local financial arts and the independent arts sector of the commitment might be achieved, in sub-region. This approach should involve: particular for those art forms and projects • that are likely to be most productive in the Joint formulation of an agreed sub- economic and regenerative returns made regional artistic vision and ambition that is on initial investment simple, relevant, realistic, appropriate and • Lancashire County Council should also attractive to external and additional arts review its arts spend in the context of the funding sources. It should articulate a overall cultural services budget, where clear and straightforward sense of what there is historical underinvestment in the collectively pan Lancashire local authorities want arts and culture to achieve for them 34 development and regeneration programmes. • Supporting the development of Arts This should include: Lancashire as a strategic, independent • Developing stronger links within councils pan Lancashire advocacy body for the arts among arts development and economic sector in the sub-region. development teams • Encouraging greater representation on the • Setting a limited number of sub-regional agenda of the Lancashire LEP (Local goals and aspirations that focus on getting Enterprise Partnership) as a significant access to ACE funding with regards: the economic driver and as a pathway to: National Portfolio; Grants for the Arts; o new funding opportunities, in particular Strategic Funds; Capital Funds. It should for works of iconic and income- also involve goal setting around access to generating value, the Aerospace other external funding opportunities, from collaboration project being the current Government, the private and charitable leading contender; sector, and the European Union. o possibilities for levering in additional sponsorships and funding from the • Regular monitoring and analysis of public private sector; investment levels made into pan o leadership in driving forward a pan Lancashire by Arts Council England (ACE) Lancashire artistic vision and ambition and local authorities. in support of economic development and regeneration. • More cooperative planning for big arts and • Promoting more proactive business culture events and opportunities, such as development support to arts organisations Preston Guild, Open Golf Championships, to promote financial efficiency and and exploiting to greater effect the shared resilience, effective governance structures, historical, natural, and industrial heritage and developing pathways for growth. of the sub-region as a context in which to • Developing the opportunity for arts place pan Lancashire's arts vision. This apprentices within the arts sector in should be led by immediate support to the Lancashire implementation and launch of the revived and renewed BAE public art project 7. Arts and Tourism Development. Stronger links should be developed between • Local authorities should work together tourism development and arts development closely to simplify accessibility for arts work. Lancashire County Council, District organisations and artists to the overall Authorities and unitary neighbours should local authority support and guidance that work closely with tourism champions in each exists for them. area to explore how a pan Lancashire arts vision can be best employed as a driver for local tourism. A pan Lancashire action plan 5. Annual Review of the Arts. should be developed to drive this forward. Lancashire County Council, Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen Councils should lead 8. Marketing and Publicity. in hosting an annual standing conference of Stronger links should be developed between the "State of the Arts" in pan Lancashire, as a arts development officers and "Marketing means of: publicising and promoting Lancashire" to ensure maximum impact of Lancashire's arts sector; setting shared arts activity in Lancashire in the development priorities and objectives; monitoring and of the visitor economy in the sub-region. reviewing progress; and identifying new Blackpool Council can guide and advise on opportunities. this. It should include: the development of joined up publicity, programming and 6. Arts and Economic Development. audience sharing; the development of an e- There should be greater recognition of the calendar of arts activity; the establishment of role the arts can play in local economic an "arts champion" to sit on the Board of

35 "Marketing Lancashire" and "Marketing in neighbouring sub-regions – Manchester, Blackpool". Liverpool, South Lakeland and Yorkshire – to identify and encourage new opportunities for 9. Arts Strategy. respective arts organisations to develop joint Lancashire County Council (informed by and ventures - in audience development, for with support of district partners) and unitary example, and sharing knowledge and neighbours should each develop their own expertise on current trends and new creative detailed arts development plans/strategies, ideas. drawing on evidence and ideas from this task group report. All strategies should be 13. Enhanced Performance from Arts underpinned by the agreed sub-regional Council England. artistic vision and endorsed and championed Arts Council England should: by political leaderships. All district councils • comment on the findings, conclusions and should be encouraged to do the same and, recommendations of this report, in where appropriate, as a joint approach, particular to the evidence in the report focusing in particular on nurturing the vibrant regarding its own role and performance amateur sector and identifying new artistic • consider how best to offer clearer, yet talent in every area of the sub-region. manageable lines of communication with local authorities and arts organisations 10. BME Communities during the current period of organisational A pan Lancashire steering group should be change within ACE, and beyond established to focus on the needs and • pursue opportunities to demonstrate a opportunities and potential of the BME more energetic commitment to arts communities in Lancashire to contribute to development in Lancashire and in working growth in participation and in Lancashire's with local authorities to achieve that – for overall arts offer. This should include example: a close working relationship with consideration of major arts events, such as Lancaster Arts Partnership (LAP); offering Mela and Carnival, to be developed as encouragement and support to the new highlight events for the sub-region. Stronger "Arts Lancashire"; pressing the case for a support to grass roots organisations and close working relationship with the individual artists should also be encouraged. Lancashire LEP; offering to present to and advise Marketing Lancashire; strategic 11. Dialogue with Arts Council England. representation at the first State of the Arts Local authorities and arts organisations Lancashire event. should work together to develop more • Offer opportunity for some local political assertive strategic relationships with ACE and engagement with ACE's NW Council a stronger voice for pan Lancashire. members, the Chair and Lancashire-based • Further consultation should be carried out member in particular, for an exchange of on the details of how a pan Lancashire views and ideas for how pan Lancashire voice could be achieved in practice, might develop a more robust and vibrant perhaps using Arts Lancashire – a new arts offer into the long term. advocacy body for the sub-region. • In addition, CEOs and Executive Members 14. Proactive Arts Organisations. from Lancashire County Council, Local authority arts officers should lobby local Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen arts organisations to nurture stronger Council should establish stronger, more relationships with their local councillors and active, strategic relationships with ACE. become more proactive in informing and • Districts too should be supported and engaging the interest of the latter, perhaps encouraged in their own relationships with even offering interested councillors a place ACE. on their governing bodies.

12. Partnerships at regional level. There should be development of proactive relationships with strategic leads for the arts

36 Appendix A - Witnesses and Key • In Certain Places – Charles Quick, Elaine Documents Speight • Burnley Youth Theatre – Mandy Precious • Lancashire Sinfonietta – Fiona Sinclair Witnesses • Lancaster Institute of Contemporary Arts (LICA) – Matt Fenton Local Authority Arts Development Officers • Prescap – Ben Hunt – pan Lancashire based • Mid-Pennine Arts – Nick Hunt, Rob Carder • Lancashire County Council Bluestreak Arts – Graham Easterlow • • Ian Watson – Head Cultural Services More Music – Peter Moser • • Paul Kelly – Arts Development Manager The Dukes – Joe Sumison • • Russell Tennant - officer Love and Etiquette Foundation – Rizwan Iqbal • Heather Fox - officer • Litfest – Andy Darby • Blackpool Council Storey Gallery – John Angus • • Carolyn Primett – Head Arts Spot On (Culturapedia) – Sue Robinson • Polly Hamilton – Deputy Director Cultural and Robert Howell • Services Horse and Bamboo – Helen Jackson • Green Close Studios – Sue Flowers Blackburn Council • Ludus Dance – Di Cummings • Rebecca Johnson – Arts Service Manager • Chapel Gallery – Ruth Owen

Preston City Council Executive and Lead Members • Stella Hall – Preston Guild Festival Lancashire County Council Director • Cllr Mike Calvert – Cabinet Member for • Alex Walker – Head of Arts and Heritage Adult and Community Services Services • Cllr Michael Green – Cabinet Member for • Lyndsay Taylor – Exhibitions Officer Economic Development, Environment and Planning Lancaster City Council • Cllr David Smith – Lead Member for Arts • Richard Hammond - Cultural and Culture Development Manager • Cllr Jim Lawrenson – Lead Member for • Simon Kirby – Assistant Head Community Tourism Engagement Service (written submission) Lancaster City Council Other authorities • Cllr Ron Sands – Cabinet Member for • Helen Jones – Burnley: Strategic Arts Culture (written submission) Development Officer • Gail Knight – Hyndburn: Director Preston City Council • Arts Centre Cllr Tom Burns – Cabinet Member for • Katherine Rogers – Ribble Valley: Arts Advice Services, Culture and Leisure Development Officer • John Nelson – Arts Council England (ACE) NW regional office • Arts Organisations – pan Lancashire Jane Beardsworth – Regional Director • based Anthony Preston – Senior Manager • The Harris Museum and Art Gallery – Lyndsay Taylor and Alex Hall • Blackpool Grand – Neil Thomson, Celine Universities Wyatt Uclan – Pete Clarke Lancaster University – Matt Fenton • Grundy Art Gallery – Stuart Tulloch Edgehill University – Phil Christopher

37 Liverpool study visit Liverpool Biennial Economic Development Framework • Paula Ridley CBE – Chair http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/office_of_the_c • Laurie Peake – Programme Director hief_executive/lancashireprofile/main/LCCEc Public Art onomicFramework2010.pdf

FACT (Foundation for Arts and Creative Lancaster City Council: Technology) Culture and Heritage Strategy • Mike Stubbs – Chief Executive Officer http://committeeadmin.lancaster.gov.uk/mgC (and member of LARC – Liverpool Arts onvert2PDF.aspx?ID=24475 and Regeneration Consortium) • Cat Dempsey – Engagement Manager Pennine Lancashire Association of Chief Executives (PLACE) Liverpool, City Council Pennine Lancashire Culture Plan 2010-14 • Cllr Wendy Smith – Cabinet Member for http://www.penninelancsplace.org/Shared%2 Culture, Tourism, Leisure, Sport and Civic 0Documents/Pennine%20Lancashire%20Cult Buildings ural%20Action%20Plan.pdf • Alicia Smith – Arts Participation Manager Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership Cumbria Study Visit (LEP) • Curator Grizedale Roots Arts, Forestry LEP priorities Commission – Hayley Skipper http://www.lancashirelep.co.uk/about/?siteid= 6441&pageid=38334&e=e • Chief Executive Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal – Richard Foster, Mike Jones

Arts Council England (ACE)

Achieving Great Art for Everyone Other Expert Witnesses http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_arc hive/strategic-framework-arts/ Economist - James Rebanks, author of "Why Art Works" and arts development Beyond Cultural Diversity – The Case for consultant Creativity Director Tourism, NW Development http://thirdtext.creativecase.org.uk/ Agency (now dismantled) Nick Brook-Sykes Youth Worker – Parvinder Sohal Other Blackburn with Darwen Arts Council – James Rebanks Consulting (by commission Ashok Dayal to North by North West arts partnership) Community Leader – Younis Mangheera http://rebanksconsultingltd.com/resources/Nb Chief Executive Rossendale yNW%20Impact%20Study%20FINAL%20RE Council – Helen Lockwood (also lead officer PORT%20(reduced%20size%20version).pdf for the theme group: Culture, Leisure and (condensed version) Sport within the Pennine Lancashire Leaders http://rebanksconsultingltd.com/mwg- and Chief Executives (PLACE) partnership). internal/de5fs23hu73ds/progress?id=fVDFCk uHnx Key documents Lancaster Arts: Economic Impact Study Lancashire County Council Lancaster Report to Scrutiny Committee 10 June 2011: http://issuu.com/liveatlica/docs/lap_economic Arts Council England Funding _impact_study_-_final_version_10.01.11 http://council.lancashire.gov.uk/documents/s2 978/Item06.pdf Creating an Impact – Liverpool's Experience as European City of Culture Culture and Sport Strategy 2010-14 http://www.liv.ac.uk/impacts08/Papers/Creati http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/corporate/web/? ng_an_Impact_-_web.pdf siteid=5656&pageid=31255&e=e

38 Appendix B - Glossary NPO National Portfolio Organisations The funding stream of the Arts Council ACE Arts Council England England that supports the core funding of 696 Formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of organisations across England to help deliver Great Britain was divided into three separate the 10 year arts strategy 'Achieving great art bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. It is for everyone'. These organisation are often a non-departmental public body of the referred to as NPOs Department of Culture, Media and Sport. It is a government-funded body dedicated to NWDA North West Development Agency. promoting the performing, visual and literary The local version of the RDA (see below) arts in England. Since 1994, Arts Council England has been responsible for distributing RDA Regional Development Agency lottery funding. This investment has helped to These were non-departmental public bodies transform the building stock of arts established for the purpose of development, organisations and to create lots of additional primarily economic, in each of England's high quality arts activity. In 2012, it assumed Government Office regions. In June 2010, the responsibility for distribution of government UK government announced plans to abolish and lottery funds for Museums, Libraries and the RDAs on 31 March 2012, with a view to Music Education future economic development being undertaken by local enterprise partnerships Bridge Organisation (LEPs). Bridge organisations have been established by Arts Council England to help more young Two-tier system people, families and communities benefit A system of local government where local from high quality creative and artistic government functions are divided between experiences. county councils (the upper tier) and district or borough councils (lower tier). GFA Grants for the Arts. Lottery funding administered by Arts Council Unitary Authority England for arts activity A type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government LEP Local enterprise partnership functions within its area. A partnership between local authorities and businesses formed in 2012 to help determine local economic priorities and lead economic growth and job creation within its local area.

39 Appendix C - Delivering The Arts and Lancashire City Council – and also from in Lancashire 2012 – a Sketch the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. www.dukes-lancaster.org Portrait of Arts Infrastructure Ludus Dance Ludus Dance is the leading dance Lancashire is a large and diverse county with development organisation in Lancashire a wide range of arts provision across the whose mission is to inspire and engage sectors. There are 15 key independent arts people through dance. It prioritises people organisations operating professionally across and places with least engagement and offers the County, and these are supplemented by an inclusive approach placing excellence in the arts provision run by local authorities, the dance, engagement and learning at the heart universities and the independent and of its work. Committed to providing voluntary sector. Below is a less than progression routes in dance, Ludus exhaustive summary of such provision. proactively contributes to the development of a thriving dance ecology in Lancashire and The Dukes the North West. Ludus Dance receives The Dukes is a unique theatre and cultural regular support from Arts Council England, centre based in Lancaster. The Dukes is the Lancashire County Council and Lancashire only professional producing theatre within a City Council. 50 mile radius and its approach links all art www.ludus.org forms; in-house productions, innovative programming, exhibitions, dedicated events, The Storey Gallery learning projects, film screenings and the The Storey Gallery in Lancaster is an promotion of local talent and creativity, independent artist-centred gallery which offering a unique cultural hub for audiences commissions, promotes, and presents a and participants. programme of contemporary visual art by artists of national and international The Dukes has three performance spaces – significance. The programme includes The Rake (traditional ‘end on’ stage), The exhibitions, off-site research projects, talks on Round (in the round) and DT3, a beautiful art, projects with schools, temporary projects converted church next to the theatre utilised in public spaces, and professional as a dedicated performance space for development for artists. participatory arts. The Dukes also has a www.storeygallery.org.uk gallery used for exhibitions by local artists. Litfest The Dukes is recognised as one of England’s Litfest specialises in developing literary outstanding small city theatres and cultural activity for, by and with the people of centres. Its `Made in Lancashire’ productions Lancashire. It delivers a major, nationally regularly reach national standards of recognised literature festival, events excellence. Complementing its own work, the programme, commissions and publishing, Dukes also programme a diverse range of and devises and delivers literature visiting events and a cinema programme opportunities and activities with partners showcasing the best art-house, European across the County. and classic films. The Dukes Creative www.litfest.org Learning department works with many thousands of young people each year, Live at LICA (Lancaster Institute for encouraging them to develop their skills and Contemporary Arts) creativity. In recent years its young people Located on the campus of Lancaster have performed at the National Theatre and University, Live at LICA’s mission is to they have a particular interest in working with develop and deliver high quality professional young disabled people. theatre, dance, music and visual art for the campus, the and the wider The Dukes receives regular support from Arts region. Live at LICA enables artists to take Council England, Lancashire County Council

40 creative risks, each year commissioning and in devising high quality community presenting an extensive amount of new work. engagement and creative learning The organisation also provides unique programmes. MPA brings art, people and opportunities for artists and local residents to places together to transform perceptions and meet in innovative participatory projects, and change lives. to engage creatively with academic teaching www.midpenninearts.org.uk and research. Activity takes place across the new £10million Burnley Youth Theatre LICA Building, an 800 capacity concert hall, Burnley Youth Theatre is a highly regarded, the MLA Accredited Peter Scott Gallery, the vibrant, innovative youth theatre at the heart 230-seat Nuffield Theatre, and across the of the community in Burnley, Pennine campus of Lancaster University, Lancaster Lancashire. Established in 1973, in almost 40 city-centre and beyond. Highly distinctive as a years it has developed 1000s of shows, tours cultural organisation in an academic context, and performances - including new and Live at LICA supports creative ideas at all existing work. stages from conception to production, Burnley Youth Theatre works with young through to public showing and national people from 5 - 25, operating out of a unique touring. The strategic value of this activity is and purpose built theatre just next to Queens recognised nationally and internationally, and Park. Built in 2005 - young people are central is regularly funded by Arts Council England to ensuring the place runs smoothly. and Lancashire County Council. Burnley Youth Theatre aims to enable young www.liveatlica.org people to take their next steps creatively. This might include joining a workshop, auditioning More Music for a show, volunteering for front of house or More Music is a community music and technical duties, and working towards a education charity based in The Hothouse in qualification. Burnley Youth Theatre also runs Morecambe, established in 1993 with weekly sessions, education projects, and extensive experience delivering workshops, works in the community across Lancashire training, performances and festivals across delivering a range of arts-based activities. the district, region and beyond! Burnley Youth Theatre receives regular More Music seeks to build confidence and support from Arts Council England and spirit in individuals and communities through Lancashire City Council. the arts, especially music. www.burnleyyouththeatre.com More Music receives regular support from Arts Council England, Lancashire County Horse + Bamboo Council and Lancashire City Council. Horse + Bamboo was created nearly 35 www.moremusic.org.uk years ago to bring theatre and the arts in general to people who otherwise would not Mid Pennine Arts experience this. The Company aims to Mid Pennine Arts (MPA) is a visual arts • Create work which is artistically excellent, commissioning agency, based in Pennine perform it locally, and tour it regionally, Lancashire and developing bespoke, original nationally, and internationally projects in communities throughout the • Make this work accessible to people who county. MPA commissions high quality work otherwise would not access the arts through innovative collaborations in response • Provide a focus for the continuing to the rich and diverse contexts of development of artists, particularly with Lancashire. regard to puppetry, music, mask, film, and animation work. MPA projects highlight local identity and • Offer a range of individually focused sense of place. The MPA programme placements and more general support to includes commissions for heritage settings students at varying stages in their careers (the ongoing Contemporary Heritage series), in creating the work, and in arts admin partnerships celebrating landscape and and management projects supporting urban regeneration. MPA’s multidisciplinary team are specialised

41 • Contribute both artistically and project management company homed in strategically to the cultural development Blackburn, but working across Lancashire, of our area. the North West and nationally. It exists to give • Focus particularly on enhancing and ideas legs. Established in 2004 as Robinson improving cultural activities in Lancashire. Howell Partnership ltd, with two owner Horse & Bamboo receives regular support managers, Sue Robinson and Robert Howell, from Arts Council England and Lancashire it has now been rebranded as Culturapedia, City Council. and employs 6 members of staff and two www.horseandbamboo.org freelancers. Core projects include the development and delivery of Spot On Lancashire Sinfonietta Lancashire as an NPO in partnership with The Lancashire Sinfonietta is a unique ’s Rural Arts Service. chamber orchestra which celebrates www.culturapedia.co Lancashire's outstanding musical talent. Homegrown champions from the UK's finest Green Close professional orchestras take their music Green Close is a visual art organisation, directly into local communities and the which pioneers rural regeneration and orchestra features world-class soloists and positive social development through the arts. directors alongside emerging composers and By working within the public & private sector it musicians. They combine their talents to leads, brokers and delivers innovative and reach new audiences and innovate through ambitious projects. By championing the role collaborative cross-artform work. The arts and creative excellence play in rural Sinfonietta is also Orchestra in Residence at economic and social regeneration, we help to Lancaster University. empower communities and their young www.lancs-sinf.com people.

In Certain Places Green Close studios also offer a vibrant, The project In Certain Places is a public art inspirational hub and space for creative initiative, which began in Preston, delivered in project development and are the centre of a partnership by the University of Central network of over 100 professional national and Lancashire and Preston City Council, through international freelance artists. Based in the the Harris Museum & Art Gallery. The, village of Melling in North Lancashire, with a project, which is run by curators Charles strong portfolio of creative work, Green Close Quick (UCLan) and Elaine Speight (PCC), has delivered fifteen years of innovative arts with curatorial support from Prof. Lubaina development work within the fields of rural Himid MBE (UCLan), actively explores the arts & community engagement. role of artists within the development of the www.greenclose.org city, and examines how their involvement can contribute to the creation of vibrant and They Eat Culture engaging places. They Eat Culture are a new organisation that commissions new arts programming, playful Since 2004, In Certain Places has delivered a inclusion events and participatory& cultural mutually supportive programme of high profile projects across spaces and places in public artworks and professional Lancashire. development opportunities for artists and www.theyeatculture.org urban professional in Central Lancashire, including public talks and debates, Bluestreak Arts artist residencies and regional commissions. 'Bluestreak Arts are award winning creative Collectively, these activities have engaged producers generating high quality original and diverse communities and initiated debate inspiring artistic products and experiences. about the role of artists within regeneration. Bluestreak produces theatrical and www.incertainplaces.org performative works including film, dance and music and creates multi-media and digital Culturapedia artwork from wall mounted digital collage to Culturapedia is a diverse independent arts 42 film and animation. It also facilitates can be used for a range of activities and celebratory events and festivals, curates productions including large dinner events, exhibitions and produces public art. Its work sporting events, conferencing, dance events is centred in Preston but delivers across and much, much more. Lancashire, the North West and nationally. The Charter Theatre is a smaller venue with a www.bluestreakarts.net much more traditional theatre ambiance seating 780 guests. Unlike the Grand Hall, The Harris Museum and Art Gallery the Charter Theatre is a fully equipped Since 1893, The Harris has enriched the lives theatre with flying equipment and pros walls of visitors and the local community by with traditional theatre style seating. creating links between people, collections www.prestonguildhall.com and exhibitions, by celebrating creativity and stimulating learning. Its vision is to extend its Lowther Pavilion, Lytham reputation as an outstanding museum and art The Lowther Pavilion in Lytham was built in gallery that is distinctive, ambitious, 1921 and serves the borough of Fylde and audience-focused and open to change. the surroundings as a professional and amateur stage. The 457 capacity venue is The foundation stone of the Harris Library, multi faceted and can be used for a wide Museum and Art Gallery was laid during the variety of events such as Theatrical Preston Guild of 1882. It was made possible Productions, Concerts, Demonstration's, by the bequest of Edmund Robert Harris who Exhibitions and Community Events. left £300,000 to Preston on his death in 1878. The venue is situated within the idyllic The Harris collections are among the finest in grounds of Lowther Gardens on West Beach the region and include objects of national in Lytham and is operated as a Charitable significance. The collections include over Trust. Its convenient location means that the 70,000 objects. Increasing and recording Pavilion attracts thousands of visitors yearly knowledge about the collections is to its different events. Lowther Pavilion is fundamental to our work. We work in primarily a hire venue, used by societies and partnership with other museums, universities companies for various events. and specialists, employing the latest scientific www.lowtherpavilion.co.uk techniques to uncover the stories behind our objects, for instance to discover details of the Oswaldtwistle Civic Arts Centre, origins of ancient human skulls uncovered The Civic Arts Centre includes the Civic during the 19th Century Preston Dock Theatre and is independently managed by a excavations. group of local people. Activities include theatre, cinema, visual arts and a myriad of Today, the Harris is recognised as one of the community activities. leading museums and contemporary art www.civicartscentre.co.uk venues in the region. It combines working . closely with and for our local community with Haworth Art gallery, developing a national and international The Haworth Art Gallery is an Edwardian reputation for quality and innovative Tudor-style house in its own park with an programmes. It is a major tourist attraction, oak-panelled entrance hall and an Arts and welcoming over 250,000 visitors annually. Crafts staircase and delightful wood and www.harrismuseum.org.uk plaster decorations adorn the main reception rooms. Preston Guild Hall Preston Guild Hall Complex is dominated by From 1909 to 1920, it was the home of cotton 2 fantastic venues that host on average manufacturer William Haworth and his sister around 300 events per year with over Anne; it was then bequeathed to the people 100,000 visitors. The Grand Hall Arena was of Accrington and has been a public art designed as a prestigious concert venue gallery ever since. The Haworth Art Gallery seating over 2,000 guests although it's multi houses the largest public collection of Tiffany purpose layout and flexibility means that it glass ion Europe. It was given to the people 43 of Accrington by Joseph Briggs who in 1891, September - December. Programmes are aged only 17, left Accrington to seek his designed to cater for all tastes, fortune in America. He worked with Tiffany in encompassing drama, literature, dance, New York in various jobs all his working life physical theatre, comedy, music, and theatre and sent his collection back to his home town for children and families. Stand-up comedy is in 1933. The collection is displayed over four proving a huge hit with students at Edge Hill rooms and includes some of the finest glass and has gained a reputation with comedy Tiffany ever produced. lovers from Ormskirk and surrounding areas. www.hyndburnbc.gov.uk/hag http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/rosetheatre

Astley Hall Museum and Art Gallery, Wharf Arts Centre Burscough Wharf Arts Centre opened its Astley Hall houses a large and fascinating doors on Saturday 12th February 2011 as collection, ranging from clogs, mangles and Lancashire’s newest retail and leisure kitchen implements to fine art, paintings, development which is centred on food and ceramics and furniture. The collections at drink, arts and crafts, the creative industries, Astley Hall Museum and Art Gallery are very fashion and the community. The Wharf is a varied, ranging from a fine collection of 18th unique development in the heart of century creamware and glass to the first ever Burscough town centre which has involved Rugby League Cup and the contents of a the refurbishment and redevelopment of over clog maker's workshop. 12,000 square feet of former canalside www.chorley.gov.uk buildings. www.burscough-wharf.co.uk

ACE Centre, Nelson Blackburn Art Gallery and Museum The ACE Centre is one of the North West's Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery has a newest destinations for arts, culture and fascinating collection of art which includes oil enterprise in the region. Operated and and watercolour paintings, Japanese prints managed by Pendle Leisure Trust, we aim to and Christian icons. The high quality and provide the very best facilities and leisure quantity of the collection reflects the opportunities for our local community, and the generosity and taste of local industrialists best in business class services for any from whom much of the collection was either functions, corporate events or meetings. donated or bequeathed. One of the best www.acecentre.co.uk loved and known oil paintings in a collection, which numbers over 300, is Mother and Child Chapel Gallery, Ormskirk by Lord Frederic Leighton (1830 – 1896). All West Lancashire Borough Council run the the great names of Victorian watercolour Chapel Gallery and bring some of the most painting are also represented with 7 inventive contemporary fine art and craft from watercolours by JMW Turner (1775 – 1851) across the UK to the region, while also and good examples by Samuel Palmer, David supporting locally based artists in the Cox, William Hunt and Thomas Girtin in a development of their careers. collection of over 500 watercolours. Local www.chapelgallery.org.uk artists are also included such as Jessica Lofthouse, Herbert Railton and John Rose Theatre, Ormskirk Chapman. The Rose Theatre was built in the 1960s, www.blackburn.gov.uk originally as a venue for Edge Hill's drama students, however it threw its doors open to Blackpool Grundy Art Gallery the public in 1993. Since that time, the Rose The Grundy Art Gallery is run as part of has gone from strength-to-strength and Blackpool's arts service and organises a developed into a well-known professional programme of contemporary visual arts theatre that plays host to high-profile touring programming that features the work of companies. Throughout the year, around 75 established and emerging artists from the UK productions take to the stage over two and abroad. seasons running from January – July, and www.grundyartgallery.com 44 Blackpool Grand Theatre Platform Gallery, The Grand Theatre is one of the North West’s The Platform Gallery provides a unique great cultural landmarks. A 1,100-seat Grade market place for handmade crafts from II Listed Victorian theatre designed by Frank across the UK. Visit us to see contemporary Matcham in 1894 and rejuvenated in the late craft exhibitions, buy stunning gifts in the twentieth century, The Grand is Blackpool's Craft Shop, take part in workshops and community theatre, Lancashire's preferred educational opportunities or hire a room for opera house and Britain's National Theatre of your own event. In our main exhibition space, Variety. It offers a broad programme of we present an exciting program of exhibitions popular and progressive theatre, opera, from nationally recognised makers as well as ballet, dance, pantomime and music for focussing on work by Lancashire based Blackpool and the North West. designers; exhibited work includes textiles, www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk ceramics, jewellery, glass and metalwork (see below for more details). We also exhibit work from community groups within the Education Gallery. www.ribblevalley.gov.uk/platformgallery

45 Overview and Scrutiny July 2012 For further details contact Claire Evans, 07917836698

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