London Assembly and the Mayor
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Appendix 2 Confirmation Hearings Committee - 10 April 2017 Transcript of Item 4 - Confirmation Hearing in Respect of the Appointment to the Office of Chair of the Cultural Leadership Board Keith Prince AM (Chairman): Now we come to item 4, the confirmation hearing in respect of the appointment to the office of Chair of the Cultural Leadership Board. I would like to welcome Ben [Evans] today. At this confirmation hearing we will be putting questions to you in relation to your proposed appointment to the office of Chair of the Cultural Leadership Board. Before moving to the question-and-answer session, can I ask the Committee to formally note the background information circulated with the agenda and the information which was received after publication of the agenda and which has been circulated to Members separately? All: Agreed. Keith Prince AM (Chairman): We now move to the question-and-answer session. I propose to ask the first question. Members have indications as to what areas of questioning we should restrict ourselves to but, within reason, we can deviate slightly. Clearly, if deviations are too great, then I will bring you back in line. First of all, if I could ask this of you, Ben, what do you see as the challenges, as opportunities of the role of Chair of the Cultural Leadership Board and what value would you bring to that role in that context? Ben Evans (proposed appointee to the office of Chair of the Mayor’s Cultural Leadership Board): Perhaps I could start by thanking the Members of the Assembly for giving me this opportunity to discuss my proposed role as the Chair of the Mayor’s Cultural Leadership Board. The Mayor has made clear that culture is part of the DNA of London and has put culture and the creative industries as one of his top priorities, alongside housing, air quality, transport and other issues. Sorry -- Keith Prince AM (Chairman): No, carry on. Yes, just carry on. Ben Evans (proposed appointee to the office of Chair of the Mayor’s Cultural Leadership Board): This offers a great opportunity to build on London’s reputation as a creative capital and address the challenges facing the creative community in London. We should note that the sector is the fastest growing sector in London’s economy and has generated £42 billion per annum and one in six jobs in the city. Alongside that, of course, London is one of the most visited cities in the world with four out of five tourists saying that culture and heritages are the main reasons they visit our city. However, there are some serious challenges as well, particularly given the context of bigger issues facing our country and our city. There are growing property prices. Affordable workspace is becoming harder and harder to find. Business rates are on the increase. There is reduced local authority funding and closures of venues and other places that the cultural and creative community uses. In addition to that, some of the salaries within the sector are on the lower end of the spectrum. Most of the businesses that operate in our city are small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and so they are particularly vulnerable to some of these bigger issues and changes that are happening within the city. In the Mayor’s manifesto, he made a series of policy pledges and new initiatives to try to support the cultural and creative industries and I look forward to be given the opportunity to chair the Cultural Leadership Board and drive forward this agenda for London and all Londoners. I particularly look forward to the opportunity - I think this is how it works - of working with the Assembly as well. Keith Prince AM (Chairman): I look forward to that. Tom Copley AM: Yes. First of all, I do not know if I need to declare this, but I am a Trustee of New Diorama Theatre and so I will make sure we are aware of that as we are doing culture. Keith Prince AM (Chairman): Noted. Tom Copley AM: My question is this. The Mayor has - rightly, in my view - made access to arts a big priority and making sure that everybody can access the arts, particularly people from backgrounds who might not currently do that. How do you see the Cultural Leadership Board supporting the Mayor in that ambition? Ben Evans (proposed appointee to the office of Chair of the Mayor’s Cultural Leadership Board): Just let me look over my notes. Access is an important issue. We want to ensure that as many Londoners as possible are able to enjoy the fullest access to the cultural and creative sector. There are some projects that the Mayor already delivers. Gigs is an annual music competition for young people supporting 1,000 performers and reaching 1.4 million people, I am told, since 2009. The Big Dance Festival has also been a successful initiative, reaching millions across the capital over the past decade. Of course, the Fourth Plinth, which is a very visible illustration of culture in London, has engaged 15,000 young people from across all London boroughs. Also interesting and important is the move of the Museum of London to West Smithfield, which should increase its audience significantly and hopefully will reach every schoolchild. One of the new initiatives proposed, the London Borough of Culture, I expect, will have a strong participation aspect and I hope it will be particularly relevant to the boroughs not in central London where there is less provision of our cultural and creative infrastructure. The Love London campaign is also an interesting new idea. It is exploring an idea to give more Londoners greater benefit from the arts more generally. Tom Copley AM: Thank you. Gareth Bacon AM: Mr Evans, quoting directly from the Mayor’s letter to the Chairman of the Assembly, the Mayor talked about what he saw the Board as doing and he identified some of the challenges facing the cultural and creative industries. He listed some, including the impact of Brexit, the loss of creative workspace and music venues, and promoting an increase in engagement in cultural activities. On those specific challenges, do you recognise them as challenges? What scale do you see them -- Ben Evans (proposed appointee to the office of Chair of the Mayor’s Cultural Leadership Board): I am sorry. I could not quite hear that properly, just the last bit. Gareth Bacon AM: The Mayor listed various specific challenges in his letter to the Chairman of the Assembly, which you may or may not have seen, including Brexit, the loss of venues, etc. Do you recognise those as challenges and, in your role as Chair of the Board, what do you propose at this stage - in broad strokes - to do to meet those challenges? Ben Evans (proposed appointee to the office of Chair of the Mayor’s Cultural Leadership Board): I do recognise those challenges. Some of them are not of direct concern for this Board; they are periphery issues that the Board will need to consider as part of its more specific remit. However, the Board will be about appointing a series of experts. These will be drawn from across the creative and cultural sector. The key role the Board has is about delivering the ambitious plans for culture, supporting London’s artistic and creative community, trying to embed culture in the development of the capital and, as we have already referred to, promoting access to culture for all Londoners. My priority is to sustain London’s reputation as a global creative capital and support the growth of that creative community. We have enjoyed and benefited from a long - as perhaps we could describe it - almost golden period in terms of the success of our cultural and creative sector and we are clearly one of the leading cities in the world. Our challenge is about maintaining that and continuing to tell our story as effectively as we have done in recent years. I believe my role is to advise the Mayor on the development of the Culture Strategy, along with the Board members, and we have a key responsibility to try to act as advocates for culture. We want to try to ensure that we continue the good work of the previous Mayor and the Mayor before him because this is an incremental thing that we can build on. Again, I look forward to working with you and your colleagues on that. Gareth Bacon AM: One of the challenges that the Mayor touched on was the loss of creative workspaces. You have touched on the idea of a London Borough of Culture. Do you see that as a potential remedy to that problem? Ben Evans (proposed appointee to the office of Chair of the Mayor’s Cultural Leadership Board): Perhaps I can refer to also alongside the Creative Enterprise Zones. Perhaps I could start with that. Gareth Bacon AM: They go hand-in-glove, yes. Ben Evans (proposed appointee to the office of Chair of the Mayor’s Cultural Leadership Board): This idea has arisen from the concern that the number of affordable spaces is in decline in London. The idea of a Creative Enterprise Zone is to provide some dedicated small workspaces with living spaces so that creative industries, artists and the fashion industry, given that extra support, can flourish. The idea of a Creative Enterprise Zone is a district that will provide a package of incentivisation for creative enterprises, but we need to ensure it is in the right location in London. It needs to build a community around it and create the right environment for this creative community to embed themselves.