Study visit in Birmingham – Local context and cultural policies 1. About the city Number of inhabitants 1.013.400 Area in Km² 267.77 km2 for the city 598.9 km2 for the urban area Annual budget of the city £3.2bn (2015-16) Annual budget for culture 85,903£m (2013/2014) The local/regional context Birmingham is the second largest city in the UK, after London, with 1,100,000 inhabitants. Situated in the West Midlands, Birmingham is the largest city economy in the UK outside of London, the regional centre of business, retail, leisure and culture – acting as a regional hub for employment with half a million people working in the city. Birmingham is a driver of the regional economy, with an economic output of over £21bn, which accounts for 21.5% of total output in the region. The city has a strong heritage of crafts and industry and was at the forefront of many innovations during the Industrial Revolution. By this time, Birmingham had become an industrial and commercial centre. Today’s economy is dominated by the service sector, manufacturing and engineering. Birmingham is still a major international commercial centre. Its five universities make it also a large centre of higher education. Birmingham is the youngest major city in Europe and the second most diverse, throwing up significant and specific challenges for cultural provision. It is one of the fastest growing cities in the UK but retains pockets of severe deprivation and high levels of youth unemployment. As a super-diverse city, with 40 per cent of residents from a non-white background, with more school children from Muslim family backgrounds that Christian family backgrounds, and with a growing population of young people (in sharp contrast to the ageing population nationally), Birmingham is having to find new ways to engage its residents in cultural activity that reaches out to them, and builds social integration. Specific competencies/governance system Birmingham City Council - Birmingham City Council is comprised of 120 councillors, representing 40 wards. The Labour Party currently has the majority of councillors and runs the council. The city is governed by a Cabinet of portfolio holders, with a Leader (Cllr John Clancy) and Deputy Leader (Cllr Ian Ward). The Cabinet Member for Skills, Learning and Culture is Cllr Penny Holbrook. An arrangement of Overview and Scrutiny Committees which hold the Executive to account relating to decisions. The council publishes its annual Business Plan and budget each financial year. The business plan explains the Council’s priorities for the years to come. In the Council Business Plan 2015+, objectives and priorities of the Council are: a fair, prosperous and democratic city. Birmingham is in the process of developing into a Greater Birmingham combined authority, connecting to its wider urban region. Birmingham, in common with many UK cities, also has a Lord Mayor, which is not an honorary post, equivalent to the “first citizen” of Birmingham. The current Lord Mayor of Birmingham is Councillor Raymond Hassall. Key cultural indicators/facts Birmingham has a lot to offer in terms of cultural facilities. Birmingham's major cultural institutions – including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Birmingham Royal Ballet, the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, the Library of Birmingham and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts – enjoy international reputations,and the city has vibrant and influential art, music, literary and culinary scenes. Legacies of Birmingham's industrial heritage include its Jewellery Quarter, Cadbury manufacturing plant and a former custard factory that's been transformed into a cutting-edge creative hub. But cultural assets remain almost exclusively in the city centre, and the major cultural companies and venues receive the majority of the city council’s revenue support for cultural activities. The 10 administrative districts of Birmingham serve on average 100,000 people each. But they do not ave the venues and facilities which would be associated with towns of a similar size. In order to improve access to cultural activities for the inhabitants, the city decided to improve cultural facilities in the outer city and deliver programmes at a neighbourhood level, using facilities in the community. Local cultural priorities At the time of the visit, Birmingham will be finalising its cultural strategy for 2016-20. This new strategy, common with previous strategies, has been written in close partnership with the cultural sector, business, higher education and health colleagues, and has the working title “Imagination, Creativity and Enterprise”. The new strategy develops further the theme of “Culture on Your Doorstep” which was a key element of the previous strategy, Big City Culture. Big City Culture was developed as the cultural component of Birmingham 2026 – the Sustainable Community Strategy for the city. This strategy enables effective strategic planning to support the development of the cultural sector and address the needs of local people. Culture on your doorstep is one of the four chapters of this global strategy. Big City Culture expresses the shared priorities of the partners within the Birmingham Cultural Partnership. For the purposes of the strategy, 'Culture' is defined as including arts, museums, heritage, sport, sporting events, libraries, archives, creative industries, film and tourism. The benefits of participation in cultural activities can produce a range of individual and group outcomes including a sense of identity and belonging, social and community cohesion, civic engagement, economic impact, development of transferable skills; increased knowledge, experience and understanding of the world we live in and improved health and wellbeing. Public Art Strategy 2015-2019 – As part of Birmingham new Cultural Strategy and the forthcoming City Centre Public Realm strategy, Birmingham published its Public Art Strategy to refocus the city’s relationship with public art. The strategy’s production is the work of the Public Art Strategy Steering Group. The strategy outlines a new vision for art in Birmingham’s public realm. The purpose is to set out a clear vision for public art in Birmingham, advocate the role of public art for the city’s economy and communities, ensure that the management and maintenance of public art is of high quality in times of budget cuts for the City Council, and involve artists and residents with the development of public art in the city. The strategy defines ‘Public Art’ as: 1. the production of permanent or temporary art (including participatory and event-based) within the public realm 2. art within the built environment or through engagement with others; this could be a space-specific intervention, or part of a festival or event Public art is celebrated for its intrinsic value, as well as its links to other council policies where culture-led innovation can make a difference. The vision for public art in Birmingham will be achieved through six objectives, each with an action plan. These objectives focus on: • Improve the practice of commissioning and developing public art in Birmingham • Funding new public art • Facilitating changes to Birmingham’s public art portfolio • Supporting artists and a collaborative public art ecology • Maintaining the existing portfolio of public art • Promoting public art to improve awareness of education about public art in Birmingham The strategy should strenghten Birmingham’s communities and place-shaping, enable residents to experience creativity, improve Birmingham’s image and enhance the city’s cultural offer, as well as recognise and create key events around public art in the city. The strategy will be reviewed on an annual basis to ensure updated action plans and new policy developments are incorporated. Birmingham also drafted a Festival Strategy 2014-2017 and a Heritage Strategy 2014-2019. The Year of Arts & Young People - 2016 is The Year of Arts & Young People in Birmingham and will see the city’s arts organisations working together to co-ordinate and communicate a cultural offer to children and young people which supports the new, collective Creative Future strategic pledges. Throughout 2016, the city aims to engage more young people in a range of accessible opportunities offered by theatres, galleries, concert halls, Arts organisations, independent companies, creative industries, schools, colleges, universities and communities. 2. About the study visit Main themes Culture for social inclusion, social innovation and intercultural dialogue Sub themes • Access to culture in remote neighbourhoods • Social cohesion through culture Projects and policies to be presented Culture on CULTURE ON YOUR DOORSTEP is a programme with three strands, some of which your have been delivered over several years while others are relatively new. All are doorstep constantly evolving in their delivery and effectiveness. The challenge is to provide an infrastructure for culture beyond the city centre, including making best use of central resources and giving people in neighbourhoods more influence over what cultural activities are provided, including by linking them to other locally derived priorities, such as health, literacy and integration. A) ‘Arts Champions’ is a scheme designed to ensure that (eleven) funded major arts organisations (producing companies and venues) based in Birmingham’s city centre deliver audience development initiatives in outlying Districts across the city. Birmingham is divided into ten administrative districts and each arts organisation (Arts Champion) is paired with a new district every three years. Audiences have increased from 8,872 in 20011-12 to 18,166 in 2012-13 (51% increase). Participation has almost doubled from 1,103 in 2011-12 to 2,297 in 2012-13. B) A Local Arts Forum has been established in each district. The city council provides some seed funding to enable a local arts professional/group to manage the forum which is otherwise run by local residents including local arts organisations, artists and residents with an interest in arts. Arts Fora provide a much improved understanding and coordination of cultural activity provision at local neighbourhood level and their success / membership is increasing year on year.