Arts Council England will shortly publish its 10 year strategy. There will then be a flurry of briefings as they set out their funding and partnership programmes to continue to extend access to the arts. The next few days will therefore be of serious interest to those with a priority concern about children and young people.
Our goal in TMC is to make sure that the social and economic significance of children’s creativity, as explored through programmes like Creative Partnerships and Find Your Talent, is fully understood and valued. This will involve working with our many partners to better understand how the removal of funding from these programmes affects young people in the region and the many adults that inspire them. It will also involve setting out a bold development agenda for the future, based on the broadest possible body of support and mutual ambition. The key challenge will be how we can connect children and young people’s needs and aspirations with the resources that are required to put their ideas into action. I remain confident that this is possible - but it will require hard work and innovative thinking.
Last week, I travelled to Brussels with our team of directors to gain a better understanding of European policy pertaining to young people and culture. The message we have brought back is a simple one: young people’s creativity and capacity for innovation is at the heart of European social and economic recovery. Whether this is articulated through Europe 2020 (the EU’s economic development strategy), the Council of the European Union’s declaration on ‘promoting a creative generation’, or the recently published research report Youth Access to Culture (a cracking good read if you fancy it: http://ec.europa.eu/youth/news/news1788_en.htm itself likely to form the basis of a second Council declaration on this important theme.
During our time in Brussels, concern was expressed that the UK - seen as a pre-eminent leader in this field - might slip back due to the spending cuts. Whilst there is a risk, our ambition in TMC is to make sure this is not the case, joining with our partners to ensure we retain a focus on what works (investing in children and young people’s creativity); and how it should work (starting from a perspective of what young people are capable of, not what’s missing; involving young people in the development of policy, the design, delivery and evaluation of new programmes).
Speaking at the recent launch of the Culture Action Europe campaign We are more, President Barosso said: ''in challenging times such as these, creative thinking is more essential than ever. We must provide a flourishing space where culture can unlock creativity in each of us'' http://ec.europa.eu/culture/news/news2995_en.htm We couldn’t agree more.
Welcome to The Mighty Creatives (TMC) blog. A space to share, celebrate and explore.
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Monday, 25 October 2010
Inspired by ...
The young people participating in the Journals project at UKYA10. In case you missed it, TMC worked with Architects of Air and Citizen’s Eye to create a one of a kind blogging station at the UK Artists Event in Derby. As part of our Big Lottery and Renaissance East Midlands funded 2009-12 Journals Project, we wanted to engage a younger audience in the inaugural event (a showcase for young artistic talent, 18-35). The Journals Project helps young people document their views and experiences of the Cultural Olympiad in the run up to London 2012. The journals they create will be deposited in the region’s archive offices, a permanently accessible account of these important events.
Having the stunning, inflatable Luminarium serve as base camp for our Journals residency (see here) really added to the status of the young bloggers, giving them a prime location from which they could capture, record and disseminate their Journals. There just wasn’t enough bandwidth to keep them going! And they really benefited from their ‘access all areas’ passes too - Terry Shave, Chair of the UK Young Artists Board gave the project a fabulous name-check in his opening remarks on launch night after his encounter with a young journalist - thanks Terry! We look forward to working with you again on future events.
UKYA is an event close to our hearts as it aims to celebrate and extend young talent. On launch night, Calum Stewart gave an impressive performance on the wooden flute, illustrating how traditional and contemporary sensibilities can combine through stunning technique. A thrilling start to an astonishing few days of art and ambition. Congratulations to everyone involved. Next stop – World Young Artists in 2012.
More information about the Journals Project is available at http://www.themightycreatives.com/journals
Having the stunning, inflatable Luminarium serve as base camp for our Journals residency (see here) really added to the status of the young bloggers, giving them a prime location from which they could capture, record and disseminate their Journals. There just wasn’t enough bandwidth to keep them going! And they really benefited from their ‘access all areas’ passes too - Terry Shave, Chair of the UK Young Artists Board gave the project a fabulous name-check in his opening remarks on launch night after his encounter with a young journalist - thanks Terry! We look forward to working with you again on future events.
UKYA is an event close to our hearts as it aims to celebrate and extend young talent. On launch night, Calum Stewart gave an impressive performance on the wooden flute, illustrating how traditional and contemporary sensibilities can combine through stunning technique. A thrilling start to an astonishing few days of art and ambition. Congratulations to everyone involved. Next stop – World Young Artists in 2012.
More information about the Journals Project is available at http://www.themightycreatives.com/journals
Thursday, 21 October 2010
What can we create together?
Juggling known unknowns
Today’s Comprehensive Spending Review announcement has clearly been difficult for the arts and culture, but perhaps not disastrous. What remains to be seen is how the government’s funding priorities will now be implemented by Arts Council England and others. I hope we can focus on how best to engage children and young people with the arts in ways that draw maximum benefit for them and for others. In preserving the ‘front-line arts’ (an ambiguous term…), let’s be rigorous about what works and set the climate for new opportunities rather than pared-down old ones.We won’t know the full implications of the spending review for TMC’s programmes for a while to come. It is still our ambition to complete the current Creative Partnerships school year in wonderful style. We also aim to launch new services that meet the needs of a new generation of creative children and young people.
My default question looking forward is a simple one: what can we create together?
Today’s Comprehensive Spending Review announcement has clearly been difficult for the arts and culture, but perhaps not disastrous. What remains to be seen is how the government’s funding priorities will now be implemented by Arts Council England and others. I hope we can focus on how best to engage children and young people with the arts in ways that draw maximum benefit for them and for others. In preserving the ‘front-line arts’ (an ambiguous term…), let’s be rigorous about what works and set the climate for new opportunities rather than pared-down old ones.We won’t know the full implications of the spending review for TMC’s programmes for a while to come. It is still our ambition to complete the current Creative Partnerships school year in wonderful style. We also aim to launch new services that meet the needs of a new generation of creative children and young people.
My default question looking forward is a simple one: what can we create together?
Monday, 18 October 2010
Awards season beckons!
Be Mighty Be Creative Awards 2010
We’ve just launched our Be Mighty Be Creative Awards for schools who have participated in the Creative Partnerships programme in the East Midlands. As we debate the meaning of Big Society, there can be no better time to show how children and young people have been using their creativity to transform front-line services.
We’re looking for groups of children and young people who have worked creatively with each other and with adults to deliver new approaches to learning that have really made an impact. 9 teams of children and young people will get the opportunity to have a film made about their work and receive £500 to share their achievements with other schools. More information about this exciting opportunity can be found on TMC’s web site: www.themightycreatives.com.
We’ll announce the winners later in 2010 and host a gala screening of the winning films towards the end of the school year.
Children and Young People Now Awards 2010
... whilst I’m talking about awards, I want to share my excitement for TMC’s very own nomination. The Creative Partnerships project “Filling Buckets and Lighting Fires” developed by Eyres Monsell & Gilmorton Children's Centre and Saffron Sure Start Centre has been nominated for the Children and Young People Now Early Years Award. This award recognises “the initiative that has done the most to improve the life chances of babies and young children, especially among disadvantaged or hard-to-reach communities”.
It’s time to dust off our finery and head down to London for a glittering awards ceremony in late November.... Let me dispense with any false modesty – I really want the project to win! Not so much for TMC, but to celebrate the commitment schools and children centres working with the Creative Partnerships programme in the East Midlands since 2002 have made to giving young people the very best start in life. Keep your fingers crossed. Only 7 more weeks...
We’ve just launched our Be Mighty Be Creative Awards for schools who have participated in the Creative Partnerships programme in the East Midlands. As we debate the meaning of Big Society, there can be no better time to show how children and young people have been using their creativity to transform front-line services.
We’re looking for groups of children and young people who have worked creatively with each other and with adults to deliver new approaches to learning that have really made an impact. 9 teams of children and young people will get the opportunity to have a film made about their work and receive £500 to share their achievements with other schools. More information about this exciting opportunity can be found on TMC’s web site: www.themightycreatives.com.
We’ll announce the winners later in 2010 and host a gala screening of the winning films towards the end of the school year.
Children and Young People Now Awards 2010
... whilst I’m talking about awards, I want to share my excitement for TMC’s very own nomination. The Creative Partnerships project “Filling Buckets and Lighting Fires” developed by Eyres Monsell & Gilmorton Children's Centre and Saffron Sure Start Centre has been nominated for the Children and Young People Now Early Years Award. This award recognises “the initiative that has done the most to improve the life chances of babies and young children, especially among disadvantaged or hard-to-reach communities”.
It’s time to dust off our finery and head down to London for a glittering awards ceremony in late November.... Let me dispense with any false modesty – I really want the project to win! Not so much for TMC, but to celebrate the commitment schools and children centres working with the Creative Partnerships programme in the East Midlands since 2002 have made to giving young people the very best start in life. Keep your fingers crossed. Only 7 more weeks...
Reaching beyond the stars...
Last week (4/10/10) I presented at the Museums Association conference in Manchester as part of a panel session called ‘The Republic of Museums’ chaired by Tim Desmond from the Galleries of Justice in Nottingham. The theme of our session was partnerships in the new funding and policy era. I spoke about the opportunity and challenge of working with children and young people as partners in service reform and transformation. My key idea being that only by working collaboratively with each other and with young people will we be able to extend the benefits of the arts, creativity and culture to those young people who might currently be missing out. Foremost in my mind were the recent Taking Part Survey results which clearly identify a drop-off in cultural participation post compulsory school age, and research commissioned for the Find Your Talent programme which paints a picture of a long-standing failure to extend and sustain demand for culture beyond moderately affluent, already engaged communities.
These perspectives were reinforced the next day (5/10/10) at a session organised by CCE for their Young Facilitators, young people from across the country who helped drive the Tell Us Bus survey – a roaming, national review of young people’s opinions about culture. I won’t disclose their key findings here (a full report will come from CCE later in the year) but the young people involved (including three from the East Midlands) were inspirational in their collaborative skills, depth of commitment and insight.
All of these voices give rise to one clear but challenging conundrum: how can we ensure more children and young people have access to the benefits of culture? As our new government focuses on narrowing the attainment gap, it seems to me more important than ever that we put the benefits of culture more in the hands of more children and young people, particularly those with little prior experience of it. In an economic era of ‘something’ rather than ‘plenty’, we will need innovative partnership that help create and extend this offer, focusing first and foremost on the benefits to young people and their communities: but how?
Young people at the Tell Us Bus survey consultation spoke plainly about the need to invest in the existing and more accessible (to them) infrastructure of youth and community settings rather than ‘glittering’ new buildings that they find hard to get to, prohibitively expensive and imposing. This suggests an important departure from past cultural policy – where flagships were everything.
Now, local is everything: public services in the hands of those that use, and increasingly, create them. The cultural sector in the East Midlands is incredibly well suited to this task (given the right resources...), with a huge number of small organisations and individual practitioners spread over our considerable geography. Engaging with communities of greatest need in a sustainable way and producing compelling evidence of how the ‘gap’ is narrowed by culture will be some of the challenges here. But we must also ensure children have the opportunity to take part in culture on a variety of scales: the local, the regional, national and international, the intimate as well as the spectacular. Culture should help reveal new horizons and opportunities, not keep our eyes focused on the doorstep. In that sense, we need to work collaboratively with larger scale providers to connect the local with the national in a way that extends the fine-grain of regular interaction as well as the larger initiative-driven ‘moments’ of the past.
So, how do we find the new partnerships (rather than new government funded programmes....) that allow us to innovate, to extend demand and break long-standing barriers to participation? I have a sense that we – as the cultural sector – are part of the problem (running the risk of repeatedly selling our own wares....), which is why partnership working with children and young people – as co-creators of a new era of access and opportunity – appears an even more compelling solution.
But what are we offering? Another suggestion from the Tell Us Bus facilitators was the idea that yes, culture needs defining so that young people understand what the opportunities are, but that it then needs unleashing so that a wide variety of activities can be explored, driven by the user or creator. Here, culture, sport and recreational activities merge for young people in a way that focuses on what they want – great places to grow up – rather than what they are doing.
Perhaps this is what Tim meant by his Republic of Museums – a new approach to cultural provision that breaks down barriers and creates new, better integrated offers? This would certainly be hugely valuable, but I wonder if it goes far enough? With the inevitable reduction in funds, perhaps the ‘republic’ needs to be drawn more broadly, bringing together partners and providers with a variety of skills from a range of contexts that help create the great places?
What is clear is that as the culture sector prepares to ride the waves of next week’s comprehensive spending review, the old ways of thinking simply aren’t possible. As TMC builds new programmes with, by and for children and young people, we are looking for new opportunities with known as well as new partners. If you relish the new, have the ambition to do things differently, and want to create new opportunities, we would love to hear from you.
These perspectives were reinforced the next day (5/10/10) at a session organised by CCE for their Young Facilitators, young people from across the country who helped drive the Tell Us Bus survey – a roaming, national review of young people’s opinions about culture. I won’t disclose their key findings here (a full report will come from CCE later in the year) but the young people involved (including three from the East Midlands) were inspirational in their collaborative skills, depth of commitment and insight.
All of these voices give rise to one clear but challenging conundrum: how can we ensure more children and young people have access to the benefits of culture? As our new government focuses on narrowing the attainment gap, it seems to me more important than ever that we put the benefits of culture more in the hands of more children and young people, particularly those with little prior experience of it. In an economic era of ‘something’ rather than ‘plenty’, we will need innovative partnership that help create and extend this offer, focusing first and foremost on the benefits to young people and their communities: but how?
Young people at the Tell Us Bus survey consultation spoke plainly about the need to invest in the existing and more accessible (to them) infrastructure of youth and community settings rather than ‘glittering’ new buildings that they find hard to get to, prohibitively expensive and imposing. This suggests an important departure from past cultural policy – where flagships were everything.
Now, local is everything: public services in the hands of those that use, and increasingly, create them. The cultural sector in the East Midlands is incredibly well suited to this task (given the right resources...), with a huge number of small organisations and individual practitioners spread over our considerable geography. Engaging with communities of greatest need in a sustainable way and producing compelling evidence of how the ‘gap’ is narrowed by culture will be some of the challenges here. But we must also ensure children have the opportunity to take part in culture on a variety of scales: the local, the regional, national and international, the intimate as well as the spectacular. Culture should help reveal new horizons and opportunities, not keep our eyes focused on the doorstep. In that sense, we need to work collaboratively with larger scale providers to connect the local with the national in a way that extends the fine-grain of regular interaction as well as the larger initiative-driven ‘moments’ of the past.
So, how do we find the new partnerships (rather than new government funded programmes....) that allow us to innovate, to extend demand and break long-standing barriers to participation? I have a sense that we – as the cultural sector – are part of the problem (running the risk of repeatedly selling our own wares....), which is why partnership working with children and young people – as co-creators of a new era of access and opportunity – appears an even more compelling solution.
But what are we offering? Another suggestion from the Tell Us Bus facilitators was the idea that yes, culture needs defining so that young people understand what the opportunities are, but that it then needs unleashing so that a wide variety of activities can be explored, driven by the user or creator. Here, culture, sport and recreational activities merge for young people in a way that focuses on what they want – great places to grow up – rather than what they are doing.
Perhaps this is what Tim meant by his Republic of Museums – a new approach to cultural provision that breaks down barriers and creates new, better integrated offers? This would certainly be hugely valuable, but I wonder if it goes far enough? With the inevitable reduction in funds, perhaps the ‘republic’ needs to be drawn more broadly, bringing together partners and providers with a variety of skills from a range of contexts that help create the great places?
What is clear is that as the culture sector prepares to ride the waves of next week’s comprehensive spending review, the old ways of thinking simply aren’t possible. As TMC builds new programmes with, by and for children and young people, we are looking for new opportunities with known as well as new partners. If you relish the new, have the ambition to do things differently, and want to create new opportunities, we would love to hear from you.
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
This much we know ...
Arts Council England has decided to conclude its funding of the Creative Partnerships programme at the end of the current academic year to create space for a new generation of creative and cultural activity for children and young people. Today, The Guardian writes about the economic impact of Creative Partnerships, showing how it earns £15.30 of economic and social benefit for every government pound spent (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2010): a phenomenal return.
There will be much more to say, but the key fact to stress is that Creative Partnerships continues as a vibrant source of innovation and excellence in the East Midlands for 2010-11. CCE – the national managers of the programme – have invited The Mighty Creatives to deliver the very best year yet, and we want to surpass that expectation.
250 East Midlands schools will join the programme this year – that will give rise to employment for several hundred more creative practitioners who will co-produce creative learning with several thousand children and young people (last year we estimate the programme involved 25,000 children across the region). I’m already inspired by the passionate responses we have received for the year ahead. There should be lots of amazing work to see.
For more detail, we have issued a press release and written to each of our schools, creative agents and local authority partners. Please check your in-tray or visit our website for the latest.
So, where do we go from here?
Firstly, I think Arts Council England’s decision creates a unique opportunity to confirm the value of arts, creativity and culture at the heart of young lives. If we are able to win arguments for funding in the future, will have done so based on what we have learnt together, what we can demonstrate we can deliver and the quality of our vision: real change, real opportunities, real outcomes. I like and welcome that challenge. It takes everything we have learned and asks us to put it into practice. Surely that’s what a change programme like Creative Partnerships is for?
Of course, we must be careful we don’t lose what we have learnt through the Creative Partnerships experience. Yes, in any national programme, certainly one as long-running as Creative Partnerships, there are things we don’t like, things that might feel awkward when set against spontaneous ambition. But, we have also seen and achieved so much through a structured, systemic approach to creativity. Many schools have found a revitalising energy that has helped them excel against the odds; many skilled practitioners have learnt new ways of using their own creativity to inspire others; many exceptional projects have shown how heart-poundingly exciting - and effective - teaching and learning can be; many young people have been given the opportunity to excel in new ways and in new directions. Young people have started to love school. Parents have joined them. Could we have asked for more?
In finding a way forward, we must be proud of our achievements but able to innovate to meet new challenges and create new opportunities. Certainly the ground has changed massively in this new economic and political era. I want to thank Arts Council for helping us get to this point. I also want to thank them for inviting us to unleash our creativity once again.
So, where next?We won’t be sitting quietly and waiting for opportunity. It’s time to be bold and confident. Over the next few weeks and months, The Mighty Creatives will do 2 things:
1. launch a new campaign to celebrate the way young people have used creativity to transform lives. The Be Mighty/Be Creative campaign champions the unique role creativity plays in helping all young people thrive. It also recognises the skilled adults that have used their own creativity to inspire young people to build a brighter future. The campaign will set out some big ideas for young people in the Big Society and, perhaps most importantly of all, we will have fun.
2. launch our new business Planets to continue to bring the very best opportunities to children and young people in the region. Our Planets create space for unique and ambitious work, each focused on a separate theme:
· Learning
· Leadership
· Innovation & skills
· Sector development
We will be inviting our partners to help build the Planets around shared ambitions and interests. We will work together to win arguments and secure new funds for new and inspiring work.
To be true to our mission, we will also be recruiting Mighty Teams of children and young people to collaborate with each other and with adults to drive this work and make a real difference to young lives across the region.
Those of you who know me, recognise that I occasionally giggle with excitement.... I’m giggling now ;-).
I look forward to seeing you on Planet TMC!
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Creative Partnerships Update
Earlier in the summer, I promised you further news about the national review of our CCE funded programme, Creative Partnerships. I hoped to be able to tell you about: -
• how the network of area delivery organisations responsible for Creative Partnerships would be assessed to ensure its fitness for purpose.
• the sort of programmes the network would be expected to deliver after March 2011.
Unfortunately, we don’t yet have this information to share. What we do know is that CCE have had many discussions with Arts Council England (their primary funder) about the future of their work and the implications for organisations like TMC. This is what we understand so far: -
• That CCE (and TMC) should prepare for a cut to our current funding, although how big a cut will not be known until after the Government announces the outcome of the spending review on October 20th. The amount is likely to be greater than the 10% being planned for by Arts Council England’s regularly funded organisations.
• That there is a commitment to support the Creative Partnerships programme to the end of the current academic year in July 2011. As the area delivery organisation for the East Midlands, TMC is planning to have staff in place to ensure that the programme is completed.
• Arts Council England has said it is committed to maintaining a network of area delivery organisations. They have also started planning for a review of how all cultural programmes are delivered to young people this Autumn. The timing and extent of this review is still not certain, but it is intended to have been completed by March 2011 to inform future funding decisions.
This is what I know for now...
I am working closely with TMC’s Board and staff to manage our response to these various developments and remain committed to sharing as much information as I can get.
Look out for my next update after September 9th when we will be meeting with CCE to get an update on national plans and priorities.
Of course, Creative Partnerships is only one part of our funding jigsaw. We are developing new business ideas and already deliver a whole host of other exciting initiatives with our partners across the region.
I look forward to keeping you informed of progress on Planet TMC. It’s an old cliché, but please do watch this space!
• how the network of area delivery organisations responsible for Creative Partnerships would be assessed to ensure its fitness for purpose.
• the sort of programmes the network would be expected to deliver after March 2011.
Unfortunately, we don’t yet have this information to share. What we do know is that CCE have had many discussions with Arts Council England (their primary funder) about the future of their work and the implications for organisations like TMC. This is what we understand so far: -
• That CCE (and TMC) should prepare for a cut to our current funding, although how big a cut will not be known until after the Government announces the outcome of the spending review on October 20th. The amount is likely to be greater than the 10% being planned for by Arts Council England’s regularly funded organisations.
• That there is a commitment to support the Creative Partnerships programme to the end of the current academic year in July 2011. As the area delivery organisation for the East Midlands, TMC is planning to have staff in place to ensure that the programme is completed.
• Arts Council England has said it is committed to maintaining a network of area delivery organisations. They have also started planning for a review of how all cultural programmes are delivered to young people this Autumn. The timing and extent of this review is still not certain, but it is intended to have been completed by March 2011 to inform future funding decisions.
This is what I know for now...
I am working closely with TMC’s Board and staff to manage our response to these various developments and remain committed to sharing as much information as I can get.
Look out for my next update after September 9th when we will be meeting with CCE to get an update on national plans and priorities.
Of course, Creative Partnerships is only one part of our funding jigsaw. We are developing new business ideas and already deliver a whole host of other exciting initiatives with our partners across the region.
I look forward to keeping you informed of progress on Planet TMC. It’s an old cliché, but please do watch this space!
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