ITEM EX11 - ANNEX 2EXECUTIVE - 3 APRIL 2002ARTS DEVELOPMENT: REVIEW OF COUNTY COUNCIL INVOLVEMENT
Summary of monitoring of use of grants by core-funded organisations
Chipping Norton Theatre
2000/01: £3,000 2001/02: £4,000 2002/03: £7,500
Chipping Norton Theatre has developed over 25 years into a unique arts venue offering the rural communities of west and north Oxfordshire an excellent mixed programme of performances and exhibitions. Most of its turnover of some £600,000 pa is achieved from income earned from ticket sales, trust funds, sponsorship and external hires. Public funding amounts to about 12% of the total, with the bulk of this coming from Southern Arts (£34,800 in the current year) – recognising the sub-regional importance of the theatre -and West Oxfordshire DC (£26,500).
The County Council’s contribution specifically helps to sustain and develop the growth in community and education work. The theatre now employs a full-time Community & Education Officer supported by a share of the time of an administrative assistant. Creative activities for children and young people include primary school Play days, regular theatre and art classes, holiday workshops and workshops linked to professional theatre performances, as well as a thriving Youth Theatre company. Future plans include a satellite scheme to develop activities on an outreach basis.
The theatre’s programme and community provision accord with the key strands for future policy reviewed elsewhere in this report. Future County Council funding should acknowledge the key role of Chipping Norton Theatre in achieving the council’s policy aims and not be limited to support for community and education work.
Recommendation:
Ithaca
2000/01: £3,750 2001/02: £5,500 2002/03: £8,750
Ithaca works with people often denied opportunities to participate in arts activities: disabled people including those with learning difficulties, mental health needs, and physical and sensory impairments. It works in the two counties of Oxfordshire and Berkshire, and, since 1982, has created over 600 projects involving around 13,000 people.
Despite its pioneering achievements, Ithaca is currently experiencing the withdrawal of core funds by Southern Arts (£25,700 in 2000/01), following the regional arts board’s review of the Arts and Disability Service (which has preferred the option of setting up a regional agency). Much of Ithaca’s core work in 2001/02 has focused on clarifying its role, strengthening partnerships, identifying local need and developing new large-scale initiatives of regional significance following the success of the Re-creating Ourselves arts and mental health millennium project.
This way of working enables Ithaca to access large funding sources such as the Regional Arts Lottery Programme, Community Fund, European Social Fund, and Social Services and Health Authority funds.
While the continuation of County Council funding has enabled Ithaca to develop an informed long term strategy through which it can continue to flourish and deliver high quality programmes for disabled and older people, the County Council’s support will become even more crucial in helping underwrite the core costs of Ithaca’s operation which, otherwise, will become heavily reliant on income from projects. The Oxfordshire district councils together provide about £16,000 of core funding, as well as having given considerable officer support to Ithaca during the process of the Southern Arts review.
Recommendation:
MAX (Marketing the Arts in Oxfordshire): Youth Audience Development
2000/01: nil 2001/02: £2,500 2002/03: £2,500
Funds were allocated in anticipation of the ending of the Arts Council lottery-funded ‘Developing Young Audiences in Oxfordshire’ project - which included a high-profile magazine, Catalyst - and the need to develop the project’s aim of creating more opportunities for young people aged 15-19 to express their creativity in the context of audience development. A Steering Group comprising MAX, Pegasus Theatre, Oxfordshire Youth Arts Partnership and the County Council, agreed to commission a consultant to explore the options and produce an outline plan with recommendations and practical proposals that charted the way forward. The report, commissioned from Dick Chamberlain, has just been published under the title ‘It’s Today That Counts: Developing Young Audiences in Oxfordshire’ and the Steering Group will meet in February to discuss its recommendations. Any funding implications for the County Council will be considered from the Arts Development Fund.
The Mill, Banbury
2000/01: £5,000 2001/02: £7,500 2002/03: £10,000
OCC Cultural Services’ support for The Mill is directed towards the arts programme and audience development strategy. This needs to be viewed in the context of the recent Review of The Mill undertaken in conjunction with the Education Service. The arts programme is focused on some established strengths such as folk, blues and rock music, and disability arts, and some development areas such as physical theatre, world dance and children’s theatre. There are constraints on programming because budgets are limited and the more experimental events require subsidy. Southern Arts do not provide funding for the core programme, though the Mill has been very successful in achieving lottery and other funds for major enterprises such as the MAP Project.
Looking to the future, The Mill seeks to develop the basis for its relationship with Cultural Services and the other funding and service partners beyond that of grant-aid service level agreements. It has a key part to play in providing an arts centre experience to the Banbury area, and youth arts development in the county. Much of its expenditure is, however, committed to staffing and overhead costs, requiring high income-earning targets from ancillary activities. There appears to be little room for manoeuvre to develop the arts programme, and improve its marketing, including box-office, reception – currently mainly staffed by volunteers – and customer care without a major injection of new funds from the main stakeholders.
The Review of The Mill has raised most of these issues, and the process begun by the Review needs to reach a satisfactory conclusion so that the funding partners can consider their responses prior to budgets for 2003/04 and beyond being finalised. A Steering Group representing the stakeholders is currently preparing its report.
Recommendation:
Oxford Playhouse
2000/01: £7,500 2001/02: £10,000 2002/03: £20,000
The County Council entered into a tri-partite funding agreement with Oxford University and Oxford City Council in 1988 to enable the theatre to re-open and provide a full programme of middle-scale theatre and other arts performances by visiting professional companies and local amateur arts groups. The tri-partite arrangement held good until the withdrawal of County Council arts budgets in the mid-1990s. The University and the city council have maintained their funding, and the theatre has also, more recently, benefited from Southern Arts core funding, as well as new funds from the Arts Council of England’s review of theatre provision.
The Oxford Playhouse has gained a national and international reputation for its highly successful mixed programme which appeals to a range of audiences. The directors are making a considerable commitment to increasing cross-cultural awareness by presenting culturally diverse work from around the world. The recent Theft of Sita project was a co-production with a South African company. The theatre has also worked hard to develop an effective education programme as part of an audience development strategy, and it was this aspect of the theatre’s plans which the County Council chose to support when arts funding was re-instated in 2000/01. A full report on what has been achieved is being prepared and will be available in April 2002.
The Playhouse management is also providing considerable leadership in networking with other arts organisations in Oxfordshire, playing a major role in Oomf - the Oxfordshire Millennium Festival – and in the planning of the Oxford City Region Capital of Culture bid.
2003 will, however, see major challenges to the theatre’s funding base. The turnover of £2m+ is sustained without any contingency budget provision, and the planning risks are inherent. The new Arts Council investment (£100k pa in 2002/03 and 2003/04) will largely go to strengthen the organisation by improving salary levels, including the upgrade of the education officer post to associate director status. This funding has been given in good faith that the University and city and County Councils will continue their support. However, the University has indicated that it may not be able to sustain its current level of funding of around £100k pa (with additional funds for the education programme from St John’s College and main university sources). This is due for review in July 2003 at the end of its current 5-year cycle.
The Playhouse could not have achieved success without the support of public funding and the leverage this has given. The original tri-partite arrangement provided for the University to match the combined contributions of the city and County Councils. The City Council currently awards £39,000pa, which is short of its ‘share’ of the match. To match the City, the County Council would need to find an additional £19,000 over and above the 2002/03 grant of £20,000. A further £11,000 would be required from each authority to reach parity with the University.
Recommendation:
Oxfordshire Contemporary Crafts Collection
2000/01: £1,500 2001/02: £1,500 2002/03: £1,500
The purpose of this funding is to stimulate and attract outside funds to enable new commissions and acquisitions to be made to the Crafts Collection based at Abingdon Museum. The Steering Group has to date concentrated on identifying a forward plan for the use of the Collection, including a Collecting Policy, and an Education Project. It is now poised to enter into a new commission from the artist Lubna Chowdhary, and an application for matching funds is being made to Southern Arts. It is proposed that future projects should be considered from the Arts Development Fund.
Oxfordshire County Arts Forum
2000/01: £1,000 2001/02: £1,000 2002/03: £1,000
This allocation was designed to underwrite the costs of preparing the Oxfordshire Countywide Arts Strategy, which is a joint project between the county and district councils and Southern Arts. Quantitative research has been commissioned to assist the preparation of the strategy which is being launched at the County Arts Forum in February. Further research is currently being undertaken on the differing grant application processes and monitoring arrangements employed by each authority.
It is proposed that future projects should be considered from the Arts Development Fund.
Oxfordshire Touring Theatre Company
2000/01: £8,000 2001/02: £12,000 2002/03: £16,000
The partnership with Oxfordshire County Council has enabled developments in several areas for the company. Production values have been increased and therefore the overall quality of production has improved. This has been achieved through more money being spent on production costs, and associate artists such as designers, composers, fight directors and lighting designers, as well as an increased number of cast. Marketing has also been improved in quality and breadth, including the launch of a Friends group and the development of a web site. The company’s education outreach programme, which was under threat as it relied on project funding, is now part of the core programme.
In 2001/02, OTTC will have toured two separate productions - Arthur the Sword and the Legend, and The Tractor Girls - to rural communities in Oxfordshire plus A Plan to Build, a major theatre-in-education project for 9-12 year olds. In all, 135 performances will have been given, plus 63 workshops, involving a total of some 4,600 audience members and participants.
OTTC is benefiting from the Arts Council national review of theatre, and will receive an additional £50,000 in 2002/03, rising to £90,000 from 2003/04, taking total funding from Southern Arts/Arts Council sources to £169,000 pa. This award will give the company an opportunity to realise its ambition to further develop its work in rural areas and for young people, to employ an associate director, and to develop international links as well as to address issues such as staffing levels, salaries and premises. OTTC is poised to launch an exciting and imaginative period of development.
Recommendation:
Oxfordshire Youth Arts Partnership
2000/01: £10,000 2001/02: £11,000 2002/03: £11,000
OYAP was created as a joint initiative between the district and County Councils, and Southern Arts. The partnership board is a unique example in youth arts development, working across the county with regional arts board support. The organisation is hosted by Vale of White Horse DC.
The Partnership’s aim is to further the artistic experience, development and awareness of young people in Oxfordshire. It is especially concerned to encourage access to and participation in the arts by disadvantaged young people. A major project achievement is Reaching the Parts, the young people at risk mobile music provision, which has built on links with crime prevention, community safety, and youth and community agencies.
Cultural Services support amounts to just under a third of the core staffing costs, with a matching sum from the district councils collectively, and additional funds from Southern Arts and earned income. Projects such as Reaching the Parts have separate budgets with funding from the Regional Arts Lottery Programme, the county Music Service and other sources. OYAP is awaiting the outcome of a RALP application for an Oxfordshire Youth Theatre Collaboration which involves all the key youth arts development organisations in the county.
OYAP has been successful both in devising and managing youth arts projects, and acting in a networking/co-ordinating role for youth arts development in Oxfordshire. A conference will be held in Autumn 2002 to review the achievements of the past four years, and discuss forward plans.
Recommendation:
Pegasus Theatre, Oxford
2000/01: £7,500 2001/02: £11,250 2002/03: £15,000
The reinstatement of Cultural Services funding from April 2000 was a catalyst for additional funds to be made available by Southern Arts and the City council, and enabled the reappointment of a General Manager after a gap of some years. The stability this gave to Pegasus led to significant awards from both the Regional Arts Lottery Programme and the Arts Council review of theatre provision. A temporary setback was, however, the failure to achieve a major capital lottery grant from the Arts Council for the redevelopment of the theatre on its Magdalen Road site.
The new funds will be used to consolidate Pegasus’ core resources: staffing, including provision for a salary review for non-youth service staff, marketing and longer term support for artists and artistic development.
Pegasus has achieved a growing engagement with local schools, and now runs after-school activities in seven schools. Other community connections have been developed with the Asian Cultural Centre, Fusion and through the East Oxford Together project.
Southern Arts have agreed to fund an external review of capital development. The brief includes looking at the existing site, and other sites where partnerships with a number of arts agencies would be possible. County Council support and investment – through the Youth Services and Cultural Services budgets – should be looked at in the round, and should anticipate a significant call on the capital programme of the authority.
Recommendation:
Southern Arts Subscription: up to scale
2000/01: £7,750 2001/02: £7,750 2002/03: £7,750
The reinstated arts budget provided for an increase in the Southern Arts subscription to bring it up to scale. In the light of the likely changes to Southern Arts referred to elsewhere in this report, there will no longer be a call for this funding.
Arts Development Fund for New Initiatives
2000/01: £5,000 2001/02: £7,000 2002/03: £10,000
The Arts Development Fund for New Initiatives has enabled a number of Oxfordshire arts projects to proceed in 2001/02, based on the following criteria for assessment:
Awards have been made to Coral Arts for the Walks Around a Coral Reef project, DaDaDrum Community Music for after-school workshop costs, Oxford Literary Festival for poetry slams, and to support the application for Regional Arts Lottery Programme funds for the Oxfordshire Youth Theatre Collaboration co-ordinated by OYAP. A further sum has been set aside to fund preparations for the Youth Arts Conference.
Demands on the fund are likely to increase, given the implications of the Oxfordshire Cultural Strategy and the Capital of Culture Bid. This is reflected in the recommendation below.
Recommendation:
ADDITIONAL FUNDING PRESSURES
When the Arts Grants Budget was reinstated in April 2000, Cultural Services Committee members agreed with the Director’s recommendations that the available funds should be applied to support arts organisations which were identified as priorities.
The monitoring and review detailed above deals only with those organisations that were given funding. There are, however, a number of other arts organisations carrying out high quality service delivery in Oxfordshire who have enquired about County Council support after March 2003.
These include Coral Arts, Fusion (formerly Bloomin’ Arts), the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford Festival of Contemporary Music, Oxford Film & Video Makers, Oxford Literary Festival, Oxfordshire 2000 and Trading Faces. Most of these organisations were previously funded by the County Council up to the withdrawal of arts grants in 1997.
In addition, developments at the Courtyard, Bicester should be reviewed in conjunction with those at Pegasus and The Mill as part of the Oxfordshire Cultural Strategy commitment to youth arts development.
Members should consider these pressures as part of the budget deliberations for 2003/06.
John Williams 17.1.2002
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