Birmingham Cultural Strategy Response, October 2015

This blog is a response to the consultation documents for the Birmingham Cultural Strategy 2015-2019. While the consultation ends on the 30^th October I thought I’d share my response with you.

Time line for consultation. The online consultation will close on 30 October 2015. It is proposed that the revised strategy is scheduled to be endorsed at Cabinet on 17 Nov 2015 prior to being presented at the City Council Meeting on 1^st December. The documents are available though https://www.birminghambeheard.org.uk/economy/birmingham-cultural-strategy-2015-2019/consult_view

The Cultural Strategy vision statement: is

Birmingham is a non-stop city of culture – a capital of imagination, innovation and enterprise.

My Response  

Q.   Have we got the overall strategy and theme vision right? Have we missed anything?

On your Doorstep I believe so much has been achieved by the District Arts Fora over the past few years that they should become a focus of cultural develop at a community level over the next 4/5 years. You continue to use the term We as a generic term for City, i.e. Council, leadership within this field and continue to talk about residents making a “positive contribution to the local arts fora”. Nowhere does it talk about residents taking leadership roles. “Planned progression, improved signposting and better use of social media”. The implication of these comments is that the City Council will lead, it is a top down approach to community arts engagement that does not acknowledge the skills talent or vision of local community participants or ‘assets’

Creative Futures / A Creative City  Who is the We in this element? Assuming it is the City how is it going to achieve some of the outcomes when it has no control over the process. There is no clarity of partnership or process development.

Culture Capital  Are you seriously telling everyone that the Jewellery Quarter is the only ‘ significant heritage site’ in Birmingham. The proposal continues to ignore significant cultural venues and events throughout the City, Vaisakhi, St Patrick’s Festival, Flat Pack, etc. which engage communities and attract visitors.

Is the Strategy right

No, There are huge gaps in your thinking, it is top down ignoring the asset in communities and the experience and potential for development of the major arts organisations in the City. Where is the link to Birmingham Arts Partnership, creative arts education and youth and community provision? You confuse arts development, audience participation and community development; three distinct elements that require separate thought and development. Somewhere there is a bit of audience development. the actions are not clear and the outcomes vague.

There is no discussion about partnership development with providers of services that can deliver some of the outcomes and no recognition of the role of community. The term co-production is used once but then ignored, preference being given to We [The City] as a lead in actions   

Q.  Are there any other actions / proposals that should be considered to deliver this themes outcomes?

There needs to be distinct clarification between the various cultural activities within the City and where this strategy supports each process.

The City’s diminishing budget will come to equal diminishing influence within the arts and cultural offer. As a body it, the City, needs to acknowledge this and plan accordingly.

The outcomes are too vague and often not within the City's realm of delivery. The term culture needs to encompass all 'cultural' activities and the City needs to stop distinguishing / demarcating between culture and 'events'

The platitudes about engagement and participation need to be removed and replaced with clear objectives for participation in defined arts activities (audience growth) and community activity and local forum.

The City needs to be specific in how it develops or facilitates partnerships. It needs to acknowledge that there may be greater experience and skills in other organisations and partners. It also needs to acknowledge that future council activity will be more akin to the initiation and facilitation of specific partnership and not everything being led by the Council.

Partnership and development should be (and probably already is) undertaken by specific arts or community organisations who are capable of developing and delivering activities, outputs and outcomes

Q.  What partnerships / networks are needed to help deliver the actions?

Throughout the documentation you refer to We [The City] as initiating actions to develop outcomes.

The development or facilitation of partnerships is not within any of your action points. There are current arts partnerships and developments, that are not mentioned within this strategy.

There is already a network of community arts fora [Arts Fora are mentioned but only in the context that more local people should be engaged].

The strategy MUST  acknowledge, and provide equal prominence to, the local arts forums,  Birmingham Arts Partnership etc. and not focus on how the City will deliver actions and outcomes.

How will you bring together current fora and partnerships to deliver an action, outcome and output orientated strategy acknowledging the skills and experiences of the partners.

You mention encouraging collaboration “ as a means to optimise the business model through driving out unnecessary cost and opening up opportunities for artists, audiences and income generation.”

Collaboration is not partnership and is this definition of collaboration to be forced upon organisations for budgetary purposes and not artistic or cultural development?

Q. How do we know what success looks like (key measures / indicators)?

Within the current, proposed, strategy it will be easy.

You count the numbers visits, people engaged in arts fora, seats sold, participants in local events, people with qualifications or employed in arts, etc. There is no ambition in this strategy to go beyond simple bean counting.

Real indicators would begin to explore shared ticketing and marketing of the City’s major arts providers, possibly linked to hotel booking or other major events in the City, Vaisakhi, St Patrick’s Festival, other street and cultural events.

Acknowledging the major street and ethnic festivals within the cultural offer, and not categorising them as ‘events’ would also be progress.

Distinguishing between community arts and community development using arts is crucial as is acknowledging that using arts to deal with ‘issues’ is also a separate issue to arts engagement and the aesthetic development of people. Developing, with partners, criteria and potential funding avenues for these distinct areas would be a major step forward.

Acknowledging local experience and skills in developing arts activity and community engagement and not believing that all the expertise lies within the council measurement and indicator of success.

Details for the City Documents / Cultural Strategy 2019: Key Themes:

The Strategy’s vision will be realised through a series of actions relating to each of the following themes:

1. Culture on Your Doorstep - locally relevant, and locally driven, cultural activities which develop increased engagement and participation, particularly from those less inclined to participate

https://www.birminghambeheard.org.uk/economy/birmingham-cultural-strategy-2015-2019/supporting_documents/Culture%20on%20your%20doorstep.pdf

2. A Creative Future – activities for children and young people 0-25, within the “Creative Future” framework for progression as creators, participants, audiences and leaders

https://www.birminghambeheard.org.uk/economy/birmingham-cultural-strategy-2015-2019/supporting_documents/a%20creative%20future.pdf

3. A Creative City – actions to support the growth of creative SMES and micro-businesses through business support, skills and talent development and access to finance

https://www.birminghambeheard.org.uk/economy/birmingham-cultural-strategy-2015-2019/supporting_documents/A%20Creative%20City.pdf

4. Our Cultural Capital – activities which cement Birmingham’s role as a centre of imagination, innovation and enterprise, with local roots and international reach

https://www.birminghambeheard.org.uk/economy/birmingham-cultural-strategy-2015-2019/supporting_documents/Our%20Cultural%20Capital.pdf

5. Our Cultural Future – actions which support the development of new business models capable of sustaining and growing the sector into the future

My Annual discourse on the history of Halloween

I know I can’t stop the commercialisation of the 31^st October but I can remind people of its significance  

What is Halloween

Halloween or "All Hallow's Eve" is the night of October 31. It is now the eve of All Saint's Day, 1^st November, in the Christian faith

Samhain – mid solstice (pronounced sah-win or sow-in)

is the first and most important of the four quarter days in the Celtic Calendar, the Celts believed to have measured time by nights rather than by days the nights are getting longer, the 'darker half' of the year, winter is beginning.

Samhain marks the end of the harvest, the brining in of food, the land is ready for winter. The year is over and a new one is beginning.  Samhain was the festival that marked the "New Year" for the Celtic peoples.

Links to the dead and other spirits

Samhain was seen as a liminal time, when the boundary between this world and the ‘otherworld’ thinned, it is therefore an important time in Celtic ‘spiritual’ time, the feast, or memorial, of the dead.  

As in many other cultures the Celts believed that the souls of the dead return home on one night of the year. Candles would be lit and places were set at the dinner table and by the fire to welcome them.

In some Celtic countries it was believed that the ‘wilder spirits’, fairies, elves etc. could more easily come into our world and were particularly active At Samhain, it was believed that the Aos Sí, as they were called in Ireland, (pronounced ees shee), needed to be appeased to ensure that livestock, and harvest survived the winter. Offerings of food and drink, or portions of the crops, were left outside and there is some belief that bonfires were lit to ward off the spirits.

Getting dressed up

From at least the 16th century mumming and guising became part of the activities in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Wales; people going house-to-house in costume (or in disguise), usually reciting verses or songs in exchange for food.

This may have been a development of a tradition where people impersonated the Aos Sí, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf. Impersonating these beings, or wearing a disguise, was also believed to protect oneself from them

Modern Halloween

So where does Dracula, Mummies, Frankenstein and Witches and others fit in?  - They don’t!

It’s not about evil, it is about ghosts, family ghosts, coming home to be with families for the evening and it is about mischief, elves and fairies and other mystical Celtic sprits being appeased so they don’t cause mischief. Trick or Treat anyone!   

With thanks to a variety of pages from Wikipedia as well as other sites and sources.

Civic and community leadership in Birmingham

Following Cllr James McKay resignation from his Birmingham City Council Cabinet post and his criticism of the political leadership in the City I just wanted to add a few thoughts concerning civic leadership. While Sir Albert may be perceived to be one of the problems, he is not the only issue that stands in the way of civic engagement.

There is still a mentality amongst some Councillors and officers that they, and the City Council, are the most appropriate people, and body, to lead civic activity.

Kerslake criticised Councillors and officers for believing that if something is worth doing it should be lead by the Council. He also confused the matter by calling Councillors ‘community leaders’, which they are not.

There are many talented civic and community minded people in Birmingham who are eager to work in true partnership with Birmingham Council, and other public bodies. This passion can be  stifled by Officers and Councillors alike, and by Officers advising Councillors that the Council is best placed to lead, or has the best policies, or should develop the policy and then proceed and... and.... and ..... People give up and walk away.

True consultation is listening and sharing, identifying the issue and problem, identifying needs, sharing protocols and processes, identifying solutions and then identifying the best people/bodies to get the job done.

True co-production is recognising the strengths and abilities of all interested parties, developing processes and protocols that utilise such skills and engagement and develop services that reflect both professional and community/grassroots input.

True development is recognising that participants in the above activities may come from specific communities of class, culture, interest and geography within the city, and thus developing a process for all to engage; some will take longer than others but we shouldn’t stifle development using inclusion as an excuse. We should incorporate social inclusion and responsibility for incorporating all as part of our consultation and co-production methodology.

True leadership allows these civic processes to flow, enabling partnership, co-production and asset based community development to take place, at different rates and levels dependent on the skills, desires and opportunities in the communities. Leadership allows development of individuals and collectives of individuals to take responsibility for change. Leadership allows problems to be resolved without prescribing the solution and methodology and without imposing staff.

So where is the leadership in Birmingham? Who leads the civic and community sector? Who develops voice and influence of civic activists? And who facilitates the community actor’s access to co-production, partnership and delivery?  

For this to be answered we have to address the fundamental question: does the Council, as a governance and delivery structure, serve the community or does the community serve the Council? Does the Council share and partner with civic and community groups, or, does it ‘do unto the community’, providing the services and support it believes are needed?

The Council still has a major role in leadership through facilitating and encouraging civic and community activism, listening to and acting with those who want to and can work in partnership to resolve issues. Where is the leadership in the civic sector in developing such activity and partnership?

In the absence of a coherent and structured civic leadership and activity, does the LEP fill a gap? The business sector believes it is leading the economic recovery, and, through the LEP, with its powers to invest, providing some of the necessary leadership. This however is business development, employment and skills focused, so where does that leave civic and community engagement?