This afternoon I have been at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills for a meeting of what was the Learning Revolution Festival Action Group. Now that the October festival is finished this group is going to continue as a Learning Revolution stakeholder communications group to advise on the vision and direction of strategic Learning Revolution communications activity and to plan major communications activities, including an Expo or similar for 2010.
Robin Simpson.
Filed under: meetings | Tags: arts, education, England, training, volarts
On Wednesday afternoon I took part in the first meeting of a new strategic advisory group for an informal adult learning research project being run by NIACE (the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education) on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. This research project is mapping training and development opportunities for facilitators of informal adult learning. This includes those who consider themselves ‘tutors’ but also a wide range of other people who encourage, organise and inspire informal learning (eg sports coaches, conductors of amateur choirs etc). We had fascinating discussions about how to give people the skills necessary to do this kind of facilitation (which was the subject of our recent ‘Taste for Tutoring’ seminars) and the difficulties of trying to identify standards, training or accreditation that could apply across the whole spectrum of informal adult learning.
Robin Simpson.
Filed under: meetings | Tags: volarts, funding, education, youth, England, vcs, ace, training
On Tuesday I was in Sheffield to visit the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action. NAVCA is the national umbrella body for local third sector infrastructure in England and represents 344 local councils for voluntary service and similar organisations. In a series of quick one-to-one meetings (that felt a bit like speed dating!) I talked to a range of NAVCA staff, got a good overview of the work of the organisation and identified a number of areas in which we might be able to work together. I discussed with NAVCA Chief Executive, Kevin Curley, the role NAVCA members could play in the model for local delivery of capacity-building for voluntary arts groups that we are currently working on with the Arts Council England Amateur Arts Partnership Development Programme steering group. Carrie McKenzie, NAVCA’s Sport Partnership Adviser, told me about the work she has been doing (funded by Sport England) to embed a culture of collaboration between sport and the wider third sector and we discussed how we might develop a similar approach in relation to the voluntary arts. Every Child Matters Adviser, Angela Barnes, explained the work NAVCA is doing (funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families) to support young people, disabled children and the extended schools programme. I talked to Barney Mynott, Policy & Communications Manager, about how we might work together on advocacy and information services. Helen Oparinde told me about NAVCA’s SKILD project (Skills and Knowledge for Local Development) which provides training for development workers supporting front line third sector organisations. Finally I met Terry Perkins, Public Law Training Officer, who explained how the Public Law Project is allowing third sector organisations to influence decisions made by public bodies. It was a very interesting day and I came away determined to encourage voluntary arts groups to make more use of the wide range of (often free) services available through local Councils for Voluntary Service: to find your nearest CVS go to: http://webdb.navca.org.uk. Many thanks to Kevin, Carrie and everyone at NAVCA.
Robin Simpson.
On Tuesday I was at the Learning Revolution Expo event at Old Spitalfields Market in London. Paul and I were running ‘Zone 2 – taking action’ which focused on issues relating to self-organising groups of learners. It was a fascinating day and a very innovative format which encouraged some high quality networking. We made lots of useful contacts and came away quite inspired. It was encouraging to see the Further Education Minister Kevin Brennan there to formally launch the Learning Revolution Festival and to have a video message from Lord Mandelson emphasising the importance the Government attaches to informal adult learning. And it was great to see two of our new freelance facilitators, Matthew Burge and Wendy Smithers.
Robin Simpson.
Filed under: meetings | Tags: arts, DCMS, education, England, Northern Ireland, olympics, OTS, Scotland, UK, vcs, volarts, volunteering
I was in London on Wednesday to take part in the ‘Volunteering and London 2012’ symposium, organised by Volunteering England. This event brought together volunteering agencies and voluntary sector infrastructure organisations from across the UK. We heard from David Huse, Head of Volunteering at LOCOG, about the latest plans for recruiting, training and managing the 70,000 games-time volunteers needed to help run the Olympic and Paralympic Games: the application process for these volunteers (including volunteer performers for the ceremonies) will be launched in summer 2010. We then had a presentation from the Government Olympic Executive about plans for a social legacy marketing plan: the ‘big idea’ is to use London 2012 to inspire participation in volunteering, culture, sport, education and more, across the UK. There will be a campaign to inspire the whole of the country to give time to their local communities. A creative agency has just been appointed and the campaign will be launched in early 2010. We also heard from the Volunteer Development Agency in Northern Ireland, Volunteer Development Scotland and Greater London Volunteering about the progress of their 2012 volunteering initiatives – including the ‘People Making Waves’ programme in Scotland which includes Voluntary Arts Scotland’s ‘Make a Splash’ project. The symposium was followed by a second meeting of the London 2012 Volunteering Legacy Stakeholder Advisory Group where we specifically focussed on the Volunteering England/YouthNet project which is expanding the national volunteering database (do-it.org.uk) to include a wide range of opportunities catalysed by London 2012.
Robin Simpson.
Filed under: meetings | Tags: ace, arts, DCMS, education, England, olympics, volarts
I was back at DCMS on Tuesday where Reemer and I met Mandy Barrie, Nick Pontefract and Stephen Darke from the arts team. We talked in detail about the Arts Council England Amateur Arts Partnership Development Programme – particularly the actions on ‘regional networking’ and ‘capacity building’ that Voluntary Arts England is leading. We also discussed informal adult learning and progress in relation to several aspects of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills white paper ‘The Learning Revolution’. We updated Mandy, Nick and Steve on the planned launch of the Participation Manifesto and our various initiatives to encourage voluntary arts groups to get involved in the Cultural Olympiad.
Robin Simpson.
Filed under: meetings | Tags: ace, DCMS, education, England, olympics, OTS, UK, volunteering
Finally on Wednesday I took part in a preliminary meeting of the 2012 Olympics Volunteering Inspiration and Legacy Stakeholders Advisory Group at the Cabinet Office. This is to become the formal stakeholder advisory group for the government’s 2012 legacy programmes. We heard from David Brooker, Director of Legacy at the Government Olympic Executive, who is responsible for all aspects of the legacy the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are intended to generate. The Government’s 2012 Legacy Action Plan was published in June 2008 and covers the legacy for East London, the legacy for sport, the economic legacy and the social legacy. David spoke to us specifically about the social legacy programmes, focussing particularly on the planned campaign to inspire participation and the plan to increase levels of volunteering. These will involve a major social legacy marketing campaign linked to a mechanism for directing people to opportunities to participate in sport, health, education, the environment and culture across the UK. Claire Easterman from YouthNet explained the YouthNet/Volunteering England project, funded by the Office of the Third Sector, which will develop the national volunteering database (‘do-it’) to create a single place to bring together all the opportunities to participate which are inspired by 2012. I still have concerns about the lack of connection between this project and both the informal adult learning ‘portal’ being developed by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the online aspects of Arts Council England’s forthcoming national campaign on arts participation – all three of which should provide voluntary arts groups with the opportunity to advertise for more members. But I am pleased to be part of this new stakeholder advisory group and hope to be able to ensure that the voluntary arts sector takes advantage of the various opportunities presented by the 2012 legacy programmes.
Robin Simpson.
Filed under: meetings | Tags: ace, arts, DCMS, DIUS, education, England, politics, volarts
On Monday morning I was looking out at wonderful views across the Thames to the City of London from the top of Tate Modern where I attended the launch of ‘The Learning Revolution’ – the Government white paper on ‘informal adult learning’. This was a heavyweight political occasion featuring four Government Ministers from three Departments and the small invited audience also included former Education Secretary, David Blunkett.
The Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, John Denham, launched the white paper, stressing that “the learning people do for its own intrinsic value … provides personal fulfilment … and contributes to community cohesion” and suggesting that this makes it even more important at a time of economic downturn. John Denham said “we need better links between different kinds of learning and ways to enable people to navigate around the system”. The white paper seeks to join up approaches to ‘informal learning’ currently being supported by several Government Departments. ‘Informal learning’ includes the learning that happens in voluntary arts groups, such as amateur dramatics societies and choirs, as well as ‘classroom learning’. DIUS is keen to support people who want to run their own groups or classes and to enable all kinds of organisations to open up their spaces for learning.
Andy Burnham, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, said that his department “and all of the wonderful cultural organisations we sponsor are here to play a full part in this learning revolution”. He said “I know there are millions of talents and passions going unidentified through their lifetimes”. DCMS represents much of the backbone of informal learning – particularly public libraries. Andy Burnham emphasised that “we have to open up this huge network of resource and link it to those out there with a hunger to learn”. He finished by saying “this goes right to the heart of what DCMS has got to be all about – providing quality of life and building confidence”.
Communities and Local Government Minister, Sadiq Khan, confirmed that the enthusiasm for informal adult learning had spread to his department and told us that Hazel Blears was threatening to teach him tap dancing and how to ride a Harley Davidson! He said “informal learning is very important: it brings people together and gives a sense of community. These things matter more now than ever before. Three times more people get a job through personal relationships than through a job centre.” Sadiq Khan was keen to stress, nevertheless, that “learning is fun: we could all do with some fun.”
Anna Cutler, Head of Learning at Tate Modern, pointed out that “informal learning is a great opportunity to innovate – to experiment, test and try out new ideas”. DIUS Minister, Siôn Simon, and Adam Gee from Channel 4 talked about the growth in self-organised learning through digital technology, with the web empowering individuals to do it for themselves.
Finally, I followed John Denham, Andy Burnham and a wide spectrum of interested organisations in publicly signing the Voluntary Arts Network up to the ‘informal adult learning pledge’. The pledge is supported by six Government Departments (Communities and Local Government, Department for Children, Schools and Families, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Department of Health, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and Department for Work and Pensions) and by independent organisations from NAVCA and NIACE to the National Trust as well as non-departmental public bodies including English Heritage, Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and Sport England (though not Arts Council England – notable by its absence).
The white paper does not redress the dramatic decline and ongoing problems in arts in adult education. John Denham was careful to stress that “a lot of this is about a commitment to start making best use of the resources that are already out there” rather than representing any major new cash injection. Nevertheless, such a public, cross-Government statement that “learning for its own intrinsic value makes an enormous contribution to creating the kind of society we can be proud of” is very welcome. And it is great to see the Voluntary Arts Network mentioned in a Government white paper.
Full details of the white paper are at http://www.dius.gov.uk/learningrevolution
Robin Simpson.
Filed under: meetings | Tags: arts, DCMS, education, England, politics, volarts, youth
On Thursday I was at Local Government House in London to attend the Westminster Media Forum seminar ‘Vocation or Inspiration? Young People, Cultural Provision and the Creative Industries’. I had been looking forward to hearing the Secretary of State so I was disappointed to discover that both the keynote speakers (Andy Burnham and Feargal Sharkey) had pulled out of the event. Nevertheless it was an interesting morning with a wide range of speakers looking at Creative Partnerships, Find Your Talent and similar initiatives. Andy Burnham’s place was taken by Mick Elliott, Director of Culture at DCMS. Talking about how Find Your Talent would increase young people’s interaction with arts organisations, Mick stressed that “change is not achieved by overnight visits from cultural institutions but by living together for the long term”. I followed up this comment by asking Mick what role he thought the 50,000 local amateur arts groups identified in the Government’s ‘Our Creative Talent’ study might have in such partnerships. Mick Elliott replied: “Our department’s agenda is very much to embrace the voluntary arts sector.” He said: “I would hope that the [Find Your Talent] pathfinders are engaged with the voluntary arts sector and including them in delivery at a local level … If not, they need to look again at those journeys young people go on to involvement in the arts in adult life.” I was encouraged by this public reassurance from DCMS that voluntary arts groups will be an integral part of the Find Your Talent cultural offer to young people.
Robin Simpson.
