Filed under: meetings | Tags: England, funding, politics, research, vcs, volarts
On Monday afternoon I met Matthew Scott, Director of the Community Sector Coalition to discuss a number of policy themes that might form part of the Coalition’s new strategic plan. We talked about the likely impact of a Conservative Government on the community sector: Shadow Third Sector Minister, Nick Hurd, is to address the next meeting of the Community Sector Coalition in December. We agreed on the importance of small grant schemes as seed-bed development for community groups. Matthew described the community sector as an ‘iceberg’: only a fraction of the sector is clearly visible – there are massive numbers of informal, un-constituted community groups which it is nearly impossible to map. We also discussed the Voluntary Sector Compact and its relevance to small community groups. Finally, we looked at the issues of climate change and sustainability and the extent to which the arts might be used to explore the climate change message.
Robin Simpson.
Filed under: meetings | Tags: arts, Europe, localauthorities, research, UK, volarts
Last week I was in South Korea to speak at the World Culture Clubs Forum conference. Seongnam City is a new city with a population of 1 million people on the outskirts of Seoul. The Seongnam Cultural Foundation has been working to make Seongnam a ‘cultural city’ by developing a voluntary arts network organised by amateur or citizen-led art groups (culture clubs). These groups are involved in both making policy and delivering policy, and are helping to establish the new identity of the city. The Department of Arts & Cultural Management at Kyunghee Cyber University in Seoul has been studying the development of this voluntary arts network and the World Culture Clubs Forum conference was a platform to discuss the results of their research and to compare this with other models of amateur arts practice from around the world. I was one of five guest speakers, along with representatives of the European Network of Cultural Centres, the International Council for Cultural Centres, the National Cultural Festival in Shizuoka, Japan, and the Mid-America Arts Alliance. The conference delegates came from across South Korea and included politicians, local government officers and civil servants from the Ministry of Culture. I was amazed and delighted to discover that almost everyone at the conference was familiar with ‘Our Creative Talent’ – the study of the voluntary and amateur arts in England commissioned by DCMS and Arts Council England in 2008. I was even more surprised when someone approached me after my presentation to say he had recognised my voice from the podcast of a speech I had given to a NALGAO seminar in Bristol in 2007!
World Culture Clubs Forum conference
It was a fascinating conference and we identified lots of ways in which our organisations might be able to work together. There was some discussion about the idea of developing a Global Network for the Voluntary Arts, though we agreed not to rush into anything.
World Culture Clubs Forum speakers
Korea is a fascinating place: everything seems very modern – on our way to the conference we drove through the ‘old town’ which dates from 1990! But there is more greenery than I expected – lots of trees and lush green grass. The Han river which runs through Seoul is huge – much wider than the Thames. But in terms of buildings it’s just masses of skyscrapers and neon signs. Everyone is exceptionally polite and helpful: I’m very glad I read the bit in my guide book about the reverence which is attached to the exchanging of business cards and brought a big supply with me. Everyone you meet in any vaguely business-related context hands you a business card and expects you to hold it in both hands and study it carefully for at least a minute before carefully filing it away. And still, a week later, I am finding myself naturally bowing to everyone!
Korean meal
We had several enormous meals in traditional Korean restaurants – very hot and spicy food, sitting cross-legged on cushions at low tables. We attended the opening of an exhibition of amateur art works – including a performance by a local amateur guitar group – and an opera gala concert featuring two Korean singers who are now regular performers at La Scala, Milan.
It was wonderful to have the chance to meet up with Debbie Brooks who left VAN at the beginning of this year to take up a job in Seoul teaching English as a foreign language. She is really enjoying teaching and is considering whether to sign up for another year in South Korea.
Robin Simpson.
Filed under: meetings | Tags: arts, funding, olympics, research, Scotland, volarts
On Thursday Fiona, David and I were at the Scottish Government offices at Victoria Quay in Edinburgh for our six-monthly tri-partite meeting which brings together officers from the Culture Division of the Scottish Government, the Scottish Arts Council and Voluntary Arts Scotland. It was great to hear in detail about progress towards the establishment of Creative Scotland directly from the civil servant charged with steering the relevant legislation through the Scottish Parliament. Scottish Arts Council is looking at a range of policy issues for Creative Scotland and will launch a major online consultation during October which will be a key opportunity for the voluntary arts sector to try to influence the policy of the new agency. We looked at some initial statistics from the ‘Taking Part’ questions in the Scottish Household Survey which provide information about levels and patterns of arts participation in Scotland. A detailed analysis of this research should be available within the next month. We also met the civil servants responsible for developing the cultural programmes in Scotland relating to both the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the 2014 Commonwealth Games. And we updated the Scottish Government and the Scottish Arts Council on our two new major projects: ‘Crafting the Arts’ (funded by the Big Lottery Fund) and ‘Make a Splash!’ (funded by the Legacy Trust).
Robin Simpson.
On Thursday morning I was in London to meet Angus McCabe from the Third Sector Research Centre. Angus is leading TSRC’s work on ‘below the radar’ community organisations and is currently interviewing a range of national networks and infrastructure bodies who support small community groups. He is particularly concerned about the lack of academic research into small cultural organisations and very keen to look at the impact of voluntary arts groups on their communities.
Robin Simpson.
On Wednesday I was at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations in London to take part in a focus group as part of the NCVO/RSA project on ‘the future of membership’. Representatives of a wide range of Third Sector organisations discussed what ‘membership’ means in their contexts and how ideas of ‘membership’ are changing. We heard examples of ‘member’ being used to mean subscribers, mailing list recipients, those with a governance role, volunteers, clients, supporters, ambassadors and advocates. In most cases ‘members’ seem to be expected to fulfil several of these roles. We also looked at external factors which are changing the way in which people engage with voluntary organisations, particularly the recession, technology and localism. It was a fascinating afternoon which provided much food for thought. You can follow the progress of ‘the future of membership’ on the Third Sector Foresight website at http://www.3s4.org.uk/.
Robin Simpson.
