Archived decisions

Hampshire County Council

Recreation and Heritage Policy Review Committee Item 6

10 September 2002

Hampshire County Council's European Cultural Strategy - 2002/2005

Report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage

Contact: Michael Fuller ext 6016

1. Introduction

1.1 Hampshire County Council has a long and impressive history of relating to the cultural life of European regions. This report proposes that the County Council adopts a Strategy for European co-operation in the field of culture.

1.2 For the County Council, culture means those areas of activity in which it has experience and expertise. These include arts development, support for arts infrastructure, sport and outdoor centres, museums, archives and records management, a library service and a countryside service; this including rights of way, country parks and nature reserves. The acceptance of a European Cultural Strategy will provide a structure for initial examination of developments in this field including piloting some specific projects and then allow for targeted initiatives/actions to follow.

2. A European Cultural Strategy - Why have one?

2.1 A European Strategy for culture in Hampshire starts from the proposition that the county is the ideal space in which economic, cultural and European strategies can meet. The Strategy involves a process of definition and development in order to build up a critical mass of cultural experience and knowledge of European environments within the Recreation and Heritage Department and its independent client organisations. When the pilot phase is completed a final Strategy will be forged which can build on the positive outcomes of the pilots.

2.2 The Strategy's key objectives are for the staff of the Recreation and Heritage Department to learn, to teach and to develop so as to improve the service to the Hampshire public in the field of culture. This cultural development for our population will provide an exposure and engagement with other cultures showing the cultural diversity around the continent and prove an economic advantage for the county. This will both enhance the quality of life in Hampshire and, importantly, the county's economic prosperity.

3. Historical and Current Engagement with Europe

3.1 Traditional relationships between towns and cities have often been of the 'twinning' type but these are not felt to be appropriate in the case of the County Council. Hampshire County Council has long established relationships with Basse Normandie and Bizkaya of the Basque Region. Previous initiatives on the cultural front have included visits to Nograd, Heves and Hunedoara regions of Hungary. The Polish Krakow region approached the County Council in 1996 to establish a link between the two authorities.

3.2 The Pilgrims Trail has established links across the channel; sports coaches are invited from other European countries for the development of priority sports; the Chase Mill in Bishop's Waltham received a substantial grant through the Raphael programme of the European Union and the Library service supports the European Information Service in Southampton Civic Centre. The Outdoor Service is organising an international conference for youth workers in outdoor environments whilst Hampshire Archives staff have maintained a link with those in Caen for the Calvados Department.

3.3 Hampshire County Council Members have acted as full members of the Assembly of European Regions Committee D. This committee concerns itself with the standard linked responsibilities of Culture, Education, Sport, Media and Youth. With an bi-annual conference for European Ministers of Culture and the Committee's programme of activities supporting authorities across Europe it is able to influence the changes for greater integration and the provision of examples of good practice.

4. Initial Work to Develop the Strategy

4.1 There are many possibilities for engagement with communities in Europe. The task within the Strategy is to make these meaningful and manageable for the County Council. It is suggested that the first steps are to investigate the most promising opportunities for developments and see which are going to work. It has always been known that the most successful projects and relationships are those which are based upon either good personal trust and understanding or those which are enshrined within a formal structure. These ingredients will be sought to ensure that the strategic objectives are achieved.

5. The Context of Cultural Provision in Europe

5.1 It is well known that British local government, along with some other European states, does have a great deal of valuable experience in running and managing devolved systems of government to contribute to the new democracies of Central Europe. In contrast, the experience of local and regional government in France, Germany, Spain and Italy is much less usefully transferable, for a variety of different reasons. For example, Hampshire has an excellent environmental record. This is vital experience for countries with struggling economies who might neglect this element of their development.

5.2 Taking the countryside, planning and culture together, for example, there are a number of interesting sculpture parks in Latvia which aim to educate their populations in the effects of pollution in re-evaluating the landscape. One of the key objectives there is to heighten lost appreciation of the natural landscape and to restore public understanding to what it was prior to the devastating Soviet impact on both cultural landscape and aesthetic responses to the urban and rural environment.

5.3 European funding schemes are all due to change radically in 2006 in response to the enlargement of the Union. The focus of current, and possibly future, funding is on the Accession States of Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia and Cyprus and the other applicant states. Dedicated European Union funding will remain miniscule for culture but funding will be available for the development of their countries' infrastructure and the role of local government within this.

5.4 With the most appropriate focus of European relationships recommended to be the Accession and Applicant States there are common features which have been identified in the series of evaluations carried out by the Council of Europe. Common problems can be briefly encapsulated as follows:

1. Generally a lack of cultural policy. Government institutions survive simply to provide grant aid to established institutions which are operating at minimal levels.

2. Heritage often dominates the cultural agenda. This has made the other cultural sectors hostile to those who promote it exclusively. Heritage is as much about the future rather than only presenting the past.

3. Policy and operational divisions between central and local government are extremely indistinct.

4. Officials at government level are often survivors of the Communist times with an inbred tendency to centralism. They see their role and relationship as primarily legislative and regulatory with little sympathy for innovative entrepreneurial approaches.

5. Planning is very short term, if there is any, and concentrates on trying to maintain the inherited cultural infrastructure. Consequently, grant decisions tend to follow patterns of provision with no consideration of what might be needed.

6. As economies build there is the possibility of engaging the newly prosperous population who may be able to provide the audiences of the future and, therefore, the income for the organisations to build upon.

5.5 Hampshire has a real role to play in these changing circumstances. With local government itself fairly new in the emerging democracies there are many ways in which the experience of Hampshire County Council can help and provide ways of development.

5.6 Advice from specialists in this field suggests that the cultural sector in much of eastern Europe is one of institutional and management paralysis. Politicians think that the 'market' will provide all the answers and academics teach western theories without any practical experience of successful implementation. What is missing is a balanced and practical programme of support and development to help build confidence through increasing the skills and competence of individual managers.

5.7 Few eastern Europe cultural managers know what action to take. This provides the opportunity for Hampshire County Council staff to offer help to this sector. The requirement is to build on best practice, provide examples where necessary and develop meaningful relationships.

6. The Way Forward

6.1 The next steps with the development of this Strategy will necessarily involve a certain amount of research and investigation both externally and within the County Council. The Recreation and Heritage Department needs to find the resources to realise this work and to then identify how to make the Strategy real. These detailed actions are listed in the conclusions of paragraph 8.

6.2 As a first step this report is being presented to the Recreation and Heritage Policy Review Committee for comment and approval. Work will then begin on a draft Strategy which will then be presented to a future meeting of the Policy Review Committee and then to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage for his decision. Following this the actions identified below will be implemented with reports being made to Members on a regular basis. Later, in 2003, a further report will be submitted to this Committee proposing a full, complete Strategy based upon the results of the initiatives to date with a list of priorities for the next two year's work.

7. Financial Implications

7.1 There are many opportunities for developing a relationship with partners in the field of culture. If the draft Strategy is accepted then it is proposed that those actions which do not need extra finance immediately can be implemented. Some of them can use allocations already contained within the current budget. Those which require greater investment than can be presently accommodated within the departmental budgets will be the subject of applications for additional funding from other sources. As these come on stream, the activities listed and yet to be identified will be implemented.

8. Conclusions

8.1 There are many opportunities for co-operation with other European regions in the field of culture especially with those of the Accession Countries to the European Union. As a pilot stage the following actions are proposed.

1. Engage expert staff/advisors to develop the strategy, resource investigation and practical projects which will initiate relationships with other European regions

2. Investigate the possibilities of working on cultural projects with areas with a similar profile to Hampshire such as those of the Baltic states or other accession states.

3. Develop training opportunities in cultural co-operation for departmental staff and those of partner regions

4. Consolidate and develop the role of Hampshire County Council with its membership of the Assembly of European Regions, especially that of Committee D and its responsibility for culture

5. Encourage staff from different parts of the department to engage with these developments so as to establish a comprehensive role in this field

6. Establish objectives and priorities for the Department for the County Council's links with European regions in the context of the evolving Cultural Strategy

7. To work with the County Council's corporate interests in European Affairs to ensure coherence and coordination.

8.2 It is intended that this initiative will run for two years and it is proposed that a review of its effectiveness is made prior to the end of this period to assess whether it would benefit the County Council to renew it.

Recommendation

That the draft framework for a European Cultural Strategy be supported and submitted to the Executive Member for Recreation & Heritage for his consideration.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

N.B. the list excludes:

1. Published works.

2. Documents that disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

TITLE LOCATION

A role for Hampshire's Cultural Services in Europe Arts Office European File