Archived decisions

Appendix 4 - Revised Grant Scheme Proposal

Current Schemes

1. Introduction

Hampshire County Council recognises the valuable work of many independent and statutory organisations that serve the residents of the county with high quality arts activities that both enhance the quality of life for Hampshire residents and also support the delivery of the Council's corporate and cultural strategy objectives. The Council wishes to support as much activity as possible within its budget limits. This is done through a range of revenue and capital partnership funding aid schemes.

Schemes currently in operation are

Revenue - Annual revenue support

- One-off partnership funding for

Programmes

Festivals

Projects

Two for One partnership funding

Capital - major grants

- minor grants

Capital partnership funding is generally one-off in nature and is aimed at assisting with building projects at County Council owned premises as well as those owned by independent arts organisations throughout the county. Minor grants generally assist with equipment purchases and minor fabric projects.

How are these advertised currently?

Project and Two for One grant schemes are currently advertised through Hantsweb, under the arts and general funding pages. Revenue and Programme grants are not advertised publicly, applicants are invited to apply. This used to be the case for Festival grants, but in 2005 an advertisement was placed in the local paper, inviting local festival organisations to apply.

2. Annual Revenue Support

This is aimed at a limited number of key independent arts organisations that form part of the significant arts infrastructure of Hampshire. Support is generally in partnership with other funding organisations including Arts Council England and other local authorities. The table below sets out the list of revenue support Grants made since 2000.

Application to this fund requires the submission of

Current Annual Report

Audited Accounts

Events Listings/ Brochures

Equal Opportunities/ Equalities Statement or Policy together with the review of operation

Current Business Plan(s)

Current Marketing Strategy

Audience / Attendance figures

See Appendix A for details of Current Revenue Grant Scheme

Issues

This application process is onerous and a time wasting use of resource for both the organisation concerned and Hampshire County staff. These organisations have been funded for many years and Hampshire's contribution to their funding is, generally, that of second or third place in value of award. Organisations in this list are, for the most part, clients of Arts Council England and generally of the relevant District. It would be a more effective use of time for all concerned if the amount and detail of information required to satisfy accountability for public money criteria were to be brought more into line with other funders.

Organisations in this list that are revenue funded by Arts Council England have a three year funding agreement in place, bringing Hampshire's decision making in line with this framework would provide a more stable arena in which the infrastructure could operate.

Proposal

For these organisations it would be useful to bring into play The framework adopted in November 2004 by the Policy review Committee viz:-

_ Formal Longer terms agreements

_ Agreement to joint approaches to clients with other major funders

_ Emphasis on corporate and cultural strategy objectives as basis on which awards are made.

A list of key strategic organisations as defined by

_ their contribution to the delivery of Hampshire's Corporate Objectives

_ a minimum of £15,000 revenue support

_ Match against Recreation and Heritage standard criteria for partnership funding

should be agreed.

Those organisations currently revenue funded in this list but falling below this level should be directed to the other available (one off) funds.

Monitoring and accountability mechanisms are put in place which provide accurate and timely information which is fit for purpose. See Partnership Funding paper to PRC D Day November 2004

How do we get new organisations into this list?

This closed list defines the investment in infrastructure in Hampshire but this is by no means a definitive list of professional arts organisations which operate within the county. This list should operate on a balance of maintaining stability in valuable infrastructure but also recognise that, from time to time, organisations cease to perform to standard or stop delivering against the Council's corporate objectives. In this case, this should be picked up in monitoring and organisations be given notice that funding may cease at the formal review point.

This disinvestment process is likely not to be frequent and this presents a problem in terms of adding organisations to the list. Officers must both monitor and evaluate those organisations which are currently funded, looking for growth and potential, and work closely with other funders, particularly Districts, in ensuring that the infrastructure reflects needs at any particular time.

3. One-off funding

This is available to the rest of the sector ( and to revenue funded organisations) and is designed to respond to a vast range of activity. Although a number of organisations reapply successfully each year this funding stream must remain one-off in nature to ensure that funds are always available to respond to new initiatives, changes resulting from the implementation of the Arts Strategy or new initiatives brought to the notice of the County Council over time.

In practice, although the scheme is open to all, a limited list of organisations has applied each year.

A guiding principle of this funding stream is that all arts organisations applying for support from Hampshire County Council should also apply for funding from other public bodies. These would normally include the appropriate local district or borough authority to ensure local commitment and partnership to the project. Not all authorities have arts specific schemes although many have grants to support community activity.

In practice this principle has been waived in a significant number of cases, particularly for smaller grants - this may mean that the county has been supporting activity that Districts may not wish to.

The One off funding streams are:

3.1 Programme Partnership Funding

A small number of independent venues produce year long programmes of activity which individually could attract project partnership funding. To avoid the need to apply piecemeal throughout the year annual partnership funding may be awarded.

In practice these grants are small. In the last 5 years the range has been £2,000 - £8,000.

Organisation	Times funded in last 5 years	Max funding
Central Studio Basingstoke	5	£4,000
Horndean Community Centre	5	£3,000
SCAT Theatre	5	£3,000
Phoenix Arts Centre	5	£4,000
Winchester Rural Youth Theatre	4	£4,000
ArtSway (transferred to revenue funding)	3	£8,000
Cricklade Theatre	3	£2,500
Winchester Gallery	2	£4,100
Solent People's Theatre	1	£4,000

There is one application for grants on this scheme - Deadline November - Determination January

Application to this fund requires

Annual Report

Externally Examined Accounts

Events Listings/ brochures

Audience / Attendance figures

See Appendix B for details of Current Programme Grant Scheme

3.2 Festival Partnership Funding

Most festivals attempt to establish themselves as annual events both to satisfy public demand and to build audiences. Many of the larger festivals have a significant economic impact on the area they serve and this has attracted an additional £10,000 of funding from the county council's economic development budget.

However in practice the grants given out to festivals over the last 5 years has been in the range of £200 to £5,500. It is also clear that in the last four years the lack of profile for the small grants portfolio has meant that a limited number of organisations have been funded. The budget has been available for this and therefore no significant pressures have resulted necessitating choice between organisations.

Festivals funded in the last 5 years are

Festival	Times Funded in the last 5 years
Eastleigh Dance Festival	5
Romsey Arts Festival	5
Petersfield Music Festival	5
Romsey Beggars Fair	5
Winchester Hat Fair	5
Waterside Arts Festival	5
Annual Writers' Conference (Winchester)	5
Bishops' Waltham Festival	5
Winchester Folk Festival	5
Gosport and Fareham Folk Festival	5
Nine days in May (Havant Borough Council)	5
Eastleigh Summer Festival	4
New Forest Drama Festival	4
Early Music Now	4
Newbury Spring Festival	3
Gosport Waterfront Festival	2
Bordon and Whitehill Festival	1
Hi-There Festival	1

There is one application for grants on this scheme - Deadline September - Determination November.

The availability of this funding stream was not advertised on Hantsweb, so reminder's were being sent out to previous applicants advising that the fund was open year on year. Clearly there were equal opportunity considerations to be addressed by this process. A press release was prepared and circulated for the 2005 application and as a consequence a greater level of applications (21) was received for 2006/7.

See Appendix C for details of Current Festival Grant scheme

3.3 Project Partnership Funding

This provides funding to a myriad of organisations for one-off events and activities across the county and across all art forms. The range of funds for these one off projects is £100 - £4,000 the majority of funding is below £500.

Application to this fund can be made at any time and applications received are put to the next available Decision Day.

In practice awards made on this scheme have been limited to 82 individual organisations in the last 3 years with 15% of these being funded in each year. Some organisations received more than one grant in each year and a high proportion of these organisations apply frequently if not annually.

See Appendix D for details of Current Project Grant Scheme

3.4 Two for One Partnership Funding

This funding scheme is designed to match-fund new business sponsorship of the arts in Hampshire. The sums are small but are particularly welcomed by small arts organisations.

In practice the limits on partnership funding (Max £500 to any organisation) means that this is not, in practical terms, a sponsorship fund but rather recognises business support to community based organisations

Application to this fund can be made at any time and applications received are put to the next available Decision Day.

See Appendix E for details of Current Two for One Grant Scheme

Issues

These grants are, in each category, for relatively small amounts of funding. Differential between programmes of work and projects are sometime hard to determine in practice. The practice of taking project grant applications to each available Decision Day, effectively on demand, means that towards the end of the financial year the schemes run out of money. This not a desirable state of affairs. It is also the case that as the flow of applications for each scheme is not regular, the boundaries between allocated amounts become blurred as `borrowing' across funds and applications takes place.

Proposal

The number of grant schemes be reduced to two - and the allocated budgets amalgamated. The remaining schemes being

· Two for One - renamed Business Partnership Scheme

· Festivals, Programme and Project Scheme amalgamated and renamed Arts Activity Grants

· New forms, web pages and advertising for the new schemes are devised

· A single set of criteria are drawn up derived from existing criteria and proposals laid out in the appendices to this document. Two decision Days only

o Decision Day 1 - November each year to consider application for activity taking place at any point in the year or in the period April - September

o Decision Day 2 - April for activity between September - March the following year

o 2/3 available budget be earmarked for dispersal in November and 1/3 in April. These proportions should be reviewed after two years and adjusted if necessary.

o A range of decision option including right out grants and guarantees against loss are used to ensure effective use of resources.

4. Capital Grants

The Capital Programme of Hampshire County Council contained an annual sum for supporting the capital needs of arts facilities. It was planned four years in advance and amounted to approximately £55,000 each year. The budget has supported major projects like The Point, Eastleigh, The Haymarket Theatre and the Theatre Royal Winchester. The recipients of this capital investment have been most often the Hampshire County Council owned and managed Arts Centres in Fareham, Winchester, Aldershot and New Milton. The Arts Centres used most of the budget, as Hampshire County Council needs to maintain the standards of service that modern audiences and participants expect in public buildings.

All the buildings owned by Hampshire County Council are the responsibility of the Department of Property, Business and Regulatory Services for their maintenance and upkeep as well as their compliance with the relevant regulations and licences. The Arts Capital Programme was solely for the improvement of buildings and their facilities. As the sum in the Programme has been relatively small it was usual practice to carry sums forward from one year to another so as to build a sum of money that can make a proper improvement.

The Arts Office works with partners in nearly everything it does which has also been the case with this budget. With the longer timescales of capital schemes it is possible to promote the advantages of development with district and borough, town and parish councils and other funders so as to amass much larger funds than might be possible using Hampshire County Council resources alone.

Criteria

_ Projects must be buildings that provide opportunities for the public of Hampshire to engage with the arts.

_ The partnership funding will be less than 50% of that required.

_ Partnership funding is provided for improvements and new build.

_ Priority for partnership funding will be given for matching funding.

Current Position

There are no longer discrete budget allocations for capital grants in the Recreation and Heritage Portfolio. Rather there is a single pot and projects needing investment have to make the business case. These are reviewed together and priorities for investment made across the department.

Minor Capital Grant Aid is decided on an occasional basis for differing purposes. However, these are agreed each year depending on the priorities of the time, pressures being exerted on arts organisations and available budget. The Scheme's purposes are proposed by the chief officer and then made the subject of a decision by the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage.

5. Funding Individuals

At present none of these schemes are open to individual practitioners. It might be argued that this excludes practitioners who practice essentially solitary art forms e.g. writers, craft makers or visual artists. There is no capacity at present to support an energetic practitioner who wishes to invest in developing a new strand of work or who is proactive in opening up access to the arts from their own endeavour. Arts Council England has a mechanism to support individual artists - but this may not always be the appropriate scheme.

Proposal

Time is spent researching this area of need and bringing forward to proposal which is appropriate to Hampshire's needs.

Appendix A - Details of Current Revenue Grant Scheme

Revenue Partnership Funding

General Purpose

Revenue Partnership Funding is provided to arts organisations that make a major contribution to the arts opportunities available to Hampshire residents. These organisations are well known to the County Council and will, in most cases, be already in receipt of revenue partnership funding.

Hampshire County Council has recognised the necessity of ensuring that there is an infrastructure of arts organisations in the county and follows this through with a desire to be involved in the management of these crucial organisations. Support for these is provided with Revenue Partnership Funding and these are offered on an on-going basis with the promise that two year's notice will be given if there is to be any major change in funding.

Partnership funding is always provided in partnership with other funders. The County Council will usually be the minor funder but will ensure that the total funding for the organisation will be maintained or increased year on year.

The budget used for Revenue Partnership Funding is the largest single sum within the Department's budget structure in recognition of the historic pattern of support for the arts through independent organisations. Of the many arts providers in the county only four arts centres are owned and managed by the County Council. All others are independent, usually companies limited by guarantee and registered as charities for their educational role.

Organisations can be removed from or added to the list of revenue clients. A year's notice would normally be provided if an organisation were to be removed. New organisations would build a relationship with the County Council through other funding opportunities and would only then be admitted to the revenue list in recognition of its major status within the county.

Organisations are advised of some of these details in the following paragraph:

Revenue Clients of Hampshire County Council are arts organisations that provide a valued arts service to the public of Hampshire. As such the County Council wants each organisation to continue to provide their service on an on-going basis. It is therefore the declared intention of the County Council to provide revenue partnership funding each year subject to evaluation of the organisation's application. As the County Council budget is set on an annual basis it is not possible to make long-term commitments and Revenue Partnership Funding is therefore reviewed annually. The County Council will, whenever possible, give one year's notice of its intention to make substantial reduction in Revenue Partnership Funding.

Criteria

The following criteria are used with regard to Revenue Partnership Funding.

· The organisation must be able to fulfil the County Council's Arts Strategy as summed up in its strategic aim to: 'Facilitate the provision of the highest possible quality of arts experiences for the people of Hampshire and assist in the development of a thriving arts economy and culture'

· The organisation should be able to show a historic relationship with the County Council.

· The organisation will need to serve the people of the county of Hampshire.

· The organisation will only be funded for the promotion, production or enhancement of the arts and the revenue requirement to support this.

· The organisation should have the confidence of any partner funding bodies.

· The organisation must be able to show that it can deliver good value for money in its service to the arts.

· The organisation will need to demonstrate that it has the capability to deliver the service it says it aims to deliver.

· The organisation should have a current business plan.

· The organisation should be able to show it has a good reputation for the delivery of its business plan to high standards.

· The organisation will need to complete such application forms as appropriate.

· The organisation will be expected to demonstrate the proper conduct of its affairs, both general and financial.

· The organisation will be expected to demonstrate that it is structured so as to be representative of all relevant interests and is clearly accountable to its users, beneficiaries and members.

Additional information is provided to applicants as follows:

· Applications will be considered from groups and organisations whose activities are of direct benefit to the residents of Hampshire. Groups whose activities extend beyond the boundaries of the County will be expected to obtain contributions from funding bodies in those areas that benefit from their work.

· Applications from national or regional organisations will be considered only in respect of the benefit to the residents of Hampshire.

· Applications for core funding will not normally be considered from groups and organisations whose activities fall within the responsibility of another authority or committee. However, contributions to jointly funded projects may be considered.

· The County Council expects that organisations will act in accordance with the principles of good employment practice and sound management of their organisation.

· A recipient organisation that, in the opinion of Hampshire County Council, fails to comply with any one of the Conditions attached to partnership funding will not be eligible for further partnership funding and may be required to return the original funding.

· Applications (for revenue funding) will not be considered to assist individuals.

Proposal

That these criteria are reframed to

· The organisation should be able to show an established relationship with the County Council and that it serves the people of the county of Hampshire

· The organisation must be able to demonstrate that its activity contributes to fulfilling the County Council's Corporate, Cultural and Arts Strategy Objectives.

· The organisation will only be funded for the promotion, production or development of the arts and the revenue requirement to support this.

· The organisation will need to demonstrate that it has the capability and capacity to deliver the service it says it aims to deliver through the production of a robust three year business plan.

· The organisation should be able to show it has a good reputation for the delivery of its business plan to high standards, and has the confidence of other partner funding bodies.

· The organisation will be expected to demonstrate the proper conduct of its affairs, both general and financial and demonstrate that it is structured so as to be representative of all relevant interests and is clearly accountable to its users , beneficiaries or members

· Retain additional information as above.

Appendix B - Details of Current Programme Grant Scheme

Programme Partnership Funding

General Purpose

Programme Partnership Funding is provided to established arts organisations which promote a regular series of events or activities that would each be eligible for Arts Development Partnership Funding.

Criteria

To be eligible for support applicants are advised that the project must:

· Be based in Hampshire.

· Seek no more than 50% of the budget deficit for the project as partnership funding from Hampshire County Council and have sought funding from appropriate district and borough, town and parish councils.

· Be a not for profit activity.

· Not take place before the date of presentation to the appropriate Decision Day. (Applicants are advised of the Decision Day dates.)

Applicants are also informed that their projects should:

· contain a community focus

· contain more than one art form

· be of an innovative or developmental nature

· involve Hampshire-based professional artists, musicians or performers

· involve priority art forms which are currently Youth provision, lens based media and crafts

Issues

The criteria of this scheme are clearly desirable but application does not necessarily follow. In practice not all applications contain more than one art form, are innovative or developmental in nature or necessarily involve Hampshire based professional artists, musicians or performers.

High quality single art form applications are of as much interest as innovative or multi-form applications. Whilst it is desirable to support the use of Hampshire based artists, it is equally desirable to include a wider range of artists than are available in Hampshire for reasons of unavailability, quality, over exposure etc.

The focus on priority art forms is desirable, however the list should be dynamic over time and in response to developments being undertaken.

It is clear that those `in the know' have been used to making applications by invitation to the County Council and that therefore this has become a mechanism available to a narrower group than may be desirable. Not all applicants make approaches to their district, town or parish council and this means that the County is supporting activity which the local authority may not wish to support.

Proposal

That the criteria set out above should be transformed to priorities rather than absolutes.

That initiatives that support the development of new audiences e.g. marketing initiatives or the development of skills that will ensure the better promotion of the activity are also eligible, likewise accounting or other business skills which develop the pool of skills in the voluntary sector.

That the County Council agrees a grant making protocol with each of the Districts relative to small grants.

Appendix C - Details of Current Festival Grant Scheme

Festival Partnership Funding

General Purpose

The festivals of Hampshire are supported through the awarding of partnership funding. As the festivals are organised well in advance and often early in the financial year, the decision is made in November of the previous year. This enables the festival organisers to plan with more certainty and to provide the County Council with the necessary acknowledgements from an early stage.

The festivals assisted with substantial partnership funding are usually of the larger type with an impact wider than the immediate community. As the County Council has recognised that festivals have a large impact on the economy of the county, the budget which supports this activity is supplemented by extra sums from the Economic Development budget.

Criteria

This partnership funding budget uses the same criteria as the Programme Partnership Funding Scheme above.

In addition it requires that applications are made from festival organisations that serve the Hampshire public.

Issues

Festival Grants are, in practice relatively modest, the largest award has been £5,500. Open application in 2005 revealed a wider range of activity than had been visible hitherto - this needs to be addressed.

It is clear that those `in the know' have been used to making applications by invitation to the County Council and that therefore this has become a mechanism available to a narrower group than may be desirable. Not all applicants make approaches to their district, town or parish council and this means that the County is supporting activity which the local authority may not wish to support.

The festivals, for the most part, take place in the larger villages and market towns of Hampshire. They contribute to a sense of local distinctiveness and market town vitality. These events help to sustain the health of this community infrastructure and support ongoing economic viability. For this reason the Economic Development unit has invested £10,000 per annum towards this scheme.

Proposal

Festivals are dealt with as other grants.

That the County Council agrees a grant making protocol with each of the Districts relative to small grants

Appendix D - Details of Current Project Grant Scheme

Project Partnership Funding

General Purpose

This partnership funding scheme is the most open and accessible funding for the support of the arts. Over 100 applications are received each year for sums varying from £100 to £2,000, although the budget has only been £24,000 for the last few years.

Criteria

The criteria for this category are the same as for Programme Partnership Funding. The difference being that each award is for a single activity or a small number of events or activities.

Many of the applications are repeat ones and the previous award is taken into account when deciding the amount of award. Other factors taken into account are the partnerships and other funding and the awards made to similar requests.

Issues

It is clear that those `in the know' or known to the County Council have been used to making applications. Not all applicants make approaches to their district, town or parish council and this means that the County is supporting activity which the local authority may not wish to support.

Proposal

That the County Council agrees a grant making protocol with each of the Districts relative to small grants.

Appendix E -Details of Current Two for One Grant Scheme

Two for One Partnership Funding

General Purpose

The Two for One Partnership Funding Scheme is designed to increase the funding for the arts by encouraging Hampshire businesses to sponsor arts activities by promising to double their contribution to the arts organisation of their choice. In this way the £10,000 set aside for this budget is increased in its effect. The organisations that can apply for this award are the same as those who can apply under the Project Partnership Funding Scheme.

The Two for One Scheme aims to foster a positive relationship between business and the arts by providing Hampshire County Council endorsement for the sponsors of the arts and by increasing the value of the sponsorship. Sponsorship is a payment by a business for the purpose of promoting the business name, products or services.

Criteria

The arts organisation needs to qualify under the criteria of one of the other partnership funding schemes managed by the County Council. In effect, the arts organisation needs to be benefiting the arts for Hampshire residents, be non profit-making, be already supported by Hampshire County Council and looking to secure business sponsorship of between £200 and £500.

The business sponsorship needs to be genuine sponsorship as defined above and the company involved needs to be new to sponsoring the arts. The level of sponsorship is required to be between £200 and £500, excluding VAT.

The one important difference between this scheme and the other revenue partnership funding schemes is that awards can be made retrospectively. This allows the organisation to continue to seek sponsorship right up to the last minute.

Issues

The amount of £500 per organisation inevitably means that this is seldom, if ever, a pure sponsorship action. For this to be the case It requires a contract and an ability to deliver specified services on the part of the organisation to the sponsor. In this case it is unlikely that last minute deals provide anything more than name recognition.

Many businesses support arts in their community as part of a corporate social responsibility initiative. It is also the case that much local activity is supported by small local firm or enterprises, not necessarily set up or desirous of a `pure' sponsorship deal.

Proposal

· The Two for One Scheme is renamed Business Partners Scheme

· Only NEW business partners are eligible

· The Business Partners Scheme is considered twice each year alongside the other schemes.

Appendix 5 - Hampshire County Council Investment and Leverage in the Arts 2004/5 (last full year) and 2005/6 as predicted.

Grant Aid

Direct Hampshire Programme 2004/5 & 2005/ 6

Arts Centre Expenditure (net) 2004/5 (Last Full Year) - Includes staffing costs and overheads but not Building repair and maintenance.

The Arts Centre portfolio represents land value as well as its activity and infrastructure value. A recent valuation exercise based on the values as sites for residential development revealed the following values

Tower Arts Centre - Winchester £500,000

West End Centre - Aldershot £800,000

Ashcroft Arts Centre - Fareham £550,000

Forest Arts Centre - New Milton £450,000

The Bedhampton Arts Centre has a property calculation of £200,000 for the portion of the site that the County Council owns. If the planning and lease issues can be resolved an increased value in the range of £300 - £350,000 may be achieved.

Investment/income from other sources for Arts Service Activity obtained 2004-6

NB some funding is given for projects that run over and acrsoo more than one financial year

Programmes delivered for other Directorates or R&H divisions 2004/5 and 2005/6

· Note - Hampshire County Council puts aside funding towards a series of bursaries for talented young people to attend dance school - each young person going through the scheme will have their tuition and boarding paid for until they are 16 (the age the young person joins the scheme varies). This is a rolling programme.

Arts Office Expenditure 2004/5 and 2005/6 - costs not shown elsewhere

Human Resources Full time equivalents

Head of Arts Service 1

Arts Development Officer 1

Ashcorft Arts Centre 4.5

Tower Arts ` 4

Forest Arts 4

West End Centre 5

Arts Development staff 5

Arts Projects and support 4

Arts Marketing Hampshire 5.8

In addition the Arts Centres each draw from a pool of casual staff ranging from tutors to bar staff and volunteers without which the Centres would not operate.