Archived decisions
Hampshire County Council
Executive Member - Recreation and Heritage Item 9
15 November 2007
The Making, Basingstoke
Report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage
Contact: Janet Mein Ext: 5468 e-mail: [email protected]
1. Introduction
1.1 The report sets out the current funding relationship between Hampshire County Council and The Making, Basingstoke in the context of the Arts Strategy. It proposes that a grant is made to The Making over the next two financial years specifically to support the development of its outreach programme in Hampshire.
2. Recommendation
2.1 That a sum of £10,000 be earmarked for grants to The Making, Basingstoke in each of the financial years 2008/9 and 2009/10 specifically for Theatre of the Making events in Hampshire. Release of this funding will be contingent on decisions made by Arts Council England South East on its support for The Making and their impact on future operations.
3. General Background
3.1 The Making is an educational charity with a specific craft focus based in Basingstoke. It has three main strands of activity;
· regional craft sector development
· work in communities in Basingstoke, and
· Theatre of the Making education and celebratory events.
3.2 The Making is a regularly funded organisation (RFO) of Arts Council England, South East (ACESE). It also receives funding from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and project funding from the County Council. In addition, The Making has been successful in securing significant project funds from other sources.
3.3 ACESE receives its funding from central government and its funding agreements with its RFOs coincide with the national spending review cycle. The current round of agreements ends in March 2008. The announcement of the spending allocation for the period 2008 - 2011 has been delayed and it is only in the last month that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has been able to confirm to Arts Council England the level of funding for the next three years. The process of allocating funds to the regions and the impact of RFOs is still being worked through.
3.4 All RFOs have known for some time that their funding is not secure after March 2008. In May they were told that ACESE would be developing a range of options in preparation for possible outcomes from the national funding settlement. The delay in the spending review announcement has made the planning of future business extremely difficult and has created a real sense of anxiety amongst the RFOs.
3.5 The Director of The Making, along with the other RFO Directors, is naturally anxious about the future of the organisation because of the lack of clarity from ACESE. Direct representation to Councillor Woodhall has been made in the following terms "We understand Hampshire's financial constraints, but we believe that a written statement of support and a minimum of at least £ 10,000 from the County per annum for the next three years for our participatory education work in the county would go a long way towards ensuring that the Arts Council continued its funding of the Making".
3.6 Councillor Woodhall sits as a representative of south east region local authorities on the ACESE regional council alongside Councillor Vinson of Southampton City Council. The members sit as individuals, representing the sector as a whole, and not as representatives of their own authority.
3.7 In a standard letter to all RFOs, ACESE has indicated the process for making decisions on future funding in the following terms:
"It is our intention to ensure that the majority of the organisations that we fund from 2008/09 to 2010/11 will receive at least an inflation uplift in revenue funding of 2.7% on their 2007/08 funding level. This will mean that a number of organisations will not have their funding agreements renewed.
Our regional council will meet in early December to consider initial proposals on funding decisions. We will write to all regularly funded organisations with provisional notification of our proposal for revenue funding by 14 December.
Where the proposal is that an organisation's funding is not renewed or is reduced, that organisation will have a full four weeks in which to respond. The purpose of this response period is to ensure that those organisations can make their case before our regional council reaches a final decision, and that our council members make decisions on the basis of all relevant information
Our regional council will meet on 18 January 2008 to make decisions on our ongoing portfolio. We will write to all regularly funded organisations in early February with confirmation of funding decisions."
3.8 There are fourteen ACESE RFOs based in Hampshire. One of these is Audience Development South East, which is hosted by amh (Arts Marketing Hampshire) and part of the County Council's Arts Service. Two are national agencies which are geographically located in Hampshire. Six receive regular revenue funding from Hampshire County Council, four (including The Making) are project funded by the County Council and four have no funding relationship with the County Council. In addition, there are another three RFOs in Southampton whose work has some impact in the county. In December all should know their position. In the event of indicative decisions to reduce or cease funding to any of this group of clients it is possible that the County Council will receive requests for support from other organisations too.
4. Background on The Making
4.1 The Making as an organisation has its origins in a joint initiative between Southern Arts (now ACESE) and the County Council to realise an ambition to build a Museum of Modern Craft as a regional centre to develop the crafts as a significant strand of the visual arts. At an early stage Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council became a partner in this ambition. However the practical difficulties of financing the project in a era of reducing capital funding, coupled with changes in priorities for all three partners, has meant that the building project has been shelved. Two elements of the project have gone forward; Making Space in Leigh Park and The Making in Basingstoke.
4.2 With the move away from a building based project, The Making has transformed itself into an educational charity. It has developed particularly strong strands of work in the more deprived areas of Basingstoke. Significant project work has been undertaken with young people in the borough and The Making has been heavily involved with the County Council's Architectural Practice in the public art aspects of the John Hunt of Everest School development.
4.3 The growing significance of this work has been recognised by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council. In 2006 it is understood that the Borough Council agreed to commit £20,000 per year (plus inflation) for three years, starting in 2007/8, to support The Making's locally based community participation work.
4.4 In addition to its work in Basingstoke, The Making has developed a strand of work called Theatre of the Making. This takes the traditional gallery education model of demonstration and participation out into schools and further into the public arena through one day events in community settings. In 2006/7 the latter took the form of two pilot projects, one in Alton Museum and the other at Milestones in Basingstoke. In 2007/8 two further events took place in Gosport and again in Milestones. Feedback has been very positive and has opened up contemporary art events to an audience that perhaps would not normally attend such an event in a conventional setting.
5. Strategic Context
5.1 In its Arts Strategy the County Council has identified the Visual Arts as an area of practice where the infrastructure is weak in the county and where there has, in comparison to the performing arts, been significantly less investment. In the last year this has at least been partly ameliorated by the opening of Making Space, the craft studio and community learning complex in Leigh Park.
5.2 In 2006 the County Council embarked on a series of art form sector reviews, starting with music. These reviews are aimed at setting the direction for development of the form across the county over the next 3 - 5 years. Later in 2007/8 the visual arts will be subject to a similar review. As with music, key stakeholders, including ACESE RFOs based in the County, will be involved in this process. "Turning Point", Arts Council England's Visual Arts Strategy, which covers craft, will materially impact on the county's future direction.
5.3 Without anticipating the outcome of this review, it is clear that evolution of The Making into an educational body with significant capacity to reach new audiences is an important development in the county. It is proposed that the County Council should support The Making with grants of £10,000 in each of the next two years financial years to continue its development of Theatre of the Making. This will coincide with what is understood to be the last two years of the Borough Council's funding agreement with The Making. Any decision on longer term funding of the organisation could then be taken with the Borough Council and ACESE, and in the light of the outcome of the visual arts review.
5.4 It is important that The Making develops its school and community outreach work in a way that recognises the importance of working in partnership with other providers. This should include collective approaches to development of the market for this type of activity across the county, a lateral approach to venues and modes of presentation, development of artistic practice and a focus on audience development.
6. Legal Implications
6.1 The County Council is able to utilise broad powers under the Local Government Act 1972 to provide financial support for the arts. In particular, Section 145 of the Act enables the Council to contribute towards the expenses of doing anything necessary or expedient for any of a number of purposes, including the provision of entertainment of any nature, or the provision of a theatre, concert hall, dance hall or other premises suitable for entertainment. The powers include the ability to contribute towards the development and improvement of the knowledge, understanding and practice of the arts.
7. Impact Assessment
7.1 No groups or organisations should be excluded from any benefit arising from this decision.
8. Financial Details
8.1 The County Council has two strands of arts funding; the Revenue stream and the Small Grants Programme, this includes the Business Partnership scheme.
8.2 In order to qualify as a revenue client a minimum threshold of £15,000 per annum was recommended by the Arts Review Panel when the grants scheme was reviewed.
8.3 The small grants scheme is intended for one off projects and in general funding has been limited to awards of a maximum £5,500 per annum.
8.4 It is recommended that the £10,000 grant to The Making is split 50:50 between the small grants scheme and the Policy Fund in 2008/09 and 2009/10.
LINK TO CORPORATE STRATEGY
Yes No
Hampshire safer and more secure for all
Maximising well-being _
Enhancing our quality of place _
Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents
The following documents discuss facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.
NB: the list excludes:
1. Published works
2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.
TITLE LOCATION
The Making file Arts Office, Mottisfont Court