Archived decisions

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Decision Report :

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1) Summary of Decision Area:

1.1. .To approve the revised Dance Bursary Scheme

2) Issues Covered in Report:

2.1. Current Scheme - allows for limited numbers of Young People to benefit from the bursaries

2.2. Need for Change - the scheme has not been reviewed for some considerable time and provides limited choice in training providers and dance forms.

2.3. Proposed New Scheme - would enable more young people to benefit and takes into account the changes in training opportunities and providers in the twenty first century.

3) Recommendations:

It is recommended that:

3.1. The Revised terms of the Dance Bursary Scheme be approved.

MAIN REPORT

1) Contextual Information:

1.1. The Current Dance Bursary Scheme, as reported in July 2007, has been in operation for many years. It has enabled up to a maximum of four young people to benefit from significant investment in training through attendance at one of the Department for Children, Schools and Families approved schools. Young people between the ages of 11 - 16 have been eligible for the scheme and once on the scheme have remained so for the duration of their stay at the school - this could be up to five years. The scheme is means tested. The scheme has focused on traditional dance training to elite level with other dance forms as subsidiary.

1.2. When the original Hampshire County Council dance bursary scheme was developed the traditional route into the profession was through ballet Today the field is much wider with new forms of dance expression derived from the development and visibility of the range of diverse communities in the UK. Careers in dance are far wider than a decade ago. Professional companies now include dance ranging from integrated disabled and able bodied dancers eg Candoco dance company, Indian classical dance and contemporary fusion such as Akram Khan company, street practitioners such as Jonzi D and the rapidly developing dance for camera film movement, as well as more traditional careers in ballet and musical theatre. The programme of the premiere London dance venue, Sadlers Wells and the presence of dance film on both the BBC and Channel 4, all demonstrate the breadth of current practice.

1.3. In order to ensure that Hampshire students are given the best possible chance of joining this cohort of professionals it is important that they get the best possible training. In recognition of the limitation of the performing career, understanding of the other options within the professional dance world eg choreography, film, programme curation and presentation and management is also important in extending career options and retaining talent in the professional field.

1.4. The County Council has consulted with Arts Council England, Youth Dance England, the National Youth Dance agency, Hampshire Dance - County Dance Agency and The Point specialist dance promoter in Hampshire in the development of the new scheme parameters.

2) Key Issues:

2.1. Hampshire has a thriving dance sector with two county youth dance companies and a wide range of private dance schools and community based activity. In addition schools across Hampshire offer dance GCSE courses and young people aspire to enter the work world of dance. Dance is a fast growing area with a myriad of opportunities for participation. From the wide range of participatory opportunities individuals show potential to excel. The technical vocabulary and training required to perform at elite level is developed over a long time period.

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2.2. A new bursary scheme must respond to this changing world of dance as outlined in 1.2 and 1.3 above and ensure that it is open to the widest range of young people across the county.

In order to create the scheme it is necessary to build capacity in the dance infrastructure that will ensure that young people with talent are spotted and nurtured through the bursary system. In particular it is important to capture those young people of potential who are not already known and `in the system'.

The new bursary scheme therefore requires three important and necessary elements to ensure success:-

· The development and support of the dance infrastructure (ie places where young people are participating in dance classes and activity in a attending dance performance) to both spot talent and participate in supporting young people towards elite performance. A necessary corollary of this the continuing health of the dance sector and its level of participation as a whole.

· Providing access to elite training and mentoring for young people wishing to pursue dance as a career within the context of holistic understanding of the wider world of professional dance

· Supporting post tertiary training graduates in both accessing the world of work and, through this mechanism, further develop and sustain the dance infrastructure of the County which supports wider access and participation.

3) Purpose of the bursary scheme

3.1 To be a practical scheme which provides opportunities for young people in Hampshire to develop their dance skills to an elite level that will support their ambitions to make a successful and sustainable living as a performer and beyond. As part of this scheme to provide opportunities for bursees to meet industry professionals from a range of disciplines and to develop an understanding of the real world of dance and how they may enter and be successful in it. The scheme should provide a route for school age students to access tertiary training as the springboard into work.

3.2 There are two critical phases in the development of young dancers where the County Council may make positive interventions which no other agency does

· 13 - 18 This is a period of physical and intellectual development where young people demonstrate both talent and potential to perform at an elite level

· Post Graduate - immediately after graduation - this is a period of greatest danger of loss to the profession as graduates negotiate an entry into the work place. Given the scale of the employment pool and the level of competition the potential for fall out is high.

3.3 Hampshire County Council will operate this scheme in a way that allows it to make maximum linkages with other initiatives nationally and regionally which enrich and create new opportunities to succeed in the world of Dance, for example and as appropriate

· Centres for Advanced Training

· Youth Dance England

· National Youth Arts Awards

· Find Your Talent

· Other initiatives as they come on stream in the future.

4) The mechanics of the scheme

4.1. In order to spot real talent the mechanism of a short audition is insufficient. The new scheme will engage in an annual Audition event. A communications strategy will be required to ensure that the widest group of young people are aware of the opportunity. It is important to ensure that this mechanism works effectively to ensure that disadvantaged young people are not excluded from the programme.

4.2. The Audition event will be run by Hampshire Dance in association with The Point. It is proposed to link the audition event to the annual Elevate Summer School organised by The Point and draw young dancers from across the county At the end of the event the adjudicating panel will make recommendations to Hampshire County Council of a list of candidates for bursaries.

4.3. Given the range of dance styles and the different training regimes attached to each, a one size fits all approach is not appropriate. In order to tailor the most appropriate package for each student, the candidates will be asked to present an outline of the sort of training programme that they and their teacher(s)/guardian/parent think would be of most benefit. This outline will form the basis of a negotiated bespoke programme package for each student. A programme of activity will be agreed against which a budget of up to £500 will be allocated.

4.4. A condition of accepting the bursary will be participation in a range of additional activities provided through The Point/Hampshire Dance over the period of the programme. This will include sessions on health, careers advice, master classes etc. As well as providing industry related input it will provide a mechanism to capture feedback on the experience of the students in their programmes. Some of this activity may be made available digitally and some of this activity could be opened up more widely to young people not directly engaged on the bursary scheme and their teachers.

4.5. Should there be insufficient students of calibre to award all the bursaries in any year the remaining budget should be used to provide opportunities engage with a wider range of students who may reach the standard in the following year or provide additional ancillary programme opportunities for both students and the network of dance teachers.

4.6. Full details of the mechanics of the scheme are attached as Appendix 1.

5) Outline of Options:

5.1. Option 1:

a) Continue to run the scheme as in the past,

5.2. Option 2:

a) Cancel the scheme altogether

5.3. Option 3:

a) Operate the proposed new scheme

6) Option Analysis / Comparison:

6.1. Continuing to operate the current scheme provides opportunity for 2 - 3 young people over a 3 - 5 year period to benefit from support. The current scheme offers opportunity to pursue dance training in a limited number of establishments outside the County boundary. The current scheme does not provide for training opportunities across the widest range of dance forms; in particular it does not necessarily allow opportunity for those students wishing to pursue careers in culturally diverse dance forms or those with a disability.

6.2. Discontinuing the scheme would mean that the County Council had no mechanism to support gifted and talented young people towards pursuing a career as an elite performer, as it does for musicians and sports athletes.

6.3. The proposed new scheme would enable

a) support for both school age and graduate students

b) provide a support network for adult professionals working with young people and

c) potential for the added value learning opportunities to be opened up to additional young people who may benefit in future years.

7) Conclusions:

7.1. The current scheme was conceived at a time when the professional world of dance was more constrained than it is today. There is now a wider range of professional dance opportunities and as a result a wider range routes into dance training. The County Council should create a scheme where more young people, from diverse backgrounds, can access bursaries which enable them to take steps towards training as an elite performer in the professional dance world.

8) Recommendations:

8.1. The Revised terms of the Dance Bursary Scheme be approved.

CORPORATE OR LEGAL INFORMATION:

IMPACT ASSESSMENTS:

1. Equalities Impact Assessment:

No adverse impact on any group of young people has been identified. The scheme is designed to be accessible to the greatest number of people.

2. Impact on Crime and Disorder:

N/A

3. Climate Change:

a) How does what is being proposed impact on our carbon footprint / energy consumption?

· No impact Identified

b) How does what is being proposed consider the need to adapt to climate change, and be resilient to its longer term impacts?

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APPENDIX

The Mechanics of the Scheme

Spotting the Talent

In order to spot real talent the mechanism of a short audition is insufficient. The new scheme will engage in an annual audition event A communication campaign will be required to ensure that the widest group of young people are aware of the opportunity. It is important to ensure that this mechanism works effectively to ensure that disadvantaged young people are not excluded from the programme. Key target influencers will be

· Dance and PE specialists in secondary schools, critically the Dance Advanced Skills Teachers

· The network of private dance schools across Hampshire

· The dance examining agencies eg RAD

· Youth Dance England

· Hampshire Dance

· South East Dance

· Arts Council England SE

· The youth service and the voluntary youth sector

· Specialist agencies such as Art Asia, Creative Partnerships etc

· Performance Venues across Hampshire.

Commitment by young people to investing extended time in this process will enable the adjudicators to identify the most talented and also the most committed young people through extended opportunities for interaction.

The Audition event will be run by Hampshire Dance in association with the Point. It is proposed to link the audition event to the annual Elevate Summer School organised by the Point and drawing young dancers from across the county At the end of the event the adjudicating panel will make recommendation to Hampshire County Council of a list of candidates for bursaries.

The adjudication panel will include representation from

· The County Council

· County Dance Agency

· Dance promoter

· Professional dancer

· Dance teacher

The composition of the panel should ensure that applicants can have confidence that they will be scrutinised by professionals of high standing and experience and that the value of the bursary is enhanced by the process of its award.

Criteria for inclusion in the Audition event will include

· minimum standards in examined dance forms (level tbc)

· recommendation from a teacher/mentor for dance forms not examined by a national body

The event will involve

· demonstration of primary dance form in solo and/or group settings

· Group work

· Outline for learning for which Bursary is required

· Interview

The Talent Spotters

In order to make the scheme effective it will be necessary to engage with a wide range of dance professionals working with young people. In order to develop an understanding of the scheme and the criteria, standards and outcomes that we are working towards, a range of networking events and activities should be developed. This should not compete with or duplicate existing activity (eg support activity run by HIAS etc) but be complementary.

Bringing together the talent spotters from the wide range of disciplines will support the greater development of the dance infrastructure of the County and provide support for practitioners who are widely scattered and who may be isolated. A by product of this networking will be the opportunity to identify further development opportunities to engage more young people in dance activity.

The Bursary scheme

Given the range of dance styles and the different training regimes attached to each, a one size fits all approach is not appropriate. In order to tailor the most appropriate package for each student, the candidates will be asked to present an outline of the sort of training programme that they and their teacher(s)/guardian/parent think would be of most benefit. This outline will form the basis of a negotiated bespoke programme package for each student. A programme of activity will be agreed against which a budget of up to £500 will be allocated.

There will be no limit on dance forms for which training can be sought as long as there is evidence of sufficient talent, appropriate training/mentoring mechanisms at the desired level and availability. Included in the dance forms will be choreography and the emerging form of dance film.

At agreed intervals the students will be required to report back on the programme to ensure that it is effective in providing appropriate support and that they are deriving the benefits they should. It will also enable the County Council to assure itself that the investment is being used effectively and for the stated purpose. A Creative Advisor will support the Bursees to provide a sounding board, mentor and mechanism to check on progress of the student.

A condition of accepting the bursary will be participation in a range of additional activities provided through the agency of The Point/Hampshire Dance over the period of the programme. As well as providing industry related input it will provide a mechanism to capture feedback on the experience of the students in their programmes. This package will include (not exclusively) sessions/advice on

· Health and Nutrition

· Careers Advice

· Master classes

· Go and see (particularly, but not exclusively theatre and dance events in Hampshire Venues)

· Collaborative activity with Hampshire Music Bursary students

Some of this activity may be made available digitally and some of this activity could be opened up more widely to young people not engaged on the bursary scheme and their teachers

Proposed Annual Budget

Should there be insufficient students of calibre to award all the bursaries in any year the remaining budget should be used to provide opportunities engage with a wider range students who may reach the standard in the following year or provide additional ancillary programme opportunities for both students and the network of dance teachers.

Time scale and Budget.

The Current Year's budget amounts to 20,000.