For event management news,
hints, tips, details about
our forthcoming events and
offers - sign up today!
Enabling: Arts Commissioning and Growth in a Changing Climate
Events Northern Ltd acted as the event managers for this event, on behalf of Bolton Council Arts Development Service. This one day event took place on 23rd November 2011 at Bolton Central Museum and Library. In the current changing economic climate with new government initiatives advocating localism, volunteering, shared services, personalisation and open public services, there is a need to equip arts and creative industries, businesses, charities and social enterprises with the knowledge needed to ensure they are able to exploit new opportunities to their fullest.
Bolton Council Arts Development therefore commissioned this event as part of a series of three events designed to help organisations tackle the new landscape. Enabling: Arts Commissioning aimed to equip organisations with the knowledge to help sustain their future development.
The event was part-funded by the Arts Council.
The day covered:
- Intelligent partnering and co-production
- How to work with the Localism Bill
- Social Impact Measurement and SROI
- Income diversification
- The importance of volunteering
- Creative responses to commissioning changes
- What arts commissioners are looking for
- Working in education and housing
- Creating social enterprises
- Innovative business planning
- Local authority commissioning agendas
The event was of particular interest to those working within:
- arts and creative industries
- charities, social enterprises, third sector businesses
- artists and arts businesses and those advising these sectors
Please see below for an overview of the programme and content. You can download PowerPoint slides from those speakers and workshop sessions that used them. If presentation links are not available the speaker did not utilise PowerPoint - several of the workshops were interactive sessions. For these sessions other relevant information and or a summary has been included where possible.
Overview of the Programme
The Chair for the day was the wonderful Keith Morris, Independent Advisor (see www.thatkeithmorris.net). Keith used to work in a local authority where he did things like asking the public where they wanted their buses to go, whether to bury nuclear waste in the Lake District and what to do with all the traffic there. He claims he has given a speech in Parliament but it was actually in one of the committee rooms. Then it all got a bit serious and he found himself managing budgets and performance, not to mention partnerships with voluntary sector organisations.
Ten years ago he decided to take his show on the road, working as an itinerant adviser and facilitator with government departments, councils, police forces and universities. He helps organisations understand their current situation accurately, build consensus about the way forward, and then secure commitment at all levels. This often means fostering productive engagement where different interests are at work, or where there are differences in status or power among the participants.
Recently, Keith worked with the Department of Health, helping local health and social care agencies improve the care and support for people living with long-term conditions such as heart disease, MS or dementia. He ran over 40 workshops bringing professionals together with the voluntary sector and – most important – patients and their families to map what really happens now and design what should happen in future.
Keith co-authored a guide to getting public sector contracts for NCVO in 2006 and recently helped NHS Central Lancashire develop a public engagement toolkit for GPs.
Mark Turnbull, the Assistant Director Housing Regeneration from Bolton at Home, was next to speak. He explored how we build and strengthen the community through the local partnership approach, particularly focusing on community development and why the arts is important. Please follow the link to view his presentation slides on the local partnership approach and the value of using arts in regeneration.Heather Potter is the Co-ordinator at Volunteer Centre Bolton which is a service delivered by Bolton Community and Voluntary Services (Bolton CVS). Heather presented about the work that the Volunteer Centre has been doing in Bolton, the increasing demand for volunteering opportunities in Bolton and the benefits that volunteering can bring to individuals and organisations. Please click the link to view her presentation entitled Volunteering in Bolton.
Next to present was Julia Slay, who is Senior Researcher and Social Policy Programme Co-ordinator at the New Economics Foundation. Her remit has included co-ordinating the co-production practitioners' network on a project with NESTA, co-authoring four publications on co-production and supporting Surrey County Council's Youth Services team to scope out the implementation of co-production and outcomes based commissioning across youth services. Julia is currently leading two large research projects on co-production and outcomes based commissioning, and leading a social research project with two communities, looking at the impact of the cuts and the challenges and opportunities of the 'big society'. Her presentation looked at the ideas behind co-production, what the big society means for us, and what the opportunities brought forth in the Localism bill are.
Her presentation slides can be accessed via this link: Co-producing our way out of a crisis: what are the opportunities we now face?
Richard Dickens, a Director at Make It Happen was next to speak. Make it Happen is a forward thinking and dynamic business providing support to the Third, Public and Private Sectors throughout the UK.
Richard gave an insight into how to create long term financial sustainability through income diversification and ensuring social value and impact is at the heart of the organisation. You can access the slides here: Creating sustainable income through promoting your social impact.
Click here to view information on the local mulitplier effect. Richard mentioned other resources and tools during his presentation, including the value of change, which can be accessed via http://www.mihconsultancy.co.uk/resources/.
Dennis Langley from Next Idea was next to present on Innovation and Commissioning. Innovation is about change: tools to help push your business forward and think differently. The session inspired creativity and idea generation, and comsidered how to overcome barriers to innovation.
During the session delegates had to write down their killer issue and launch it across the room. A write up of the responses can be found here: Everyones Killer Issue.
Workshop Sessions
Arts in partnership and the commissioner's perspective
Gaynor Cox & Dawn Yates-Obé, Housing Arts Officers, Bolton at Home
Bolton at Home's Housing Percent for Art service has been working with social housing communities in Bolton since 1997, developing partnerships at local level to deliver key regeneration objectives using the arts. This workshop used case studies to give an overview of how Bolton at Home develops and commissions arts in regeneration initiatives as part of its local partnership approach, highlighting the challenges as well as new opportunities for future partnership working. View the slides here.
Using the Arts to inform policy and practice
Sian Whalley, Director, box of frogs and community actors
box of frogs is a social enterprise made up of a skilled and growing team of specialists, artists, volunteers, work placements, peer consultants, researchers and facilitators. They use arts based practice for creative service user and customer engagement, consultation, community and personal development, mental health and wellbeing and training.
box of frogs presented 2 examples of their work during the workshop. The first example was a live performance of a couple of forum theatre scenes which were developed as part of a piece of work commissioned by Sitra and the Department of Communities and Local Government. The scenes showed a family - mother, father and adult son with a drugs problem, all of them in need of housing related support. We saw the tension and stress that was created within the family and wider community as the issues facing them became increasingly complex and challenging. The scenes were devised alongside our Bolton based community actors and were based on their experiences or those of their peers. We explored the scenes with the audience to identify what the issues were for the characters, what the barriers were to resolving them and what the solutions might look like. We explained the context of this piece of work which was commissioned to enable audiences of commissioners, providers and service users to explore the impacts and benefits that current thinking and policy around personalisation will have on these individuals and what needs to be in place to ensure people get increased choice and control over their lives and support.
The second example shared was "The World of Alex" A theatre based training package and exhibition that was created with young people who self-harm to train and educate professionals in the health, housing and support sectors around how best to offer support to young people who self-harm. As part of this we watched a short film that was created as a training and internet resource "Who's helping Alex?"
People then had the opportunity to ask questions and we
discussed the process of creating the work, how to evidence outcomes, the
necessity to gain the support of the people with power and influence in
organisations / local authorities / communities who can make changes to policy
and practice happen. We discussed using and adapting theatrical and arts
techniques for consultation purposes. The
community actors answered questions about what were the benefits to them and
their communities in taking part in the process.
Dennis Langley, Social Enterprise Solutions (UK) CIC
This workshop looked at developing your vision, considering your chances of success and forward planning. This action-packed and thought provoking session offered tools to drive your business forward.
Please also refer to:
Timebanking - give something, get something back
Barbara Kerks, Operations Manager, Nexus Community Links CIC
Sometimes money isn’t the answer. At a time when our resources are squeezed dry think about adopting an alternative system for offering or receiving skills and services – Timebanking. In this interactive workshop Barbara explained how a timebank works with individuals and organisations and explored ways in which you and your project could benefit from membership.
Click the links for supporting information and an Introduction to Timebanking.
Bolton FM
Kevan Williams, Station Manager, Bolton FM
Kevan Bolton FM is a community radio station and CIC based in Bolton and run by volunteers and staff who have lived in the town all their lives. The team want to make a difference in Bolton, and provide Bolton with a radio station that serves its community. The workshop gave an insight intio the creation and development of a community radio station, the challenges they face in todays econmic downturn and the hopes for Bolton FM in the future.
How to improve your chances of being commissioned
Keith Morris, Independent Advisor www.thatkeithmorris.net
As well as expertly Chairing the day Keith also ran a workshop session. The workshop looked at the procurement process, how to get past the pre-qualification stage, tips and pitfalls for submitting tenders, and bidding strategies. Detailed information and notes from the session can be accessed here.
Being Commission Ready within the new landscape of Education and Children's Services
Derri Burdon, MD, The Culture Connection Limited
This workshop helped providers of cultural and arts activities for children and young people understand how to be commission ready as the education and children services transforms to meet the demands of the localism agenda. View the presentation here.
Neoartists
Jason Simpson
Neoartists are a local contemporary artists collective. They have exploited the empty shops initiative to its fullest by securing gallery space in the recently refurbished Market Hall shopping centre and also secured artist studios and workshop space across the road in the disused offices of Corporation Street in Bolton. They have done this without support from the local authority. The slides can be accessed here.
The event was brought to a close with a round up and review of the day from the Chair.
Thank you to everyone that made this event possible!
Please follow the link to read a blog post from Keith Morris about the event.
Please click here to view information and learning from the first Enabling Event: Enabling Inclusive Arts Practice for Public Health and Well Being.
The third Bolton Enabling Event will take place early in 2012 on the topic of Digitalisation. Please check back to the Events Northern website for further information or email info@eventsnorthern.co.uk to be notified when bookings go live!
Back to Top ↑
