Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed members to the third meeting of the Committee and updated them on a number of developments since the previous meeting including:

·           At the Combined Authority meeting held on 2 February 2022, the indicative amount of resources to invest in culture delivery from gainshare funding over the next three years was set at £11.5m.

·           At the same meeting, the Combined Authority agreed to provide additional capacity funding from gainshare funding for additional research and intelligence resource.

·           The Government published the Levelling Up White Paper and made a number of announcements that reinforced the importance of the culture sector to UK PLC.

·           On the 23 February 2022, Arts Council England made a further announcement that:

o    109 additional places nationally (including Kirklees) will be prioritised for new arts funding.

o    Cultural organisations in London will be supported to expand operations beyond the capital so more communities can benefit from their work.

o    Alongside this announcement there is an expected £250, national increase in Arts Council England funding (all of which to be spent outside London) and an additional £75m nationally will be provided to make sure that places that are underserved get a better distribution of arts funding. Arts Council England will oversee the distribution of this funding.

·           Officers are working with Nathan Clark at the Brudenell Social Club to set up the region’s first Music group. Updates from this group will be given at future meetings.

Apologies for absence were received from David Renwick, Professor Lisa Stansbie, Professor Dave Russell and Councillors Sarah Ferriby, Will Simpson, Jonathan Pryor and Darryl Smalley.

Syima Aslam declared a disclosable pecuniary interest in item 8.

There were no items on the agenda that required the exclusion of the press and public.

The Chair reminded members that the previous meeting of the Culture, Arts and Creative Industries Committee, held 18 January 2022, was held as an informal consultative meeting. The purpose of this agenda item is to provide a record of discussion. There are no recommendations for this item.

Alan Lane, Artistic Director of Slung Low, gave a presentation to the committee. The presentation covered several topics including:

·           The history of the Slung Low Theatre Company and the Holbeck Working Men’s Club.

·           The importance of participation and making cultural activities accessible to all.

·           How cultural venues can be the heart of communities.

·           The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the artists and the culture sector.

The Chair thanked Alan for the presentation and for hosting this meeting of the Culture, Arts and Creative Industry Committee at the Holbeck Working Men’s Club.

The Economic Evidence Manager presented the Economic and Sector Reporting report to provide an update on the latest economic data relating to the sector.

It was highlighted that the impact of the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus on the cultural sector was short-lived. Recent data shows strong performances across most indicators during early 2022. At the time of the report being written, there is limited evidence within the published data that the cost-of-living crisis is having a negative impact on the sector.

It was stated that although indicators in the report on employment, productivity, pay and vacancies are positive the biggest impact on the sector is predicted to be the expected fall in living standards nationally. Although intensified by the situation in Ukraine, the Bank of England was already predicting the biggest fall in living standards in the UK in a generation.

The Committee was informed that reports would be presented to all Thematic Committees at the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to ensure members understood the economic situation that each committee is operating within. Indicators for the reports presented at future meetings of this Committee will be informed by the Cultural Framework. Capacity within the research and intelligence service will be increased to facilitate the proposed changes to reporting arrangements.

Members asked raised several points on the report including:

·           Further developments in capturing and interrogating data from the freelance sector and the difficulties associated with this.

·           Collaboration with universities and Local Authorities.

·           Schemes to get local people into vacancies.

The Committee thanked the Economic Evidence Manager for their report.

Resolved:

That the Culture, Arts and Creative Industries Committee:

(i)        Note the evidence presented in the report.

(ii)       Note the proposed reporting arrangments.

(iii)      Note the steps being taken to build analytical capacity in this area.

The Head of Business, Innovation, Skills and Culture Policy presented the Cultural Framework to the Committee.

The report provided an update on the proposals and development regarding the revision of the current Leeds City Region Cultural Framework. Once agreed, the Cultural Framework will provide the principles for how the Combined Authority will spend the £11.5m of gainshare funding that has been allocated to culture and sport.

The existing culture framework will be refreshed and will be extended to capture heritage and sport. It is proposed that it will focus on a number of areas:

·           Culture and sport for all.

·           A diverse and confident cultural and creative workforce.

·           A vibrant, diverse and sustainable culture sector.

·           A creative, sustainable and vibrant region with culture at its heart.

Members of the Committee were invited to attend a workshop, on 12April at the John Smith’s Stadium in Huddersfield, to further develop the Framework. Invites to the workshop have been sent to figures across the creative sector to ensure that the Framework is developed correctly.

The Committee raised several points including:

·           The language that is used in the final Framework.

·           Ensuring diversity in all levels of sports, from athletes to the leadership of the clubs.

·           The techniques used in the consultation exercise.

·           Clarification on terms such as ‘fair jobs’.

·           Ensuring that the document gives a regional approach to ensure it does not conflict with the cultural frameworks of Local Authorities.

·           Highlighting underrepresented groups in culture such as those with disabilities.

Members thanked all staff who had input into the report and looked forward to the planned workshop.

Resolved: That the Committee note the update to the Cultural Framework and endorses that consultation can commence on the revised priorities ahead of the July committee meeting.

The Head of Business, Innovation, Skills and Culture Policy presented the Supporting Cultural Festivals in West Yorkshire report to the Committee.

Syima Aslam and Kersten England took not part in the discussion.

The report outlined the importance of everyone in West Yorkshire having the opportunity to access and benefit from cultural activity regardless of their background. Festivals play an important role in achieving this by providing cultural oppurtunities for all and they promote West Yorkshire to a national and global audience.

The feedback from the previous meeting of the committee has been incorporated into the festival’s framework. The report also sought the views of the Committee on some early funding decisions on cultural festivals such as Leeds 2023, Kirklees Year of Music 2023 and Bradford Literature Festival. The views from the Committee will be taken into account at the Combined Authority meeting which was taking place on 17 March 2022.

Members asked several questions in relation to:

·           Terms and conditions of those that work for and with festivals.

·           Indicator and outcome monitoring after funding has been given to festivals.

·           Strength of business cases.

·           Comparing festivals funding requests for festivals that are annual against those that are not.

·           Integrating sport into festival events.

·           Links between festival and local universities.

Resolved:

That the Culture, Arts and Creative Industries Committee:

(i)     Approves the adoption of the principles of investment in Cultural Festivals and, subject to further development, their adoption by the Committee to use in future decision making on investments.

(ii)    Support the decision in principle to support Leeds 2023, Kirklees Year of Music 2023 and Bradford Literature Festival. The Committee’s views will be taken into account at the Combined Authority meeting to be held 17 March 2022 where the final decision in principle will be made.

The Programme Manager – Creative Catalyst presented the report to the Committee to update on the schemes in delivery and development which form part of the Creative Catalyst Program.

The Committee were thanked for their comments and views on the Creative Catalyst programmes at the last meeting. The report reflects their input and shows how the outline of the mentoring scheme has evolved. The scheme will hopefully be launched in Summer 2022 and will look to engage all industries but with an emphasis on sport. Members of the Committee were encouraged to contact the programme manager if they were interested in becoming a mentor on the scheme.

Delivery has begun on Beyond Brontës: The Mayor’s Screen Diversity Programme which aims to increase diversity in the screen industries. The programme is five times over-subscribed and recruitment specifically targeted disadvantages groups including gender, ethnicity, disability and social class. There will be a further update on the programme at the next meeting of the Committee.

Resolved:

(i)        That the Committee note the update on the Creative Catalyst programme.

(ii)       That any members wishing to take part in the mentoring scheme contact the Programme Manager – Creative Catalyst.

The Head of Business, Innovation, Skills and Culture Policy presented the report to the Committee. The report sought Members’ views on potential approaches to widen participation and access to culture for the children and young people of West Yorkshire through education programmes.

The importance of cultural education programmes for children’s development and widening participation was outlined in the report. The cultural offering in West Yorkshire is growing and the Combined Authority is seeking to develop regional cultural education programmes. This will begin with a West Yorkshire Poet Laureate Programme which will be led by Simon Armitage and the Mayor of West Yorkshire.

The project is expected to have an overall cost of £100k; this will fund a project manager for the scheme, communication costs and funds to support the young poet laureates once selected. The intention is that 50% of cost will be funded through the culture gainshare with the remainder coming from other matched sources.

Members thanked the Head of Business, Innovation, Skills and Culture Policy for their report and asked questions relating to:

·                Poetry competitions outside of schools.

·                Ensuring that each entry to the competitions feel that their contribution has been valuable and inspirational promoting further growth.

·                More poet laureates at school or regional level.

·                Aftercare follwing the conclusion of the mentoring scheme.

Resolved:

That the Culture, Arts and Creative Industries Committee:

(i)        Approve the overall approach to cultural education partnerships.

(ii)       Approve the approach for a West Yorkshire Young Poet Laureate Programme for 2022/23.

The next meeting of the Culture, Arts and Creative Industries Committee will be held on 21 July 2022.