Claiming Our Future Blue Drum continued involvement with a national non-party-political civil society network in 2 ways:
Annual Report: When dreamers and activists co-create for community culture
1. Art of Campaigning Twenty activists from across the country took part in an Art of Campaigning deliberation organised by Claiming Our Future, the Advocacy Initiative. Practice examples of the relationship between the artist and the campaigner were well illustrated by Afri who are celebrating their 30th anniversary of work. As a follow-up in July Claiming Our Future put together a two-day event for more than sixty for the Activist Summer Camp 2015. Handson workshops, conversations and exchange of tactics helped to make the resistance really irresistible. What’s the big ambition? To turn ideas into campaigns.
2. Effective Pursuit of Transformative Change to Mark 2016 During the summer 35 individuals and groups from across the country initiated a series of meetings to explore how to create the conditions for civil society in 2016. Three working groups met to look in-depth at: (i) civil society agendas and how they are developed, (ii) civil society approaches to achieving social change and (iii) fragmentation and cooperation in civil society. Blue Drum was involved in the drafting a paper on the theme of cooperation and fragmentation. The Paper prepared by Niall O’Baoill explored the blocks and barriers to an alignment within civil society. This work will lead to a 2016 event focused on Effective Pursuit of Transformative Change.
Also an online Creative Parenting library stack will be continued in the Evidence Room. European Anti Poverty Network In June 2015 the AGM of the EAPN adopted the following motions proposed by Blue Drum: 1. Promote equality and social inclusion in cultural life through direct engagement with disadvantaged communities. 2. Adopt a cultural rights framework in the forthcoming national Cultural Policy and the Arts Council Strategic Plan. Letters were also forwarded by EAPN to the Department of Arts (DAHG), the Arts Council and the EU Working Group on Culture. European Capital of Culture Bids
Cutting ties with TUSLA Child and Family Agency Gordon Jeyes and Fred McBride sent unexpected news in April that TUSLA Child and Family Agency had to prioritise and consequently had to withdraw funding to Blue Drum, Dessa, Pavee Point and Women’s Aid. This impacted immediately in that plans for a new Creative Parenting research were put on hold. It is not likely we can act upon the ideas communicated by artists Julie Merriman, Helen Barry and Ceara Conway in the short term. In the meantime. 200 copies of the Happy Parent Booklet were sent to resource centres working with young children.
These bids were given special attention because of the potency to innovate by putting Community + Culture into action by support for bottom‒up and community‒led initiatives. We wrote directly to the bid teams in Limerick, Galway, Three Sisters and Dublin to put the question of community on the agenda. Many of their UK based advisers e.g. Neil Patterson and Tom Reid rightly emphasis the European dimension but rarely equality and social inclusion agenda that goes with it. A request for information using key questions sourced from the Agenda 21 questionnaire helped to sketch priorities across each bids. Unfortunately, despite the fact that
public monies are the main drive information was not easily forthcoming. Following the Pre-Selection Stage Panel Reports the mapping exercise was updated and will continue to deepen the research until selection in July 2016. Interestingy the Mapping attracted 148 readers in November 2015 – biggest readership in the Evidence Room in any week. Social Media The Blue Drum Evidence Room has reached 4,000 readers for its 170 publications. Bluedrummers on Facebook has 1,568 friends and is active every 2/3 days. People like links to new research and publications. We also managed Facebook pages for historic projects i.e. Happy Parent, Northside Museum and City (Re)Searchers including a vimeo.com video page. Website views (c.30 per week) diminished while social media increased.
Culture 2025 & Cultural Rights: Policy The extent of people’s exclusion from the benefits of an active arts and cultural life is well documented and widely acknowledged from within the State cultural sector. But why the distance between knowing and doing something. The Community Culture Working Group met with Minister Heather Humphreys in February. It restated the ambition for Community Culture as a highly innovative, bottom-up approach that could complement top-down initiatives. The Working Group met twice with Martin Drury at the Arts Council and put forward practical ideas. Further work included submissions to Culture 2025, Dublin City Council Development Plan, and to Statements of Strategy Strategic under preparation by the respective Departments with responsibilities for Children and Arts. The challenge is how to bring about change in the openness of the cultural sector to agents of change. Ray Yeates, Dublin City Council’s Arts Officer put it succinctly. “I am comfortable however that the Dublin City Arts Office is engaged in this area of values and awareness of the equality issues and has sufficient resources to address any deficits or developmental challenges arising.
the Arts Council want to achieve from its public engagement agenda.
Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission
Values and Rights Workshops
Work on cultural rights resulted in a series of exchanges with the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commissioner, Emily Logan. Concerns about the Arts Council’s Making Great Arts Work in relation to the public sector duty were outlined. “The Commission was not minded to exercise its powers under s.(42(5) in respect of the Arts Council at this time. It will take steps to bring the obligations to the attention of the Council and provide such guidance as my be required in ensuring the Arts Council fulfils these obligations in the performance of its functions.”
-6 workshops for 150 participants in Galway, Limerick, Sligo, Wexford and Ballyhaunis. -2 submissions to flac.ie One of the outcomes of the workshops process was the drafting by participants in Galway of a Charter for Community Culture.
Value for Money A Review of the Value for Money Review of the Arts Council was published in the Village Magazine in December 2016. It highlighted the failure to balance values of efficiency and equality. It is not at all clear what
A significant commitment was made in delivering workshops on values and rights in association with Rachel Mullen from the Equality and Rights Alliance.
Company, Board and Regulation After more than a decade, we said good bye to Marion McKenna and all our friends in Travact and Priorswood CDP and moved base to the Carmichael Centre. We also bid farewell to Mick Daly from Clare who resigned after many good years of dedicated voluntary service. Artists, Fiona Woods from Clare and Sheelagh Colclough from Belfast, architect Ciarán Cuffe as well as founding member of Ala Theater, Jim Ahern from Galway kindly
agreed to volunteer and take responsibilities as Company Directors. In December we shifted again and made Ed Carroll and Eleanor Phillips became redundant in the light of the loss of ongoing funding by TUSLA. They too continue with their commitment to the vision and values behind the work. In March the Company fulfilled became compliant with the voluntary Code of Governance for the Community and Voluntary Sector. Registration with the Charity’s Regulator was also completed. Blue Print 2015-2019 was published and clearly signals the orientation of our work over the next period as advocates for cultural rights and community culture.
If you require any information email Eleanor or Ed at blue.drum@yahoo.com. Blue Drum is registered as The Arts Specialist Support Agency, Carmichael House, North Brunswick Street Dublin 7 Company No. 364118 Auditors: McCloskey & Co. Dublin 18. Charity No. 14699