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Initiated by City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) and Culture Republic, Creative Lives celebrates the scale and scope of the learning and participation sector in Edinburgh. The project exists to generate an overview of the nature, provision and benefits of learning and participation activity in the city, and the people who benefit from it. Project partners Culture Republic, City of Edinburgh Council Children and Families and City of Edinburgh Council Culture and Sport began the Creative Lives project as a pilot over two school terms in 2012/13, leading to an ongoing project. One element of Creative Lives is gathering data on the learning and participation offer from arts and cultural organisations. Over 30 cultural organisations took part during this period, using a proforma to provide details and metrics of each learning and participation activity that they offered. Activities ranged from pre-‐show talks, dance workshops and art classes, to community specific workshops specially designed to support individuals with Additional Support Needs. Each activity could have a number of sessions, which might be in different venues, or at different times. Participants could be of any age and are described as either attending in formalised groups such as local clubs, educational groups (such as schools, colleges or universities), or simply as individuals. Data was gathered from venues, festivals and national organisations across a wide range of genres. This report covers data from August 2013 to August 2014. Creative Lives project objectives • • • •
To recognise the role and increase the visibility of learning and participation activity taking place in Edinburgh amongst key stakeholders and decision makers; To strengthen links between the arts and cultural sectors and learning communities highlighting routes and pathways to greater engagement; To demonstrate key areas of strength and success in order to generate new opportunities, partnerships and develop practice; To develop the strength of learning and participation within the cultural sector through the creation of a network of professionals with a shared purpose. 2014/15 Key Findings: At A Glance
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5,000 activities were offered with over 10,000 sessions, engaging 250,000 participants;* 75% of activities were provided to organised groups (including schools); Educational groups (including schools) participated in 60% of activity; Organised groups (excluding education) accounted for 20,000 participants*, who took part in 800 different activities; 25% of all activity was offered to the general public, attracting 120,000 participants*; 10% of activities open to the public were offered exclusively to groups defined by particular characteristics including age, gender, ethnicity, health condition etc. The remaining 90% of activities were available to all members of the public; Over 40% of all activity provided was visual arts or crafts; 9% was performing arts, heritage was 25% and science, engineering or the natural environment was 19%; Over 350 activities received specific funding to deliver the activity.
Participation figures may include duplication where individuals engaged with more than one organisation or activity
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Key Findings: CEC Schools Every CEC school attended an event or participated in at least one arts or cultural learning and/or participation activity during the 2013/14 period; CEC schools participated in a third of the activity delivered to schools (the other 2/3 of schools activity was taken up by non CEC and independent schools); 23,000 CEC Primary School pupils, 5,500 CEC High School students and over 700 CEC Special School students engaged in a learning and/or participation activity;* P3-‐5 were the PS year groups that participated most, whilst P2 participated least; S3 was the HS year group that had the highest level of participation and S2 the lowest; 24 was the highest number of different activities in which a single CEC school participated during the year; 19 PS participated in 3 or fewer learning and participation activities in 2013/14; Three quarters of activity engaged in by CEC PS was defined as heritage or science, engineering and the natural environment (mostly offered via museums); High school students participated in a wider range of genres, including also visual arts/crafts, theatre and moving image; Most activities were offered as single sessions (86%), taking place at the arts or cultural providers’ own venue (89%); Activities for CEC PS (72%) were more likely than HS (32%) to have been planned by the cultural provider, with objectives specifically relating to Curriculum for Excellence; The majority of learning and participation for CEC schools was paid for by the schools, individual pupils or from additional project (i.e. non-‐core) funding. Strategic Context
The data gathered was quantitative and supplied exclusively by arts/cultural organisations. As such, when considering the data, there are a number of caveats. For example, schools in the band with the lowest number of engagements with arts/cultural organisations contained schools that have explicitly placed creativity as a priority. Likewise, there are schools in the highest engagement category for which creativity is not a priority. This demonstrates that the data is inviting us to ask questions and examine the underlying reasons for successful learning and participation engagement with the art and culture sectors. It perhaps also invites us to consider how language is differently understood within the different sectors. Creative learning can mean distinctly different things to schools, communities and arts organisations. Sharing practice and discussion around the collective offer was deemed important and helps address these issues. The opportunity for more networking was a priority for Creative Lives participants. This is an important dimension and one which opens up opportunities for participants to engage in Professional Learning linked to the Creative Learning Network. It will also help demonstrate the collective range and benefits of learning and participation activities offered by the arts and cultural sectors. The data is part of that story. Further information For further information about the Creative Lives project, including becoming a participant or using the Creative Lives data, please contact Clair Gilchrist (clair@culturerepublic.co.uk) or Linda Lees (Linda.Lees@edinburgh.gov.uk) For information on Edinburgh’s Creative Learning Network contact Linda Lees * Participation figures may include duplication where individuals engaged with more than one organisation or activity
Notes The participating organisations in Creative Lives 2013/14 were: City of Edinburgh Council Museums and Galleries, Centre for the Moving Image, Collective Gallery, Dance Base, Drake Music Scotland, Edinburgh Art Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh International Science Festival, Edinburgh Mela, Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, Festival and King’s Theatres Edinburgh, Imaginate, National Galleries of Scotland, National Museums Scotland, North Edinburgh Arts, Palace of Holyroodhouse, Puppet Animation Scotland, Queen’s Gallery Edinburgh, Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scots Fiddle Festival, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Screen Education Scotland, Stills, The Fruitmarket Gallery, The Travelling Gallery, The Traverse Theatre. Culture Republic designed the data proforma which was available online for the arts and cultural organisations to complete. Each organisation was responsible for entering its own data. While notes were provided on the definitions used in the proforma each organisation chose what data to enter and how they entered the data. Not all information was available for every activity. Culture Republic analysed and reported on the information provided by the project participants. This data covers the activity delivered by the participating arts and cultural organisations. It specifically does not include activities such as the Youth Music Initiative or other activities delivered directly by the local authority.