Cultural Strategy Framework Peter Tyas | March 2012
Cultural Strategy Framework • What is a Framework? • What is the definition of Culture? • What is the vision? • Who is the Strategy for?
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5 Priorities Challenges Framework for Delivery Road Map for Transformation
What is a Framework? • This framework document identifies the route by which a cultural strategy for Wiltshire will be developed.
• The focus for the strategy will primarily be on the ways in which culture and cultural services can build resilient communities in Wiltshire, through regenerating the economy and through promoting individual and community wellbeing.
What is the definition of Culture? Material Dimension: • • • • • • • • • • • •
Stonehenge Salisbury Cathedral Lacock Village / Abbey Stourhead Longleat Salisbury Playhouse Wilton House Wiltshire Music Centre Salisbury Arts Centre WOMAD Carnivals and Festivals BBC Wiltshire
Definition • Performing and visual arts • Craft, fashion and design • Media, film, television and language • Museums, artefacts and archives • Libraries, literature, writing and publishing • Build heritage, architecture, landscape and archaeology • Cathedrals, churches and places of worship • Parks, open space, wildlife and countryside recreation • Children’s play
What is the definition of Culture? Value Dimension:
Definition
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Opportunities for families and friendships to flourish
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Opportunities to share thoughts, experiences and memories
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Opportunities to express faith, understand other’s faith and social or historic background
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Places and opportunities to question and understand social values
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Places to store, preserve and present today’s culture for tomorrows communities
• Relationships – between individuals and groups • Shared memories, experiences and identity • Diverse cultural, faith and historic backgrounds • Social standards, values and normatives • What we consider valuable to pass on to future generations
Vision • The vision for the cultural strategy will be brought into focus through a period of extensive consultation with the community. • The initial research within the cultural sector has identified the following as key elements for the vision
Supporting Detail • There is a high level of cultural participation creating communities where people want to live and work • The community takes pride in the cultural offer of the county, and the distinctiveness of their urban areas and villages • People from different backgrounds are engaged in the shaping and delivery of the cultural offer of the county
Supporting Detail cont. (2) • There is a talented and skilled workforce within the cultural sector in Wiltshire • There is a strong, well trained volunteer base with functioning networks and support agencies that enable people to be active and meet challenges locally • The cultural sector works collaboratively to deliver more than any one organisation could deliver alone • Each element within the cultural offer is moving forward in a planned and sustainable manner generating jobs and playing a vital role in supporting the local economy
Supporting Detail cont. (3) • There is good and consistent access to professional provision in all areas of the county • There is a broad and inclusive voluntary and amateur cultural offer • There is a clear picture of what the cultural sector looks like now, how it is changing, what the future will hold, and what the cultural sector will look like in the future • The cultural sector does not lose those things that are valued through this period of rapid change and financial constraint • The cultural sector plays an important role in promoting the health and well being of residents
Who is the Strategy for? • The intended audience for the cultural strategy is primarily the suppliers and providers of cultural services, activities and opportunities. This includes public sector, voluntary or third sector, and private sector organisations which provide and deliver cultural activities of all kinds.
What is the purpose of the Strategy? • Ensuring that communities in Wiltshire have the best cultural opportunities possible • Ensuring that the cultural sector is supporting the wellbeing of communities • Creating a cultural sector that is open, engaging and accessible for all • A guide for investment from the Local Authority • An advocacy tool for use with external funding partners and stakeholders • Supporting the sector to work together by identifying priorities and providing clarity around roles • Provide a sense of cohesion for the sector and develop a shared plan for the future
Priorities • • • • •
Leadership and Flexibility Communication and Audience Development Working Together and Quality Growing the Sector and Developing the Offer The Creative Economy
Leadership • The form that this leadership should take has not been defined; though it was identified that the leadership required should not be proscriptive or centred in the hands of a few but rather it should come out of a broad forum of ideas. • Leadership should be informed by sound knowledge of the rapidly changing landscape and it should facilitate discussions to explore the possibilities raised by change and the options available locally to adapt and respond. • The cultural strategy framework proposes a mechanism for working groups to be formed to take forward the delivery of the strategy. The cultural strategy should identify the key drivers for change and the actions that are being taken, as well as identify the value of the cultural sector within the change agenda.
Communication • The cultural sector is made up of a broader range of subsectors, and though there are strong partnerships there is no single forum or method of communication to engage right across the sector. • The cultural strategy should provide a map of services, partnerships and resources so that communication and the exploration of ideas can take place which leads to the development of audience and the engagement of the community in decision making.
Working Together • The cultural sector needs to focus resources on improving the quality of the cultural offer and the delivery of shared outcomes. • Within a period of constraint the most effective way to achieve ambitions and drive up the quality of experience within the cultural sector is to locate shared priorities and to pool resources. • The cultural sector should also engage with broader partners (including those outside of the cultural sector) and to identify common interests and potential areas for partnerships to grow. • The cultural strategy should locate shared priorities and express the shared outcomes that partners are delivering.
Growing the Sector • The cultural sector needs to continue to adapt and develop new opportunities; the sector should continue to build audiences and work with the community to shape the cultural offer. • The cultural strategy should provide a forum for the sector to develop new ideas, work collaborative to locate resources and attract the support necessary to grow the sector.
The Creative Economy • The cultural sector is a central part of the county’s tourism and leisure offer and has significant capacity for growth. • The cultural sector plays an important role in both formal and informal learning and provides a huge range of opportunities for volunteers to gain practical workplace skills and experience. • The cultural sector broadens the employment base for the county and plays an important role in creating a strong sense of place with an evening and leisure economy attractive to employers and employees. • The cultural strategy should express the role of culture in developing resilient communities, capable of benefiting from and contributing to the county’s economic recovery.
Challenges for Witlshire • • • • • •
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The consultation identified a range of challenges for Wiltshire that the cultural strategy should recognise and address. This includes: Wiltshire as a large county with a dispersed community Wiltshire has an ageing demographic with increasing healthcare needs Sedentary life-styles and health inequalities across the county The need to broaden the employment base and develop business infrastructure across the county The need to address youth unemployment and increase the number of opportunities for young people to take part in education and training within Wiltshire Road and community safety within Wiltshire Wiltshire’s carbon footprint, waste management and the climate change agenda The integration of military communities within Wiltshire
Framework for Delivery • The cultural strategy will be built around the five priorities which have emerged through the initial consultation stages. • These priorities will be delivered through a number of working groups which will provide the leadership and communication that the sector has identified as vital to ensuring collaborative work takes place which in turn will grow the sector and deliver real economic benefits for the county.
Thematic Working Groups • • • •
The Cultural Economy Growing the Sector Delivering Individual and Social Well Being Tackling Rural Issues
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Each of the working groups will include representatives from the public, private and third sectors. These groups will develop a detailed understanding of the policy framework within which they will operate; they will identify key partnerships and work collaboratively to develop and deliver a SMART action plan. Each of the thematic groups will identify areas of overlap with the other groups and identify where larger strategic developments could take place.
Road Map for Transformation • The initial consultation concluded with an action planning process to identify those key transformational projects and initiatives that are currently being developed. • These key deliverables will form a ‘road-map’ to mark the transformation of the sector; the cultural strategy will raise the profile of these key deliverables and identify opportunities for the cultural sector to collaborate and share information and resources. • This process of reporting on the emergence of key pieces of work will be a central plank within the cultural strategy as it emerges into the public domain enabling links between the public, voluntary and private sector to develop. • The tracking of significant projects and initiatives will also provide the sound knowledge of the changing landscape required to inform decision making and facilitate leadership from within the sector.