News Feature: Community arts orgnisations show they can thrive despite funding cuts
Denna Jones: Community arts organisations show they can thrive among the cuts to government funding
Published in the Scotsman on Monday 14 May 2012 00:00
‘BE BOLD” was my advice on these pages last year to Scottish arts organisations struggling in the wake of savage cuts to UK arts funding.
Creative Scotland’s sector initiatives are making positive changes, but austerity requires bold attitude be joined by bolshie entrepreneurial outlook. Successful organisations will leverage these skills with the next generation of corporate social responsibility – “Creating Shared Value” – and consider new models of incorporation as the permanent binder for new thinking.
North Edinburgh Arts (NEA), at Muirhouse, and Opera Holland Park, London, were my two case studies. What’s changed for these organisations in the last 12 months? Holland Park and Muirhouse are dissimilar in many ways, but the two organisations share a trait. Their directors are savvy pragmatists who realise “act, don’t react” is a central competency of shared value thinking. Create a sustainable strategy before public funding withers.
The borough of Kensington and Chelsea has subsidised Opera Holland Park with an annual grant of £750,000 since its creation in 1996. But by 2013 the opera plans to be an independent charitable company limited by guarantee. Michael Volpe, the CEO, says: “We’ve been pushing this for years. This is not a rescue plan, this is an entrepreneurial goal. We want to flourish, and we need the ability to make quick decisions. We want to give the company and our community a sense they can have an ownership and a stake in the company.”
In the autumn, Volpe will deliver an options paper and business plan to the council, which includes a final, reduced grant of £450,000 per annum for three years and transfer of physical assets. The council and opera are committed partners. Bet on their success.
NEA is closing the gap with Opera Holland Park. By 2013, its funding from City of Edinburgh Council is predicted to fall by 25 per cent from its 2007 peak. Director Kate Wimpress’s entrepreneurial ideas have created a climate where becoming a co-operative is being actively investigated by an interested board. Co-op values such as quality of life, education and training, and benefits distributed to community members in proportion to effort, fit well with NEA’s “shared value” outlook.
The garden at NEA is the hub of shared value thinking. In partnership with Edinburgh-based Gross Max Landscape Architects, the redesign will include a terracotta social enterprise pottery inspired by regional legacy but also by Scottish architect Mary Fraser Tytler Watts, whose terracotta Grade I-listed Watts Chapel in Surrey is an exemplar of sustainable community enterprise and participation.
“Our major purpose is accessibility,” says Volpe, and Wimpress agrees. Both directors are creating lean, community models based on access and participation. The “real alchemy” Volpe seeks is under way in North Edinburgh.
• Denna Jones is Creative Scotland Futures Fellow at North Edinburgh Arts.
Featuring Muirhouse Youth Development Group
Sandy Young: HRH The Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay visiting Craigroyston Community High School www.scottishphotographer.com
Muirhouse Youth Development Group (MYDG) and the young people have been very busy over the past couple of months. Shown above is a photo taken when Prince Charles visited Craigroyston last week and he was very interested to find out all the wonderful things MYDG is doing.
MYDG took part in a taster film project with Screen Education and produced two brilliant short films filmed here in North Edinburgh Arts. Please click on the link below to see the films created.
http://www.screen-ed.org/who-we-work-with/youngpeople/creative-identities-20
The Arts Cool Youth Café that meets on Thursdays 6.30 – 8.30pm has been popular with our local young people. These sessions create a space where young people can relax in a dedicated youth space while working in creative ways with artists and arts workers.
The young people are about to take part in an exciting project with the Tinderbox Orchestra entitled Frontiers where they will work with two artists to create a piece of art around the issue of conflict. The artists will look to create a slogan in graffiti letters and use film to turn the art work to life. These pieces will be shown at the Dali Lama’s event in the Usher Hall in June. For more information on any of the events please contact MYDG 0131 332 3356
Fresh Tracks Europe Festival Programme
Fresh Tracks Europe is a youth dance network for a new generation of choreographers. From 2011 until 2013 Fresh Tracks Europe executes the programme New Artistic Identities.
In recent
decades the development of dance grew enormously. Globalization and
technological developments have greatly influenced the art form. Was dance ever
exclusively organised around movement, meanwhile, it is a versatile artform
that centers physicality at large heart. The dance community is a collection of
world citizens with different cultural references. Contemporary dance has many
faces, its identity is complex and influenced by inter-media and inter-cultural
developments. These developments, however, only slowly penetrated to the dance
for young audiences. While the youth themselves grow up in a global, fragmented
world full of technical ingenuity, this part of the dance scene in Europe is predominated by particularly
more traditional values. Often by the dogma that dance for a young audience may
not be too complex. With the theme New Artistic Identities the new network
Fresh Tracks Europe (FTE) wants to break this pattern, by creating a youth
dance platform for a distinctive new generation of choreographers.
Through a series of four workshops organised by the four major partners young
choreographers from the youth dance circuit are stimulated in their individual
artistic development. The two year programme New Artistic Identities offers the
choreographers the opportunity to meet, to present their work, to reflect on
their work and to initiate new collaborations. During the workshops the
choreographers will discuss each others work and develop new methods and ideas
with the support of several mentors from the field. Apart from that their work
is presented in various events and festivals to an international engaged audience.
For further information on workshops happening in Edinburgh through Imaginate please CLICK HERE
Never Give Up with NE Social History Group and SCRAN
Never Give Up documents the history of the community in North Edinburgh and its strong tradition of community activism. The exhibition takes its inspiration from the publication Never Give Up, which was researched by North Edinburgh Social History Group and published in 2011.
The online exhibition is available through Scran, a digital archive of culture and heritage. Access to Scran is avaiable through Edinburgh City Libraries. Please CLICK HERE
National Vegetarian Week starts on Tuesday 21st May
As part of National Vegetarian Week (NVW) North Edinburgh Arts will be running a fully vegetarian café for one week. On Tuesday 21st – Saturday 25th May we will launch our vegetarian menu that will use local seasonal produce to come up with some exciting dishes. We would like to encourage local residents to appreciate the many wonderful meals that can be cooked using vegetables alone and at an affordable price.
If you would like further information email marketing@northedinburgharts.co.uk or to find out other initiatives in the area please check the NVW website at http://www.nationalvegetarianweek.org
Spring/Summer 2012 Programme Here
Our new programme has restarted with activities suitable for young and old. Our firm favorites such as Dance, Zoo Arts, Create and our Saturday programme are back as normal.
Please check our brochure for up-to-date information.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR FAMILIES PROGRAMME
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North Edinburgh Arts is a registered cause with Easy Fundraising. Easy Fundraising allows members of the public to support NEA's activities and raise funds by shopping. This is a FREE service where you can shop with your favorite stores online and at no extra cost raise funds for your favorite charity. For each purchase you make with a listed company that includes Ebay, Groupon and WHSmith; each purchase will generate a cashback donation to the cause you wish to support. You can shop with over 2000+ brand name retailers online and raise funds for North Edinburgh Arts.
It does not cost you anything to join or donate, and will not cost you a penny more than you would pay normally. Different companies offer different rates with up to 15% of every purchase donated.
The service is easy and it's FREE!
1) To start please click http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/northedinburgharts
2) Next, login using your username / password. This is how the system recognises who you are and which cause benefits when you make purchases.
3) Finally, click any of the retailer links provided and then shop just as you would normally.
That's all you need to do - apart from remembering to return to the Easyfundraising site next time you shop online!!
