AMA Conference – what’s changing in organisations?

I enjoyed this year’s AMA conference a lot. I thought the debates were timely, speakers excellent and I caught up with colleagues I hadn’t seen for a while as well as meeting really interesting new people. I just wished that there were more colleagues from beyond marketing and audience development to share the experience…

From my perspective the highlights were:

Diane Ragsdale from the Andrew J Mellon Foundation – her excellent keynote combined inspirational ideas, practical actions, real examples and references for further reading. My takeaway is let’s move from being powerful gatekeepers to enthusiastic brokers.

An organisation that is already doing this is Watershed in Bristol, Dick Penny from there spoke about how he considers them  to be custodians of a shared culutral space and sees Watershed’s  role as bringing people togather around ideas that matter to them.

The urgent need for cultural organisations to change to keep pace with the changing world around us was a constant theme. This was brough to life by Cornerhouse in Manchester, whose experiment in adopting an open source way of working is inspired by Charles Leadbeater’s We Think. Still very much a work in progress,  Dave Moutrey and Sarah Perks shared the organisational changes they have made, which include merging their programming and marketing teams.

It is always a pleasure (and an enjoyable intellectual challenge) to listen to or read John Holden’s work, and his AMA appearance talking about the value of culture was no different. He eloquently outlined how our conceptions of art and culture have shifted  from simply ‘high’ and ‘low’  to ‘publicly funded’ ‘commercial’ and ‘home made’  – and what impacts this has had on how we organise and communicate about culture. Like Diane, he referenced Bill Ivey’s Arts Inc, which I’ve not read, but am about to track down…  Questions included a lively discussion on the role of ACE funding policies in shaping how we  value culture. The John thought I’m taking away is that people’s value of culture is, of course, subjective, and we need to help them to create their value through a relationship of mutual respect between organisations, artists and audiences.

Finally, and I’m sure  a big hit with most delegates, Dan Germain from the legendary Innocent shared the  now apocryphal story of how the company was founded and the principles that guide the way it works. Very entertaining, with totally relevant and practical things we can use in our own organisations:

• Know what you stand for – live your values
• Have a regular AGM (A Grown Up Meeting) – meet your customers, to talk to them and listen to them

and my favourite….

• Limit updates to 1 minute at team meetings

If you were there, what did you think?

GLA Culture ‘direction of travel’

At a consultation session for Waltham Forest Borough Council’s emerging cultural strategy, Tom Campbell from the GLA updated on the direction of travel for the Mayor’s emerging cultutral strategy, following on from the publication of  The Cultural Metropolis. He told the audience it was still early stages and the final cultural strategy is likely to be published in Summer 2010. Currently the main themes are:

No compromise on excellence – maintenance of existing investment

Patchiness of provision – ‘access to excellence’ – including a special Outer London Commission

Education and young people

Promotion of the city to Londoners

Public Realm

Maximising the impact of the arts during the recession…

Maybe we’ve heard enough about this, but this conference (by the CPPS and sponsored by ACE) came on the day of the announcement of funds being made available by ACE to support organsiations through the recession (see previous post…)… So, a concrete acknowledgement of practical help being required… and I think a first outing speach-wise for the new ACE Chair Liz Forgan.

Otherwise the general zeitgeist of the day was about how we could be working as arts organisations to provide evidence and make a better case for the arts being integral to society – through a new kind of narrative of value – (and an integral part of the way out of a recession) – about we should be shouting louder and encouraging our audiences to be more vociferous!

Several speakers talked about how we should also be working more effectively across sectors, across regions and across organisations to collaborate, connect, network share etc. etc.

There were also suggestions that if we know that we need to change, restructure or develop our organisations in any way – now is the time – we can’t put it off any longer.  New business models may be required…

And finally… we should not compromise in artistic programming, creativity or in support of our artists or staff – it is not the time to limit our ambitions as this will weaken our case and bore audiences!

There’s more, but that’s the general gist!

After the Crunch

A bleak budget just announced and with the only certainty that cuts to public spending will be made – what do those working in the creative economies really think?

‘After The Crunch, is a collaborative response to the global recession from those operating in the creative economy featuring contributions from prominent UK and international creative leaders and economists including Charles Leadbeater, Richard Florida, Iwona Blazwick, Edna dos Santos-Duisenberg, Stuart Cunningham, Will Hutton, Martin Bright and many more…’

You can download it free from Creative Choices website and also blog your responses too.

Should public funding be decided by the public?

The Directory of Social Change have aired their thoughts on BIG Lottery’s proposal to allow the public to have a say win who receives public funding. Their response was a resounding NO! What do you think? You can read the article here.

Arts policy: through the recession and beyond

In the current economic climate it’s more important than ever to keep scanning the policy horizon. How might shifts in policy – or potential changes of goverment – affect arts organisations already under pressure from an increasingly fraught economy?

Culture Secretary Andy Burnham warned  in January of potential government spending cuts in 2010, reminding subsidised arts organisations that they are not “immune” from downturn-prompted savings drives.

The proposed Arts Council England restructure announced on 25th February aims to save £6.5 million per year in administration costs, and to redistribute this saving directly across the sector. Read their briefing document for details of this vision for a streamlined ACE.

As David Cameron’s personal approval ratings reach an all-time high this week, and with the Conservatives still leading Labour in popularity polls, the cultural sector needs to consider the potential impact of Tory arts policies if the party comes to power in the next election. Read Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s keynote speech here, and see an Artistic Director’s response to it here.

Will Strong Communities be built on these rules?

Hi bloggers

As AL’s Community Engagement Coordinator, I’m going to pitch straight into my first post with news of the latest communities policy from No. 10.  The strategy released this month, Fair Rules for Strong Communities, is the government’s approach to ensuring there’s more equality during the credit crunch, or in the words of Hazel Blears (Sec of State for Communities and Local Gov)  ‘no-one should get a free ride’.  Measures include putting pressure on credit card companies to treat customers fairly, tighter restrictions on who can claim benefits (no longer available for single parents whose children are 7 and over) and a more visible  Community Payback scheme – for which the jackets below have been designed…