Arts 14

Task and Finish Group on Participation in the Arts

Response from Arts & Business Cymru

A&B Cymru’s role is to

In these difficult economic times as the public purse gets ever tighter, it is crucial that arts organisations ensure a balanced funding mix in order to survive and thrive. Securing income drawn from a number of sources, e.g. sponsorship, trusts and foundations, individual giving, money earned through ticket sales etc, is the best way to achieve long term sustainability.

Arts & Business UK’s annual Private Investment in Culture Survey showed that the private sector in Wales invested over £18 million in the arts in 2010/11. Unlike other parts of the UK, business in Wales has, for many years, cited engagement with local communities as the primary reason for supporting the arts. Inevitably though, as budgets reduced, demand for such projects decreased during the recession. A&B Cymru addressed this and through advocacy, brokerage, and its programmes, enabled a renewed enthusiasm for community projects.

The majority of projects enabled and supported by A&B Cymru - projects which simply could not happen without its input and intervention - have a tangible and lasting impact on communities.

A&B Cymru has delivered investment programmes for many years and they remain an effective tool to encourage mutually beneficial, long lasting and deep-rooted partnerships between the two sectors. Its two current programmes – CultureStep and Arts & Kids – work by investing public money into business / arts partnerships to make them stronger and more sustainable.

The programmes provide a considerable incentive, playing a key role in transforming business’ perception of the arts. For many companies, achieving bottom line objectives through arts partnership represents a departure from traditional ways of working. The investment programmes provide an effective way of reducing risk and A&B Cymru’s involvement gives significant reassurance about quality and success. A small initial investment often marks the beginning of substantial and long term successful partnership.

CultureStep was established in 2008 with funding from Welsh Government and Arts Council of Wales. An open application programme, CultureStep is aimed at businesses investing in the arts for the first time and those who wish to develop their existing partnerships.

Since its inception, CultureStep has levered almost £3.1 million into the arts from the private sector against a public spend of £407K – a return of £7.54 : £1.

Projects enabled by CultureStep have benefited children, the elderly, people in the workplace and local communities in every county of Wales. The results of this work are demonstrated by the findings below, which measures CultureStep achievement since 2008:

ü 80% of projects included activity which achieved social inclusion

ü 72% of projects included activity in priority areas of Wales. Investment has been made in all 22 local authority areas with 90% of projects including activity outside Cardiff

ü 33,500 young people, who wouldn’t otherwise have an opportunity, have engaged with the arts

ü 20,000 people in the community participated in training & development initiatives

In response to demand from business and the arts, A&B Cymru created a new programme in April 2011 to run alongside CultureStep.

Arts & Kids Invest is an open application funding programme designed to engage socially disadvantaged young people in the arts. Through Arts & Kids, A&B Cymru aims to encourage new sponsorship and grow established business engagement with the arts for the benefit of future generations in communities across Wales.

All Arts & Kids projects must aim to combat disadvantage and make a real difference to young people's lives through engagement with the arts. Examples of such disadvantage includes:

Since its inception in April 2011, Arts & Kids Invest has levered almost £190K from business against a public spend of just over £50K.

This combined investment has already benefitted 1,842 children facing disadvantage.

Below are brief examples of some recent partnerships enabled by A&B Cymru. Please note, these projects only represent a snap-shot of the investment programmes and A&B Cymru’s work in general.

WPD is supporting Tidy, a project that explores environmental themes through music, visual arts and poetry, promoting awareness of personal and community responsibility. It culminates in a professional performance. Arts & Kids has enabled 90 pupils from 3 Merthyr Schools to engage with the project.

The partners have strengthened their relationship thanks to Arts & Kids. Investment enabled an increase in freelance arts professionals working with young people leaving care. CTC’s Youth Theatre runs a weekly drama session for this group. Urenco supports the project as part of its CSR objectives.

Peninsula was principal sponsor of Summer Night Jazz 2011, a special outdoor concert held in the grounds of Plas Newydd on Anglesey. The business increased its investment in order to support a bursary scheme for local disadvantaged children to access the summer school provided by GYWM. Arts & Kids helped to fund bursaries for an additional 12 young people.

Brokered by A&B Cymru, this project enables 20 disadvantaged young people to learn film-making skills and develop self-esteem and confidence through taking part in a film project within their local area of Llanharan. Redrow Homes has a new development in the area and sponsors as part of its remit to support the communities in which it operates. The project will include a series of interactive workshop sessions, led by industry professionals. The workshops will assist the young people in developing the ideas, script and ultimate production of a short film. The short films will be a creative expression of the young people’s experiences of their local area. To consolidate the sense of ownership in the project, a local screening event will be held, which the young people will help to organise. Arts & Kids contributes to project costs and enables more young people to engage.

Llamau, which provides housing related support to homeless young people and vulnerable women in South Wales, is John Lewis Cardiff’s Charity of the Year. One of the developments made possible by John Lewis is a successful music project – the Big Sing. This choir helps participants to integrate, raising self-esteem and confidence. Llamau and John Lewis staff also take part and benefit from this unique social mix. CultureStep contributes to additional choir sessions and performances.

ScottishPower sponsored LIME for international marketing objectives. It supported the Children’s Day, which offered internationally themed workshops / performances. CultureStep enabled 200 additional children from 3 Communities First areas to attend the day, free of charge. The business was delighted with the partnership and continues its valuable support.

First-time sponsor Gamlins is supporting the David Nash exhibition at Mostyn. Arts & Kids helps Mostyn substantially increase the number of children engaged with the exhibition and enables them to produce their own work for exhibition at the gallery. Poetry workshops will also be held to mark National Poetry Day with renowned writers Gillian Clarke and Twm Morus.

The Passionwas the finale of NTW’s inaugural year, bringing Michael Sheen to his home town to direct and star in a one-off community theatre event in Port Talbot. The production took place over 3 days at Easter. It was a contemporary re-telling of the Passion involving 1,000 local people performing to an audience of over 12,000. Costain’s support furthered its CSR objectives in the region, where the company has infrastructure developments. CultureStep contributed to community artists’ fees.

OMA aims to regenerate the tradition of male singing in the Valleys by recruiting14-19 year old boys to participate in Only Boys Aloud. OMA set up 10 choirs in 10 rugby clubs, bringing 200 boys together to perform for the televised opening of the National Eisteddfod. The business supported the pilot project to meet CSR objectives and has since signed a substantial 3 year deal with OBA. A&B Cymru originally brokered this partnership and provided funding to help sustain this ground-breaking initiative.

Brokered by A&B Cymru, this project links 30-40 disadvantaged children from Cardiff and South Pembrokeshire. Valero operates oil terminals in both docks and is keen to benefit communities within its reach. The project takes place during the Jonathan Anderson Show between April - June 2012. Jonathon uses coal dust to make small sculptural images. The project will be themed on energy in all its forms. The children’s sculptures and installations will be exhibited locally before taking up permanent residence at their respective schools. Arts & Kids contributes to overall project costs.

First time sponsor Football Association of Wales partners Pippins Designs to engage disabled young people through the visual arts each time the Wales Football team plays in Cardiff, Swansea or Llanelli. FAW also uses the project to profile the new Wales Football Academy which opens in 2012. 400 disabled young people aged 11-18 from South & West Wales will take part, attending the venues to meet sporting heroes and paint their portraits. Arts & Kids helps fund materials and transport.

The partnership between Unity Trust and RCTCA is grounded in shared values that put social change, social benefit and the community at the core of the business. Arts & Kids contributes to community dance showcases, culminating in performances at the Muni Arts Centre and Park & Dare Theatre.

This weekend Festival plays an important role in the local cultural economy, providing a much needed boost in the ‘out of season’ period. Chevron is principal sponsor and smaller local businesses also contribute to the weekend. This support enabled the festival to secure 15 host venues and substantially develop its audience. CultureStep contributed to educational outreach which engaged 200 pupils at Tenby’s secondary school. Chevron is in its 7^th year of support in 2012.

D J Thomas, a Neath based family run coach firm wanted to raise its profile and support local children. It sponsored the theatre’s autumn schools production. Beetle Hunter. CultureStep funded free bilingual educational packs and museum trips. The initial sponsorship resulted in a 10% increase in bookings for D J Thomas and its partnership with the theatre company continues.

L&G sponsored UCAN Perform 2011 at WMC to support disadvantaged youngsters and create better understanding of disability among staff. Over 100 7-19 year olds attended a day of arts activities and workshops, with opportunities to perform on stage. L&G staff undertook RNIB Visual Awareness Training and acted as Volunteers. Arts & Kids enabled increased attendance and a souvenir CD.

The Boat Yard is sponsoring Ucheldre’s Cultural Olympiad exhibition, Following the Flame, which tracks the history of the Olympics with emphasis on the contribution made by Welsh athletes. CultureStep enables 330 Anglesey based primary school children to visit the exhibition and funds the provision of educational packs and workshops.

NPower opened a new Education Centre (ACE2) at Aberthaw Power Station. It partnered V&V to engage the local community with the development. CultureStep funded a video project for people aged 16+ to explore issues around power and the environment. The business was delighted with the project and felt it had improved corporate reputation, opened dialogue with local people, raised the profile of ACE2 and increased awareness of energy consumption, power and the environment.

Teenage boys from Pen Dinas will write, record and perform Dinas Raptiles, a rap project focused on their lives and aspirations. The track will be used in a music video featuring the rappers and involving the local community as well as staff from RCT Homes and the business partners. This is part of Valleys Kids’ Giving Kids A Voice initiative. Arts & Kids contributes to overall project costs.

First time arts sponsor Eclipse is sponsoring WMC’s Mariinsky Children’s Chorus. The Mariinsky Opera Company, under the baton of Maestro Valery Gergiev, performs in March 2012. To mark this event, children aged 9-13 across Wales will be given an opportunity to take part. Tim Rhys-Evans will audition and rehearse an 85 strong choir, with children learning the challenging Mahler repertoire.

Lloyds TSB has agreed a 3 year sponsorship of WMC to meet CSR and profile aims. The support incorporates an extensive series of Learning Weeks (in-house and outreach activities). CultureStep extends the partnership by contributing to community engagement through the medium of Welsh. A production bringing the magic of the language and live music to children launched at WMC and is currently touring across Wales.