EMARAN Autumn conference report and further information
Notes and case studies from Market Towns and Cultural Currency Conference
EMARAN’s second regional conference looked at the impact that exciting, ambitious arts projects can have on market towns, as well as in rural areas in general. It will showcased models of good practice and provided a forum to discuss the past, present and future challenges involved.
Presentations will covered a range of artforms including film, music, multi-arts, literature, music and outdoor spectaculars, from Newark, Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire. The research presentation focused on Newark’s EMDA-funded work exploring the economic impact of festivals and events in market towns.
This second conference was aimed primarily at organisations involved in rural regeneration, and at those funding, initiating or managing arts projects, whether small or large, in rural areas. However, we hoped that artists and creative industries found plenty to interest them during the day in terms of professional development and raising awareness of the broader context for arts in rural areas.
There were 70 people in attendance and the feedback from the day was supportive, showing a real enthusiasm for the sharing of best practice in rural culture across the region
You can download the delegate list
You can read the conference report below, or download it.
To find out more about EMARAN visit their page on this website at http://ruralculture-em.org/site/list/culture/emaran.
Market Towns and Cultural Currency
Introductions
The day began with a welcome to the event and background to EMARAN, including its new role as Active Communities Sub-group of the East Midlands Rural Affairs Forum, from Sue Stewart, Chair of EMARAN.
Speakers
Mark Stephens, Cultural Services Manager, Newark and Sherwood District Council
Mark Stephens of Newark and Sherwood District Council welcomed everyone to Newark and said that Newark were used to working in partnership with other organisations. They celebrate the success of their achievements and use successes to advocate for cultural services. Newark and Sherwood have a rich cultural heritage which justifies their high expenditure on culture. Newark and Sherwood covers one third of Nottinghamshire and faces the challenge of being a rural community. There are community organisations providing events in the district as well as the local authority. The District Council supports the organising bodies of these events and supports them with grant aid and advice/ health and safety / marketing / logistics. The Newark and Sherwood arts scene is thriving.
Mark then talked about the Rural Touring Cinema, which is based on the Derbyshire scheme. The aims of the scheme are to cover urban and rural areas and to be affordable and accessible. They have a vibrant network of promoters and increasing numbers of venues. The equipment is portable with the Palace Theatre, Newark, being the central hub. Equipment is hired for £70.50 and split 50/50 between the promoter and the District Council. (The DC put their money towards a maintenance and replacement fund.) Ticket prices are £3.50 for adults,££2.50 for children and £10.00 for a family ticket.
James Parkinson, Arts Development Officer, Newark and Sherwood District Council
James Parkinson then gave a presentation on Gallery 37plus after being introduced by Mark Stephens. The project is for creative training for young people. The scheme was pioneered in Chicago and brought to Birmingham in the UK. The scheme is very much about the arts and is designed to attract/appeal to young people. Newark and Sherwood are one of 5 regional partners given £1.3million over 3 years to run the scheme. The project is aimed at young people aged 16-24 and runs over 3 years. The young people have a programme of opportunities to develop their skills/work with artists.
Year 1 was about profile raising and establishing partnerships. Year 2 and Year 3 give taster sessions/developers and provide a 4 week summer school in July. The young people get to shadow artists. 70% of participants have achieved Bronze Art Awards and young people’s skills/behaviour/self esteem and confidence are increased. Gallery 37plus have worked with Youth Services/Connexions and schools and has involved 51 young people in 4 projects in 3 areas during the 4 week summer school programme. 35 Bronze Art Awards have been awarded. The 4 streams involved in this summer’s programme were jewellery design/making, which also involved running a shop to sell the jewellery, dancing and drumming, drama script and film, which involved a final performance at the Palace Theatre Newark, and photography and sound. James was pleased with the success of the project, particularly given that they were able to run the programme in rural areas.
For more information on Gallery 37plus, visit www.gallery37.org.uk
Liz Pugh, Aristic Director, Walk the Plank
Liz Pugh, gave a very entertaining presentation/slideshow of events organised by her company. Their most prestigious commission to date was the creation of the Lantern Procession for the Closing Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester 2002. She explained that even though their company had taken on some very high profile events and street celebrations, a lot of their projects were commissioned by smaller towns. One of their aims was to enable market towns to experience the high-quality and exciting street art that they often felt was for larger cities. They had been commissioned to devise a Christmas celebration for Newark's Christmas lights event and planned to present something very spectacular to wow the crowds. For more information about Walk the Plank, visit www.walktheplank.co.uk
Alun Bond, consultant on the EMDA funded research into the economic impact of festivals
The research project is funded by the East Midlands Development Agency and will take place over 2 years and is in its early stages. It is focussing on 6 festivals in Newark: Live and Local, Brass explosion, Food and Drink, Winter Festival, County show and the Jazz Festival and is taking information from 2 years for each event.
The methodology uses impact assessment tools that have been produced and is done through face to face surveys and self completion surveys (survey forms are distributed by stall holders/stewards with a pre-paid envelope and the ‘hook’ to get people to complete the forms is a prize of a £50 M&S voucher). They are also using existing reports/data.
Alun said that it is easy to identify primary spend at events but calculating secondary spend is more difficult – how can you tell if expenditure has been incurred as a direct result of the event? Also in Newark some events are free/open access – was someone coming to Newark anyway or coming for the festival and then happened to go shopping?
The results of the research and updates would be included on the EMDA website at www.emda.org.uk
Following lunch Wendy Green of Newark and Sherwood Arts introduced a performance of Food For Thought and then the group split into 2 parallel sessions, one of music festivals (Newark Jazz Festival and The Gate to Southwell Folk Festival) and one on literature festivals (Lowdham Book Festival and Oundle Literature Festival).
Music Festivals
Peter Duncan and Paul Sparks gave a presentation on Newark Jazz Festival, which took place on 16 May 2007. Peter and Paul are both involved in local business and the local business community wanted an event to market Newark. The Jazz Festival was decided upon as the appropriate vehicle for doing this. The event took place in local restaurants, cafes, bars and shops in the town centre and along the river. The local authority worked with the very strong business community to achieve the event which was a free access event in a range of venues, providing jazz for all tastes. The goal for the first year was not to lose money and to create demand for a 2nd event. In its 1st year there were 14 concerts in 20 venues and 4, 000 people attended.
There was extensive marketing for the event – the organisers’ enthusiasm meant that they worked very hard for 6 months raising the profile of the event. There was a lot of support from local businesses. This year was the 2nd year and the aim was to develop the audiences. For more information, visit www.newarkjazz.co.uk.
Literature Festivals
Ross Bradshaw, founder of Lowdham Book Festival, gave a presentation on the festival, first outlining the broader context of literature festivals nationally and regionally. Literature festivals are, on the whole, cheap/underpriced, and their cultural value exceeds their economic value. Their growth also reflected the growth in book groups, especially in libraries. Lowdham was established in 2000 by Ross Bradshaw, Literature Development Officer for Nottinghamshire, in partnership with Jane Streeter, manager of the Lowdham bookshop, The Bookcase.
In terms of audiences, Lowdham tends to attract a higher proportion of women, mostly aged around 50, many of whom are professionally qualified. Several thousand people attend the Lowdham Book Festival each year. It led directly to an expansion of The Bookcase, which is now in bigger premises with 6 part-time workers, in contrast to other local villages where shops were closing. There is also a linked film festival, Flicks in the Sticks, a winter weekend of events, writers’ groups and an opera summer performance. There are up to 350 people at any one festival event, with 60–70 events per year. The festival has partnerships with local schools and promotes local as well as nationally known writers. There is a village fete atmosphere.
Ross said that the issues for the future were, firstly, that the Lowdham experience was hard to replicate eg a poetry festival in Southwark did not quite work. Raising commercial sponsorship was difficult. The size of the festival was an issue, as Lowdham was a small village with limited capacity, and parking was an issue. There were also staffing issues. However, the success of the festival has made it a model for other small rural villages, not only for literature development but for arts development generally. It has brought together old families with new commuters living in the village, and provided economic development for The Bookcase, but the prime motivation has to be that you do it because you enjoy it. The priority is art for art’s sake, literature for literature’s sake. For more information on the festival visit www.lowdhambookfestival.co.uk.
Nick Turnbull, Chair of Oundle Literature Festival, explained that the festival had been operating for six years, and began when a local writer suggested the idea. They did some initial research by visiting festivals in King’s Lynn and Cheltenham. They focused on high profile authors initially to build up credibility, got a good book supplier, and brought in pupils to bump up audience figures in the first few years. They now have a Treasurer and the Tourist Information Centre sell tickets for them. They still focus mainly on big names in order to attract sponsors, but occasionally give lesser known writers a platform too. For more information visit www.oundlelitfest.org.uk.
Conclusions
Francois Matarasso (Culture East Midlands) thanked all the delegates for attending, and Rebecca Lee (Culture East Midlands) reminded delegates that they could keep up to date with rural culture developments and EMARAN developments on the East Midlands rural culture website at www.ruralculture-em.org.
Notes taken by Sarah Graves and Muriel Marr, artsNK.
last updated: 17-01-2008 11:16