The Role of Cultural Infrastructure

This workshop, The Role of Cultural Infrastructure, aimed to join together agendas on cultural planning, identify future opportunities and actions required for a coordinated approach to position culture at the heart of planning and place shaping. We explored how the cultural infrastructure in North Northamptonshire can adapt to the new opportunities and challenges of demographic and social change. It involved key cultural stakeholders in the area to ensure representative voices have been heard and the widest of concerns considered.

Opportunities identified include:
- Genuine desire to participate
- Emerging strategic arts network
- High levels of participation by local people
- Cross borough interest and dialogue

Weaknesses include:
- Sustaining interest and involvement in programmes
- Missing link with wider activities
- Investment and follow-through
- Heightened expectations without fulfilment leading to a negative legacy
- Lack of funding and exposure
- Marketing initiatives - we work in silos
- Multiple sub groups that don't join up and seem impenetrable
- Feeling of instability and difficulty to plan long-term
- Issues of match funding

What’s missing?
- Arts network with specific area groups
- Interpretation of historical heritage
- Explore heritage asset
- University outward looking
- Encourage undergraduates

Based on these issues we formed the following agenda:
1. Provision: what's missing and how can we develop the current offer?
2. Capacity and Expertise: we need to lift the provision and identify what can be achieved in the future
3. Development of Audience and Activities: is there a market for culture and how can we sustain their involvement beyond the 'big splash'?
4. Non-formal and Formal Cultural Partnerships: how can the amateur sector develop a role
5. Promotion: sharing the story
6. Sharing Knowledge Capture: advocacy achieved through creating an evidence base

1. Provision
- Connections can come through other organisations
- Carnival Arts Centre– pending ACE funding- could include costume making workshop, using industrial units, could link/ join up with towns
- Strategic Art Network- commission use of art in public spaces
- Outdoor strategy- county-wide participation in art event- part of Cultural Olympiad
- Creative Industry Space Portfolio- inward looking and looking beyond the county
- Spaces- v, short term contract at large cost
- Tourism Forum meets every 6-8 weeks


2. Capacity
- There is the capacity but funding does not extend to delivery
- Issues of management funding
- Data collection not used usefully

3. Audience and Activities
- Need to engage with communities- collective programming
- Need to explore how we feel about where we live
- There have been a number of county initiatives but nothing came from them
- Could link to rural communities e.g. Art Buses
- Could there be a role for arts and urban spaces?
- Issues within the County Council
- Organisations’ resources are limited- makes it difficult to attend forums/ meetings

4. Formal and Non-formal Cultural Partnerships
- Adrenaline Alley-Skating park
- There are currently ill-used venues that have no formal role but are and can be used for non-formal purposes and linked in to initiatives.
- Non-formal showcases need to be identified and could link into industry placements


5. Promotion- sharing the story
- There needs to be a demystification and increased visibility of the arts and cultural scene through a coherent communication approach.
- Need to take the activity to where the people are.
- Promotion of the sector could focus around potential future developments such as: Music Village; Wellingborough Cultural Quarter
- Information is difficult to find- there needs to be one channel to access what is going on rather than little bits of information from multiple sources

6. Sharing Knowledge Capture
- Need for joined up activities or information gathering to develop an advocacy role for the cultural sector
- There needs to be a shared platform or network
- An evidence base needs to be built to illustrate our role and our importance to the community

In conclusion to the discussion the following next steps were also identified:
- A visibility exercise
- Coherent communication approach
- Cross communication
- Joint promotion

If you feel you would like to have your input in the discussion please comment here.

We will be carrying out a wider consultation in the future. You can find out more information about this on this blog soon.