Policy paper

Case Studies for the Culture White Paper

Published 23 March 2016

This documents sets out case studies and examples of current actions, projects and initiatives in the cultural sectors which illustrate the issues discussed in the Culture White Paper. Where possible, we have provided links to the websites of relevant organisations where you can find further information. This is not a comprehensive survey. There are many more people and organisations doing amazing, exciting and innovative things across the cultural sectors.

1. Educational Initiatives

1.1 Classical 100

The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, in partnership with Classic FM and Decca, has produced Classical Hundred, a free digital resource for all primary schools to help teachers introduce their pupils to classical music. It includes recordings of 100 classical pieces of music composed over ten centuries, ranging from children’s classics such as Peter and the Wolf and Carnival of the Animals, to works such as Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Handel’s Messiah. The recordings are supplemented by digital teaching resources, including information about the composers and the stories behind the music. Further information, including how to register

1.2 100 classic books for schools

Following a call to action by the Schools Minister Nick Gibb, Penguin Classics are making available class sets of 100 classic books.

The books are taken from Penguin’s popular Black Classics series and range from the earliest writings to early 20th Century works. The 100 books include fiction and non-fiction, poetry and prose and are part of a new initiative by the government to ensure there is more classic literature being taught in our schools. The books are on offer to schools for £100 as single sets or £3,000 for classroom sets of 30 copies of each of the 100 titles.

The closing date for this initiative is 30 June 2016. Schools can find out more information and order copies here.

1.3 Bethnal Green Academy and Artsmark

Bethnal Green Academy was awarded Artsmark Gold status in October 2014. The Academy was commended for proactively creating opportunities for all students to access and develop through the arts as well as generating significant personal and social outcomes across the whole student body.

A commitment to excellence in cultural education and the arts is deeply embedded within Academy life and ethos. All students have access to arts-based activities regardless of their choices at GCSE and A level. The curriculum embraces elements of drama, dance, music and art to support and enhance an engaged learning experience. Projects have been wide ranging: from small classroom based activities such as a roman banquet in Latin, to those on an international scale, such as a WWII drama collaboration with a school in Seattle.

The Academy uses partnerships and connections with arts organisations to enhance its student experience. Work with vocal specialists, artists and arts organisations have improved student progress whilst opening up the Arts as a career pathway. Students are provided with high quality work placements and integral support in applying to foundation courses. The extended, rich, academy student experience includes visits to the theatre, art galleries, workshops, arts careers fairs, journalism conferences and taster course days.

Volunteer arts ambassadors sit on the student council; they promote the arts across the school and help to select organisations to work with the school. Students can earn bronze and silver Arts Awards and their work is celebrated with an annual Oscars Awards evening, creative newsletters and ‘What’s on in the Arts’ promotional leaflets.

The Academy now has had the highest student attendance level in Tower Hamlets for the last four years at 97.6 per cent, over 90 per cent of students achieved 5 or more GCSE’s A*-C including English and maths (placing the Academy in the top 5 nationally) and 91 per cent of students volunteer on a regular basis gaining life skills of tolerance, respect and community spirit.

1.4 In Harmony

In Harmony is helping to transform children’s lives in some of the most deprived parts of England. It is based on Venezuela’s El Sistema programme, and introduces children to orchestral music.

In April 2012 In Harmony was extended from three programmes to six, and now reaches over 4,000 children in 20 schools. A further three schools joined the programme in 2015/16.

In 2014/15, In Harmony Liverpool expanded into the Everton Family and Children’s Centre with musicianship sessions involving 200 early years children and their families; In Harmony Nottingham has expanded the programme into additional schools with the framework In Harmony gold, silver and bronze, with the original core ‘gold’ schools now hosting area band centres open to all pupils from the area; and eight particularly talented children from In Harmony Newcastle now attend the Centre for Advanced Training at the Sage Gateshead.

In Harmony is jointly funded by the government, Arts Council England and local authorities. Between 2012 and 2015 the government and Arts Council England committed £3 million to the programme. The government made a subsequent commitment of £500,000 for 2015-16.

Further information about the In Harmony project

1.5 TES Pilot

On 23 March 2015 a new pilot was announced by the Times Educational Supplement (TES), to be led by Arts Council England, together with the British Museum, the British Film Institute, the V&A and the Royal Shakespeare Company. The partner organisations have made a strategic commitment to work together to ensure that make available hundreds of thousands of images, videos, classroom resources, artist and maker’s guides, archive film clips and celebrity interviews, professional development materials and lesson packs will be accessible through the TES Resources platform. Arts Council England is working with Artswork and CapeUK to test ways in which the TES cultural partnership can be used to increase the impact and reach of its work.

1.6 Clore Learning Spaces

The Clore Duffield Foundation continues to provide generous donations to charitable organisations across the UK including many arts organisations and projects. For over 15 years, the Foundation has funded museum, gallery and heritage learning spaces across the UK with donations ranging from from £2.5m for Clore learning centres in national museums such as the British Museum, to donations of around £5,000 for single rooms in local history heritage buildings. Clore Learning Spaces have already been established at the Bristol Old Vic, the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield and the Sage in Gateshead and five more learning spaces are due to join the programme from 2016. To accompany the programme, the foundation provides learning space applicants with basic guidance on cost; lighting levels; location, use and nature of space; dimensions; programming; display; architect’s plans; and best practice examples. It has also published a number of pieces of research looking at the benefits of creative spaces for children.

Further information about Clore Learning Spaces

1.7 BBC Ten Pieces Initiative

The BBC, with support from Arts Council England, produced the Ten Pieces initiative, which aimed to engage 7-11 year olds with classical music. Ten pieces of music were selected to inspire children to produce their own responses to the pieces - through a variety of forms including dance and art. It also included a specially produced film for schools. The success of the scheme has seen it expand in 2015 to secondary schools for children aged eleven and above. A free specially produced DVD is available to every primary and secondary school as part of the initiative.

Further information about Ten Pieces Initiative

1.8 Royal Opera House - Chance to Dance

The Royal Opera House’s education programme in Thurrock works to support and develop the learning and creativity of people of all ages. Since the Royal Opera House began its work in Thurrock in 2007 it has engaged with over 60,000 people. The Royal Opera House’s Chance to Dance works with 24 primary schools in Thurrock and the London Boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark to provide a creative introduction to ballet for all Year 3 children through a mix of Royal Ballet demonstrations and practical workshops. Children are invited to join the Chance to Dance Company for up to four years, going to weekly classes locally, attending family days at the Royal Opera House and working towards an annual performance alongside dancers from the Royal Ballet.

Further information about Chance to Dance

1.9 U. Dance

U.Dance is the national dance performance framework that celebrates and supports dance by children and young people, both in and out of school. Set up in 2008 and managed by One Dance UK, the framework includes a free registration scheme for people running performances and a national youth dance festival, where each year some of the best work selected from across England is showcased in a professional venue. The festivals have a strong background in showcasing work including disabled young people and in 2015, 8 per cent of the dancers were disabled (5 per cent of all children and young people have a disability). Since it began in 2008, the U.Dance framework has involved 1153 dance performances involving 164,863 young dancers.

Further information about U.Dance

1.10 Workers Educational Association

The Worker’s Educational Association (WEA) is the UK’s largest voluntary sector provider of adult education, delivering education to 70,000 adult students in England and Scotland each year. It works with 350 partner organisations, delivers education in over 2500 community venues and has over 400 volunteer branches, the majority of which organise adult education in the field of arts and culture. In 2014/15, over 2,000 classes took place in crafts, creative arts and design with over 28,000 students starting a course, including over 2,000 students in 178 creative writing classes, and over 6,500 students in 474 performing arts classes. Of the students taking part, 22 per cent were from black or ethnic minority backgrounds and 41 per cent had a disability. Half of the students were on means-tested benefits and 28 per cent from disadvantaged postcodes. The courses provided by the WEA are very successful. On average, the classes have a success rate of 95.5 per cent. A WEA Impact study from 2015 found that 81 per cent of all students at the WEA are involved in more cultural activities which includes reading, following their participation in a WEA class- regardless of the subject. In a survey of their students, the study found that 36 per cent of all students valued the arts, music or literature more than they had previously whilst 35 per cent had a greater understanding of other cultures.

Further information about WEA

2. Equality and Diversity

2.1 Attitude is Everything

Attitude is Everything improves deaf and disabled people’s access to live music by working in partnership with audiences, artists, and the music industry. It encourages events producers to go beyond the legal obligations set out in the Equality Act and implement best practice, providing a fair and equal service to their deaf and disabled customers. Attitude is Everything supports the music industry to understand deaf and disabled people’s access requirements at music venues and festivals by building equality into the strategic process using a Charter of Best Practice. Over 100 venues and festivals have already signed.

Further information about Attitude is Everything

2.2 Ben Uri Gallery

The Ben Uri Gallery is looking to create a new type of museum, focussed on art, identity and migration. They aim to use art to develop social integration and enhance creative skills, by sharing both space and platforms with other minority communities, based on their assessment that immigrant and poorer communities can respond positively to home-produced programming but are unconnected with the existing traditional museum offer from “establishment” Britain.

The Ben Uri collection consists of works predominantly by 20th century immigrant artists, often highlighting examples by modern and contemporary émigré artists from other minority communities, as well as the original Jewish community in which the gallery originated. Their Spring 2016 exhibition ‘Unexpected’ brings together works from their collection with works by UK artists from the Caribbean and Pakistan as well as those of recent refugee artists, who are trying to find their feet and place in this country. Ben Uri’s plan for a new museum of art, identity and migration in London is to radically address the issues of ‘separation’ and lack of ‘representative voices’ head on by redesigning the traditional museum template. The entrance space will invite up to ten different local communities, on a four month rotating basis, to curate a “pop-up” exhibition, telling their story of their journeys to London and life experiences in our great capital city. The second, linked space will be a jointly curated art exhibition, incorporating artists from each community represented and providing the opportunity to encourage and develop curatorial skills through special training.

Further information about Ben Uri Gallery

2.3 Jerwood Charitable Foundation

The Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries launched in 2015 following a pilot scheme from 2010-2012 which was supported by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council England. These UK-wide bursaries tackle the specific challenge of the lack of socio-economic diversity in the arts workforce, offering alternatives to what was previously the endemic issue of unpaid internships being the main, exclusive, entry point to getting paid work. The programme supports the potential artists and arts leaders of the future; those who in turn should be powerful advocates for the cultural change needed to achieve real, ingrained diversity.

The programme has recruited 40 of the best arts organisations across the UK to create 40 new developmental roles for recent graduates from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds who have received full maintenance grants throughout university. A training and development programme runs alongside each placement. The previous programme, concluding in 2012, yielded outstanding results. 90% of bursary recipients were employed in the arts at conclusion of the evaluation, compared to 39% of the control group. Of hosts, 90% confirmed they would target less affluent applicants again, 60% extended their placement’s contract and 33% made the new roles permanent, making job creation another major success of the scheme.

The Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries programme is run by Jerwood Charitable Foundation with the support of Garfield Weston Foundation, Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation and J Paul Getty Jnr Charitable Trust.

Further information about the Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries

3. UK City of Culture

The UK City of Culture programme is a national cultural event spread over a year which aims to use culture as a catalyst for change. It was developed as a specific UK event following Liverpool’s success as European Capital of Culture in 2008 and takes place every four years. Winning the title helps cities to attract more visitors, bring communities together, raise the profile of culture in the city, and promote new partnerships and collaborations.

Over 1 million people visited Derry-Londonderry during its year as UK City of Culture in 2013. It is estimated that being the UK City of Culture 2017 will deliver a £60 million boost to Hull’s local economy in 2017 alone.

3.1 Hull, UK City of Culture 2017

In the 2016 Budget the government announced an additional £13 million in funding for Hull 2017, including £5 million towards the refurbishment of Hull New Theatre, and £8m to ensure there is a lasting legacy from the UK City of Culture year. Last year, the government provided £1.5 million to help the Ferens Art Gallery host the 2017 Turner Prize, and Arts Council England increased their investment in Hull, with over £3 million for national portfolio organisations in the city for 2015-18.

Further information about Hull, UK City of Culture 2017

4. Quality of Life

4.1 The Whitworth

The Whitworth is part of the Manchester Partnership with Manchester City Galleries and Manchester Museum. In 2015, it reopened following a major £15 million refurbishment. The refurbishment has already proved to be a great success - the Whitworth was named Museum of the Year 2015 and in three months broke its previous annual attendance record.

The Whitworth engages with its local community and makes the most of its new space and surroundings to be as open and accessible as possible to everyone. Its education team have worked on creating new approaches to working with traditional non-arts audiences including local people living in low income areas and making the Gallery a welcome environment. The Gallery has made community engagement a key part of its work, for example through programmes to bring families to the Gallery, work with the local Muslim community, an award winning programme for babies and very young children to introduce them to art and music from an early age which supports child development and communication, alongside programmes for older people working in partnership with Age Friendly Manchester to design events by older people for older people.

Further information about the Whitworth

4.2 Superact

Superact, a not-for-profit arts organisation has been funded by the government since 2012 to deliver a grassroots annual music festival called Our Big Gig in communities across the country. Every event is organised by local volunteers working on the ground with support from Superact. Each is free to attend, showcases local talent and diverse music genres, and provides a range of activities that encourage people to get involved with music locally.

Further information about Superact

4.3 Streetwise Opera

Streetwise Opera is an award-winning charity that uses music to help people who have experienced homelessness make positive changes in their lives, running weekly music programmes in homeless centres and arts venues across England. Productions platform the skills of performers in a professional arena. Streetwise’s work improves wellbeing and increases social inclusion for some of the country’s most vulnerable and socially excluded people. In 2014-15 it helped nearly 800 participants, of which 97 per cent felt their mental health had improved, 83 per cent felt they had developed better relationships with other people, and 84 per cent felt motivated to try new things.

Further information about Streetwise Opera

4.4 The Agency

The Agency is based on a model developed in Brazil and adapted to a UK context. It supports young people to become cultural ambassadors and social entrepreneurs. The project is now in its third year. The model involves arts organisations supporting young people, many living in deprived estates in London and Manchester, in reaching their ambitions and in overcoming disadvantages experienced due to cultural and social inequality. Arts organisations support the young people in developing their talents through various methods such as mentoring by businesspeople and others. It is a good example of where different funders have come together collaboratively, including the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation as broker and founder funder, alongside Arts Council England, the British Council and the Big Lottery Fund, and Battersea Arts Centre and Contact Theatre as partners.

Further information about The Agency

4.5 Plus One

Plus One is a project led by Derby Theatre which works with children in care and care leavers in Derby and Derbyshire giving them increased opportunities to participate and engage in the arts across the city. The project was seed funded by the region’s Bridge organisation, The Mighty Creatives through their Innovation Fund to increase individual philanthropy for young people with fewer opportunities to benefit from the arts. When the public are buying a ticket for themselves in a Derby venue, they are encouraged to “plus one” i.e. buy another a ticket for a young person in care or a care leaver. With support from Barnardo’s, Derbyshire County Council and Derby City Council to help ensure the tickets and opportunities reach the right participants, the project now works across the city’s cultural campus with arts organisations Déda, QUAD and Baby People. Starting in December 2013, it has now raised over £35,000 and enabled over 1,500 positive arts experiences for young people and their carers. Derby Theatre also work with young people on long-term projects, developing deeper relationships and more significant opportunities such as paid work and apprenticeships.

4.6 Beamish: The Living Museum of the North

Beamish is a large regional open air museum in the North East of England which uses its collections to tell the story of everyday life in the region. It is an excellent example of how museums can be successfully developed to play an important role in a region’s economy through cultural tourism, whilst also acting as a vibrant community and educational resource.

The Museum’s visitor numbers have grown significantly, from 297,000 in 2008 to 675,000 in 2016. More than half of these visitors are tourists from outside the North East region and importantly, nearly 90 per cent stay overnight in serviced accommodation as well as going on to visit other attractions. More than half of these tourists visit the North East because of Beamish, demonstrating its strong role in the local economy.

As visitor numbers have risen turnover has increased to more than £10 million and the museum has moved from being reliant on public funding to becoming entirely self-sufficient in revenue terms. At the same time this growth has enabled the workforce to more than double, to over 400, in the past six years.

Beamish is also an inclusive attraction, with more than half of all visitors in lower income groups. The museum acts as a focal point for local people to explore their own history, and some 45,000 children make use of its educational offer every year. It is also developing an innovative centre for groups of older people, including those living with dementia.

Over the next 4 years the Museum plans to invest more than £17 million with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, creating new ways for people to experience the history of the North East including a 1950s Town and overnight accommodation in exhibits. The investment will help Beamish further enhance its impact by creating 95 jobs, 50 apprenticeships and attracting 100,000 more tourists to the North East.

5. Health case studies

5.1 ArtLift

ArtLift provides an Arts on Prescription service, primarily in GP practices, funded by Gloucestershire NHS. Dr Simon Opher, who inspired the programme by working with artists in his surgery, found that GP consultations dropped during the year after patients were seen by artists, compared to the year before, while hospital admissions also decreased. This represented a total saving to the NHS of £576 per patient (as compared to the £360 per patient it costs to operate ArtLift. A parallel mixed methods analysis by University of Gloucestershire, demonstrated increases in subjective wellbeing by virtue of the ArtLift project.

5.2 Dance for Parkinson’s

Dance for Parkinson’s is a UK-wide network providing high-quality dance lessons for people with Parkinson’s which has been shown to increase functional mobility and enhance quality of life. The network represent a range of dance styles from tango to ballet and includes small classes in rural communities as well as programmes run by national organisations such as English National Ballet. Every class is run by specially trained teachers dedicated to providing participants with an exceptional dance experience.

5.3 Baring Foundation

The Arts Council England and Baring Foundation Arts and Old People fund programme aims to encourage residential care providers in partnership with arts organisations to commit to and invest in on-going programmes that give residents access to high quality arts experiences, creating a series of sustainable exemplar programmes, and showcasing artistic excellence in residential care homes. It was announced at the end of 2013 that there were four successful applicants that would be funded from the £1 million fund: Arts and Health Cornwall (arts activities in residential settings in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset), The Courtyard (participatory arts projects in care homes in the South and Midlands), We Do (arts project in care homes in Yorkshire), and Abbeyfield (arts for older people in residential care in the East Midlands).

5.4 Greenhive Care Home

The Paul Hamlyn Foundation has funded the Magic Me project in Greenhive Care Home, Peckham. The project was developed in partnership with Punchdrunk theatre company as part of a ground-breaking two year programme of Artist Residencies in care homes. It has been a unique opportunity for Magic Me to share over 25 years of intergenerational practice and experience of running arts projects in care homes with some of the UK’s leading performing arts companies.

The project seeks to challenge ageist attitudes that, being old, residents will not wish to enjoy up-to-date work, and provides care home residents with access to top level arts experiences, even if they are physically or mentally frail. It was Punchdrunk’s first work with older people. It retained their unique style but they talked powerfully about their own learning and how their participatory approach had been modified. It is an excellent example of how the highest quality work can be made available in care home settings and how powerful the experience was for both residents and carers.

5.5 Hoot

Hoot is an arts and health organisation offering a range of opportunities for people to get involved in music and dance, and other creative activities, as a way of improving physical and emotional wellbeing. From its base in Huddersfield, it works with local groups and communities to develop creative projects and services that everyone can take part in. Its adult mental health programme Out of the Blue seeks to build partnerships with individuals that identify strengths, work toward goals, build confidence and skills and support progress, while the Sing Well wellbeing harmony choirs aiming to enhance mental health and reduce isolation for people over 55.

5.6 Meet Me At The Albany

Meet Me At the Albany was launched In 2013, with support from Lewisham Council’s Community Directorate, Entelechy Arts and the Albany. Meet Me at the Albany is a creative arts club for the over 60s that asks: What could be possible if the isolated old were supported to attend their local arts centre, instead of a day centre? Meet Me at the Albany is a bold new approach to daycare providing a regular meeting place where participants can become involved in creative workshops, experience performances from leading artists or simply sit back and enjoy the atmosphere, as well as enjoying a home cooked hot meal and beverages for just £6 a day.

Lewisham Council have committed £110,000 per annum for the next three years and are looking to extend the project into different settings such as sheltered local housing. The project is likely be rolled out to other London Boroughs and beyond.

5.7 Paintings in Hospitals

Paintings in Hospitals uses visual art and creative activities to improve the health and wellbeing of patients, service users, carers, and the public. With a diverse art collection of almost 4,000 artworks, and four artwork loan schemes, Paintings in Hospitals helps health and social care providers introduce art into their environments, make health and social care sites more stimulating, and help patients, visitors, and staff to engage with art.

5.8 Reading Well Books on Prescription

The Reading Well Books on Prescription was launched In 2013 by the Society of Chief Librarians and The Reading Agency. It is a national programme endorsed by public health organisations, which helps people manage their mental health and wellbeing by providing accredited self-help reading through libraries. Books about common mental health conditions and dementia can be prescribed by GPs and health professionals or are simply available for anyone to borrow, and a young people’s mental health list is being developed.

The national evaluation of the first year of the scheme (2013-14) showed that 275,000 people borrowed a book from the list. All the prescribers surveyed said the scheme was useful in helping people understand their conditions, 90 per cent of readers found the books helpful, and over one third said that their symptoms reduced.

5.9 Start

Start in Salford uses creativity to help vulnerable people improve their skills and gain in confidence. Their Inspiring Minds programme offers Arts on Prescription, aiming to improve well-being, self-worth, and greater confidence. Each workshop lasts for three hours, with people initially attending once a week, with the option of joining a leisure group at Start after completion. Classes include visual arts, photography, horticulture, calligraphy, ceramics, and textiles.

5.10 Stroke Association Singing Groups

The Stroke Association has five singing groups across the UK which are either self-funded, voluntary groups or set up through development grant opportunities within the regions. Singing Groups are a great way to help Stroke Survivors receiver from a life changing event. A stroke occurs when the blood supply to the brain is cut off - without blood, brain cells can be damaged or die. This damage can affect the way a person’s body works – over 50 per cent of stroke survivors state they have problems with slurred speech.

Attending a singing group can help stroke survivors in numerous ways from improving their communication skills, to increasing confidence, improving mood as well as reducing social isolation.

The feedback from attendees speaks for itself: “I don’t get out much other than appointments. It’s the highlight of my week.” “we get such a buzz from performing and the feedback we get is great and keeps us going. I am learning new things and people come up to us after and say such nice things”

5.11 Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums wellbeing

Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums operates a number of specialised outreach programmes. These include Recovering Identities through Heritage and Culture (RICH), a programme specifically for people recovering from addiction or who are involved in the criminal justice system, the Wellbeing Programme for people with mental health issues, the Platinum Programme targeting people aged over 55 and a Satellite Community Exhibition Programme, supporting communities across Tyne & Wear to build exhibitions together and displaying them in those communities. Sessions include talks and tours, object handling, art workshops, sound recording, local history sessions, creative writing and family history study.

5.12 National Museums Liverpool - House of Memories

This award winning training programme targets the carers of people living with dementia, equipping participants with practical skills and knowledge to facilitate a positive quality of life experience. It has trained over 7,000 carers across Liverpool and the UK and is expanding its partnerships across health, housing and social care. It is an excellent example of how participation with culture, through objects, archives and stories at the Museum of Liverpool can have a meaningful impact on vulnerable people in the community.

There is also a House of Memories ‘Buddy’ programme to support the local community that cares for the growing number of people living with dementia. The ‘Buddy’ days invite friends, family and volunteer carers to the Museum to find out more about dementia and the support that is available.

The government supports further roll out of this programme, with the programme being taken to sites in the South East including the British Museum and Brighton Royal Pavilion and Museum.

6. Arts and the Justice system

6.1 National Alliance for Arts and Criminal Justice

The National Alliance for Arts in Criminal Justice currently has over 700 members working across the arts in prisons, probation settings and in the community. There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating the impact of arts on reducing reoffending, supporting life chances and improving well-being. Below are a few examples of projects their members are involved in:

• UNITAS – working nationally to reduce youth offending

  Unitas is a well known national charity that works in partnership with the Youth Justice Board using arts and cultural training to help young people access mainstream education. Unitas’ Summer Arts Colleges is a unique programme targeting young people on Detention and Training Orders (DTOs). Research shows that the proportion of young people achieving Level 1 for literacy and numeracy skills almost doubled between starting and completing the programme, and the average rate for re-offending almost halved. You can find out more about their work via the Unitas website

• DANCE UNITED – using innovative dance to engage those at risk in Yorkshire and Kent

  Dance has a long and successful history of engaging young people. An evaluation of the two-year experimental phase of Dance United’s Academy project showed measurable increases in young people’s capacity to learn. In this two-year period six 12-week cohorts involving more than 70 young offenders and young people at risk of offending passed through the Academy, including referrals from schools, HMP/YOI Askham Grange, HMP/YOI Wetherby, Bradford YOT and Leeds YOS. The programme imparted a range of so-called ‘soft’ skills, which can, in turn, be linked to very favourable ‘hard’ outcomes in criminal justice terms.

• ODD ARTS – restorative justice in Manchester

  Odd Arts has recently developed a Restorative Justice toolkit in collaboration with young people, which equipped the beneficiaries with skills to resolve disputes and support future choices. They have an excellent track record of engaging young people with a 90 per cent completion and attendance record. They also work with young people to explore complex issues such as anti-extremism, managing home-life and dealing with conflict. You can find out more about their work by visiting their website

• The Irene Taylor Trust – working in London with NEETS

  Making Tracks is a project that targets young people in Lambeth at elevated risk, including those on the fringes of the criminal justice system and those who are NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training). Making Tracks aims to expand the horizons of the young people through an intensive workshop week, culminating in a live performance to the local community, followed up by a series of music sessions over 4 weeks. Working in partnership with The Prince’s Trust Fairbridge Programme, the young people receive pastoral support and bespoke guidance to further development opportunities. For more information visit their website

• HELIX ARTS – working with young people in the North East

  Helix Arts work with artists and communities facing multiple disadvantages to co-produce great art. They have worked in the North East for over 30 years delivering innovative art programmes across the community with great success. They have recently published “Tuned In” – a creative resource pack designed in partnership with Music in Prisons for support workers to use with young women in/at risk of being caught up in Criminal Justice system. This pilot is currently being evaluated by Middlesex University. They are also in conversation with senior members of Restorative Justice team to explore ways of working with artists and young people in Darlington as part of the overall Restorative Justice programme.

• SYNERGY THEATRE - using trained ex-prisoners as creative facilitators with young people

  Synergy’s Education Programme based in London engages young people who are most at risk of entering, or have already entered, the criminal justice system through high quality, theatre-based activities. These activities are delivered by professional practitioners supported by trained ex-prisoner facilitators whose first-hand experience of the consequences of crime brings an authenticity to the work and engages the young people in a real and honest way. Their productions and films explore crime related themes and currently tour to young people in schools, Pupil Referral Units (PRUs), Youth Offending Institutes (YOIs) in London and the Unicorn Theatre. For more details visit their website

• Clean Break – working with women in the criminal justice system

  Clean Break provide high-quality theatre-based courses, qualifications, training opportunities and specialist support which are critical for the rehabilitation of women offenders in prisons and the community. They also produce ground-breaking and award-winning plays which dramatise women’s experience of, and relationship to, crime and punishment. Through their targeted programme Brazen they engage young women ages 17-24 in Camden. They provide structured education and training in the arts specifically for young women who have experience of the criminal justice system and/or are at risk of offending due to alcohol/substance misuse or mental health needs. For more information visit their website

• KOESTLER TRUST – showcasing offender arts and providing through-the-gate opportunities

  The Koestler Trust receives over 8,000 entries a year - inspiring offenders to take part in the arts, work for achievement and transform their lives. Its national exhibition attracts 20,000 visitors - showing the public the talent and potential of offenders and people in secure settings. In 2015, five out of the six Koestler exhibition hosts went on to secure permanent employment with the Southbank Centre. They currently have an exhibition at the Baltic Arts Centre in Gateshead curated by students of the Behaviour Support Service, with guidance from artist Paul Merrick. It features an extensive range of artwork including painting, drawing, sculpture, and creative writing from entries to the 2015 Koestler Awards. For more information visit their website

6.2 Watts Gallery, Compton, Surrey

The Watts Gallery near Guildford is a purpose-built art gallery created to display the works of the Victorian artist G. F. Watts. The Gallery also manages the Archives and Library, the Grade I listed Watts Chapel designed by Mary Watts, and runs a number of projects that benefit the local community.

The Big Issues project provides people affected by social exclusion with an opportunity to work with a contemporary artist to explore the collection at the Watts Gallery, learn art and design skills and express ideas and issues they care about. In the past year the Watts Gallery has worked with a number of socially excluded groups, including prisoners, single parents and vulnerable young people.

In the case of prisoners at HMP Send, a closed female training prison in Surrey, the women’s artwork becomes a vital part of their rehabilitation journey and their personal development programme to meet Home Office targets which gives them a focus that might lead to training or employment after their release.

During the 2014/15 programme nine young people on the At Risk register received bronze Arts Awards, gaining qualifications for the first time and five young people on the At Risk register returned to formal education or found employment and were removed from the At Risk register.

The Big Issues work with prisons has been recognised by the National Alliance for Arts in Criminal Justice as an example of best practice and will soon be published.

6.3 Derby University and Derby Theatre

In 2009 the University of Derby set up Derby Theatre in the then empty city centre building that previously housed Derby Playhouse. This restored a producing theatre to the county at the same time as providing the University’s Theatre Arts students with the chance to learn in a professional environment. In 2012 the organisation developed a new business model as a Learning Theatre with the support of Arts Council England. The model now shapes, influences and transforms the landscape of theatre and learning: producing high quality professional theatre that unlocks learning at every level for audiences, artists, participants, students and staff. There are plans to further open the theatre-making process with learning and engagement opportunities for all, including those from the most deprived backgrounds, becoming a laboratory where excellence is thriving and celebrated.

125 students every week have lectures at the theatre and have the opportunity to engage in the professional programme through training, shadowing and assisting schemes enabling them to learn through integration with our professional process. Research on the impact of these programmes is on-going and early findings prove that this model impacts significantly on the students’ confidence, knowledge and employability. Thus far the £2.5m of capital expenditure, plus the revenue support, demonstrates the University’s financial commitment to a public-facing professional theatre.

6.4 University Museums - Kick Arts at the Pitt Rivers Museum

Kick Arts aims to re-engage vulnerable young people with education through arts workshops tailored to their interests, the long-term goal being to enable participants to return to full time education. Pitt Rivers Museum hosted and collaborated with Oxford Youth Arts Partnership Trust (OYAP) for the programme in 2015, providing an inspirational setting for the young people, being host to one of the world’s finest collections of anthropology and archaeology from around the world.

Kick Arts transformed the Museum’s annexe into a hive of creative activity for the young people. Working with specialist artists using new and interesting practices and materials the young people found inspiration outside of their habits and comfort zones in order to encounter new possibilities, partaking in activities such as; screen printing, photographic challenges, multi-dimensional map making, painting, drawing, melting crayons, writing poems, creating performative art experiments, thinking, singing, problem solving, rapping, laughing, playing and talking about culture and art.

By working within the museum setting Kick Arts created a safe space for enquiry and collaboration between young people and arts professionals. Young people created their own learning journey and benefited from the opportunity to lead others. The programme enabled all to attain an Arts Award, which provided a working structure for the young people and opportunity for further progression and qualifications, culminating with an exhibition and celebration event hosted by the Pitt Rivers Museum.

7. Historic Built Environment

7.1 The Ivy House

The Ivy House in Nunhead, South London is a traditional 1930s pub which retains many original features. It went to a private developer in April 2012 and the local community feared that the building would be converted into flats or retail space. A campaign was launched to keep the building in its original use. The campaign steering group became a Community Benefit Society and sought to acquire the pub for the local community. Shortly before the pub was closed it was Grade II listed, and the society used the Localism Act to have it designated as an asset of Community Value: the first in the country. Funding was acquired from the Architectural Heritage Fund, Social Investment Business Group and community fundraising to buy and refurbish The Ivy House. The pub reopened in August 2013, regaining its position in Nunhead as a community hub and an important local landmark with strong cultural significance. The building is used to host community support services and boosts the local economy by using local suppliers.

7.2 The Sill: National Landscape Discovery Centre

The Sill, Northumberland, is a bold, ambitious project that will transform how people of all ages understand and explore the landscapes, history, culture and heritage of Northumberland and the wider North East. A major purpose of The Sill is to enable the landscapes of Northumberland National Park and surrounding Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty to be opened up to even more people, including children, families, older people, disabled people and those who are less confident at exploring natural places.

The Sill will create a gateway from which extensive learning and research activities will be provided and aims to become a leading education facility for landscape, conservation, countryside management, leisure, and tourism skills.

The Sill aims to deliver substantial economic benefits to the area too - including a Rural Growth Hub to support twenty rural enterprises and a range of opportunities for local businesses - ensuring an impact in Northumberland and beyond.

7.3 Aldwyck Housing Group, 1-4 St Paul’s Square, Bedford

Aldwyck Housing Group is a project aimed to rescue a terrace of four historic buildings from dereliction and re-use the floor space to provide affordable town centre accommodation. The buildings trace over 555 years of Bedford’s architectural and civic history.

The buildings had fallen out of use in 1969, narrowly avoiding demolition. Over the next 46 years the condition of the properties declined, threatening the historic fabric. The project was led by Aldwyck Housing Group, who were originally approached by Bedford Borough Council with a proposed scheme to bring the buildings back into use for affordable housing.

Given the high cost of repair, grant and public funding sources played a significant part in achieving a viable scheme, with funding from Bedford High Street Townscape Heritage Initiative (a Heritage Lottery Fund scheme, managed by the Council), the Homes and Communities Agency Empty Homes Initiative (secured by Aldwyck) and the Council’s own affordable housing budget.The remainder of the project was funded by Aldwyck who purchased the buildings in July 2014. Work started on site in August 2014 to create nine flats and one three bedroom house. The project was completed in June 2015.

7.4 Chester Cathedral

Chester Cathedral has gone from being £1m in debt, with an estate of derelict buildings, to a being a credit-worthy entity whose assets are in good repair and bringing in a healthy income within five years.

To kick start this, the Cathedral stopped charging for entry and adopted a “manned” voluntary contribution model; secured a local authority grant for repairs to the cathedral building to allow chargeable “Cathedral at height” tours.

They have adopted a commercial model, remaining consistent with their mission. Having developed a recognisable branding, they now offer (for example) hospitality packages, falconry experiences, and craft workshops. They host innovative exhibitions, including popular Lego, which have resulted in a massive increase in income and footfall, engaging a much younger and more diverse demographic.

7.5 Hastings Pier restoration

Hastings Pier is a success story which illustrates the variety of funding available. It will reopen in spring 2016 after a long period of disrepair. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport issued a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) which allowed the Hastings Pier Charity to purchase the site and begin the restoration work in 2013. Over £14 million for the project was raised from several sources, including: the Heritage Lottery Fund (£11.7 million), Department for Communities and Local Government (£1.7 million), the Coastal Communities Fund (£1.2 million) and the then English Heritage (£7,500). The new visitor centre, arts centre and restaurant will provide a boost to tourism and local businesses.

7.6 Middleport pottery

Middleport Pottery in Burslem, Stoke on Trent, is grade II* listed and the last operating Victorian pottery in the country. It had been on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register for many years. The site was at serious risk of closure, a Historic England funded survey showed a need for £2.3million of work to the external fabric alone, and it seemed that Burleigh, the ceramic manufacturers who produce pottery at Middleport, might move out of Burslem, losing a precious piece of British industry, much-needed local jobs and Stoke-on-Trent would have suffered another huge blow to its proud industrial heritage. With support from Historic England, the Heritage Lottery Fund, European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Regional Growth Fund, the Prince’s Regeneration Trust led a successful regeneration campaign. The restoration work included a varied and extensive programme of training and educational activities to support the local community in skills provision with an emphasis on traditional British craftsmanship. The project has also created a huge amount of volunteer opportunities, throughout the restoration and since completion.

The Pottery opened to the public as a visitor destination in July 2014 following the three-year, £9 million regeneration. In total the restoration has saved 50 local jobs and created 66 more. The unused buildings have been developed to provide attractive accommodation for workshops, enterprise space, craft and community areas, a cafe, a gallery and a heritage visitor centre. The Pottery was also the location of the recent hit BBC show the Great Pottery Throw Down.

7.7 Oxford Castle

The Oxford Castle Heritage Site is a striking social and cultural development in the centre of the Oxford. A five acre site surrounded by walls, it incorporates the remains of Oxford Castle the ancient county gaol, and the more modern prison.

Today it has been transformed into a sustainable mixed-use development comprising an art gallery, hotel, education centre, heritage visitor attraction, residential apartments, and restaurants and bars, found across the site, set around public squares and gardens, each with its own distinct character.

The regeneration of the Oxford Castle Heritage Site was driven locally by the Oxford Preservation Trust and has been achieved through a successful partnership between the public, private and third sector, careful restoration, imaginative planning and proactive community engagement. All the buildings and structures are listed, so that it was some challenge to create a sustainable commercial development, which conserved this unique place, as the most significant piece of Oxford’s town history, outside the University, and opening it to visitors for the first time in its 1000 year history.

7.8 Rotherham Borough Council

Rotherham high street was one of the 27 Portas Pilots established in 2012 with Government funding to test initiatives to help revitalise high streets. The project pioneered a Townscape Heritage Initiative to regenerate the town’s historic core and bring people to the town. Projects to reinvigorate the town centre included “Grimm & Co”, a literacy and retail project, based in a building with works of art covering the walls, and a “Maker’s Emporium” project supporting 62 local artists.

Recognising this turnaround, Rotherham was named a town centre category winner in the Great British High Street Awards 2015, run jointly by the government and business to champion the hard work of local businesses and communities across the country to revive our high streets.

7.9 Mayor of London’s Music Venues Taskforce

The Music Venue Taskforce was created by the Mayor of London in 2014 to explore steps for protecting and securing London’s network of live music venues, following a number of high profile closures. In October 2015, the Taskforce published their report London’s Grassroots Music Venues Rescue Plan which makes recommendations under a number of themes including planning and business rates. Proposals include support for the ‘agent of change’ principle, putting the onus on developers to mitigate potential future conflicts between new developments and existing venues and encouraging local authorities to implement business rates relief for grassroots music venues.

7.10 Yorkshire Artspace

Yorkshire Artspace is one of the largest and most established studio providers in the UK, currently offering affordable workspace to over 140 artists and craftspeople in four buildings in Sheffield. It is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation which aims to support artists and makers by providing good quality affordable studio space, tailored professional development programmes and raising the profile of artists and their practices locally, nationally and internationally. They have created award winning ceramics and silversmithing courses, provide artist led outreach with housing providers and schools, and enable a number of craft and design galleries and production facilities supporting artists based outside their studios. The organisation is an established cultural leader in the city was a founding member and national coordinator of national federation of artist studio providers.

7.11 ArtCity Stoke

The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation has provided a five year grant to arts organisations in Stoke to develop ArtCity: a five-year programme which turns vacant buildings and disused spaces in the city into theatres, galleries, studios and cinemas. B Arts, a participatory arts organisation based in North Staffordshire, developed the programme for ArtCity together with a partnership of local independent arts organisations: Airspace Gallery, The Cultural Sisters, Letting In The Light, Partners In Creative Learning and Re:Stoke. Between them they represent artists working in visual art, craft and textiles, film and video, music, dance and theatre. Stoke City Council will be providing access to currently vacant buildings in its property portfolio and the programme is also being supported by Staffordshire University.

The hope is that this will help to develop Stoke as an arts destination and also illustrate the power of the arts sector as a vehicle for social and economic regeneration. The outcomes we are aiming for are to encourage more graduates from Staffordshire University to live and work in the city after their course has finished; to get more arts events happening in Stoke; and to help improve the creative profile of Stoke outside the city.

7.12 Google Cultural Institute

The Google Cultural Institute brings the world’s cultural treasures to the fingertips of internet users and builds tools that allow the cultural sector to share more of its world collections.

The Google Cultural Institute aims to use technology to make the world’s cultural treasures accessible to anyone, wherever they are in the world. The Cultural Institute is also helping the cultural sector make the most of the latest digital opportunities to reach new audiences and to preserve their collections online. We are working closely with arts and cultural organisations (UK and globally, large and small) to help them use freely available technology that is specially designed for the cultural sector (and built in collaboration with the sector).

The Cultural Institute’s team is driven by the idea that technology has huge potential to democratise access to culture and remove barriers to traditional art forms - many of which are perceived to be elitist. It is a non-profit part of Google and they are committed to using technology to open up the world’s cultural heritage to everyone, everywhere. They have already partnered with over 1000 cultural institutions across the world, including over 50 in the UK.

Their recent partnership with the British Museum is a fantastic example of the Google Cultural Institute’s partnership work. With a single click, an internet user anywhere in the world can now explore over 4,500 of the British Museum’s most treasured objects.

7.13 St Paul’s Cathedral (Google Cultural Institute)

The new partnership between St Paul’s Cathedral and the Cultural Institute means the Cathedral’s world renowned art and architecture and some of its hidden treasures are now accessible to people around the world.

A new digital exhibit with over 100 assets is now available on the Cultural Institute’s website. The images were captured as part of the St Paul’s project and include super high resolution imagery in and around the cathedral and Street View footage to bring users closer to its treasures. Experts from St Paul’s Collections Department have curated the digital exhibit, providing context to the images and footage taken.

The images include a gigapixel image of the famous Quire Ceiling, which is the largest such image the Cultural Institute has yet created. Other images show the amazing detail inside the Great Model, made by St Paul’s architect Christopher Wren.

Google Street View also now opens up the Whispering Gallery at the Cathedral, as well as views of the spectacular London skyline which spread from the Galleries on the outside of the dome, for people unable to climb the stairs to enjoy the famous sights.

7.14 The National Archives: Operation War Diary and World Through a Lens

Operation War Diary is an innovative crowdsourcing project aimed at engaging people around the world with The National Archives’ First World War collections. The National Archives asked volunteer ‘citizen historians’ to tag the data about people, places and activities contained in millions of pages of digitised unit war diaries, providing new insights into the conflict. Working together, The National Archives and their ‘digital volunteers’ are making previously inaccessible information available to academics, researchers and family historians worldwide, leaving a lasting legacy for the centenary of the First World War. The project is a partnership with Imperial War Museums and Zooniverse (University of Oxford).

The National Archives works with diverse communities to open up archives in new and creative ways. Their ground-breaking collaborations with community partners help them to support people to access archives. The World Through A Lens project opened up a little seen collection of photographs and broadened the range of The National Archives’ digitised collections. The National Archives digitised over 30,000 images from across the world and made these available through Flickr, asking people to add their knowledge and memories in the comments. The photographs are now a permanent and rich outreach resource for The National Archives and other organisations and communities.

8. Cultural Diplomacy

8.1 Festivals and Seasons

The British Council’s programme of seasons and focus countries allows us to rapidly develop relationships between the UK, major trading partners and important emerging economies through intense programmes of activity. These seasons build a modern, dynamic and creative image of the UK that is crucial to trade links and our future prosperity.

The festival UK Now, managed by the British Council,was the biggest celebration of UK arts and culture ever held in China. Between April and December 2012, representatives of the UK arts and creative industries, including the Victoria and Albert Museum and British Museum, put on over 200 events across 29 cities in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, which were attended by an estimated four million people. Our long-term relationship with China has continued with the UK-China Year of Cultural Exchange in 2015.

8.2 Inside Heatherwick Studio

The British Council has partnered with Heatherwick Studio, the GREAT Britain Campaign, VisitBritain and UK Trade and Investment to produce a major new touring exhibition, showcasing British innovation and developing new business opportunities for the UK. The exhibition features iconic designs including the London 2012 Olympic Cauldron, the UK Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, and a reimagining of London’s famous red double-decker bus. During its tour of the region, Inside Heatherwick Studio is introducing audiences to the strength of UK education opportunities, our innovative creative sector and promoting opportunities to visit the UK’s architectural heritage.

8.3 Syria: Third Space

The British Council exhibited works from their Artists in Recovery programme in 2015, which has worked with more than 100 displaced Syrian artists. Syria: Third Space sought to demonstrate the roles that artists play in supporting recovery and resilience, and show how artists can break boundaries, support and unite communities, re-interpret and offer alternative viewpoints through their work. It is part of the British Council’s global Culture and Development programme which delivers innovative high impact projects that contribute to the building of inclusive and open societies. The aim is to support and encourage creative responses to development challenges and social engagement through the arts.

8.4 Shakespeare Lives

Shakespeare Lives is a major global programme for 2016 celebrating Shakespeare’s works and his influence on culture, education and society on the 400th anniversary of his death. The British Council and the GREAT Britain campaign are working with host of British theatres, museums, educators and artists on brand new productions of Shakespeare’s plays, film adaptations, public readings and educational resources for schools and English language learners of all ages. The programme will reach millions of people in more than 140 countries and is delivered in partnership with the BBC, the British Film Institute, the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Shakespeare 400 consortium, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and Shakespeare’s Globe.

8.5 Manchester International Festival

The Manchester International Festival emerged as a legacy of the 2002 Commonwealth Games and has established itself as a major cultural event. It was launched in 2007 as an artist-led, biennial festival that presents new works from the performing arts, visual arts and popular culture. It receives investment from Arts Council England and from Manchester City Council. The most recent festival in 2015 was attended by 259,648 people with 230 performances over 18 days.

The Festival works with international partners to present new productions. Shows from the Festival travel to venues such as the Park Avenue Armory in New York, Ruhrtriennale in Germany, Teatro Real in Madrid and Art Basel.

The Festival has been successful in developing relationships with other Manchester-based arts organisations such as the Royal Exchange Theatre, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester Camerata, and BBC Philharmonic. It has also built a reputation for performing in non-arts venues and unusual spaces around the city, such as Mayfield Depot and the old Granada Studios.

8.6 UK-China Year of Cultural Exchange 2015

The first UK-China Year of Cultural Exchange took place in 2015 and provided a further platform to strengthen ties between individuals, organisations and governments around the arts and creative industries. The Year showcased the very best of British culture in China and of Chinese culture in the UK. The UK season in China ran from March to July and was led by the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy. The Chinese season in the UK ran in the latter half of the year and was run by the Chinese Ministry of Culture. The partnership between the two countries provided an opportunity to strengthen existing relationships and build new links between individuals, organisations and Governments in the arts and creative industries.

9. Impact of Catalyst examples

9.1 Sage Gateshead

Sage Gateshead and all aspects of its work regionally, nationally and internationally are managed and programmed by North Music Trust. The North Music Trust applied to Arts Council England for a tier 1 endowment Catalyst grant. They were awarded a grant, which required them to raise £4 million with £2 million in match funding, which they achieved. This success was enabled through the bringing together of clear communications with fundraising expertise in a campaign focused around the tenth anniversary of the Sage Gateshead.

The campaign was a success in several regards; not only did it reinvigorate donors who had supported the capital project, it also recruited a limited number of new major donors, two of whom gave over £50,000. Perhaps most significant of all was the fact that Sage chose not to limit the campaign to high net worth individual target groups and ran mass communications reaching over 60,000 people per quarter. As a result, more than half of the almost 800 donors were community based. These donors undertook lots of different ways of raising money, including events more traditionally associated with mainstream charities, such as fun runs and sponsored groups taking grade 1 exams on a range of instruments. The Catalyst supported endowment campaign helped to get the message out that Sage is a charity which plays an important role in the wider community. A number of donors have given another gift subsequently, not to the endowment. Not only has the endowment campaign been a great success for Sage financially, it has also led to fundraising and the understanding of the organisation as a charity being more embedded, internally and externally.

9.2 Turner Contemporary

Turner Contemporary opened to the public in 2011, so when Catalyst was launched in 2012, the organisation had little fundraising experience. Despite having run a successful capital campaign, the gallery still had a limited fundraising infrastructure. Turner Contemporary was encouraged to apply for the tier 1 Catalyst Endowments programme. Setting up an endowment at such an early stage was a great challenge, but one that the organisation embraced and met its targets it full; Turner Contemporary now holds an endowment of over £2 million. Catalyst helped ensure ‘a real cultural shift towards becoming an income generating and entrepreneurial organisation that is run like a business and is not afraid to make the ask’. The case study of Turner Contemporary illustrates how engaging the organisation as a whole can substantially boost an organisation’s fundraising strategy and highlights the importance of senior management’s commitment to fundraising.

9.3 Sheffield Theatres

The Catalyst programme has enabled Sheffield Theatres to redouble their fundraising efforts, galvanise both colleagues and loyal audience members and foster a more philanthropic culture of giving. They are continuing to shape and increase the visibility and impact of these new activities and are currently forecasting to grow revenue fundraising by 40% this year. This new culture, together with the newly established strands of giving, provides a great opportunity to continue to grow their supporter base as well as the levels of giving. One of the most significant changes within the organisation has been the confidence to articulate the case for support and make the ask. Catalyst created the space to assess the fundraising landscape and their own potential for growth, formulate a compelling charitable message, and cultivate prospects through to conversion.

9.4 Pallant House Gallery

Pallant House Gallery Chichester has recently completed its £1m fundraising campaign matched by £1m from Heritage Lottery Fund under the Catalyst Endowments programme. The Gallery had already established a legacy fundraising programme and used the opportunity offered by the match-funding endowment campaign to explore new income streams, build stronger relationships with existing and new supporters, and work closely with the Gallery’s Friends.

The Gallery’s Head of Development Elaine Bentley commented: ‘Everybody at the Gallery was thrilled with the opportunity. We already had an endowment fund but were very aware that to make ourselves resilient we needed to grow this fund significantly. Without Catalyst we would still have endeavoured to increase our fund but it would have been a struggle to raise the money without the matching element of the grant. For us, resilience is not just about having an income from the endowment, it is also about not being so dependent upon other public funding bodies.’ The endowment now contributes to the annual costs of maintaining the gallery building, and means the Gallery can make more ambitious plans for new exhibitions and community work.

9.5 Norwich Cathedral

Norwich Cathedral identified long-term fundraising needs requiring an increase in legacy giving to reduce its dependence on fluctuating income from a range of external sources. The Cathedral received a Catalyst Small Grant of just under £10,000 to develop its legacy fundraising campaign. As part of this campaign the Cathedral produced a legacy guide and leaflets, held training events with volunteers to promote the legacy message and held information sessions for legal practitioners dealing with will writing. Toward the end of the project it held an event to share its approach and lessons learned with 27 local charities. As a result of this campaign, which is continuing with annual events, 19 new donors came forward with pledges to leave gifts in their wills amounting to more than £2 million.

10. Non-grant finance examples

10.1 Live Theatre

Live Theatre is based on the quayside in Newcastle and has been a national leader in developing new strategies for developing income and assets and building resilience. Over the past decade it has launched a gastropub, which cross-subsidises its core arts programmes and an online playwriting programme, which builds on its track record as a new writing and producing theatre. Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and CAF Venturesome provided unsecured loans to support this diversification of the business model. In 2014, Live Theatre announced LiveWorks, a £10 million capital development to purchase and develop quayside-fronted land and buildings adjacent to the theatre, to create new commercial office space, a public park and a children and young people’s writing centre.

10.2 Unity Hall

Unity Hall was built in 1876 as the headquarters of the Wakefield Industrial Co-operative Society and had been largely unused since the mid 1990s, by which time it was privately owned. An Industrial and Provident Society (IPS) was established in 2011 in order to convert Unity Hall into a national music, conferencing and events venue and centre for creative entrepreneurs. This project requires £4.5 million funding, which was raised from a combination of grants (from ERDF, Social Investment Business and Wakefield City Council), social investment loans from Key Fund and the Architectural Heritage Fund and community shares raised from over 400 individuals.

10.3 Arts Transfer Facility

The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation has provided funding for local/regional/small production companies through the Arts Transfer Facility. Successful bidders are given an investment in a revenue participation right in the success of future performances when they transfer to the West End. It also serves as an organisational capacity building tool increasing their skills, competencies and business acumen. They have invested in 5 of these transfers to date including an investment of £144,000 to transfer the theatre company 1927’s highly successful production of Golem to Trafalgar Studios in the West End.

10.4 Read Dance & Theatre College

Read Dance & Theatre College provides performance arts courses to young people based on their talent, rather than ability to pay. In 2014 CAF Venturesome provided them with a £30,000 loan to help with an unexpected income and cash shortfall. This has enabled them to not just maintain but grow their student numbers - they currently have 25 students enrolled on their courses (a 40% increase from last year) and through their successful Outreach programme have supported a further 300 young people with careers advice and practical courses.

10.5 Rescue the Roxy cinema

The Roxy is one of England’s tiniest community cinemas serving the people of the Cheddar Valley in Somerset and beyond. It is run by volunteers and provides an accessible and affordable venue for film and other arts in rural in Somerset, including many who would otherwise be excluded by location, disability or cost from participation in shared cultural experiences. The Roxy successfully used crowdfunding to raise over £5,000 towards keeping the cinema viable and to fund vital maintenance work.

10.6 British Library Business and IP Centre Network

British Library’s Business and IP Centre Network offers access to information, advice and support for entrepreneurs and innovators across all sectors. Bridging the gap between business and culture, more than a quarter of those who have benefitted work in the creative and tech sectors. In 2015 a report found that over two years the Centres had helped to create 1,692 new businesses and 4,178 jobs, and that of those using the Centres to help start a new business 47% were women, 26% were black, Asian and minority ethnic and 25% were unemployed or had been made redundant.

10.7 Wolfson Foundation - Birmingham Museums

The Birmingham Museums Trust was awarded over £250,000 from the Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund in 2015-16 to improve visitor facilities at its flagship venue, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. DCMS and Wolfson funding levered in support from Arts Council, BMT Friends and the City of Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery Development Fund for the overall project.

The award enables Birmingham Museums Trust to make better provision for families and carers of young children - particularly on the second floor of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery where most of the gallery spaces are located. Physical access will be upgraded with automatic doors and rest-rooms will also be upgraded. The external and internal welcome and signage will be standardised with new maps and information points to enable easier navigation around the venue. New interpretation for both adults and children will invite exciting interaction with the objects on display.

The Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund is a joint initiative by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Wolfson Foundation.

11. Regional philanthropy case studies

11.1 The Bruntwood Prize

The Bruntwood Prize is a biennial playwriting competition which celebrated its ten year anniversary in 2015. The competition is open to anyone who has written a play and lives in the UK. It is an innovative and ambitious partnership between the Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester and property company, Bruntwood, inspired by two mutual aspirations: to encourage and uncover new writing, and to build a national platform for exciting new talent. Since its launch in 2005, the Prize has grown into a nationally recognised competition, with over 7,000 entries, 15 prize winners and £160,000 of prize money helping to make it the largest playwriting competition in the UK.

11.2 Centre for Ceramic Art (COCA)

The groundbreaking new Centre for Ceramic Art (COCA), a new aspect of the redeveloped York Art Gallery which opened in 2015, demonstrates the benefits of blended private and public investment. The Anthony Shaw Collection Trust have placed on long term loan their extensive collection of contemporary ceramics to COCA, and helped significantly with the fundraising. Funding for the redeveloped Gallery came from both ACE and City of York Council and a large bequest from Emil and Karen Madsen. COCA itself is formed mainly of large gifts from significant private collectors, and contains the work of more than 600 artists.

11.3 Going Public Arts Philanthropy Project

The Going Public Arts Philanthropy Project saw four international philanthropists with substantial private art collectors loaning their work to be shown around Sheffield’s galleries and cathedral. The aim of this innovative collaboration was to show how private philanthropy can have a role in the public arts sector. One of the highlights was works from the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo on show in Sheffield Cathedral, including a Chapman Brothers sculpture ‘ Cyber Iconic Man.’

11.4 Jonathan Ruffer

Jonathan Ruffer plans to develop a disused school and bank in Bishop Auckland to become one of the world’s most significant centres of Spanish art. The £5.5 million project, which will be completed in 2018, will see the rundown buildings reborn as an art gallery, institute and visitor centre. By the time of its completion, Bishop Auckland will become a recognised centre of understanding and study of the role of Spanish art in modern western culture.

12. Donations and bequests of works of art

12.1 Ivor Braka and Thomas Dane

Art dealers Ivor Braka and Thomas Dane donated six contemporary works by British artists to the Whitworth in Manchester in 2015, inspired by its recent revitalisation. The Whitworth also benefited from a gift of 90 contemporary works from art collector Pauline Karpidas. Acquiring major works by contemporary artists is a major challenge facing UK public collections today and it is where collectors have the potential to offer significant help to galleries.

12.2 Hepworth Wakefield

Since opening in 2011 The Hepworth Wakefield has secured acquisitions and gifts worth more than £7 million, building on the Hepworth Family Gift. The Tim Sayer bequest is one of the most significant and generous donations to a regional gallery. In spring 2016 an exhibition at Hepworth Wakefield will bring together approximately 100 works drawn from Tim Sayer’s personal collection, which he has passionately built up over the last five decades.

12.3 The Outset / Government Art Collection (GAC) Fund

The Outset / Government Art Collection (GAC) Fund is a new creative partnership between the private and the public sector. Its objective is to add twelve important works of contemporary art to the GAC. Twelve artists who have an on-going relationship with Outset receive a grant towards the production of new work for public display and, in recognition of the support, each artist donates an existing or a new work to enrich the GAC.

12.4 John Ellerman Foundation - Regional Museums & Galleries Fund – strengthening curatorial skills

This is the Foundation’s first programme targeting revenue funding towards regional museums and galleries. It follows research which identified concerns that the sector outside London was suffering from a combination of funding cuts and reductions in curatorial expertise. A three year funding programme of targeted grants, worth around £1.7m, focuses on strengthening local museums and galleries by enhancing and sustaining curatorial development. The Fund is UK wide but the majority of grants so far have benefited the northern regions. The work supported includes developing collections knowledge and providing training and development for existing and early career curators. A variety of institutions have been funded, all with collections of national significance.

Examples of grants are York Museums Trust’s project to improve access to the British Studio Ceramics Collection in York Art Gallery, support for Manchester Museums Partnership’s curators to enhance knowledge skills and confidence in use of the four partner museums’ collections of Islamic art, fabric and other objects, and a grant towards a salaried Assistant Geology Curator at Leeds Museums, to both better understand their own collection and work with ten smaller museums to help them enhance their geology collections.

Applications for the current year of funding are now closed but more information about the Foundation and the existing Fund is on its website

13. New models and partnership examples

13.1 The Momentum Music Fund

The Momentum Music Fund offers grants of £5,000 - £15,000 for artists and bands to break through to the next level of their careers. Activities eligible for support include recording, touring and marketing. The Momentum Music Fund was launched in 2013 and is a partnership between the PRS Foundation and Arts Council England, in association with Spotify.

13.2 The Royal Parks

Government is working to merge the Royal Parks Agency, a part of DCMS, with its partner charity, The Royal Parks Foundation, to create a brand new charitable organisation, which will be more flexible and efficient in its operation than the two existing bodies and will better attract further commercial and philanthropic revenue.

As an Executive Agency of DCMS, the Royal Parks currently delivers park services, support for national ceremonials, and a range of other functions across the eight parks at a cost to Government (£14 million in 2014 to 2015) which is far cheaper than its overall annual operating cost (£37 million in the same period). The balance, equating to £23 million or just under 65% of income, is generated through commercial and philanthropic streams in partnership with The Royal Parks Foundation.

The case for change is about maintaining and the same quality of spaces and experiences that are currently enjoyed by approximately 77 million visitors per annum, (18 million of whom were from outside the UK) and at less cost to the Exchequer. But – it is not just the visiting public or the Exchequer that will benefit from this new model:

All eight parks are listed historic landscapes that also contain 195 listed buildings / structures and 3 scheduled ancient monuments. These will be preserved for the benefit of millions of future visitors – this is a very long term investment – this is for centuries.

The Royal Parks are all Sites of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation and are a haven for wildlife, two parks are designated as SSSI and one is a National Nature Reserve. There are 170,000 trees within the estate, the bio-diversity is supported by the 5,000 acres of grassland and 21 lakes and ponds.

The Parks increase tourism and facilitate healthy lifestyles amongst those living within their catchment by supporting sport and recreation and increasing mental health and happiness.

This new model is expected to go live by the end of the calendar year, 2016.

13.3 English Heritage new model

The New Model split the former English Heritage into two organisations: Historic England, which remains as DCMS’ statutory advisor on the historic environment and the English Heritage Trust, a new charitable organisation, which manages the National Heritage Collection of over 400 historic properties and sites.

The charity received a one-off grant of over £80 million from the government, paid to the former English Heritage in March 2015 as grant-in-aid. It will continue to receive resource grant-in-aid on a declining basis from 2015/16 to 2022/23, at which point the charity aims to be self-sufficient.

The business plan for the English Heritage Trust, endorsed by the government, sets a challenging projection for income growth, and so far this is being met. The investment in conservation and repairs and new visitor facilities is planned out and on track.

13.4 York Museums Trust

York Museums Trust is an independent charitable trust which was founded in 2002 to run some of York’s key museums and galleries on behalf of City of York Council. It is responsible for York Art Gallery, York Castle Museum, Yorkshire Museum and Gardens and York St Mary’s with designated collections covering art, history, science and archaeology.

The Trust is primarily funded through admission charges and enterprises with significant income from Arts Council England and 9 per cent of its income from the City of York Council. It has also received capital funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, such as a £1.1m grant, in 2013, for a development at York Castle Museum which included a major exhibition to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.

Turnover has increased since its foundation in 2002 from around £3m to nearly £7m. The Trust have taken an entrepreneurial approach especially with venue hire which brings in a profit of more than £150k per year. Since 2002, York Museums Trust has seen an increase of more than a quarter of a million visitors per year to its venues, although recent flooding and introduction of charging for York residents has had a negative impact.

Currently, York Museums Trust is working with the City of York Council positively and collaboratively to develop plans and agreements for the next five years in the light of changed circumstances.

13.5 East Lindsey Magna Vitae Culture and Leisure Trust

Magna Vitae is a Charitable Trust set up by East Lindsey District Council in January 2015 to deliver the Council’s culture and leisure services and provide health improvement programmes. The area it covers is split between rural areas and coastal towns suffering from deprivation and the Trust aims to improve the local economy alongside the health and wellbeing of local people.

Magna Vitae provides a range of services including a theatre auditorium, arts productions, and festivals. In addition, local GPs can refer patients with specific conditions to undertake 12 weeks of classes, including dance, who can then choose to take part in a final festival performance.

The Trust has a partnership with cities in Sweden and Denmark with which it undertakes various exchanges, from borrowing orchestras for free for concerts in Skegness to local students creating shows and showing these in The Passage Festival, an outdoor international arts festival in Sweden and Denmark.

Through its culture and leisure projects since 2009, the Council and Magna Vitae have brought at least £1 million extra per year into the local economy. Audiences for events can be up to 50,000. The SO festival, supported by Arts Council England, has been a huge success, attracting 90,000 people in summer 2015. The festival was deliberately arranged to extend the traditional holiday season in order to help local businesses to grow.

The local economy has also benefitted from Broadband Delivery UK. As a rural area with poor broadband coverage the national media were not prepared to cover the events run by the Trust. Online Lincolnshire, managed by Lincolnshire County Council, has helped to facilitate different broadband solutions for Magna Vitae events.

13.6 York Explore Centre

York’s library and archives service (Explore) was one of the first in the country to spin out into a public service mutual organisation, using £100,000 advice and support from the Cabinet Office Mutuals Support Programme. One third of the organisation is owned by staff and two thirds by its community members. As a public service independent of the council, Explore has a clear voice and purpose and is able to generate greater involvement of local people in all aspects of the service, encouraging flexibility, innovation and partnership building with the community. In addition to keeping all their libraries open the ambition is to use libraries as community hubs, such as a health & wellbeing centre in partnership with local GP practices.

Explore is also working alongside Be Independent, York’s adult social care public service mutual to help 3,500 elderly housebound residents to become more digitally active. Tablets and face-to-face training have been provided so that these residents can access the internet through portable WiFi devices which can be used to communicate with family and friends via Skype and to do online banking, food shopping and choosing library books. The hope is that this will support digital inclusion of the elderly within York, take library services directly to the housebound and help residents to win back some independence.