What Next? Minutes 28/05/2020



National update:
- Solt and UK Theatre – letter going to DCMS (The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport) with particular asks around looking after the work force, reigniting and supporting the recovery and investments for our cultural assets. They also advised that now is time to start lobbying MPs on importance of needing help in theatre/cultural sector as it is getting more national press recently which we already started in last week’s meeting.
- Lizzie Crump from the What Next? National Team and The Cultural Learning Alliance, is part of a sub group for the Cultural Task Force for Events and Entertainment so this is a great direct line for future information.
- We are thinking about campaign strategy for the whole arts sector but especially the groups in more need such as disabled colleagues and freelancers of whom we had a round table meeting with DCMS about.

- Even though we don’t know the timescale for re-opening yet we are beginning to start setting a framework for an ask.
- Looking at timescale of opening though it is all really rough. There’s a phase from now till the end of the year about opening in some ways to smaller numbers then January 2021 to April 2021 thinking about a phased reopening depending on when we get an all clear from the government and from April 2021 to April 2022 will be a recovery year. This might change but it is useful to apply when thinking about the city reopening.

Local update:
- Last Week, our 3 MPs joined us to follow up.
- Arts Commission & Epic and WN are meeting with ACE next week about rebuilding and reigniting city’s cultural offer when reopening over the next 6-12 months.
- Marlborough made survey for artist and organisations – what they need from Brighton & Hove council and NPO’s non-financial help for example in applying for more funding or how they can support their development of skills etc.
- Discretionary business grant from local authority to distribution on a local level; arts, events and creative businesses been put forward as one of the priorities. Policy and Resources subcommittee meeting tomorrow. One of criteria’s is about job creation so we need to advocate for supporting freelancers or being a freelance business so it doesn’t work against us.
- Marina will be sending an email to support this – get email to your councillors - they have final say! In this she addresses endorses cultural creative businesses and charities being priority and it highlights potential issues around assessment that work in our favour or against us.
- 3 grant opportunities. Online by June but short turn around, get it in ASAP. Marina asked Branwen about hosting some guidance for applications to look at how we use our language to connect our industry along with other industries of priority, how to apply and answer the questions. Branwen is going to do some actioning around this and see how that may work.

Nicky – Children and Young People sub group update.
Two speakers for secondary school focus in next What Next? meeting. Shelly Baker who’s a Deputy Head Teacher and Katrina Lane who is a Director of Music and Member of Senior Management. We’ll discuss how it’s been for schools, how they may work with arts in future and any comments, discussions and offers from organisations.

Anyone interested in What Next? CYP meeting Wednesday 3rd June 2pm contact Nicky at: nicky@littlegreenpig.org.uk

Michelle – Digital sub group update.
Going to discuss sharing ideas on how to reach people and show work, working on Epic joining to provide advise Wed 3rd June 1pm.

Anyone interested in What Next? Digital meeting Wednesday 3rd June 1pm contact Michelle at: cast_iron@outlook.com


How we can share what we are doing, how we can work better without voluntary sector and third sector partners and celebrate/use assets we have in the current situation:

Lead by Kate Golledge and Sharon
- They have been working on a proposal for the past 1-2 weeks working on a ask that tries to bring together some of the challenges facing freelancers, artists and empty buildings and some of the problems the education system are facing.
- Whilst we have loads of cultural empty institutions that can’t open realistically till Jan and schools operating with smaller class sizes, could we work with our cultural institutions to work initially with primary schools to bring in a new curriculum of creative learning that responds to the national curriculum.
- Reignite our cultural institutions civic purpose and so they can be open sooner and to help our young people to creatively learn and heal from the collective trauma of COVID-19.
- On a hyper local level so community by community work on working with their creative partners and cultural institutions regularly.
- This will re purpose places for creative classes and bring in struggling artists.
- Could go onto wider scale, doesn’t have to be limited to arts, e.g. cooking class in local restaurants or how to budget with business company etc.
- First partnering with The White Rock theatre in Hastings and got a meeting with Hastings MP and then we will approach schools and parents and local businesses to see if they wanted to buy into this idea.
- Economic motive – more kids doing stuff = more parents can work due to childcare being met when children can’t attend full time education.
- Ask parents to sign up to system independently to take pressure off school.
where can we find the link?


Q&A -

Nicky – Q: Where are you thinking of funding, schools, parents?
What about travel? Who takes kids there
A : Corona virus community support (Big Lottery) funded, local authority business grants, could we apply for national funding? Though looks like approaching local authorities is better choice.
Want to get artist’s to remote areas but would need parents to take children as schools are under a lot of pressure anyway.
Nicky suggests more thinking as rural parents may steer away from travelling into the city

Laura – comment: Visionary idea, using this moment of rupture to create future we want to see. Reference – Kate Fellows the Leeds Curriculum – Place based curriculum, similar idea, could connect?

Andrew – Locally it’ll be interesting to get music hubs involved as they are a ready network of cultural network and tend to be connected to schools, could be easy way of starting that network. Dome are mindful of very practical stuff e.g. cleaning which is already expensive which may have to double when opening due to covid-19, need to consider the lobbying in these local spaces, not to dishearten just to consider

A: Rules would definitely be greatly incorporated and best practiced.


What people are already doing and any other thoughts:

There’s a discussion on radio 4’s Front Row, 7.15pm on social distancing & covid impact on venues & theatres

Mike – Exercise walk marking with chalk. A way of treating Brighton as a canvas and reaching people during their flow. Currently 2nd year in MA so trying to recreate people experiencing art in first person and seeing it with other people as they’ve lost it thier final year show. Other thoughts regarding empty properties, could we project into windows so people could walk past and see art?

Marina - There is going to be space for outdoor work and use of empty spaces will manageably attract people into city again further. We want to find ways to work with BID (Business Improvement District) on this

Branwen- Arts commission work strands in Brighton experience, developing public arts strategy. May be some physical consultations in Oct/Nov so would love to hear more on how to integrate these ideas and consider in bid. Cultural and city website.

Michelle - Cast Iron reaching audiences through storytelling and interviews, Friday evenings if people are interested in marketing yourselves almost, via video. Get in contact if you’d like to come on the show to chat about any of your work cast_iron@outlook.com . Also have a Facebook fork group, The Good Fork Appreciation Society, a whimsical look at forks, what’s your favourite fork? Developed into favourite objects. Fork Group - do join if you happen to have a favourite fork. https://www.facebook.com/groups/826920081144196/
Been chatting about that future thing - how we might include a screen in various future workshops - so we always have the ability for people to be part of the conversation when they’re not ‘here’
Shared some of these social distancing ideas that could form an art project? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-52746584

Louise – Lots of signage/public info will need to be shared about rules, could artists get involved with local authority to present the public health info in a more creative way?

Lou Rogers - There is a great creative group kid by small performance adventures (Artistic Director is Kate McCoy who is here today) https://www.facebook.com/groups/1214034175655043/ It has grown to have over 800 members and there are lots of local artists and community participants who have made creative responses to the digital tasks along with artists from all over the world. Take a look

Cath J - South East Dance have supported lots of artists with bids and a lot of South East artists were successful. We’ve also been doing Q&A’s and resulted in creating an artist café starting next month. Continuing free artist advisories. Commissioning work still. Member of stuff creates care packages for Brooke mead, Nurseries being connected with dance still so artists being commissioned for online work for kids, boys dance classes , looking at supporting unemployed, looking at funding to buying tablets. The first Artists Cafe will be at 10:30am on Monday 29th June and will be led by local Artists Charlotte Spencer. Details of how to sign up will be on Eventbrite on the SED social media sites and through our website

Kate McCoy - Working with improving mental health creatively, now made Facebook group with 800+ members across globe and artists are responding and getting some financial support as well

Marina- At BPT online sharing have not been less intimate, actually reaching people who couldn’t be reached before. It’s different but valuable. We will hopefully carry this on in the future. We are keen to explore how we work with people in Covid recovery process, recognising that there are primary needs that individuals have first.

Eleanor Ward - I think this has been mentioned before, but there’s a new network just set up - Brighton Artists Network. You can sign up here: https://forms.gle/zGQrWHDTx4xvtv6x6 and the first event is tomorrow - 29 May from 1-2pm: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/104428745188
Karen Poley - Brighton Artists Network first meet up & planning is on Friday, please pass it on - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/peer-to-peer-support-group-planning-session-1-tickets-104428745188
Branwen Lorigan - Cultureinourcity.com & @CreativeBTN advertising the roundtable discussions delivered by Always Possible for the ACIC and BHCC Cultureinourcity site is getting an revamp will have an event upload facility available too so please keep revisiting the site and the twitter

Mike - What about outside performances?
Karen – Issues we’ve faced is to avoid making gatherings but we can move, just need to distinct that for funding . Talking with epic too, thinking about Christmas.

Marina – A lot of responsibility is falling on small companies so want to come together to tackle that, so there is a co-ordinated approach for City.

Andrew – Fuel launched national task force for freelancers , Brighton festival are taking on a freelancer. 100 companies are taking this on so could have 100 freelancers commissioned. Speedy process, first meeting in week of 8th June. A few lines from people who may be interested in that? Brighton based or working in or around Brighton. Ad on BDBF website.

Hybrid Consultancy is doing Health and Safety Covid-19 consultancy in Brighton
Liz Porter: Great to hear disabled people are being consulted with. I’d be interested to know if What Next has any sub group’s that look at diversity access and inclusion cross sectors?
Cath Mattos: Our focus is on diversifying the movement and to ensure diverse voices are being included in the recovery.
Damian and Liz Porter interested in running disabled people sub group.
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