Agenda item

Cultural Strategy Update

To consider the report of the Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure which provides an update on progress made against the Cultural Strategy for the period October 2019 to March 2020

 

 

Minutes:

10.1    The Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, Councillor Morgan, introduced the report and highlighted key elements. Firstly, he brought Members’ attention to paragraph 3.3 of the report (strategic preforming group). He noted that a meeting was scheduled for the 12th of March 2020 which he would be chairing. He added that the purpose of this would be to look at options of scoping out and then cascading this to other organisations. He stated that he would update the Overview & Scrutiny Committee on this. Secondly, he referred to paragraph 3.6 and stated that the Council would be moving ahead to enable the Culture Trust to expand what they do, and the results would be worth it. In relation to paragraph 3.7, he stated that the Council was having considerable success in raising funds for the Music Works. Councillor Morgan further highlighted paragraph 3.9 which outlined proposals to submit a bid for the City of Culture 2025. 

 

10.2    Councillor Hilton expressed his discontent with the proposals to place a bid for the City of Culture 2025. He stated that in prior discussions with Councillor Morgan, he had asked Councillor Morgan to withhold the proposals to place a bid for the new administration until after the May 2020 local elections.  Furthermore, he was dissatisfied with the fact that approximately £500,000 would be used towards the bid itself. Moreover, Councillor Hilton stated that he would not support the City of Culture bid at this moment in time. Finally, he asked Councillor Morgan for reassurance that the work being undertaken for the City of Culture bid was merely groundwork for the new administration.

 

10.3    Councillor Morgan outlined that any money for the bid would only be spent after the election. He informed Members that the Culture Trust had recently received £150,000 from the Arts Council. This would provide further resources to look at the City of Culture bid in further detail.  Similarly, he suggested the fact that the Arts Council had provided the grant to the City was promising.

 

10.4    Councillor Hilton questioned whether the £150,000 grant was specifically for the City of Culture bid. Councillor Morgan advised him that it was a more general fund.  Councillor Hilton reiterated that he did not support the bid for which he felt the money required was too much, and also suggested that the bid itself felt rushed.

 

 

10.5    Councillor Stephens was of the view that the decision to pursue the City of Culture Bid was arrogant on the administration ‘s part. In addition, he stated that the bid did not have cross party support as outlined in a letter sent previously to Councillor Morgan. He stated that the administration should take on board recommendations made by the opposition Groups.

 

10.6    Councillor Morgan highlighted that there was support from the Council ‘s partners to pursue the City of Culture bid based on discussions he had with them. He added that the Council ‘s partners saw considerable advantages to running for the bid.  The money which would be spent on the bid was not a waste of taxpayers’ money, but would help position the City for the bid.

 

10.7   Councillor Stephens asked Councillor Morgan whether he agreed that they should only proceed with the bid with cross-party support. Councillor Morgan stated that he agreed.

 

 

10.8   Councillor Haigh stated that the Council should not pursue the City of Culture bid. However, improving the cultural offering in the City itself, such as diversity, was welcome. She submitted that the City of Culture was not permanent, and that the focus should rather be on having a sustainable and diverse improvement of the City ‘s cultural offering. Additionally, she believed that any initiative to improve the City ‘s cultural offering should involve residents. Furthermore, she stated that there were other areas which needed to be improved in the City before pursuing a City of Culture bid. Likewise, she queried whether the City of Gloucester should partner with the City of Cheltenham if it did place a bid. In support of this, she pointed to the fact that many of the authorities who had won the City of Culture bid had been unitary authorities, rather than district authorities.

 

10.9    Councillor Morgan advised that the criteria for entering the Bid was still to be confirmed by the Government. He agreed with Councillor Haigh that community involvement in any future arrangements was vital. On the topic of the legacy, he stated that being named City of Culture has some permanence to it, and would raise the bar for the City both in the present and the future.  Responding to a query on whether there was capacity to run for the City of Culture bid in terms of the work required, Councillor Morgan outlined that Cabinet would not ask Officers to divert attention away from their work. Rather, the £500,000 required would be raised from partners, and professional capacity may need to bought in.

 

10.10  Councillor Haigh queried why capacity would need to be brought in, and noted that the City would be competing with places such as Bradford and Lancashire. Furthermore, she was dissatisfied with the idea of buying in professional capacity, stating that the Council should not be trying to ‘reinvent the wheel’.  She suggested that the City of Culture bid should be rooted in the place, and that this would be undermined by buying in professionals from elsewhere.

 

10.11  Councillor Morgan reemphasised that the City of Culture bid was about the people of Gloucester. However, professional assistance would be required.

 

10.12 Councillor Finnegan asked for how long the Interim Head of Culture would occupy the role. She was informed that he would be in role until November 2020. Referring to Councillor Haigh ‘s earlier comments about the City of Bradford, Councillor Finnegan asked Councillor Haigh if she could provide further details about the city. Councillor Haigh stated that as a City it was a district authority with a good cultural offering. Councillor Finnegan added that she had previously visited Bradford, and she felt that it had as good a cultural offering as Gloucester.

 

10.13 Councillor Stephens reminded the Committee that the meeting should not descend into a debate about the City of Culture bid.

 

10.14  Councillor Ryall asked how the assimilation of former MGL staff into the City Council was going. Councillor Morgan advised that this had been successful so far. Likewise, the staff were working on a detailed programme of festivals and events programme, with a number of events already planned.

 

 

10.15 RESOLVED; - that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee NOTE the report

 

 

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