1 Festivals & Events Review outcome of the Festivals & - PDF document

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the Festivals & Events Review – outcome consultation of the consultation • The purpose of the review was to fully analyse the programme of festivals and events funded and provided by the Council. Presentation to the Joint meeting of the • All festivals and events with a financial contribution (from the Council) of £5,000 and above were part of the review. Heritage, Leisure & Sport and Economic • The festivals & events listed below were not scoped into the Development, Culture & Tourism Scrutiny review because they were less than £5,000: – Braunstone Carnival Commissions. – Chinese New year 31 st October 2012 – Christ in the Centre – Hanukkah – Irish Festival (St Patricks Day) – Leicester Horticultural Show, – Leicester Pride Summer Sundae (reviewed as part of the DMH Business Planning process) Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation consultation Recommendations from the Scrutiny meeting held on 3 rd July: • Public & Stakeholder consultation 23rd April to 27th July 2012 on the options and proposals arising from the review (reported • Welcomed the review as a strategic cultural & community- to a joint meeting on 3rd July 2012) based review rather than a budget driven exercise • Consultation was undertaken with: • Welcomes the creation of the festivals forum • the general public – on-line survey, hard copies were available • Believe the forum should consider the development of from Central Lending Library and New Walk Centre Customer business, retail and other related links to festivals Services, copies were made available at ward community meetings • The forum should measure the cultural, economic and social • Funded organisations, their membership, affiliates, users and impacts of the individual festivals beneficiaries of the event/activity • Welcomes the Cultural Ambition statement and shares the • Abbey, Belgrave & Latimer, Castle, Coleman, Charnwood, vision embedded within it Thurncourt and Westcotes ward community meetings • Festivals should support and develop the use of local talent • Key stakeholders & partners – Culture Partnership Board, LE1 and • Festivals should be more inclusive within and across City Centre Director, Leicester Promotions, Cultural Quarter communities Business Association, Leicester Business Voice, Arts Council England • Further discussions should take place to optimise the image • Heritage, Leisure & Sport and Economic Development, Culture & and PR opportunities of existing events Tourism Scrutiny Commissions • Further information should be obtained on total costs of individual festivals and the income obtained from festival users Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation consultation • 349 people completed the on-line survey questionnaire Number of respondents who support the proposals: – 70.5% of respondents live in Leicester – 4.9% responded on behalf of an organisation based in the city – 29.5% of respondents do not live in Leicester but are a regular Castle Park Festival visitor St George's Day Black History Month – 4% of respondents work for an organisation that is funded by the Dashera Council Humberstone Bonfire – 44.7% of respondents work in Leicester Caribbean Carnival Navrati Festival – 75.8% of respondents felt it was very important for the city to Belgrave Mela provide a programme of festivals &events Riverside Festival Xmas light switch on – 72.6% of respondents felt it was very important to provide support Abbey Park bonfire for the city’s programme of festivals & events Music Festival – 70.6% of respondents felt it was very important for their community Diwali that the Council provide and support a programme of festivals & Comedy Festival Childrens Art Festival events 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 No: of respondents = 349 1

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation consultation Number of respondents who do not support the proposals: The public and stakeholder consultation has demonstrated a level of support for the festivals and events programme and the options and proposals arising from the information and data gathering Childrens Art Festival Riverside Festival stage of the review. However some of the options and proposals Music Festival have been amended; for consideration by the City Mayor and Black History Month Executive, in response to the feedback and comments received. Dashera Comedy Festival Navrati Festival Diwali Xmas light switch on Belgrave Mela Abbey Park bonfire Humberstone Bonfire St George's Day Caribbean Carnival Castle Park Festival 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 No: of respondents = 349 Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation consultation The City Mayor and Executive are minded to: • Maintain funding at the current level and the ‘in-house’ management and delivery arrangements for Riverside Festival • Maintain funding at the current level (£9,000) and enter into a (£18,000), Abbey Park Bonfire and Firework Display (£14,000) new three year funding contract and Service Level Agreement and the Christmas Lights Switch On event (£16,000). with The Spark Children’s Arts Festival. • Maintain the funding at the current level (£5,000) for Leicester International Music Festival and enter into a one year funding contract. Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation consultation • Maintain the funding at the current level for Black History Month • Increase the grant to the Big Difference Company for the (£5,000) and develop a brief and specification and tender the provision of Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival from £18,500 to management and delivery of Black History Month for (2 years) £23,500 for 2013/14 and that work is undertaken to develop a 2013 and 2014, with the option to extend for a further year. service level agreement that sets out how the council’s contribution is used in the delivery of the festival and its leverage in terms of raising income from other sources. The consultation has demonstrated a significant level of support for this annual event. The Big Difference Company in their written response present a strong argument that they are underfunded and request an increase of £15,000. To ensure the on-going financial stability and sustainability of the organisation and their continued contribution to raising the profile of the City at a national level an increase of £5,000 is proposed 2