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

1

Presentation to the Joint meeting of the Heritage, Leisure & Sport and Economic Development, Culture & Tourism Scrutiny Commissions. 31st October 2012 Festivals & Events Review – outcome

• f the consultation

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• The purpose of the review was to fully analyse the programme
• f festivals and events funded and provided by the Council.
• All festivals and events with a financial contribution (from the

Council) of £5,000 and above were part of the review.

• The festivals & events listed below were not scoped into the

review because they were less than £5,000:

– Braunstone Carnival – Chinese New year – 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 consultation

• Public & Stakeholder consultation 23rd April to 27th July 2012
• n the options and proposals arising from the review (reported

to a joint meeting on 3rd July 2012)

• Consultation was undertaken with:
• the general public – on-line survey, hard copies were available

from Central Lending Library and New Walk Centre Customer Services, copies were made available at ward community meetings

• Funded organisations, their membership, affiliates, users and

beneficiaries of the event/activity

• Abbey, Belgrave & Latimer, Castle, Coleman, Charnwood,

Thurncourt and Westcotes ward community meetings

• Key stakeholders & partners – Culture Partnership Board, LE1 and

City Centre Director, Leicester Promotions, Cultural Quarter Business Association, Leicester Business Voice, Arts Council England

• Heritage, Leisure & Sport and Economic Development, Culture &

Tourism Scrutiny Commissions

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

Recommendations from the Scrutiny meeting held on 3rd July:

• Welcomed the review as a strategic cultural & community-

based review rather than a budget driven exercise

• Welcomes the creation of the festivals forum
• Believe the forum should consider the development of

business, retail and other related links to festivals

• The forum should measure the cultural, economic and social

impacts of the individual festivals

• Welcomes the Cultural Ambition statement and shares the

vision embedded within it

• Festivals should support and develop the use of local talent
• Festivals should be more inclusive within and across

communities

• Further discussions should take place to optimise the image

and PR opportunities of existing events

• Further information should be obtained on total costs of

individual festivals and the income obtained from festival users

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• 349 people completed the on-line survey questionnaire

– 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 visitor – 4% of respondents work for an organisation that is funded by the Council – 44.7% of respondents work in Leicester – 75.8% of respondents felt it was very important for the city to provide a programme of festivals &events – 72.6% of respondents felt it was very important to provide support for the city’s programme of festivals & events – 70.6% of respondents felt it was very important for their community that the Council provide and support a programme of festivals & events

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

Number of respondents who support the proposals:

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Childrens Art Festival Comedy Festival Diwali Music Festival Abbey Park bonfire Xmas light switch on Riverside Festival Belgrave Mela Navrati Festival Caribbean Carnival Humberstone Bonfire Dashera Black History Month St George's Day Castle Park Festival No: of respondents = 349

2

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

Number of respondents who do not support the proposals:

5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Castle Park Festival Caribbean Carnival St George's Day Humberstone Bonfire Abbey Park bonfire Belgrave Mela Xmas light switch on Diwali Navrati Festival Comedy Festival Dashera Black History Month Music Festival Riverside Festival Childrens Art Festival No: of respondents = 349

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

The public and stakeholder consultation has demonstrated a level

• f support for the festivals and events programme and the options

and proposals arising from the information and data gathering stage of the review. However some of the options and proposals have been amended; for consideration by the City Mayor and Executive, in response to the feedback and comments received.

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

The City Mayor and Executive are minded to:

• Maintain funding at the current level (£9,000) and enter into a

new three year funding contract and Service Level Agreement 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 consultation

• Maintain funding at the current level and the ‘in-house’

management and delivery arrangements for Riverside Festival (£18,000), Abbey Park Bonfire and Firework Display (£14,000) and the Christmas Lights Switch On event (£16,000).

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• Maintain the funding at the current level for Black History Month

(£5,000) and develop a brief and specification and tender the management and delivery of Black History Month for (2 years) 2013 and 2014, with the option to extend for a further year.

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• Increase the grant to the Big Difference Company for the

provision of Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival from £18,500 to £23,500 for 2013/14 and that work is undertaken to develop a 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

3

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• confirm continuation of the funding for the St. Georges Day

celebration and events in and around including the city centre and cultural quarter with discussions to continue with the Cultural Quarter Business Association on the form of these celebrations. The Cultural Quarter Business Association welcome on-going discussion about the structure and organisation of the event to ensure that opportunities for communities and the businesses based in the area to participate in the event are maximised. Over the years attendance at the event in the Cultural Quarter has ranged from 4,500 to a reported just over 3,000 this year. It is therefore proposed to explore joint working arrangements with the city centre market’s St George’s day celebration – an event that has established itself over a number of years.

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• Support to the Carnival to be provided, with the Council’s

support focussed on the city centre procession / parade and enter into a 3 year funding contract and service level agreement with funding reducing from £100,000 in 2012/13 to £80,000 in 2013/14 and to £60,000 in 2014/15 to reflect the nature of the event.

The consultation demonstrates support for a reduction in the funding to Carnival. However it should be noted that Arts Council England (ACE), along with other stakeholders raised concerns that the proposed approach to Carnival may not generate the level of savings anticipated and that limiting the event to Victoria Park is not in keeping with the ethos and values of Carnival. In light of these comments and concerns and following discussion with the Festivals and Events team after this year’s Carnival it is proposed that the Council funding should be directed to support a City Centre procession/parade and the Carnival Arts activities associated with this. It is intended to have further dialogue with ACE to ensure that we are both working strategically to support Carnival to achieve the required level of savings.

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• Cease to fund and organise the Humberstone Park Bonfire

(2013 onwards) but provide advice and guidance to assist in the preparation and delivery of a community managed bonfire event in its place if the community want to take a lead and assist that

• rganisation with applications for funding from Ward

Community budgets and other local funding sources as appropriate to the event. The consultation, particularly in the ward community meetings, demonstrated a lack of support and direct opposition to the proposal to stop providing the Humberstone Park Bonfire. However the consultation undertaken at ward level did bring forward the idea that the event could continue if a) a community group is formed to take the project forward and b) if ward community funds were applied for to support it.

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• Continue to hire De Montfort Hall, at its published community

rate and provide a financial contribution of £10,000 to the Leicester Hindu Festival Council toward the cost of staging the Navratri Festival at De Montfort Hall and enter into a service level agreement that lists the elements of the festival that the council’s funding is supporting and the key performance management information that is required to be provided. A petition and substantial representation was made to the Council in response to the cessation of funding for the Navratri

• Festival. Having listened to these comments it is proposed to

reduce the Council’s funding to £10,000 and to negotiate a service level agreement with the Leicester Hindu Festival Council

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• Cease funding for the Dashera event.

Dashera is a distinctly religious event.

• Maintain the current level of funding (£88,000) for the Diwali

Switch on and Diwali Day events and instruct officers to review the programme / budget allocation for these events to re- balance the programme to create more distinctiveness between the two days and ensure maximum efficiency. The £88,000 does not include the cost of around £28,000 for installation and running the lights which is paid for by Public Lighting Group budgets. In addition, the Council each year procures sponsorship in the sum of £30,000 towards the event, which brings the total cost of the Diwali events to around £118,000. Sustaining £30,000 in sponsorship is crucial to maintain the Diwali programme and to develop it in the manner described above.

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• Establish a Festivals and Events networking group, led by the

council, to share good practice and develop partnership and joint working arrangements.

• Review of marketing in order to develop a campaign to brand

the city’s festival programme and to provide more ‘in kind’ support to festival organisations with their own marketing and PR campaigns.

4

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• Support Leicester Belgrave Mela at current levels, subject to

negotiation on the timing of the Festival and integration with the development of an August Bank Holiday Festival. There is a great deal of support for the Leicester Belgrave Mela and the intention is to continue to support this event, however negotiation is intended to ascertain whether it is possible to schedule the event during the August Bank Holiday week-end to enhance the city offer and attract visitors into the city centre at that time.

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• Build on the changes implemented this year to re-brand Castle

Park festival and from 2013 widen it out as part of a city centre August Bank Holiday week-end offer The consultation raised a number of questions about the cessation of the Castle Park Festival and the introduction of a new heritage and arts festival. For example the Culture Partnership Board commented that it “feels that it might be appropriate to consider establishing a heritage and arts festival which uses the breadth of culture to celebrate all elements of the city’s artistic and historic record and endeavour (from the ‘ancient’ city through to the Indian diaspora) in a radical new way”. The proposed approach could ensure a successful re- brand of the former Castle Park Festival and the delivery of a newly focused event that celebrates all aspects of the city’s heritage, arts and culture.

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• Undertake further work with regard to the use of the savings

(£58,000 in 13/14 rising to £78,000 in 14/15) arising from the review and with the development of an August bank holiday festival containing elements of the Leicester Belgrave Mela and Castle Park Festival.

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

Summary of the original proposals:

• that funding at the current level of £18,500 is maintained for

Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival and that a three year funding contract and service level agreement is negotiated with Big Difference Company

• that funding at the current level of £9,000 is maintained for The

Spark Children’s Arts Festival and that a three year funding contract and service level agreement is negotiated with The Spark

• that funding at the current level of £30,000 is maintained for the

Leicester Belgrave Mela and that a three year funding contract and service level agreement is negotiated

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• that funding at the current level of £5,000 is maintained for the

Leicester International Music Festival and that a 1 year funding contract along with a description of the associated benefits and

• utputs is negotiated.
• that the current management arrangement and funding £10,300

is maintained for the delivery of the 2012 St George’s day celebration, that the working partnership established with the Cultural Quarter Business Association is developed in order to maximise the potential and raise the profile of the 2012 St George’s Day celebration, that during 2012 a brief and specification (with appropriate performance measures) is created for the event and that this is used to tender the management and delivery of the St Georges Day celebration for (2 years) 2013 and 2014, with the option to extend for a further year, confirm that the event will continue to be staged in the Cultural Quart

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• that the Carnival on Victoria Park is supported based on the

model developed in 2011/12 and that the city centre procession/parade is not re-instated and that a 3 year funding contract and service level agreement is negotiated with Leicester Caribbean Carnival is entered into with funding reducing from £100,000 to £60,000 per annum by 2014/15 - see table below. (the incremental reduction is proposed so that the

• rganisation has maximum opportunity to develop its income &

sponsorship strategy.

• from 2013 the Council ceases to fund and provide Castle Park

Festival in order to develop a new heritage and arts festival with a focus on the old town area and to provide opportunities to celebrate the wider city built, environmental, social and cultural heritage and history.

5

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• the Council maintains the funding and delivery arrangement for

Black History in 2012 with a focus on a programme of events throughout October, and that a brief and specification for Black History is created and tendered for the management and delivery of Black History Month 2013 and 2014 with the option to extend for a further year. The necessary partnerships with ; the African Caribbean Citizens Forum, African Caribbean Centre, education, youth and community providers, are put in place to broaden the programme and engagement with Black History Month

• the Council ceases to fund and organise Humberstone Park

Bonfire and that we provide support and advice to the Community to help them develop and raise funding for a community managed and delivered Bonfire and Firework display on Humberstone Park if they wish to do so

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• that the current arrangements for the management and delivery

and funding of £14,000 for the Abbey Park Bonfire and Firework Display are maintained and confirmed

• that the Council ceases to fund a grant to the Leicester Hindu

Festival Council for the hire of the Ramgarhia Community Centre; and the Council continues to hire De Montfort Hall, at its published community rate, to the Leicester Hindu Festival Council for the purpose of staging its Navratri Festival

• that the Council reduces its funding to £3,000 for Dashera and

negotiates with the Leicester Hindu Festival Council to take

• ver the management and delivery of a Dashera event with a

focus on the core activity of the burning of the effigy.

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• funding, in the sum of £88,000 is maintained and confirmed for

the Diwali Switch on and Diwali Day events, that the Diwali Working Party are requested to review the programme / budget allocation for these events to re-balance the programme to increase cultural activity on Diwali day and that the Council should lead a review of the working party arrangements for the delivery of the Diwali celebrations.

• the current arrangements for the management and delivery of

the Christmas Lights Switch On event are maintained and confirmed and that a review of the site/location of the Switch On ceremony is undertaken with a view, for health & safety reasons, to staging the ceremony in the Gallowtree Gate / Humberstone Gate area of the city centre

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• that a Festivals & Events forum, that brings festivals and events
• rganisations together, led by the Council is established, in
• rder to share good practice, develop partnership and joint

working arrangements as and where appropriate and to develop a shared approach to fund-raising and sponsorship

• Review marketing and develop a stronger campaign to brand

the city’s festival programme. It is also recommended that the Council should provide more ‘in kind’ support for festivals with their own marketing and PR campaigns

Festivals & Events Review – outcome of the consultation

• that the savings identified through the review be allocated as

listed below: Additional investment in marketing and branding £15,000 from 2013/14 onwards Invest in new weekend heritage and arts festival - £30,000 from 2013/14 onwards Establish a growth/new festivals fund of £10,000 in 2013/14 rising to £30,000 in 2014/15 onwards Potential savings to contribute to the future budget strategy £15,000 - 2013/14 onwards