Agenda item

This paper outlines FDC’s approach to developing a draft Creativity and Culture Strategy for Fenland and the key outcomes as well as the approach to delivery that the Strategy will address. 

Members considered the Council’s approach to developing a draft Creativity and Culture Strategy for Fenland and the key outcomes as well as the approach to delivery that the Strategy will address.

The Chairman invited Councillor Seaton as Portfolio Holder to present the report.  Councillor Seaton advised Members that the Council has worked with Arts Council England and Arts Reach to produce the Strategy to support the development of creativity, culture and heritage activities in Fenland’s local communities for the next 10 years.  He stated that at the meeting today were Liam Wiseman from Arts Council England who has supported the development of the Strategy with his advice and direction as well as the Arts Council’s financial support and also Jo Dacombe from Arts Reach who is the Consultant who has worked with creative practitioners across Fenland to assess what is happening in the area at the moment, identify strengths and weaknesses and put the draft Strategy together and he thanked them both for their assistance with this project. 

Councillor Seaton stated that the document before Members today is really needed, especially to support the recovery from the impact of Covid has had on everyone across Fenland.  He made the point that the document is about the culture, places and people and their ability to be creative and the rich heritage in Fenland.  Culture is about people and communities, it’s about what we do and who we are, how we live and the way we live our lives, it is a broad range of activities which bring people together.  He referred to some of highlights in Fenland and that one of the Council’s overarching Corporate priorities is to work with partners to maintain Fenland’s culture and heritage to ensure that Fenland remains to be a great place to live and to work in, there is strength in communities, there is improved community health and local economy and the cultural sector plays a vital role in regeneration, community cohesion and residents well-being. 

Councillor Seaton informed Members that the issues that the Strategy development work uncovered was that there was no co-ordination of cultural activities across Fenland, there were negative preconceptions to creativity and culture by both locals and visitors, but there is lots to be proud of in Fenland’s natural and heritage assets.  He made the point that the Strategy is a community strategy and a steering group of local creative and cultural practitioners along with support from the Arts Council and other bodies will move the Strategy’s actions forwards and it is anticipated that a development role will be established funded by Arts Council, National Lottery Heritage Fund and Fenland District Council, with the Strategy supporting the upskilling of the local community giving them confidence to develop funding support for local cultural events and improving communications across Fenland and linking cultural groups together.  It is expected the Strategy will be used across the District to develop regeneration, place making, engagement, employability, community cohesion and resident well-being.

Members made comments, asked questions and received responses as follows:

1.    Councillor Cornwell expressed the view that the introduction from Councillor Seaton shows the breadth of the subject being discussed and as a true Fenman, in his opinion, you cannot beat the Fens as it has so many attributes.  He is slightly concerned due to the enormous breadth of interest, how this is going to be reduced into bite sized pieces for delivery as it is a massive subject, it cannot be done all at once or with the same people.  Councillor Seaton responded that all the threads of the cultural and arts opportunities need to be pulled together, there are a lot of functions that occur and individual arts groups, but they are all in their own silos and there is a need to create something which is unique to Fenland and what people want. Jo Dacombe agreed that culture is a very broad term and she likes to think of it as creativity and heritage, which people probably understand more readily.  She referred to delivery and queried who Councillor Cornwell meant in ‘we’, as she sees it as everybody, with there already being a number of people in the community delivering interesting things, but those things could have a lot more potential.  Jo Dacombe stated that the Strategy focuses on connecting things better as once people work together they have more power to actually grow, empower and learn from each other and draw down bigger resources and she sees a lot of potential for things to grow, a few things need to start that are missing, but not necessarily creating too many new projects, but building on what is already there and enabling people to do it for themselves.  She advised that when undertaking the consultation there was a huge excitement, interest and enthusiasm from people, they had ideas, but just need some support or facilitation or connecting to make those ideas happen.  She acknowledged that not everything can be done at once, but this is a 10-year Strategy so a vision for the future which builds in steps, but the first part is getting the infrastructure right, getting people connected in the right way, giving them the skills that they need to take things on themselves and move it forward, with perhaps the District Council’s role being to start that facilitation in joining things together and getting things moving.  Councillor Seaton made the point that this is not a Strategy for Fenland District Council, this is a Strategy for the community, the Council will be facilitators, but it is a steering group with help from all areas.  Councillor Cornwell stated that he did not think it was purely a District Council Strategy as it has to be on a wide partnership basis to work.  He feels it is a massive challenge and he will be interested to see how things develop.

2.    Councillor Booth asked if it is a statutory duty for the Council to undertake this and hearing that this is not for the District Council why is it before the District Council, are we in effect the lead partner in this process?  Jo Dacombe advised that the Council has been given some funding from Arts Council England to undertake this study and make recommendations, but it is definitely for the whole community and what she has written has been based entirely on consultation.  Most of the consultation was undertaken in January to March, it felt like it was starting to build momentum, but the pandemic has really slowed this down and hopefully launching the Strategy as soon as we can will start that enthusiasm in the community again.  The District Council have that role in facilitation, but there is already a Steering Group of other organisations which can be expanded and built upon, which could be the leadership model and the Council may have to facilitate this by pulling the meetings together, but there are people with the skills and expertise on this group already who could be the leaders and the drivers of the Strategy.  Councillor Seaton added that the Council is looking to engage an officer to work for 2-3 years on pulling this altogether, which will be co-funded from various sources.  He stated that there has been great support from Arts Council England, and they are committed to continue with this.  He feels that people do want some form of culture and arts within Fenland, it is just pulling it altogether, so everyone has the opportunity to be involved.  Liam Wiseman stated from an Arts Council perspective it wants to provide this money and this opportunity to Fenland as it knows it is an area of low engagement for arts and culture, it is committed to providing opportunities and funding them, and will continue to provide support for artistic creative cultural activity in Fenland.  He feels that it has to be a two-pronged approach with the Council coming up with the Strategy and promoting the strategic overview and outcomes, but also wants this to be a Strategy by Fenland people for Fenland people, which is where the heavy consultation came in to make sure it did not feel part of the Council or another body telling people what to do, but ensuring people have the opportunities and the right resources.

3.    Councillor Booth asked if the Strategy is just for Fenland District Council’s area?  Liam Wiseman advised that it has been working across the four market towns.

4.    Councillor Booth referred to the mention of Town Councils, but there is no mention of Parish Councils as one of the key partners and he feels they have a role to play as 25% of the population live in the rural villages.  He stated that, whilst it is alluded to, the links from the towns to the villages is not expanded upon as there are issues with isolation and people not being able to get to towns to events so it is very town orientated as that is where a lot of the facilities are, but if you want the whole of Fenland to come along you have got to be able to recognise the villages, although possibly not in the remit of this Strategy.  He asked whether the Strategy was Fenland specific as there is a picture of a windmill on Page 27 of the Strategy, which he believes is Wicken Fen and not in Fenland.  Councillor Seaton agreed with Councillor Booth about the rural communities and whilst you cannot make the Steering Group too large as things do not happen, he has suggested that sub-groups be formed made up of people from the parishes as local input is needed.  Liam Wiseman advised that another project funded at the start of the year with Cambridgeshire Acre was the Rural Touring Network, which sadly did not happen due to the pandemic, which was to tour some of the rural areas of Cambridgeshire, which included parts of Fenland, and there are things that are being investigated to support the parishes and can come out of the Steering Group as the work is expanded that has already been picked up by Arts Reach.  Councillor Booth made the point to not forget the village halls that parishes have, which are a great resource crying out to be used and the Management Committees of these should be incorporated within the Strategy.

5.    Councillor Wicks referred to events that are in the process of being organised in the villages and what support the Arts Council can provide to villages in getting these events off the ground? Liam Wiseman advised that the way that Arts Council works is that funding has to be applied for, a number of grant funding advice sessions were held before the pandemic hit and it had started to see some good results coming from this, and he would be happy to undertake some virtual sessions.  Councillor Wicks stated that he would like to take up that offer on behalf of his village as there are number of things he wants to investigate.

6.    Councillor Yeulett stated that he attended the Members’ Seminar where this Strategy was presented, and his concerns were initially about Fenland District Council’s role in the Strategy.  He is of the opinion that the people should take ownership of it and he is pleased to hear that this is the intention and welcomes the broad range across the community.  Councillor Seaton reiterated that the Council is there to facilitate and to support, but it needs to be driven by the community.

7.    Councillor Miscandlon advised that Whittlesey Town Council embarked on a venture for a Heritage Centre in Whittlesey, which is now going ahead.  This is community driven as a survey was taken of all residents of Whittlesey and around 82% of the residents said they would support a Heritage centre, which is for a Heritage Centre for the Fens not just Whittlesey and tells the story of the Fens and primarily Musk Farm.  He would welcome any input from anybody on this project, paying praise to Phil Hughes attending the meetings on behalf of the District Council.

8.      Councillor Count highlighted the Fens Biosphere and whilst the Strategy can move forward it cannot be automatically assumed that either Fenland District Council or Cambridgeshire County Council are in favour or against the Fens Biosphere, there are positives associated with it and potential negatives and it seems to be rolling along at its own steam without it actually having an endorsement or otherwise.

9.      Councillor Count expressed the view that the structure of the Strategy is missing public art and he feels that it has an important role to play in driving up creativity. He stated that the public art that is already in the District tends to be historic rather than new, with the best display of current public art being in the flower displays undertaken by Fenland in Bloom.  Jo Dacombe agreed that public art could be one of the longer term aims and there is more scope for outdoor events inspiring people and then can start to introduce the idea for more permanent creative artworks into public spaces.  Councillor Seaton added that the public art that Councillor Count is referring to is usually undertaken by an individual person and what is trying to be achieved now is where everyone can get involved in a majority of things, which is productive for them, but over the next few years of this Strategy it can branch out into other areas.  Jo Dacombe stated the Strategy is a 10-year vision, but it is a living document so as perceptions change it needs to follow the community lead and if public art is something that people are looking for then the Strategy should adapt to include this.

10.  Councillor Cornwell supported the bottom up approach for assisting continuity.  He made the point that some years ago Fenland facilitated a Tourist Board, which ran quite successfully for some time until Fenland began to reduce the amount of facilitation and the group found it difficult to continue it for various reasons and asked if something could be developed to ensure there is enough support going into these volunteers who are undertaking specific projects to enable them to continue as often they rely on one or two people.  Councillor Seaton stated that one way of monitoring it would be to report back to the Panel at intervals, so Members are aware of what is happening and how it is going.  Also, if a support officer is employed that will be another channel of monitoring.  He agreed that the Tourist Board approach did work well and then started to fade mainly due it being run and financed by the Council.

11.  Councillor Miscandlon stated that in formation of these groups the youths of today need to be encouraged to participate.

The Chairman thanked Councillor Seaton, Liam Wiseman and Jo Dacombe for attending the meeting and answering Members questions.