Month: October 2022

…  41 .. the 26 … Big …. Up: Reimaginings

On 26 October 2022, Arts Council England will announce the results of their long-awaited investment decisions into which arts and cultural organisations have been successful in their applications to become National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) or Investment Principles Support Organisations (IPSOs) between 2023 and 2026. The Mighty Creatives are in the same position as everyone else in the sector and are ready for the email on 26 October which will tell us about what our relationship with Arts Council England will be over the next 3 years.  

So, in the meantime, in the spirit of hoping for the best but planning for the worst, here’s another reflection which highlights some of the amazing work the charity has done for, with and by children and young people in the East Midlands over the last ten years.

Today’s reflection: Welcome to the Kingdom of Mercia

Welcome to the Kingdom of Mercia, one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. The name, Mercia, means “border people”, probably quite apt given our discussions today regarding the future direction of the regions’ Local Cultural Education Partnerships, or LCEPs as they’re fondly referred to in these parts.  

If there was ever a group of people who spent their time working on the borders of culture, education, social activism and economic development, then those people are us – Mercians through and through.

So welcome to the border people of the East Midlands, from Amber Valley and Bolsover, Chesterfield, Derby and Derbyshire, Leicester and Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Norwich, Nottingham and Mansfield and Ashfield.

Welcome to our Western counterparts, the border people of Birmingham, Cannock Chase, Coventry, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Stoke on Trent and North Staffordshire, Tamworth, Telford, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton and Worcestershire.  

And a particular Mercian welcome goes out to our other guests for today, our cousins from one of the other six kingdoms of the Heptarchy, East Anglia: and its tribes from Cambridge and Cambridgeshire, Great Yarmouth, Ipswich, Lowestoft, Peterborough, Suffolk  and West Norfolk.

Introduction to Mercia and LCEPs

For those who are in the dark about Mercia, let me introduce you to our Kingdom.

Mercia has always been centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries. It has never had a single capital although the King of Mercia  had an important royal estate in 873 AD in Repton. King Offa, however, he of Offa’s Dyke fame claimed Tamworth in the West as the region’s capital a few years before that.

You’ll be delighted to know that the reign of King Offa is sometimes known as the “Golden Age of Mercia”. Nicholas Brooks noted that “the Mercians stand out as by far the most successful of the various early Anglo-Saxon peoples until the later ninth century.”

So, we have a long and illustrious history today to live up to.  We modestly like to imagine that perhaps our LCEPS are also by far the most successful of the various Anglo Saxon peoples in this part of our century, so today is completely about how we:

•          Share successes, challenges and learning with each other

•          Use our collective expertise to explore key themes which you have said you are interested in

•          Build an understanding about the impact you are making locally in shaping cultural education

•          Celebrate the spirit of collaboration in all LCEPs.

so that in 1220 years time, people will look back at us Mercians (and East Anglians) as leading the Golden Age of LCEPs until who knows when – or at least until the next Arts Council strategic review in 10 years time.

In the absence of Royalty

Speaking of which, I am disappointed to let you know that due to the recently announced election, Richard Russell, our Royal representative  from Arts Council England is now in a state of purdah and is unable to present to us. 

He was going to tell us about the current state of ACE’s 10 year cultural strategic plan and to make the case that LCEPs would be central in their future developments for young people.

He was particularly going to provoke us about what the challenges and opportunities may be for LCEPs in the future and wanted to pose the following questions:

–           How can we – LCEPs – help more children and young people to develop their creativity?

–           How can  we help children and young people engage with the widest possible range of culture?

–           How best can we continue to reflect their local communities and help deliver ‘creative communities’ outcomes? 

–           What are the challenges and opportunities for delivering a joined-up cultural education programme locally?

Whilst it is disappointing that the Royal Richard Russell is unable to join us, this won’t stop us from connecting, networking, sharing and learning from across the Kingdom, or given that East Anglia has joined us, the Queendom.

Right Here, Right Now

Today is the result of a collaboration between the three Bridge Organisations that cover the area – Arts Connect, Festival Bridge and The Mighty Creatives.  There are 9 LCEPs in Festival Bridge area, 8 in The Mighty Creatives area and 13 in Arts Connect area: so that’s quite a gathering.

This gathering of the tribes is the first of its kind – and may well be its last, depending on what happens with the next Arts Council 10 year strategy.  We’re not taking anything for granted in that regard so want to make sure that every moment of today is spent preparing you for the next ten years – getting you LCEP ready if you like for those exciting years ahead.  

You’ll have heard about school readiness and work readiness – well this is your chance to become LCEP ready for the next decade. This means using today to prepare for change , to lift your heads from the everyday trials, tribulations and distractions, to take time to think strategically and to make new cross border connections in the way that we on the borders are so well versed in making.

By their very nature LCEPs respond to their local conditions, have adopted different models and they may be in very different stages of development. So this is an opportunity for all LCEPs present to hear about common and shared directions. 

Following my introduction, you will be given several opportunities to network and find out more about each other in what the Vikings and early Norse settlers would call ‘Things’.

Before our Parliaments, before the High Courts – there were Things.

Things is from the Old Norse word þing, meaning assembly – and were an early system of justice and administration. Things were where political decisions were made, laws upheld and disputes settled. They acted as meeting places and were often the focus for trade and religious activity. In short, an ideal place for LCEPs to gather.

So, the Things you can join today include our

•          Post it wall 

•          Open Space session which gives you a chance to further explore issues

•          8-10 young people from New College Leicester and across the Queendom will play an important role throughout the day generating reportage and feeding back their reflections at the end of the day.

•          Evaluation Survey, which we’ll send you after event

Later on today, you will also be attend one of the following five Things, known more recently as workshop choices:

•          Impact and Evaluation

•          Young People’s Voice

•          Sustainability and Investment

•          Place Making and Identity

•          Schools Engagement

Finally

We hope today will feel friendly and informal, and that it encourages rich conversations and gives you inspiration and ideas to take back to the children and young people of your locality.  Because  in the end, they’re the ones that this is all about.

(Keynote speech given to The Power of Partnerships: The Power of Partnership: Local Cultural Education Partnerships at the Heart of Cultural Education in the Midlands and East Anglia, November 2019)

The Mighty Creatives staff team took part in the Mighty (UN)Mute, a day-long vow of silence, on 5th October 2022. You can check out the campaign here or donate your support to it here.

Or if neither of these is possible (and heaven knows we’re all in tough financial times right now), then anything you can do to share and shout about the campaign would be equally welcomed and appreciated.

Day 40 .. the 26 … Big …. Up: Reimaginings

On 26 October 2022, Arts Council England will announce the results of their long-awaited investment decisions into which arts and cultural organisations have been successful in their applications to become National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) or Investment Principles Support Organisations (IPSOs) between 2023 and 2026. The Mighty Creatives are in the same position as everyone else in the sector and are ready for the email on 26 October which will tell us about what our relationship with Arts Council England will be over the next 3 years. 

So, in the meantime, in the spirit of hoping for the best but planning for the worst, here’s another reflection which highlights some of the amazing work the charity has done for, with and by children and young people in the East Midlands over the last ten years.

Today’s Reflection: Arts Infrastructure?  Give it a rest!

People ask me, what are The Mighty Creatives then? And what’s an Arts Council Bridge Organisation when it’s at home? And what does being an arts infrastructure organisation actually mean? And why don’t you just give the money directly to the organisations that are actually delivering the arts? And cut out the middle men? Read on here…

The Mighty Creatives staff team took part in the Mighty (UN)Mute, a day-long vow of silence, on 5th October 2022. You can check out the campaign here or donate your support to it here.

Or if neither of these is possible (and heaven knows we’re all in tough financial times right now), then anything you can do to share and shout about the campaign would be equally welcomed and appreciated.

Day 39 .. the 26 … Big Shut Up: Reimaginings

On 26 October 2022, Arts Council England will announce the results of their long-awaited investment decisions into which arts and cultural organisations have been successful in their applications to become National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) or Investment Principles Support Organisations (IPSOs) between 2023 and 2026. The Mighty Creatives are in the same position as everyone else in the sector and are ready for the email on 26 October which will tell us about what our relationship with Arts Council England will be over the next 3 years.

So, in the meantime, in the spirit of hoping for the best but planning for the worst, here’s another reflection which highlights some of the amazing work the charity has done for, with and by children and young people in the East Midlands over the last ten years.

Today’s reflection: what is the point of school?

What with accelerating technological and social changes, children have become socialites at 7, adults by 12 and are doubting everything the teacher and the school stands for, within a few months of joining secondary school.  

 If you believe the crystal ball gazers of the media, the curriculum has become irrelevant and has been superseded by the Internet where children work out their own curriculum, perhaps blindly, perhaps intuitively, perhaps guided by who knows what – certainly things we parents and teachers know nothing or little about.

No matter where you look, the central questions are the same: how should schools respond to the rapidly changing nature of the world we live in? How can they prepare children for an uncertain today and a completely unknown tomorrow?

We at the Mighty Creatives firmly believe that this preparation for the future – the ability to future proof our children so to speak -lays fairly and squarely at the doorstep of arts and culture. 

It’s the power of arts and culture in the lives of children and young people which will affect their educational, their social and their economic futures.

I don’t just mean the ability to sit back and consume the latest musical X factor fad, but the ability for children to engage actively in the processes of understanding, creation and production of all forms of artistic activity.  

We – teachers, artists, policy makers – have known for decades the power the arts have in the education of young people. Many of us will have stories which bear testament to that fact of life and may also be able to point to the many research studies over the years which support what we know from our own hard-won experiences. 

This makes it essential that schools are at the heart of championing the arts and are given permission to create opportunities for the transformation that the arts can bring about.

This is why participating in the Arts Mark programme is so powerful for schools and the young people they serve – and why it’s such a thrill to be here this afternoon to see the effects that the Arts Mark programme is having on children across our region.

Since the relaunch of Artsmark in 2015 we have had over 250 schools register and join the Artsmark Community in the East Midlands.  They’ve joined the growing national community of over 2,800 schools across England as a whole. 

This commitment to arts and culture in our schools means that over 103,000 pupils in the region can be reached – and can have their lives transformed by the power of arts and culture. This level of transformation means that our children and young people are not only just finding the point of school, but are being prepared for a future which they can benefit from, rather than being frightened of and controlled by.

(Extract from welcome speech presented to Artsmark Schools at Nottingham Contemporary on 13 July 2017)

The Mighty Creatives staff team took part in the Mighty (UN)Mute, a day-long vow of silence, on 5th October 2022. You can check out the campaign here or donate your support to it here.

Or if neither of these is possible (and heaven knows we’re all in tough financial times right now), then anything you can do to share and shout about the campaign would be equally welcomed and appreciated.

Day 38 .. the 26 Day Big Shut Up: Reimaginings

On 26 October 2022, Arts Council England will announce the results of their long-awaited investment decisions into which arts and cultural organisations have been successful in their applications to become National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) or Investment Principles Support Organisations (IPSOs) between 2023 and 2026. The Mighty Creatives are in the same position as everyone else in the sector and are ready for the email on 26 October which will tell us about what our relationship with Arts Council England will be over the next 3 years.  

So, in the meantime, in the spirit of hoping for the best but planning for the worst, here’s a reflection which highlights some of the amazing work the charity has done for, with and by children and young people in the East Midlands over the last ten years.

Today’s reflection: a Grand Tour with a Grand Ambition

One of my first jobs as CEO of The Mighty Creatives was to tour the East Midlands’ arts and cultural organisations to find the inspiration to rise to The Mighty Creatives’ core challenge: how can we get better at providing cultural education for children and young people? This post was about the first month of the ‘Grand Tour’.

The Mighty Creatives staff team took part in the Mighty (UN)Mute, a day-long vow of silence, on 5th October 2022. You can check out the campaign here or donate your support to it here.

Or if neither of these is possible (and heaven knows we’re all in tough financial times right now), then anything you can do to share and shout about the campaign would be equally welcomed and appreciated.

Day 37 of the 26 Day Big Shut Up: Reimaginings

On 26 October 2022, Arts Council England will announce the results of their long-awaited investment decisions into which arts and cultural organisations have been successful in their applications to become National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) or Investment Principles Support Organisations (IPSOs) between 2023 and 2026.

It’s been a complex and intense process since January, what with the publication of guidelines and relationship frameworks, introductory conversations, digital briefings, opening of application portals, diversity monitoring, application assessment, balancing and decision-making.  The process resulted in 1,728 applications to the programme, requesting just over £2 billion over the three-year period.  This is more than double the number of NPOs that the Arts Council currently invests in and makes it their most over-subscribed investment round to date.

There will no doubt be winners and losers in this process.  Some organisations will find themselves being able to speak and present their work perhaps for the first time; others will breathe a deep sigh of relief whennthey hear that their work is going to be continued to be supported and others will find themselves silenced and potentially shut down. 

Was it ever thus.  This process happens usually every three years and leads to an anxious sector with organisations uncertain for their futures.  Scenario planning takes on a whole new levels of complexity and arts administrators the length and breadth of the country are noticeable by their absence of hair, shortage of nails and wild eyed staring look due to many sleepless nights.  

The Mighty Creatives are in the same position as everyone else in the sector and are ready for the email on 26 October which will tell us about what our relationship with Arts Council England will be over the next 3 years. So, in the meantime, in the spirit of hoping for the best but planning for the worst, the next 10 days will highlight some of the amazing work the charity has done for, with and by children and young people in the East Midlands over the last ten years.

Today’s reflection: Let’s Create: arts packs through the Covid-19 Pandemic

Let’s Create packs were packs of arts resources for children and families who had been struggling through the pandemic.  We focused on reaching children and families in poverty by working with Local Cultural Education Partnerships and with the End Child Poverty campaign.  This highlighted the roles of food banks in communities which “became clear quite quickly, and where there weren’t links to food banks, we made them”.

Some families who received these packs would not otherwise have had access to creative materials. This was especially relevant in the city where packs were distributed through food banks serving people experiencing financial hardship. 

One food bank manager spoke of how being able to offer packs made a material difference to families’ financial welfare and quality of life:

“It takes the pressure off and – all these lovely things that people have got, but not had to go into debt for. For lots of people these things are normal, but not for everyone. They were extra things that we could provide for them, for the whole family, although it is for the kids it helps the whole family.” (Let’s Create City Partner)

For more information about The Mighty Creatives supported this project in the East Midlands are here.

The Mighty Creatives staff team took part in the Mighty (UN)Mute, a day-long vow of silence, on 5th October 2022. You can check out the campaign here or donate your support to it here.

Or if neither of these is possible (and heaven knows we’re all in tough financial times right now), then anything you can do to share and shout about the campaign would be equally welcomed and appreciated.

Day 36 of the 26 Day Big Shut Up: The World Reimagined

Over the last few years, I’ve been supporting The Mighty Creatives’ annual ‘Be Mighty, Be Creatives’ fundraising campaigns.   This year is no exception.  Called The Mighty (Un)Mute, we’re aiming to raise £5,000 to support the artistic creation for one of ten Globe Sculptures in The World Reimagined art trail across Leicester, one of the most multicultural cities in the UK. 

On 5th October The TMC staff team supported the campaign by taking part in the Mighty (UN)Mute, a day-long vow of silence, which saw us taking a Journey of Discovery of all ten Globe Sculptures around Leicester.  This is what we discovered:

Laura-Kate Pontefract: Mother Africa at Leicester Station.

Roy Meats: The Reality of Being Enslaved at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery

Natasha Muluswela – Leicester Community Globe at Victoria Park

Lou Boyce – Stolen Legacy: the Rebirth of a Nation at Medway Community Primary School

Marcus Dove ,Abolition and Emancipation at Highfields Centre

Richard Rawlins – A Complex Triangle Indeed at Orton Square

Zita Holbourne – Still We Strive at the Clocktower

Hannaa Hamdache, Sarah Mensah & Gabrielle Ubakanma – Ecology of Existance at Highcross Centre

Lakwena Maciver – Staying Power)at Stephen Lawrence Research Centre

 Jarvis Brookfield – From Roots To Fruit at Leicester Town Hall.

Here they are in situ, in all their glory.

The Mighty Creatives staff team took part in the Mighty (UN)Mute, a day-long vow of silence, on 5th October 2022. You can check out the campaign here or donate your support to it here.

Or if neither of these is possible (and heaven knows we’re all in tough financial times right now), then anything you can do to share and shout about the campaign would be equally welcomed and appreciated.

Day 35 of the 26 Day Big Shut Up: unsilencing the future.

The 10th and final globe sculpture on our journey of discovery is “From Roots To Fruit”, created by Jarvis Brookfield (theme: Reimagine the future).

It’s been an eventful journey for us all afternoon and it’s pleasing to know that we have seen all the globes in situ, before they all get moved to their final resting place outside the Leicester Museum and Art Gallery in New Walk.

It’s been a new walk for all of us; if not individually then certainly collectively.  Eventful but silent: we undertook the whole experience muted although it was evident all day that whilst we had adopted a vow of silence, our communications were irrepressible. Whether this be through our sombre genuflections at some of the globes, our facial gestures of concern, of pleasure, or of hilarity; our hunched bodies in the cold autumn air or our physical responses to the questions that members of the public directed towards us, or our imagined conversations between historical and cultural figures, we couldn’t help but communicate what we were experiencing throughout the journey.

We may have been muted, we may have been silenced but nothing can stop our desire and innate hunger to communicate our condition in whatever context.  There’s been lots of learnings on this journey today: but for me, the main one has been that nothing can stop us communicating our histories, dreams and visions.   We may not be heard at first; but time will tell, truth will out and discoveries can never be silenced.

The Mighty Creatives staff team took part in the Mighty (UN)Mute, a day-long vow of silence, on 5th October 2022. You can check out the campaign here or donate your support to it here.

Or if neither of these is possible (and heaven knows we’re all in tough financial times right now), then anything you can do to share and shout about the campaign would be equally welcomed and appreciated.

Day 34 of the 26 Day Big Shut Up: just look around the corner, just look…

Having all reassembled successfully at our very own globe in the Highcross Retail monolith, I was surprised when Caroline cheerfully signalled to us that we had another 2 globes to visit. Or at least that’s what I think she was signing. Whaaa… I thought, well on the way of being ready for a sat-down, recuperative pint. Do I really need to step off again, along the pavements, across the streets and around yet more corners? How much further do we need to go?

But such was the journey of discovery, that we stepped off resolutely towards DMU and the next Globe Sculpture by Lakwena Maciver (theme: Staying Power) based just outside the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre, and a few yards away from Trinity House.

I remembered that a few years ago I had been invited there to a graduate lunch by DMU and remember reflecting afterwards, you never know what’s just around the corner:

So I sit down amongst the finery and refinery sporting my guest badge meeting with a laudable gent from the Guild of Patten Makers and a lecturer in photography and before you know it there’s a very decent three course meal and then someone gives a welcome speech and then I’m chatting to someone from the arts and humanities department about the cross overs between arts and science and then there’s a very nice glass of wine on offer but I’m not drinking as it’s midweek and then I think I’d better get off to work as it’s a busy day and I have a meeting in thirty minutes and then I have a train to catch and then there’s loads to do and it’s fifteen minutes until the next meeting and then and then and then and then…

But suddenly I stopped dead in my tracks. I turned a corner in the dining room, looked up at the altar at the end of the chapel and saw the magnificent stain glass windows by Christopher Whall, (a distant great uncle on my mum’s side) benignly staring at us assembled hordes just feet from where we were sitting. How something in our past can be just around the corner out of sight: but so present and impressive if we are prepared to turn to see it.

We don’t stop often enough to take stock of what’s just around the corner: and we lose out, being engulfed in the mist of our daily routines. How much further do we need to go? Not that far at all: just show some staying power and look at what’s around your next corner.

The Mighty Creatives staff team took part in the Mighty (UN)Mute, a day-long vow of silence, on 5th October 2022. You can check out the campaign here or donate your support to it here.

Or if neither of these is possible (and heaven knows we’re all in tough financial times right now), then anything you can do to share and shout about the campaign would be equally welcomed and appreciated.

Day 33 of the 26 Day Big Shut Up: shout it loud and proud.  We made this.

It’s not long before we encounter the next globe sculpture on our journey of discovery:  the work by Hannaa Hamdache, Sarah Mensah & Gabrielle Ubakanma (theme: Ecology of Existance).

We’re especially enamoured with this globe as it’s particularly close to our heart. When we heard about The World Reimagined project being developed back in 2020, it became clear in those early days that no-where in the East Midlands was being ear marked to host a globe.  Bristol, yes; Manchester, yes; Liverpool, obviously.  But the East Midlands?  

As ever, it seemed that the region was being marginalised by some larger national interests so we thought, that in our role as Arts Council Bridge organisation for the East Midlands it was up to us to see if we could persuade some of the larger local authorities in the region to step up and support it.  So, although approaches to Nottingham, Derby, Northampton and Lincoln all came to nothing, Leicester City Council, God Bless It, stepped up and found the resources and political will to support the programme, underwrite the financial requirements and make it happen.

We played our part in this process too by sponsoring one of the globes (guess which?) and involving one of our team, Hannaa Hamdache to produce the globe together with local young artists.  Mission accomplished.  Nearly. 

Our sponsorship of the Globe has required us to underwrite its production using a combination of our own unrestricted reserves and public donations.  Our trustees promised that for every £ we could raise through our campaigning, they would match it, £ for £ until we reached the target of £10,000.

We’re not there yet but are heading in the right direction: so any help you can offer would be much appreciated. 

And even if you can’t donate your cash at this moment in time, please do come and visit all the globes (especially ours.  Which we really love. As if you couldn’t guess.) – they’ll provide a fascinating journey of discovery not only around Leicester but across the world.

Day 32 of the 26 Day Big Shut Up: the silences of imagined conversations.

The imagined conversations between Joe Orton and Richard Rawlins accompanies us as we continue our journey of discovery into central Leicester and the site of our next Globe Sculpture by Zita Holbourne (theme: Still We Strive).

“The quintessential English cup of tea and its insidious intertwining with sugar are the cornerstone of the economic construction of Britain” Richard starts.

“Until I was fifteen, I was more familiar with Africa than my own body.” Joe retorts.

“I am an invisible man; I am a man of substance flesh and bone fibre and liquids and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible simply because you to refuse to see me,” quotes Richard from Ralph Ellison.

“I needed the invisible butler in What the Butler Saw as a symbol for the complacency of upper-middle-class lives,” Joe reminisces.

We have to leave them struggling out some meaning of their imaginary collision as we process into the city centre.  It’s a very different experience from walking up New Walk or through Highfields.  Here, we could be tourists, we could be locals, no-one knows as we’re subsumed into the anonymous flow of humanity which is experienced in perhaps all city centres.  

There are a few landmarks which indicate that we’re specifically in Leicester but the main view is of corporate retail opportunities which could be anywhere in the western world.  The landmarks and sounds which mark out this place as specifically Leicester are valuable reminders of where we are and why we are there.

Somewhat incongruously, the globe sculpture is parked right next to a takeaway food stand.  Imagining a conversation between these two objects becomes a step too far for this afternoon: despite being reminded that “our lives begin to end the day we are silent about all of the things that matter.”

The busy city centre flow picks us up and we head through the Highcross monolith to the next globe sculpture which we have a particular interest in visiting.

The Mighty Creatives staff team took part in the Mighty (UN)Mute, a day-long vow of silence, on 5th October 2022. You can check out the campaign here or donate your support to it here.

Or if neither of these is possible (and heaven knows we’re all in tough financial times right now), then anything you can do to share and shout about the campaign would be equally welcomed and appreciated.

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