There’s no one formula, but if you’re embarking on the process of developing a five- or ten-year place-based cultural strategy, here are some tips from my own experience. You should consider the internal and external factors that might be at play, influencing your chances of success. Do some pre-thinking to make sure you’re not wasting your time!
Why are we doing this?
It’s worth considering what the purpose will be of your cultural strategy. Why is one needed, why here and why now? It’s worth asking yourself honestly – right at the start of the journey – whether it’s clear what your motivations are for doing this and what you’re hoping to achieve through a place-based cultural strategy. My 1st blog covers this in more depth.
You shouldn’t end up with a strategy that could belong anywhere for anyone, so consider your place and its specific needs.
Whose strategy is it anyway?
This is a central question. Who will ‘own’ it? By which I mean, who will be taking responsibility for the implementation of the objectives and actions, who will deal with the messy business of partnership working, generating resources and ensuring the strategy stays on track over the course of a decade? Who will be accountable for its success or failure? Sometimes people forget that ‘owning’ something doesn’t just mean you’re the holder of power – it brings with it responsibility and accountability too.
Is it the Council’s or a third party’s – a cultural trust or Cultural Compact, for example – or, in a utopian aspiration, “everyone’s”? As with many contemporary challenges, local councils recognise they cannot tackle cultural development by themselves. Its nature means that a complex range of partners will need to be involved who are willing and able to be round the table as equals, bringing different skills and resources (financial, creative or otherwise) and delivering different elements.
All of this is culturally (with a ‘small c’) difficult for many organisations and leaders – even ones, in my experience, who purport to be open-minded, non-hierarchical, enabling etc. In practice… Is the council willing to cede some of its control and to trust external partners with delivering shared goals? Are artists and cultural organisations willing to work with the public sector, to recognise the power of a democratic mandate and local knowledge? Does the public sector recognise the value (economically and socially) of the third sector locally?
What about if you’re not a unitary authority and resources and governance for culture are fragmented? In my patch, for example, libraries and schools are run by the county; museums and arts centres are run by the borough council. So cultural provision and education is split. And just to add to the fun, one council is run by the Conservatives, the other by Lib Dems. In addition, there may be the role, status and capability of your Local Enterprise Partnership, Business Improvement District, Destination Marketing Organisation or Universities to fit in too.
And of course, this only covers those already ‘round the table’…
In practice, working out whose strategy it should be requires mutual respect, time and understanding as well as a shared approach to resourcing. Different places are approaching it in different ways, suitable for their own circumstances. Difficult questions need to be tackled openly and carefully. Not easy! But worth at least noting before you set off.
(I will write a future blog about implementation and the pros and cons of the different models I’ve come across…)
Hand on heart, is there any local support for culture?
There is a danger the cultural and creative sector can get very excited about a new strategy, but you need to bring others on board too, to ensure your lovely new plans don’t fall flat.
It’s worth considering the strength (or lack of) local political support and alignment across all parties, to address any political hurdles now, six months down the line, a year on etc. At the very least, have you told your Council Leader and Chief Executive that this is planned?
Likewise, the wider economic, civic and third sector infrastructure that matters to your place. Is the potential value of culture for regeneration, place marketing, social, health, wellbeing and community aims understood? Or is there at least an appetite to explore this value?
A colleague in London once told me that, although he’d worked in a leadership role in his borough for more than 15 years, he’d only met the Leader of his local council 2 years previously (and that was about a London Borough of Culture bid, so a very specific thing) and had no links at all with other local policy-makers. In smaller places – like Gloucester, where I took part in the strategy development in 2015 and rolled it out for more than 4 years from 2017 onwards – we didn’t have the luxury of ignoring difficult or disinterested people (!) In a smaller town, city or district, local influencers matter, even if you are also trying to address historical imbalances of power and platform a wider range of voices. It needs a team effort.
The process for developing your strategy is vital in building broad enthusiasm, support and compromise. It’s very difficult to kickstart new plans if you’ve already lost key people or organisations, or not brought them into the fold before you start. Before the consultation, you could bring key partners in to shape the terms of reference for a steering group, for example, or the Invitation To Quote document if you’re planning to use external consultants. Manage expectations around timing, council schedules, resourcing. During the consultation, bring them into conversations in ways that make them feel comfortable, so their ideas, experiences, dreams – and skepticism – can shape local plans. Take note of what they say!
How will we resource the process of writing a strategy?
For writing the strategy – and I appreciate I would say this! – finding the budget for external consultancy support will really help keep your process on track. It provides additional resource for a specific, time-bound piece of work; consultants (good ones, anyway) will bring a breadth of experience and knowledge from a range of places, so you’re not reinventing the wheel; they provide expertise in research, focus groups, interviews and analysis; and they provide an objective, slightly detached stance, rather than getting sidetracked with assumptions about how things are ‘done round here’.
You should be given a clear steer by the consultants about what you will be left with – whether it’s just the headline vision and strategy or tangible delivery plans, tailored to your locale, that support implementation. Also, be clear about what practical, place-specific collateral they will hand over that you can use again, for example, research, results of any surveys, mapping of assets and agents, outline funding plans etc. Be ambitious, specific and set expectations high!
Include time and resources for the consultation process e.g. room hire, refreshments, travel and funding to reimburse freelancers for their time (e.g. if you have a steering group). Include budget for design costs, as having a well-designed and visually appealing document makes it more accessible and engaging.
How will we resource the implementation of a strategy?
There is a danger you will raise expectations through the process of writing a strategy and then leave people disappointed because the ambitious plans are not implemented, or it’s not clear who will make them happen.
The blunt truth is that you will need a person or people to drive forward your strategy. New ideas, changes and projects will emerge, so it’s worth considering how this might work before you bring in consultants (or spend time doing it yourself). Volunteers can get you so far, and strategic alliances such as a Cultural Compact are effective, especially where the cultural sector is developed enough in an area to resource this. But do you also need a paid person, a lynchpin?
It could be via in-house resource at the council or within a cultural partner, with a job role(s) altered to include the strategy, or you can bring in additional resources. In Gloucester my role was to “connect, enable and champion” and many other place-based strategies have similar leadership roles – in Exeter and Plymouth, for example. Charles Landry has written a short blog about the nature of ‘connector’ roles for cities that’s worth reading. This person / people aren’t operational – they won’t deliver or fix everything all at once or do the day-to-day work of local cultural organisations. They won’t write everyone’s funding applications and can’t work miracles. But they will take a long-term, city-wide view (or however your local geography is defined) that didn’t exist for culture before, maintain a strategic, cross-organisational / corss-disciplinary focus, help build networks and partnerships and identify challenges and opportunities. I’d say it needs three years of funding to give them a fair shot. Funding can come from a range of sources, though accountability (line management etc) needs to be clear.
This role, alongside governance/strategic leadership and supported by a range of creative and delivery partners, can also coordinate and lead on place-based fundraising, often in consortium bids. It’s a tough funding environment, especially if you’re not a Priority or Levelling Up For Culture place right now. You will need to have a clear vision around which to build joint funding bids for complex, collaborative projects that drive progress (e.g. Great Place 2017-2021; current examples include UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Arts Council’s Cultural Development Fund) and for individual organisations seeking their own funds.
I’ll write a separate blog about Action Plans, but in terms of thinking about resourcing, it’s worth noting that you’ll ideally incorporate some quick wins, so progress can be demonstrated within the first six months – to help show you mean business, build trust and get partners excited about the change that is happening. Consider how these short-term wins might be resourced.
What’s the timetable?
When do you need the strategy by? Here you’ll need a balance between the depth and breadth of the consultation and the need to begin implementation. You don’t want it to feel like a talking shop but generally, from projects I’ve worked on and from tenders I’ve seen on the market, not enough time seems to be given for development of the strategy. This is a pity.
I’d suggest setting your timetable by working backwards from, say, council meetings that will sign off plans, and when papers need to be published for them (which I’ve learned through bitter experience is longer than you think!) Take into account the need for two or three draft versions of any documents before this stage, to be reviewed by key partners, as well as a minimum of four weeks for public / cultural sector surveys and four weeks’ notice to attend workshops or launches, plus of course time for inception meetings, planning and then analysis and writing. If you’re serious about shaping a strategy with and for local people and platforming diverse voices (and if you’re not, then is this really place-based?!) respect their time, not just your own or the council’s schedule.