Punch a Tantra - Spark Children's Festival. Image: Alan Fletcher.   Courtesy: Buxon Festival.   The Sunflower Plot. Courtesy: Arts Council England. B – Working in Local Government Induction is an ongoing process, and will last from the recruitment interview to long into your local government career!  You may find this good companion guide useful reading before the induction interview and perhaps to return to it, during the first months of your new job.  A recent survey into training needs of Arts Officers in local authorities indicated that 46% of all officers surveyed had not undergone any form of induction programme on starting their jobs. A full and comprehensive guide to the induction process is available at http://www.nalgao.org/members/info.htm, which contains valuable information for your line manager, so it may be worth going through that guide together. There are a number of topics that you should expect to cover during the induction process: Geography of work area, toilets, refreshment areas The nature of the post Key tasks and areas of responsibility The nature of the Authority The nature of the arts/cultural sector Key contacts (and written contact &telephone list) The nature of the section/department Policies, Policy statements, strategies and action plans Health & Safety issues; emergency evacuation, any special requirements and procedures Customer service and equal opportunities procedures and practices Lines of communication inside and out of the immediate organisation Key people Direct service responsibilities, development issues and action programmes Geographical orientation and information about catchment area Budgets and financial accountability, financial regulations etc. Sources of information and support Training needs Personal/domestic needs, personnel issues (holidays/sickness/grievance/disciplinary procedures etc.) Administrative details (ordering procedures, inventories, filing systems, typing and paper related procedures and layouts, etc.) Environmental issues (recycling policies, energy efficiency etc.) Consultation procedures, CPA, etc.Monitoring & evaluation procedures Committee processes, timescales of meetings etc, the political framework Marketing and promotion procedures (if appropriate) Media and press contact Don’t expect all this to take place over just one interview on the first day of your new job. It might be better to address this over a long time-scale, which will need monitoring. nalgao recommend the following: Pre-induction: reading matter; information packs on service and catchment area. Perhaps a post-interview visit and familiarisation meeting. First Day. Ensure a new employee has enough time with the full attention of the manager. Meeting with key people, “the tour” of the work place, emergency procedures, and if possible programme a team meeting. First week. Additional documentation (policy, service documents, action programmes, service priorities, departmental procedures) geographical familiarisation, further meetings with key staff, accounts and administrative systems, in-depth briefings from close colleagues. First Month. Visits to other sections and associated services/departments. The political framework, experience of a committee and committee reporting (if appropriate). The policy framework. Planned review meeting with manager, identification of training needs and areas of potential development. Establishment of personal plans for next twelve months. First year. Regular review meetings with colleagues, line manager and if possible, mentor, and give full support throughout this period. And remember to programme time for this. B.2 The responsibilities of local government: County, Unitary, District/Borough and Parish councils. Most council services are the primary responsibility of one tier of government; Districts and Boroughs do refuse collection, while Counties do education and roads, for example. Unitaries, by definition, do it all.Cultural programmes do not operate so simply…..The arts will normally operate at 3 levels: regionally, where the Arts Council regional office is the main focus, at the County where an arts team will take a view on County-wide arts programmes (for example, in creative industry development or in touring schemes) or for a Unitary Council, urban regeneration issues. At District level, the arts will deliver local priorities; many participatory arts projects are organised within the geographic boundaries of a Borough or District. Even small parishes may have a role to play in this spiders’ web of partnerships – parish councils are often rural arts promoters, for example. Bolsover Festival. Image : Alan Fletcher B.3 How Cabinet Government works and the role of the Portfolio holder A cabinet is the decision-making group of senior elected members; each will take responsibility for different “portfolios”.  You should find out who your Portfolio holder is, with responsibility for the arts. You may find it useful to invite them to events, and to keep them involved, but do work through your line manager who will deal with the Portfolio holder on a regular basis. The Portfolio holder is the champion of your service, but remember that a portfolio holder will have responsibility for a host of broad strands, of which the arts is just one. A Cabinet usually consists of 7 or 8 members, and portfolio titles will vary in different authorities. At County level, there will be one for Adult Social Services, Children’s Services (combining education & children’s social services), Libraries, Environment/Highways, Culture/Leisure or Community (often the home to the arts portfolio), IT/Finance and Community Safety. At District or Borough there will be a Planning, Housing, Finance, Communications, Leisure and other portfolios. Your work as an Arts Officer may be primarily accountable to the Leisure or Culture portfolio, but your work may be in partnership with other officers, and therefore impact on other portfolios. A Portfolio holder will act as champion in the annual budget round, and for bids that may come forward from senior officers, so their role is crucial to yours. Funding for budgets are often considered in terms of how the programme (such as the arts programme) meets the principal priorities of the Council, such as youth engagement; you should research what these are. Having some other investment into your programme also counts well in persuading your Council to invest, and may help the Portfolio holder argue the case.     Big Mission. Image : Alan Fletcher.   Willow sculpture by Laura Ellen Bacon. Image: Alan Fletcher.   Courtesy: Bodies in Flight. B.4 The role of an elected member Once elected at a local government election or by-election, a member (at any level) is there to help the people of the area he or she represents, by assisting with problems and guiding them through the local council process. Their role is also to ensure Council policies are carried out equally and fairly throughout the area. As a result, access issues are important to members, who want to know that your programmes are of benefit to, or could be reached by, all parts of the community.  B.5 Why the arts are important in Council delivery The arts are not a legal requirement, and there is no directive that ensures Councils include it in their services. Other services will have more weight inside the Council. However, the ability of the arts, (and other cultural services) to operate across services (ie be cross-cutting) and meet the targets of your Council’s plans, and Local Area Agreements is an important strength – see B.6 for some examples of this. Its also worth remembering what’s unique about arts work, that will help your case: Your arts work impacts directly on local people. Local people often shape the work Councils believe a quality of life is important to local people – your work contributes to thatThe arts creates an emotional response – its what makes us human Generally speaking, small budgets but high impact Arts services are good at levering additional finance to support services. A national study last year by nalgao concluded that for every £1 spent on arts, an additional £3.33 is raised in leverageThe arts impacts on important local agendas and crosscutting agendas regionally and nationally (health, young people, education, public order, regeneration, transportation, the environment, tourism & visitor perception, and so on) – it makes people feel good about their area and improves the quality of life for communities The arts are often delivered in partnership with other agencies The arts offer opportunities for people to make choices The arts can help put over a message about Council priorities – green issues, for example There is an economic impact of cultural industries (and is a growing industrial sector nationally) There is a high social impact of arts and culture (ref. R. Florida & R. Puttran) B.6 How the arts delivers Local Strategic Partnerships, Community Plans and Local Area Agreements Local Strategic Partnerships are an agreement between local agencies on the priorities for the area; these will be in a number of different strands of activity, addressing the area’s health and wellbeing, economic priorities, protection of natural resources, community safety, or youth engagement. For example, there may be a “safer and stronger” block, which will have a number of different partnerships working together to deliver community development programmes, such as crime reduction, cross-generation awareness, and the like.The arts may find a natural home within one strand or another, but it will contribute in partnership across different strands; the structure will vary with different authorities. Arts participative projects are often contributing to the ideals of “safer communities”, or “social cohesion” which are important priorities of local government. By supporting local participation in the arts, such as banner-making, village maps, or youth theatre, your work is bringing people together, often across generations, reducing their sense of isolation, and fear of, or engagement in, anti-social behaviour. Similarly, support for your creative industries, by building up local data, supporting retail opportunities or developing niche networks of arts providers will impact on the economic growth strand of your LSP. It helps to make the officers responsible for the strands you can work within, aware of what you do. Again, work through your line manager on this. Courtesy: Bodies in Flight Community Plans are similar in structure, but are often more visionary, i.e. they look to the future to set a path for how an area will develop over the next 5 to 10 years. They will be agreed, again, by a number of local public, private, voluntary and community agencies that you can find common ground with. Community Plans are seen as the trunk of the strategic Plan “tree” in local authorities; all other strategies, in theory, spring off the trunk. Common Themes of Community planning in different authorities will be: Children and young people Health and Well-being Community Safety Improved access to employment Improved access to education and learning Improved Housing Creating an environment where people want to live Local Area Agreements (LAAs) are negotiated by local authorities on behalf of their local strategic partnerships (LSP) and their Government Office (GO) on behalf of central government. They provide an opportunity to consider, negotiate, agree and deliver local and national outcomes.  LAAs aim to align or rationalise funding resources, reduce bureaucracy, and enhance efficiency. These will be organised in “blocks”, i.e: children and young people safer and stronger communities healthier communities and older people economic development and enterprise The arts are similarly well-placed to deliver outcomes across these blocks. It is worth ensuring, as far as possible, that the work of the arts are reflected in your authority’s LAA, as far as you can. Local Authorities are at different stages of developing LAAs – some will have been in the Pilot scheme, and signed off their LAA in 2005, some in round 2 will be active in April 2006 and an LAA of a Council in round 3 will not be active until April 2007.     Fresh. Courtesy: Fermyn Woods Gallery.   Artsmark awards 05. Image: Alan Fletcher.   Skin artist Hetain Patel. Image: Alan Fletcher. B.7 Working across departments As will be clear from the previous section, working in partnership is crucial to the development of arts work locally. Your work is well placed to do this, because the arts are often referred to as one of the “crosscutting” strands of local authority delivery. This means the different events that you set up as artistic may also be about skills development, town centre renewal, regeneration, green issues, youth engagement and so on. This is good practice on a number of levels – it encourages partnership, brings money into the arts, and delivers different agendas (and it will potentially impact on your authority’s CPA rating). This approach can result in some excellent and sustainable practice: B.7.1 Town Centre Management: An independent Town Centre Management group in Stamford, Lincs wanted to develop public art as part of the enhancement of the town. Working with the local authority arts officers, they were able to access supplementary funds from ACE, and the European Union, to develop a range of water creations, paving, sculpture and contemporary furniture, providing employment for County artists, and creating a unique and original centre to their market town. Contact: david.lambert@lincolnshire.gov.uk B.7.2 Recycling Services A project between the Waste Management, Recycling and Leisure Development Officers to find an innovative way of imparting information to members of the public about the recycling services of the Council.  This resulted in a free summer-long programme focusing on the environment and recycling issues entitled 'Seaside Resorts Littered with Artists' . Professional street performers and theatrical organizations were commissioned to perform a range of live theatre addressing issues of litter and re-cycling in seaside locations in Teignbridge, South Devon. One of the Council's corporate objectives is "to work towards litter-free streets and public spaces through education, enforcement and investment in these services" Experienced theatre companies - Big Rory and Co, Desperate Men, Forkbeard Fantasy and Dot Comedy produced a range of performances in response to the brief. Their acts took place in a variety of locations over the Summer period of 2005 and were witnessed by thousands of people. A separate group of artists, TRAIL, also worked in the resorts to develop a complementary project resulting in an outdoor exhibition of recycled sculptured artwork. Contact: DPollard@Teignbridge.gov.uk B.7.3 Arts and Health Arts Action York - the community arts team within City of York Council - supported the local NHS Trust to initiate a hospital arts scheme in York District Hospital. This involved supporting the 'Arts and Environment' steering group at the hospital to develop an arts strategy, draw up a job description and recruit and interview /appoint an arts officer. The team are continuing to help develop the project with joint funding bids (e.g. Welcome Trust) and the establishment of a second post dedicated to creative activities on the renal units. Contact: Emily.harvey@york.gov.uk As part of the impact of cultural activity in the Leicestershire Local Area Agreement, the Leicestershire Education and Community Services departments will work with the four Primary Care Trusts to undertake a two year research study involving artists and arts organisations in the Healthy Schools Initiative. This initiative will explore new and innovative ways of promoting positive approaches to healthy living by artists and arts organisations. A number of other crosscutting projects also deliver the Leicestershire LAA. Contact: MFattorini@leics.gov.uk Willow artist Laura Ellen Bacon. Image: Alan Fletcher B.7.4 Neighbourhood Renewal For 'York Pride' - a neighbourhood renewal initiative - the community arts team coordinated a public art project in collaboration with the local street environmental officer in the Acomb area; community groups and businesses were involved in a consultation and the creation of a pavement installation in a newly re-landscaped area by the main shopping centre. Children and young people made clay tiles showing their ideas about Acomb - these were cast in aluminium and permanently set into the pavement, providing a local landmark and prompting one young boy to announce that he would bring his grandchildren to see his tile when he grows old! Contact: Emily.harvey@york.gov.uk     Courtesy: Arts Council England, East Midlands.   Evening Glory. By Charles Monkhouse.   BRIT, Young people's theatre initiative. Image: Alan Fletcher. B.8 A guide to CPA (this is an edited version of a nalgao introduction to how CPA operates and how it affects the arts) What is the CPA? CPA stands for ‘Comprehensive Performance Assessment’. It is a system for helping local councils in England to improve local services for their communities. The CPA was introduced in 2002 following the Government White Paper 'Strong Local Government - Quality Public Services'. The CPA is overseen by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), which says, “…the CPA [has] brought together, for the first time, a rounded picture of performance as the basis for central and local government to work together to achieve improvements in local services.” Local Authorities are categorised as Excellent, Good, Fair, Weak or Poor and results are updated on an annual basis. Since the CPA was introduced, central government has reduced the number of inspections that local authorities face by one third and pro-active engagement has helped poor performing councils to put in place the building blocks for significant improvement. There are now only 16 weak and poor single tier and County Councils compared to 35 in 2002. The Harder Test The CPA is managed by the Audit Commission, which undertakes annual inspections of Local Authorities to assess their CPA rating. The CPA review also looks at the way a Council uses its resources and at periodic corporate self-assessment. The CPA considers the Local Authority’s ability to improve its services and CPA rating. The CPA review covers both service inspections – for example education, social services or benefit services – and corporate management issues. The Audit Commission has recently reviewed the inspection mechanism. From 2006 it will be introducing a new more challenging CPA framework – “The Harder Test”- to ‘respond to the changing environment in which local government is operating.’ Proposals include placing greater emphasis on councils' important role as community leaders. As part of the corporate assessment, councils will be judged on their performance against the previously agreed shared priorities between central and local government. The shared central and Local Government priorities: Sustainable communities and transport Safer and stronger communitiesHealthier communitiesOlder people, and Children and young people. Source: ODPM website The key to the CPA performance management is underpinned by performance indicators (PIs). Indeed, the Audit Commission has said that they will be reducing the level of inspection and putting more emphasis on PIs. It is also important to note that to date the burden of the CPA has fallen on County Councils and Unitary Authorities. The Audit Commission has just published proposals (September 2005) for developing the CPA in District Councils from 2006, with the likelihood that there will be a more flexible regime for districts, with the lack of a Cultural block. Jazz Mouse - Spark Children's Festival. Image: Alan Fletcher What is its impact on Local Authorities? The impact of the CPA on Local Authorities has been substantial in two ways. Firstly the publication of annual CPA scores has been a form of ‘name and shame’ of under-performing authorities. Secondly, it has arguably substantially changed the jobs of Local Authority Chief Executives, Council Leaders and Cabinet Members. The key task of the Council Leaders and Chief Executives is to get their Authority’s CPA score up and keep it at the highest level, for this both guarantees government finance and also frees their hand to manage their affairs. The government has said that excellent authorities will have greater management flexibility. In contrast, Authorities that continually under-perform are likely to have the ignominy of Whitehall-led ‘task teams’ coming in and taking over their management. What’s the impact of this on Local Authority arts and cultural services? Well, up to now, it’s been all and nothing really. The arts as we know are a non-statutory service. That means that Local Authorities are able to directly and indirectly provide cultural services (through part VII, section 145 of the 1972 Local Government Act), but are not obliged to do so. This lack of obligation has meant that there is no consistent standard for providing or measuring arts services. So every authority does it differently. In contrast Libraries are a local authority statutory service and they have a fulsome body of measurement indicators to support this. Cultural services were not part of the original CPA and so in one sense it has had no impact. On the other hand, as Local Authorities have faced increasing pressures to improve measurable services (within the CPA), so services that sit outside of it are likely to be squeezed. What is the CPA Culture Block? The Culture Block presently only applies to single tier authorities – Counties, Mets and Unitaries. It is a means to assess the delivery of Libraries, Arts, Museums, Sports, Play and Heritage.  The assessment is on the basis of existing performance indicators, information already collected by government, and “commentaries” from regional agencies. For the arts, the Regional Commentary would be supplied by the Arts Council, and the key PIs for the arts are at present : • BVPI119: % of residents satisfied with theatres and concert halls provided by the local authority (and shortly to be extended to include major events) • Arts Council commentaries on service quality and delivery nalgao believes these PIs are far from adequate in representing the richness and diversity of Local Authority arts services, and have been working hard with Arts Council England and ID&A to develop a further range of indicators as part of the Culture Block, which have now been forwarded to the Audit Commission for scrutiny and review. These include using a new indication to develop a quality standard for local authority arts services, and using Artsmark as an indication to gauge how arts and education standards are being developed. If supported, these new indicators will further profile arts services within the Culture Block. For District authorities (i.e. not single-tier ones), there is as yet no Culture Block within the assessment process, and instead there is a more arbitrary assessment framework, considering local indicators. A "basket" of local arts indicators has been developed by ACE, nalgao and LGA, and appear on the Audit Commission website. The future of Culture Block indicators may rest on the forthcoming review of local government, and especially its impact on two tier authorities. It is presently uncertain whether a culture block will be developed for districts in the future, post the latest one round of CPA assessments, which will be reviewed again in 2007/8. Although districts only comprise 7% of all local authority spending, it is clear that cultural and arts services play a larger role within districts per proportion of spending, and leaving out cultural services assessment could further diminish the importance of the arts within these authorities. That’s what you need to know. Now what do you need to do? Performance Indicators for the arts will have the most strength and meaning if all Local Authorities collect them regardless of the CPA. We hope there will be perhaps 3 or 4 to deal with (though you can add more local indicators if you wish!). You need to ensure that you collect the data – or someone collects it for you – and that these indicators are part of your corporate performance management system. There is no point in just collecting them once and forgetting about them. They need to be updated annually at least. And finally, the CPA is about service improvement, so we all need to think about what the data means and how it can be used to trigger improvements.     Courtesy: Bodies in Flight.   Artsmark awards 05. Image : Alan Fletcher.   Big Mission. Image : Alan Fletcher. B.9 The role of statutory and non-statutory services Councils have a legal obligation to provide certain services – Children’s Services (combining education and child Social Services) and adult Social Services, for example. The arts do not have that status, i.e. they are a non-statutory service. The statutory services will be given priority when public funds are limited – the arts are often perceived to be in the “nice to do” category, rather than the “need to do”. See the why your work is important section. B.10 Accountability of budgets – how they are set and monitored Councils provide about £83billion worth of services in the 2005/6 year, and about 25% of that will be raised locally though business and council tax. The rest will come from Central Government (hence the scrutiny process, and CPA). This means that Councils are limited in how much money they can raise to support services like yours, and are dependent on the popular vote. Council budgets are agreed well in advance of each financial year, and you will be able to plan some years ahead, in discussion with your line-manager, who will know what forward projections are in place for the department you work in. Departmental budgets are agreed with the Portfolio holder who will argue that the work your department does in crucial in meeting Council aims; the officer who heads the department will allocate funds between the different services. He or she will need to show how those funds have been used at the end of the year, and overall the department has operated within budget. The Head of your Service will look to you for accurate information. It is important that you keep control over your funds, and think ahead. Remember that you will have planned for projects later in the year, and may need to keep reserves available. The arts do not tend to expend funds on a regular monthly basis, as some departments will; your expenditure will be defined by the progress of the projects you choose to support. Your authority may have Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with arts clients, which are an agreement to fund the organisation over an agreed number of years (as long as funds are available). They will have details of the broad range of activities, for which your authority are providing funds, and may detail specific targets for the use of the authority’s funds. These may be written in collaboration with the regional ACE office, and with other Local Authorities, if they are contributing partners in the SLA. These are subject to an annual review with all partners, and you may be representing your Authority at those meetings.Council budget teams will provide your Department Head with up-to-date information, although in practice this may be some months behind your programmes. You may need to explain variations between your plans and centrally produced records. B.11 External fundraising sources We all know that Local Authority budgets are under increasing pressure, so you may need to access external funds to do the work you want to do. If you can engineer a partnership with other Council departments, or with local groups, that can unlock funds. In many cases, fundraising can benefit from partnership with community groups, and you may want to consider whether your Council is best placed to make some applications. The Arts Council has a useful information sheet on Other sources of funding within the publications pages of its site. It is also worth seeing if your authority has an external funding unit or subscribes to funding digests and websites so that you can tap into these. You may also find that internal e-newsletters are distributed in your authority, which relate to external funding sources, such as new opportunities from Government, trust, European or other sources. It is worth signing up for these, as it’s a lot quicker than having to do your own research all the time! A good place to start is to subscribe to www.governmentfunding.org.uk.  Largely, there are a number of ways to address raising additional funds, external to local authorities. For example: Courtesy: Buxon Festival 1. Private sector Local businesses can support local arts projects, but will plan their sponsorship commitments some way ahead, and may not have large funds to commit. You should discuss with your regional office of Arts and Business, before starting a campaign. 2. Artform support agencies There are agencies whose role is to develop participation in some artforms – for a music project, for example, you may be within the scope of a Youth Music region, or linked to your regional Orchestral Board subscription if you have one. 3. Arts sector Arts Council England runs a single grants programme called Grants for the Arts, which is explained on the www.artscouncil.org.uk site. This is a competitive system, and you will need to show how your project meets the scheme’s priorities. You should discuss with an ACE officer before applying (see chapter 3). However, the Arts Council is keen to work in partnership with local councils, in ways that meet local needs, through arts programmes. 4. Private trusts Some trusts are open to constituted community groups only, some only to registered charities. If you are researching this area, check carefully whether your project meets trust aims and priorities, and the timescale for decision-making. 5. Regeneration funds This may include a range of rural and urban initiatives which may be appropriate to arts projects – they may be focused on improving services in health, skills, environment, employability, or other Government, regional or European priorities, but innovative arts programmes often meet these, in partnership with local agencies.   Many local authorities circulate information on external regeneration funding opportunities, which may be available through Government schemes, or through the EU. There may be officers in the authority with experience of accessing these, and you should discuss your programme with them and your line manager, before proceeding. 6. National Lottery National Lottery good cause Arts see above Sport: Will support dance projects Heritage (via the Heritage Lottery Fund as distinct from English Heritage) BIG Lottery Fund (that has inherited the briefs of both the Community Fund and New Opportunities Fund, which merged with the Millennium fund into the largest of all the Lottery funds). NESTA - the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, is working to increase the UK’s capacity for innovation In addition, Awards for All is a joint Lottery programme that helps small community groups and organizations. It is funded by the main four Lottery distributors listed above and enables people to take part in arts, sports or heritage related activities as well as educational, environmental and health projects. Awards for All is administered by the Big Lottery Fund.Grants available from these funds range from under £500 to over £1 million. The complexity of application processes and evidence required varies according to the individual fund and the amount of money applied for. Similarly the turnaround on funding decisions can range from six weeks to nearly as many years depending on the complexity of the project. A level of match or partnership funding, between 10–50%, will be required in almost every case when applying to the above funds.Conditions and criteria for funding obviously vary between the distributors but most can be found, together with application forms to download or complete online at the respective websites of each funder.As always a telephone conversation with a relevant officer and a minimum amount of research into conditions and criteria is advisable before putting pen to paper.   Heritage: The Heritage Lottery Fund (www.hlf.org.uk) allocates both capital (buildings and equipment) and activity/programme funding for projects that help it to achieve its aims, which are to encourage people to participate in and learn about their culture and to conserve and enhance the UK’s heritage.In this instance the word heritage is applied to many different things that have been and can be passed from one generation to another. These include the countryside, parks and gardens, industrial and maritime sites, historic records (like photographs, diaries and reminiscences) and cultural and local traditions. Applications for grants under £2 million are made at regional level. Big Lottery Fund Launched in 2004, Big Lottery (www.biglotteryfund.org.uk) combines the functions of the New Opportunities and Community Funds together with the funding of large-scale regeneration projects, previously the responsibility of the Millennium Commission. This means it will be the most appropriate fund for projects originating from the charitable, voluntary, health, education and regeneration sectors. As such Big Lottery controls 50% of total lottery proceeds allocated to good causes, which equates to an anticipated £600-700 million a year.Priorities will continue to focus on improving the quality of life for disadvantaged groups with programmes likely to address the needs of young people, voluntary and community groups, regeneration projects, green spaces and health. Awards for All Awards for All (www.awardsforall.org.uk) is the simplest and, possibly, the most versatile of all the lottery funding programmes. The application procedure is easy with a simple to fill in form available on line and a maximum turnaround of eight weeks on all decisions.The programme is aimed at and is open to local community projects that enable people to take part in arts, sports or heritage related activities as well as projects that promote education, the environment and health in the local community. Awards for All has a ceiling of £10,000. Strictly speaking no match funding has ever been a requirement for a successful application but it always helps to show the commitment of the community to the project if there is an element of own funds included, no matter how small.                                     Courtesy: Groundworks East Midlands.   Courtesy: Arts Council England, East Midlands.   The Gallery at Fermynwoods-Contemporary-Art. C – The National Picture C.1 Working with the Arts Council – a guide to policies andpriorities, and officer/assistant roles. The Arts Council is probably the first port of call for new arts officers, and you may have a closer working relationship with ACE than anyone else in your department, especially if you are the only arts officer. ACE describes itself as: Arts Council England is the national development agency for the arts in England, distributing public money from Government and the National Lottery. ACE is organised into regional offices, which take on the development of priorities, which are specific to each region. Officers will have artform responsibility, which may be useful to you in planning new initiatives – they will have a regional perspective and be able to show you what is already going on in your sector. They will also be able to advise on funding, and guide you through the Grants for the Arts process. Partnership Agreements are a commitment between the Arts Council and the local authority that we will match money put in by the authority. In two tier areas, this means a commitment with all the districts as well as the county authority. These were agreed for an initial two years, ending March 2006, and are widely seen as a successful measure to ensure a joint approach to arts development. The priorities for the funding, to be decided locally, were: The creative economyHealthy communities Vital neighbourhoods Engaging young people Your authority will be a partner in the Partnership Agreement, and indeed be contributing funds to it, so you may well be part of the group that administers the process. You should familiar yourself with the priorities of the local PA group and how that can support the work in your area.Also, you will be consulted by ACE on applications for the Grants for the Arts funds that come from organisations or individuals in your area. This will be on the basis of whether your authority is broadly supportive of the project’s aims, and how it meets local priorities; you will not be asked to assess the project. C.2 Regional development agencies and Sub-strategic Partnerships C.2.1 RDAs The eight Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) set up in the English Regions are non-departmental public bodies. Their primary role, along with a ninth RDA, the London Development Agency, is as strategic drivers of regional economic development in their region. The RDAs aim to co-ordinate regional economic development and regeneration, enable the regions to improve their relative competitiveness and reduce the imbalance that exists within and between regions. Each Agency has five statutory purposes, which are: • To further economic development and regeneration • To promote business efficiency, investment and competitiveness • To promote employment • To enhance development and application of skill relevant to employment • To contribute to sustainable development The RDAs' agenda includes regional regeneration, taking forward regional competitiveness, taking the lead on regional inward investment and, working with regional partners, ensuring the development of a regional skills action plan to ensure that skills training matches the needs of the labour market. Because the RDAs have driven by economic development, they will have a regional perspective, rather than a local one, and their cultural engagement is likely to focus on creative industries and boosting retailing or skills development around that sector. Northwest Regional Development Agency – www.nwda.co.uk Yorkshire Forward – www.yorkshire-forward.com One North East – www.onenortheast.com Advantage West Midlands – www.advantagewm.co.uk East Midlands Development Agency – www.emda.org.uk East England Development Agency – www.eeda.org.uk South West of England Regional Development Agency – www.southwestrda.org.uk London Development Agency – www.lda.gov.uk South East England Development Agency – www.seeda.co.uk Courtesy: METROBOULOTDODO C.2.2 Regional Cultural agencies A Regional Cultural Consortium has been established by DCMS in each of the English regions outside London. The Regional Cultural Consortiums bring together representatives from regional agencies working in the arts, heritage, museums, tourism, libraries, sport and archives, and from local government, as well as others including individuals from the creative industries. The Consortiums are charged with drawing up a strategy that sets out the future of culture in their region. They provide a strong voice for culture in the region and encourage a 'joined-up' approach to the delivery of regional cultural services. They also work closely with the Regional Development Agencies. The Regional Cultural Consortiums therefore cover the same geographic region as RDAs, and are: Culture East Midlands Culture North West Yorkshire Culture Living East Culture North East Culture South East Culture South West Culture West Midlands C.2.3 Sub-regional Strategic Partnerships (SSPs) SSPs are linked to the Regional development agency, and are partnerships of business, voluntary sector, public sector and the community. SSPs are also driven by the Regional Economic Strategy, and focus on part of the RDA area; the RDA region will be subdivided into 4 or 5 SSPs. . Around 60% of the RDA’s annual budget is controlled by the SSPs, but the RDA now scrutinises and has to approve all significant projects. C.3 Statutory requirements C.3.1 Protection of Children Most arts workers will, as a matter of course, be checked by the Criminal Records Bureau (called a CRB check). You should expect to see an up-to-date CRB document for each artist, which is no more than 12 months old. The Police Act 1997 makes it a criminal offence for an employer not to check an employee working with children or vulnerable adults and/or to knowingly give a job to someone who is inappropriate to work with children or vulnerable adults. ’s first step towards establishing a coherent framework for identifying those adults considered to be unsuitable to work with children. The Act requires childcare organisations to make use of the Disclosures Service in their recruitment and reporting processes (and strongly urges other organisations involved with children and young adults to do so). The Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 superseded the Protection of Children Act 1999, which is specifically about disclosures and child protection issues. See http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/information/publications_search.php? search= keeping+arts+safe+