A.1 Map of Region

• Nottinghamshire
  
• Leicestershire
  
• Lincolnshire
  
• Northamptonshire
  
• Derbyshire
  
• Rutland

Each of these counties has a County Council, the cities of Derby, Leicester and Nottingham all have unitary authorities (a unitary council is one with sole responsibility for all services, rather then services being administered by two Councils) and there are a further 36 District and Borough Councils.

It is the same area recognised by the Government in setting up the regional development agency (emda), and the Regional Assembly. In arts terms, it houses a number of flagship organisations, and a huge number of innovative artists whose work features on the national scene. The East Midlands region is rightly regarded as very strong in participative arts development.

Each County Authority will have its Arts Officer, whom you should make contact with. They will be able to point you to specialist officers in the county, such as Literature development or Creative Industry development. They will also give you an overview of countywide programmes, such as touring schemes, specific artform developments, and training. Each County will also have a regular forum of Local Authority Arts Officers, where District/Borough, Unitary and County arts officers meet to discuss current issues and programmes. As you may be the only officer concerned with the arts in your Council, these are an excellent opportunity to network with people who work in a similar way to you, and have similar priorities.

The County Arts Officers are:
Nottinghamshire: Sue Cullen: sue.cullen@nottscc.gov.uk
Lincolnshire: Jill Sullivan: jill.sullivan@lincolnshire.gov.uk
Northamptonshire: Louise Tyrell : ltyrell@northamptonshire.gov.uk
Derbyshire: Ann Wright: ann.wright@derbyshire.gov.uk
Leicestershire: Mick Fattorini: MFattorini@leics.gov.uk
Rutland: Claire Western: cwestern@rutland.gov.uk

A.3 District, Borough and Unitary Authorities

Each of these Councils will have their own officer with responsibility for arts development, and they may be based within a variety of departments - Cultural Services, Leisure, Libraries, Learning - the arts can be delivered from many starting points, and with a variety of development agendas.

The arts teams will vary in size with the resources of the Council; unitaries may have arts teams with different areas of responsibility, while smaller councils may only have one (full or part-time) officer with the arts portfolio. A full list of Arts Officers is included in this Guide and will be updated on-line on a regular basis. Your county arts officer will be able to tell you which authorities are similar in nature to your new employers, if you want to network with other ADOs.

A.4 Other East Midlands Agencies, active in arts development

This is a list of regional agencies that work in a specific artform, and will have specialist knowledge. If you are considering work within any of these specialisms, you should make contact with the relevant agency; they will be pleased to hear from you.

Arts in Derbyshire

www.artsderbyshire.org.uk

A one-stop shop regarding Arts in Derby and Derbyshire, supported by all local authorities in the catchment area. The site contains a what’s on section, a directory of artists, arts organisations and venues etc as well as information and advice.

Arts training
www.artstrainingcentral.co.uk
ATC is the Regional Training Centre for the Arts and Creative Industries in the East Midlands. It provides a range of facilities, advisory services, and training programmes in support of the professional development of artists, performers, and other creative practitioners - including council officers - in the region.

Business links
www.aandb.org.uk
Arts and Business has a regional office and is a link between the business community and the arts; it can support Board skills, advise on sponsorship drives, and, in some cases, match first-time sponsors of arts programmes.

Dance
www.dance4.co.uk
The regional dance agency is dance 4. Based in Nottingham, dance 4 produces new dance work, runs the annual nottdance festival, and works with local authorities and community partners.

Disability arts:
Some counties will have specific agencies and your County arts officer will also know about other initiatives, eg through Social services departments.

Film
www.em-media.org.uk
EM Media is the Regional Screen Agency for the East Midlands, one of nine agencies across the UK. Since 2001 EM Media has supported the region's film, television and interactive media (games, digital media and new media) through talent development, investment and business support. EM Media administers the Film Lottery programme regionally, in the same way that ACEM administers the Arts Lottery.

Bolsover Festival 05. Image: Alan Fletcher

Jazz:
EMJazz is the consortium of jazz promoters for the East Midlands, coordinated through Derby City Council. The programme includes regular outreach and education projects.

Lincolnshire Dance:

www.lincolnshiredance.com

Dance Development Agency for Lincolnshire.

Literature:
Each County and unitary authority in the East Midlands has a Literature Development Officer, who may be part of the County Arts team, or based with Libraries Department; this does not include Lincolnshire, where a Literature development Plan is delivered by the County Arts Officer. LDOs are animateurs whose role is to support writers, readers and others involved in Literature Development. Your County arts officer will be able to help you access them.

Music
www.firebirdtrust.org.uk
The aim of the Firebird Trust is to develop innovation in the field of collaborative music making, artform development and artistic excellence, though the development and support of creative and dynamic relationships between artists and communities of interest. The Trust runs a tailored programme of creative music and cross-arts projects for clients throughout the East Midlands and nationally, and offers continuing professional development for artists through coach-mentoring and other training schemes. The Trust also manages the Lincoln City Gamelan project.

Orchestral music
www.eob.org.uk
The Eastern Orchestra Board is the development agency dedicated to community-wide access to the work of high quality professional orchestras in the region, supporting authorities that subscribe to the EOB (all EM Counties do subscribe. EOB provides financial support and acts as an initiator, advisor and facilitator on a wide range of projects.

Participative arts
The region has a number of high quality arts organisations which are funded to provide participation opportunities for people, usually in specified geographic areas. Even if you are not within their catchment, they may be able to guide you on choice of artists, costs, etc. For example, Nottingham has City Arts (www.city-arts.org.uk); Nottinghamshire supports a team, called Next Stage, whose role is to develop participatory opportunities in rural areas.

Derbyshire supports Junction Arts in Bolsover, High Peak Community Arts, (www.highpeakarts.org) and People Express in South derbyshire. Derby has Q arts (www.q-arts.co.uk)

Leicester has Soft Touch (www.soft-touch.org.uk), whose work is media-based, while Leicestershire supports Mantle Arts (www.mantlearts.org.uk) in North-west Leics.

In Lincolnshire, North Kesteven District Council supports an arts development team in
ArtsNK.

Rural touring
In addition to New Perspectives (see Theatre, below) most of the region has access to a touring scheme that offers a choice of music, drama, children’s work, comedy, etc to village halls. You may find your Council is already actively supporting this programme; if not, your County arts Officer can explain how the scheme works in your County.

Theatre
www.newperspectives.co.uk
the regional touring drama company is New Perspectives, who tour to rural and community venues across the region, producing new plays for family audiences and children.

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