Agenda item

            (Councillor B. Kelly declared an interest in this matter in that her brother was a member of the Belfast Cultural Night Committee, which had submitted a request for funding, and took no part in the debate nor the subsequent vote.)

 

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

 

“Relevant Background Information

 

      Members will be aware that at a meeting of the Development Committee on 12 May 2010, Committee agreed to defer the consideration of a report in relation to Culture Night 2010 to enable a special meeting to be held.  Culture Night organisers have been invited to provide details of how they intend to deliver the 2010 programme, particularly along the city’s arterial routes.

 

      Members will also be aware that at the Development Committee meeting on 13 May 2009, approval was given to provide match funding of £25,000 to support a pilot Belfast Culture Night 2009.

 

      Culture Night 2009 far surpassed expectations, with 100 galleries, artists studios, venues, cultural organisations, historic buildings, churches and creative businesses providing over 100 performances, talks, tours, presentations, films, exhibitions and workshops for audiences of all ages.  This promoted the Cathedral Quarter as a thriving cultural hub, giving the public the opportunity to meet artists and learn about what cultural organisations have to offer throughout the year.

 

      To complement the core activities programmed by participating organisations and businesses, and to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere, the Culture Night organisers animated the streets and public spaces of Cathedral Quarter with live music, walk-about performers, exhibitions, circus performances, giant puppets and more.  An estimated 15,000 people attended.

 

      The concept of Culture Night fits well within Belfast City Council’s current strategies.  Under the theme of Good Relations, the one-night event promotes a unique opportunity of shared cultural space within the city centre, attracting a broad mix of audiences (in 2009, the event attracted a large number of families with young children).  The final draft Integrated Strategic Tourism Framework for Belfast 2010–2014 identifies culture and arts as the ‘essence of Belfast’ and one of the main priorities is to explore ways in which to engage with the sector and develop greater visitor access to culture and arts activities.  Culture Night provides a unique opportunity to showcase Belfast’s culture and arts product not only to local citizens, but to visitors.  The current Integrated Cultural Strategy for Belfast, produced in partnership with the Arts Council for Northern Ireland, identifies that the culture and arts sector can often be fragmented.  However, key events such as Culture Night develop partnerships across the sector, promoting cross-selling and strengthening its overall capacity to deliver.  Culture Night also contributes to the general development of the City’s Evening Economy.

 

      Culture Night 2010 will promote Belfast as a vibrant cultural space, welcoming and accessible to all.  The event will coincide with a series of Culture Nights taking place in other European cities.

 

Key Issues

 

      Culture Night brings together arts and cultural organisations, the hospitality industry and local businesses to provide a free, family-focused arts and cultural event.  The Cathedral Quarter will host the core of activities, with satellite events taking place throughout the city.

 

      Following discussions with Councillors, Council officers and key stakeholders, Culture Night organisers have recruited partner organisations in the Shankill and in North, South, East and West Belfast who will showcase the rich cultural diversity of these areas and the city as a whole.  Culture Night organisers will also continue to seek additional arterial partners in the run up to the event.

 

      Events in these areas will be programmed so that they will not compete with each other or dilute the impact of the city’s cultural offering.  The organisers will also ensure that audiences from the widest geographical area of Belfast have every opportunity to access core activities by brokering new relationships with transport providers such as Translink.

 

      Should the Committee agree to provide funding towards Culture Night, the Council’s Tourism, Culture and Arts Unit will work with Culture Night organisers to ensure that the Council’s objectives to deliver on arterial routes are met as a condition of funding.

 

      As in 2009, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland has been approached to match the request of £25,000 to Belfast City Council.

 

Resource Implications

 

      Financial

 

      Match funding of £25,000 has been included and approved within the Departmental budget for 2010–11.

 

      Human Resources

 

      This will be covered within the work programme of the Tourism, Culture and Arts Unit.

 

Recommendations

 

      It is recommended that the Committee consider match funding of no more than £25,000 towards Culture Night 2010.

 

Decision Tracking

 

      Further to Council ratification, payment will be made towards the cost of Culture Night 2010.

 

      Time line:   July 2010

      Reporting Officer:   Kerry Sweeney”

 

            It was reported that Ms. L. McElvanna and Messrs. S. Kelly and C. Shields, representing the organisers, were in attendance and they were admitted to the meeting and welcomed by the Chairman.

 

            With the assistance of visual aids, Mr. Shields reviewed the previous year’s event and its success in expanding the culture experience in Belfast.  He explained that, for the 2010 event, the Cultural Night Belfast team had been working towards developing a network of partners from Belfast’s key arterial routes who were committed to supporting a concentrated core event in the Cathedral Quarter as well as showcasing the rich cultural output from other areas of the City.

 

            In response to a number of questions, Ms. McElvanna reviewed the outreach work which had been undertaken in various areas of the City in order to extend the event, including the Titanic Quarter, the Shankill Road and North, East, West and South Belfast, and the representatives and organisations with whom they had discussed possible ways of including the arterial routes.  In addition, she pointed out that discussions were ongoing with Translink to ascertain how that organisation could support Cultural Night Belfast both as a potential sponsor of the entire event and in determining ways of linking the arterial routes with one another and the City centre.  The nature and scale of that partnership would be confirmed in the coming weeks.

 

            She pointed out that, to date, the organisation had received a total of £19,000 in funding from the Departments for Social Development and Culture, Arts and Leisure.  In addition, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland had indicated that it would match fund the £25,000 which had been requested from the Council.  She accepted that there was other work to be undertaken in relation to the inclusion of the arterial routes but pointed out that this could not be done without the required funding.  If that funding were to be provided then events on the arterial routes could be further developed.

 

            Mr. Kelly indicated that the event was only in its second year and for it to have expanded it as far geographically in that time was an excellent achievement given that a similar event, which was held in Dublin, had taken five years to achieve that position.  It had been intended that the Cultural Night Belfast would be rolled out even further over a three to five year period.

 

            A Member questioned how much work had been undertaken with organisations such as Orangefest, the Orange Order and the Ulster-Scots Agency in order to include their heritage and culture within the event.  In response, Ms. McElvanna indicated that she had commenced discussions to examine the possibility of developing exhibition opportunities within the Cathedral Quarter.  Whilst these discussions were only at an initial stage, any proposals could be developed further.

 

            The Chairman thanked the deputation for attending and they retired from the meeting.

 

            After discussion, it was

 

Moved by Councillor Ekin,

Seconded by Councillor Mac Giolla Mhín,

 

      That the Committee agrees to provide funding of up to £25,000 towards Cultural Night 2010.

 

Amendment

 

Moved by Councillor Rodgers,

Seconded by Councillor Campbell,

 

      That, since the organisers had made limited progress to deliver the event across the City and, in particular, on the arterial routes, the Committee agrees to provide funding of up to £15,000.

 

            On a vote by show of hands four Members voted for the amendment and four against.  There being an equality of votes, the Chairman exercised his second and casting vote against the amendment and it was accordingly declared lost.

 

            The original proposal standing in the name of Councillor Ekin and seconded by Councillor Mac Giolla Mhín was thereupon put to the meeting when four Members voted for and four against.  There being an equality of votes, the Chairman exercised his second and casting vote in favour of the proposal and it was accordingly declared carried.