Agenda item

            The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 15th September, it had agreed to defer consideration of a report in relation to the Legacy Trust and Land of Giants Project to enable a further detailed report in relation to the proposal to be submitted to its next meeting.

            The Committee was informed that the City Events Manager had, following a meeting in February of the Council-managed Festivals’ Forum, been approached to submit on behalf of a consortium comprised of groups within the Forum, an application to Legacy Trust UK.  The Head of City Events and Venues reported that the Trust was inviting bids for projects, from which five would be selected, to mark the 2012 Cultural Olympiad year.  The successful projects would link in with other cities, regions and festivals to create unique celebrations during 2012 and would have access of up to £750,000 from the Trust.

He outlined the nature of the consortium’s project, which was centred around the theme “Land of the Giants” and explained that it would provide the City with an opportunity to participate in the world’s biggest cultural programme and showcase what Belfast had to offer in an international context.  It had the potential also to build the capacity and confidence of the creative industries in the City by harnessing indigenous talent for future work on a regional, national and international scale and presented a unique tourism opportunity by linking up with Northern Ireland’s signature projects.

The Head of City Events and Venues informed the Members that the project had been submitted to Legacy Trust UK prior to the deadline of 5th March and had since progressed to the second stage, which had necessitated the submission by 27th May of a further application.  He explained that the consortium’s bid had competed successfully with almost 100 submissions from across the United Kingdom and was now one of five preferred bidders and the only one from Northern Ireland.  He pointed out that the Belfast consortium was now in a position to access up to £750,000 from Legacy Trust UK and added that, since the writing of the Committee report, clarification had been obtained which had indicated that the receipt of match?funding was not now a prerequisite for obtaining approval for the project.

He reported further that, prior to the consortium’s bid being submitted, Council officers had been advised by Legacy Trust UK that a bid by the individual organisations would not be successful, due to their limited capacity to undertake such a project.  Therefore, in order to ensure the success of the bid, the consortium would be required to establish a not-for-profit company which would manage the project, with an overseeing body comprising representatives of the key funders involved.  It had been suggested that Council officers would have input into this company, although the proposed limited entity would be separate and have no legal connection to the Council.

The Head of City Events and Venues explained that, in order to enable Legacy Trust UK to make a final decision on the project in January, 2011, a sum of £25,000 had been made available to the Council to facilitate the development between October and December of creative concepts and a business plan.  He provided a breakdown of how this amount would be spent, which would include input from a development consultant and international artists, project development, graphic design and printing costs.  The Council’s City Events and Tourism, Culture and Arts Units had met a number of times in order to assist the consortium and had processed the application on its behalf.  He stressed that at no time during the process had either Legacy Trust UK or the consortium been promised or guaranteed financial support and had been advised at all times that a full and detailed business case would be required to be presented to the Council in order to allow the Members to consider fully the merits of the project.  He reported that the total proposed cost of the Land of the Giants project was £1.5 million and outlined the likely indicative costs to be met by each of the funders, should the bid be successful.  The estimated amount which was likely to be requested from the Council would be £80,000.  However, this would not be sought until the completion of an outline business plan, which officers anticipated would be presented in November.

            During discussion, several Members commended the comprehensive nature of the submission.  However, the point was made that the Committee should have been informed of the project at the earliest possible opportunity and been afforded an opportunity to view the document prior to its submission.  In response, the Head of City Events and Venues accepted that the project should have been presented to the Members prior to its submission and undertook to ensure that, in future, the Committee would receive regular updates on the progress of the bid.

            The Committee noted the information which had been provided, indicated its support for the project and agreed that the Council administer the £25,000 from Legacy Trust UK for business planning work.