Agenda item

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

 

“Relevant Background Information

 

      Annual Funding for the Arts was established by Council to assist arts and heritage organisations by providing financial support on an annual basis.   Multi-Annual Funding was established by Council to introduce a degree of longer term sustainability to some of the city’s flagship arts organisations.

 

      This report provides the Development Committee with recommendations on applications made to Annual Funding for Culture and the Arts 2008/9 and Multi-Annual funding for Culture and the Arts 2008/2011. The closing date for applications under both schemes was Friday 19December 2008.

 

      Multi-Annual Funding for Culture and Arts

 

      At the Development Committee meeting of 14 November 2007, Members agreed the selection of 14 Multi-Annual Funding clients.  Multi-Annual Funding incorporates a three year funding term, and an anticipated minimum annual funding level of £30,000. At the Development Committee of 14 May 2008 Members agreed that a maximum of two new clients be admitted to the Multi?Annual Funding scheme.

 

      The two successful clients were then invited to submit an application by the deadline of 12 noon on Friday 19 December 2008.  The total now requested by the 16 Multi-Annual Funding clients for the year 2009/10 is £690,360.

 

      Annual Funding for Culture and Arts

 

      The 2009/10 deadline for applications was also 12 noon on 19 December 2008.  A total of 53 applications were received, compared to 64 (excluding those organisations who are now multi annually funded) in 2008/9.

 

      The applications received requested a total of £733,489.  In 2007/8, the total requested by organisations (excluding those organisations who are now multi-annually funded), was £1,124,300.53.

 

      Criteria for Multi-Annual and Annual Funding

      for Culture and Arts 2009/10

 

      The Culture and Arts Eligibility Criteria approved by Members at the Development (Arts) Sub-Committee of 20 September 2004, were devised in order to assist the Council to work in partnership with arts and heritage organisations in achieving its objectives.  They reflect the themes of the Development Department and the Integrated Cultural Strategy.

 

      Level of Applications

 

      Requests for grants this year has far outstripped available resources.  Taken together, the total request for multi annual and annual grants for the coming year equates to £1,423,849.00.  This is the equivalent to 144% of the total projected budget of £989,000.

 

      With few exceptions, the level of applications has been strong and Annual Funding applicants have put considerable effort into demonstrating how they meet the criteria.

 

      As expected and without exception, the multi-annually funded organisations submitted excellent applications each with dynamic plans for the next two years.

 

      Members are requested to note that income and expenditure is presented in this report as a summary of the information submitted.  As agreed previously by the Development (Arts) Sub?Committee, officers have not returned to applicants to request any additional details in relation to their applications.  This includes clarification of budgets in some cases the budgets presented contain minor discrepancies.

 

      Principles of the Reporting Process

 

      Organisations submit a lengthy application including supporting documentation such as strategic and business plans, annual reports, financial statements, policy documents and procedure. Officers undertake a lengthy assessment of all applications, scoring them against each of the criteria identified for the scheme.

 

      A summary of this information has been compiled by Officers in order to:-

 

-     Highlight the main strengths and weaknesses in the application;

 

-     Ensure optimum transparency as to how decisions on their applications have been reached; and

 

-     Familiarise Members with the nature and variety of arts and heritage programmes in which the Council invests.

 

      The comments in the summary of assessments aim to outline for Members areas where applicants performed particularly well against specific criteria or where there were weaknesses in the application.  The comments relate to both the strengths of the proposed programme and the evidence supplied within the application.  It should be noted that where there is limited information supplied to address a specific area of the criteria this is highlighted as a weakness.

 

      Minimum Grant

 

      The minimum Annual Funding grant offered is £2,500. 

 

      Rationale for Funding Decisions

 

      The following rationale for awarding funding is based on the following factors, previously agreed by the Development (Arts) Sub?committee:

 

-     Previous levels of funding

 

-     Strength of the proposed programme as assessed against agreed funding criteria

 

-     Impact of the project including anticipated audiences/participants, impact in the Belfast area, range and scope of the proposed programme.

 

-     Level of Council funding when compared to the overall costs of the programme

 

-     Viability of the proposed programme within the funding offered

 

Key Issues

 

      Multi-Annual Funding

 

      Members will note from the scores tables that overall scores against the Culture and Arts Criteria were very high, particularly amongst Multi-Annual Funding clients.  This shows extremely strong potential for development of the cultural product and for developing the city?wide regenerative impacts of the arts.

 

      The total level of funding recommended for 16 Multi Annual Funding is £690,360 (69.8% of overall funding). 

 

      The recommendations to the new Multi-Annual Funding clients are for the first year of a two year funding scheme.

 

      The organisations who have only recently achieved Multi Annual Funding are recommended to receive £30,000 which reflects an uplift of considerably more that 50% in both cases.

 

      BelfastCity Council funding represents 4.6% of the collective turnover for MAF Organisations.  This equates to a direct return for investment of 1:22.  It is felt that this underlines the value for money that these flagship organisations represent and supports the impact of increased investment in these organisations.

 

      Annual Funding

 

      The total level of funding recommended for Annual Funding is £298,640 (30.1% of overall funding).

 

Resource Implications

 

      Financial

 

      This is included in the draft revenue estimates for 2009-2010 of the Culture and Arts Unit.

 

      Human Resources

 

      This will be covered within the work programme of the culture and Arts Unit.

 

Recommendations

 

      Members are asked to agree recommendations in:

 

Appendix 1   -   Scores and Recommendations for Multi

                           Annual Funding

 

Appendix 2   -   Scores and recommendations for Annual

                           Funding”

 

            Accordingly, the Committee adopted the Director’s recommendation to award the funding set out below:

 

APPENDIX 1

 

Scores and Recommendations

for Multi-Annual Funding

 

Organisation	Amount Requested for 2009/10	Total Score	Recommendation
Feile An Phobail	£30,000.00	86.6	£30,000.00
Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival	£30,000.00	86.0	£30,000.00

 

APPENDIX 2

 

Scores and Recommendations

for Annual Funding

 

Organisation	Amount Requested for 2009/10	Total Score	Recommendation
Andersonstown Traditional & Contemporary MusicSchool	£12,000	60.4	£3,750
Arts & Disability Forum	£10,000	60.8	£3,250
Arts Care	£15,000	63.8	£3,000
ArtsEkta	£30,000	65.6	£5,250
Belfast Film Festival	£30,000	68.0	£27,795
Belfast Philharmonic Society	£28,758	60.4	£3,000
Belfast Print Workshop	£10,000	63.0	£6,250
Bruiser Theatre Company	£4,500	67.8	£8,160
C21 Theatre Company	£21,840	54.2	£0
Cahoots NI	£12,000	72.2	£4,635
Catalyst Arts	£9,900	61.0	£3,000
Community Arts Forum	£25,000	69.2	£20,400
Creative Exchange	£5,000	60.4	£2,500
Creative Writers' Network	£8,000	59.0	£0
CulturlannMcAdam O Fiaich	£30,000	67.2	£8,160
Dance Resource Base	£6,000	52.4	£0
Dance United NI	£10,660	69.6	£3,315
Digital Arts Studios	£10,404	58.2	£0
East Belfast Arts Collective	£18,000	61.4	£5,000
Educational Shakespeare Co Ltd	£5,000	57.4	£0
Festival of Fools	£13,940	68.4	£10,455
Flax Arts Studios	£7,000	58.8	£0
Golden Thread Gallery	£28,500	69.8	£7,395
Green Shoot Productions	£15,000	63.0	£2,785
Kabosh Theatre	£14,900	67.4	£13,515
Kids in Control	£15,000	66.0	£13,005
Maiden Voyage Dance Company	£5,750	63.8	£3,500
Moving on Music	£20,000	68.2	£18,105
Music Theatre 4 Uth	£20,258	67.0	£3,060
Naughton Gallery at Queen's	£6,000	58.6	£0
New Lodge Arts Forum	£5,000	64.8	£3,000
Northern Ireland Music Industry Commission	£12,500	60.8	35,500
Open Arts	£12,000	58.0	£0
Open House Traditional Arts Festival	£10,400	74.4	£9,785
Ormeau Baths Gallery	£30,000	66.6	£16,320
Partisan Productions	£12,320	58.8	£0
Play Resource Warehouse	£4,000	61.6	£3,250
Prime Cut Productions	£14,000	72.4	£11,330
Queen Street Studios	£19,250	63.0	£5,250
Queen's Film Theatre	£14,000	75.0	£11,845
Ransom Productions	£12,000	58.6	£0
Rawlife Theatre Company	£6,000	52.8	£0
Replay Productions	£12,900	68.0	£11,220
Spanner In The Works Theatre Company	£6,000	56.6	£0
Source/Photo Works North	£5,000	60.6	£3,060
Streetwise Community Circus Workshops	£10,775	67.0	£5,610
Studio ON, The Nerve Centre	£22,500	0.0	£0
Summer Madness (NI) Ltd	£8,000	0.0	£0
Tinderbox Theatre Company	£20,934	71.2	£16,737
Ulster Youth Choir	£7,000	57.4	£0
Ulster Youth Orchestra	£5,000	57.8	£0
Wheelworks	£10,500	69.6	£8,415
YouthAction Northern Ireland	£25,000	72.0	£8,240
Total Requested	£733,489.00		£298,847