Agenda item

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

 

“Relevant Background Information

 

      Annual Funding for Culture and 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 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 2010-11.  The closing date for applications under both schemes was Friday 11 December 2009.  Assessments of the applications can be found on Modern.gov.

 

      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.  These clients entered in to a three-year funding agreement at a minimum annual level of £30,000.  On 11 February 2009, the Development Committee agreed the selection of two additional Multi-Annual Funding clients.  These clients entered in to a two-year funding agreement.

 

      Annual Funding for Culture and Arts

 

      The deadline for applications to the 2010-11 Annual Funding was 12 noon on 11 December 2009.  A total of sixty applications were received, compared to fifty-three in 2009-10.

 

      Scores and recommendations for Annual Funding can be found in Appendix 2.

 

      Criteria for Annual Funding for Culture and Arts 2010-11

 

      The Culture and Arts Eligibility Criteria, approved by the former Development (Arts) Sub-Committee on 20th 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

 

      The applications for Annual Funding requested a total of £833,675.  In 2009–10 the total requested by organisations (excluding those organisations who are now multi-annually funded) was £733,489.

 

      Requests for grants this year far outstripped available resources.  The total request is equivalent to 276.2% of the total projected budget of £301,835.

 

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

 

      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 former 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 and in some cases the budgets submitted contain minor discrepancies.

 

      Principles of the Reporting Process

 

      Organisations submit an application including supporting documentation, such as business plans, annual reports, financial statements and policy documents.  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 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 criterion, this is highlighted as a weakness.

 

      Members are requested to use these assessments in tandem with the scores provided in Appendix 2.

 

      Grant Histories

 

      For ease of reference full grant histories for Culture and Arts funding programmes for the last 3 years is available on Modern.gov.

 

      Minimum Grant

 

      The minimum Annual Funding grant offered is £3,000.

 

      Rationale for Funding Decisions

 

      The following rationale for awarding funding is based on the following factors, previously agreed by the former 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 and 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

 

      The total level of funding recommended for sixteen Multi-Annual Funding clients is £697,264.  Details of individual awards are provided in Appendix 1.

 

      BelfastCity Council funding represents 5.8% of the collective turnover for Multi-Annual Funding clients.  This equates to a direct return for investment of 1:17.  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.

 

      Whilst MAF clients have received a 3% annual increase previously, due to current budget constraints only a 1% increase has been included in the budget estimates for both MAF and AF programmes.

 

      Annual Funding

 

      The total level of funding recommended for Annual Funding is £301,835.  Details of individual awards are provided in Appendix 2.

 

Resource Implications

 

      Financial

 

      Funding for MAF and AF is included in the draft budget estimates for 2010-2011 of the Tourism, Culture and Arts Unit.

 

      Human Resources

 

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

 

Recommendations

 

      It is recommended that Members agree the recommendations in:

 

Appendix 1:     Recommendations for Multi-Annual Funding

Appendix 2:     Scores and Recommendations for Annual Funding

 

Decision Tracking

 

      Further to agreement and ratification, organisations will be informed by letter whether or not they have been recommended for, and awarded funding.

 

      Timeframe:  March 2010        Reporting Officer:  Kerrie Sweeney

 

Documents Attached

 

      Appendix 1: Recommendations for Multi-Annual Funding

      Appendix 2: Scores and Recommendations for Annual Funding.”

 

            A Member drew the Committee’s attention to the size of the award which was being recommended for the Ulster Orchestra, compared to other events and organisations.  He suggested that the number of people who attended Ulster Orchestra events, as opposed to those organised by the other organisations, might not warrant the amount of funding which the Orchestra received from the Council and requested that he receive information regarding this matter.  He suggested also that the Council might not be in a position to award this level of funding to the Orchestra in future years. 

 

            In reply, the Head of Economic Initiatives undertook to provide the information requested to the Member.  She informed the Committee that the Ulster Orchestra was in the process of undertaking an internal review of its costs and that, if required, she could submit a report on the benefits which the Ulster Orchestra provided to Belfast’s ratepayers.  She pointed out that this was the final year of the multi-annual funding agreement with the Orchestra and that the Members would be able to comment on the Integrated Arts and Cultural Strategy which was being reviewed currently.

 

            The Chairman reminded the Committee that the Council was represented on the Board of the Ulster Orchestra and that the Member should forward his views to the Council’s representative so that he could convey them to a future meeting of the Board.

 

            During discussion, a Member suggested that, in future years, it would be beneficial for the report to number sequentially those organisations being recommended for Annual Funding in order to make it easier for Members to follow the flow of information throughout the report.

 

            Following further discussion, the Committee adopted the recommendations to award the funding set out below:

 

Appendix 1

 

Recommendations for Multi-Annual Funding

 

Organisation	2009–10 Award	Recommendation
Beat Initiative	£33,990	£34,330
Belfast Community Circus	£33,990	£34,330
Belfast Exposed	£30,900	£31,209
Belfast Festival at Queen’s	£68,237.50	£68,920
Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival	£30,000	£30,300
Cinemagic	£30,900	£31,209
Crescent Arts Centre	£33,990	£34,330
Féile an Phobail	£30,000	£30,300
Grand Opera House	£33,990	£34,330
Linen Hall Library	£42,487.50	£42,912
Lyric Theatre	£37,595	£37,971
New Belfast Community Arts Initiative	£33,732.50	£34,070
Northern Visions	£30,900	£31,209
Old Museum Arts Centre	£40,942.50	£41,352
Ulster Orchestra	£147,805	£149,283
Young at Art	£30,900	£31,209

 

Appendix 2

 

Scores and Recommendations for Annual Funding

 

Organisation	Amount Requested for 2010/11	Total Score	Recommendation
Aisling Ghéar Theatre Company	£7,000	61.4%	£3,000
Andersonstown Traditional and Contemporary Music School	£16,508	62.4%	£3,750
Arts and Disability Forum	£8,000	60.4%	£3,250
Arts Care Ltd	£5,000	59.8%	£0
ArtsEkta	£30,000	66.4%	£5,303
Belfast Film Festival	£30,000	68.8%	£28,351
Belfast Philharmonic Society	£26,712	60.6%	£3,000
Belfast Platform for the Arts	£8,542	54.2%	£0

 

Organisation	Amount Requested for 2010/11	Total Score	Recommendation
Belfast Pride	£8,000	53.6%	£0
Belfast Print Workshop	£10,000	63.0%	£6,250
Beyond Skin	£4,926	49.6%	£0
Blackstaff Community Development Association	£850	INELIGIBLE	£0
Bruiser Theatre Company	£10,650	69.4%	£8,323
Cahoots NI	£12,000	69.6%	£4,728
Catalyst Arts Ltd	£10,900	61.2%	£3,000
Community Arts Forum	£35,000	67.6%	£20,604
Craft and Design Collective	£30000	61.4%	£3,000
Creative Exchange	£7,500	61.2%	£3,000
Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich	£12,300	65.8%	£8,242
Dance Resource Base	£5,000	59.8%	£0
Dance United NI	£6,500	69.0%	£3,198
Digital Arts Studios	£9,200	59.0%	£0
East Belfast Arts Collective	£18,000	60.2%	£3,000
Festival of Fools	£25,000	68.4%	£10,664
Flax Art Studios	£5,000	57.4%	£0
Golden Thread Gallery	£18,673	68.8%	£7,543
Greater Shankill Partnership	£22,040	48.2%	£0
Greenshoot Productions	£10,000	62.0%	£3,000
Headliners (UK)	£17,904	57.6%	£0
Irish Pages	£4,000	55.2%	£0
Kabosh Productions	£20,000	69.0%	£13,785
Kids in Control	£20,000	63.8%	£13,005
Literary Miscellany Ltd	£15,150	48.2%	£0
Live Music Now Ireland	£5,755	59.4%	£0
Maiden Voyage (NI) Ltd	£6,000	64.2%	£3,500
Moving on Music	£20,000	66.6%	£18,286
Music Theatre 4 Youth	£13,320	63.8%	£3,060
Naughton Gallery at Queen's	£3,000	57.8%	£0
New Lodge Arts	£5,000	65.0%	£3,030
Oh Yeah Music Centre	£10,000	63.6%	£3,000
Open Arts	£6,000	59.2%	£0
Open House Traditional Arts Festival Ltd	£25,000	70.4%	£10,079
Ormeau Baths Gallery Ltd	£25,000	63.4%	£16,320
Place Architecture and Built Environment Centre	£7,000	INELIGIBLE	£0

 

Organisation	Amount Requested for 2010/11	Total Score	Recommendation
Play Resource Warehouse	£3,500	59.6%	£0
Prime Cut Productions	£15,000	68.6%	£11,557
Queen Street Studios	£18,250	62.8%	£5,250
Queen's Film Theatre	£14,000	71.6%	£12,200
Ransom Productions	£11,400	66.6%	£3,523
Reconstructing the Future Ltd	£30,000	INELIGIBLE	£0
Red Barn Gallery	£15,400	52.2%	£0
Replay Productions	£14,125	65.6%	£11,332
Smashing Times Theatre Company	£10,666	INELIGIBLE	£0
Source Magazine/Photo Works North	£5,000	61.4%	£3,060
Streetwise Community Circus Workshops	£13,740	66.6%	£5,666
Tinderbox Theatre Company	£22,614	68.0%	£17,072
Ulster Architectural Heritage Society	£18,000	59.0%	£0
War Years Remembered	£10,000	INELIGIBLE	£0
WheelWorks	£12,500	65.8%	£8,499
YouthAction Northern Ireland's Rainbow	£25,000	69.6%	£8,405