Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 7 September 2021 be confirmed and signed by the Chair as an accurate record.

Councillor Adrianna McNulty declared a Personal Interest with regard to the agenda item titled 'Cultural Consortium'.

Reason:  Mosaic, the company that she worked for, occasionally worked alongside Lincoln BIG.

Councillor Jane Loffhagen, Chair of the Community Leadership Scrutiny Committee, opened the meeting and provided the Committee with a brief introduction of the topic for discussion which was receiving information on the creation of a Cultural Consortium.

Simon Walters (Director for Communities and Environment) introduced the item and reminded the Committee that the purpose of the discussion was to receive information on the creation of a cultural consortium following a successful aware of funding to the University of Lincoln, which would bring together arts, community groups and young people, with a view of supporting these groups to develop cultural programmes through the City. 

The Committee received a presentation from Simon Walters, Suhky Johal MBE (Director of the Centre for Culture and Creativity, University of Lincoln) and Toby Ealden (Zest Theatre).  During consideration of the presentation, the following points were noted:

·         The long-term vision was to seize the voice of young people by bringing them into the sphere of developing cultural programmes for the city in the next five to ten years.

·         Before the Covid-19 pandemic began, culture and creative sectors had grown twice as fast as other sectors since 2011 and accounted for more than 5% of the UK economy's gross value added.

·         Culture alone delivered a growing part of the UK’s economic output – valued at £10.9 billion a year with a growth of 57% since 2010.

·         The Greater Lincolnshire local enterprise partnership had over 3,000 creative, cultural, and digital businesses and employment in the sector was currently estimated to be 10,710.

·         The creative, cultural and digital sectors were significant employers in Lincoln, and accounted for 4.0% of all employment. The City of Lincoln was becoming significant in the region.

·         The core element of regeneration in the city had come from the Town Deal Fund and Heritage Action Zone with involvement in the Barbican Building, Drill Hall, Central Market, St Mary’s Guildhall, St Mary le Wigford Church and Greyfriars.

·         Working from a strong base such as the Lincoln Culture and Arts Partnership (LCAP) which had led to a range of successful projects including cultural destinations and conferences. LCAP had also facilitated the securing of a Cultural Programme under the HAZ and Town Deal Fund investment for major projects, including the Barbican Creative Hub.

·         The 1940s weekend, Imp Trail, Frequency Festival and Refresh Lincoln were all cited as good examples of events put on in the City.

·         A Welcome Back fund of £175,000 had recently been awarded from the Government to help lift the City Centre through putting on events that increased footfall. Lincoln BIG had been commissioned to deliver this over the next six months.

·         There was a real positive influence of culture and creativity on both mental and physical health. Academics readily promoted this both to improve overall health and satisfaction with life. It was a key component in lowering anxiety and depression and could improve a sense of self-worth, self-confidence, self-esteem, and positive emotional expression and relaxation.

·         There would be a cultural compact partnership across the city’s  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Consideration was given to the Committee’s work programme. The Democratic Services and Elections Manager advised that none of the key contributors for the Committee’s next topic on giving young people a voice on how they engage with the Council were able to attend the meeting in November.

Following a discussion, it was agreed that the Committee’s meeting in November be cancelled.

The Chair advised that any contributors unable to attend the meeting of the Committee in December should be included in the meeting schedule for 25 January 2022.

Discussion took place regarding presentation of health statistics. Simon Walters, Director for Communities and Environment explained the item could be brought before the Committee in March 2022. The Chair confirmed and gave instruction to remove it from the work programme for the Policy Scrutiny Committee and to add it to the work programme for the Community Leadership Scrutiny Committee for March 2022.