Formation of a Cross Party Parliamentary Brass Bands Group

Jeff Ennis, MP for Barnsley East and Mexborough, has really been a great friend to brass bands in this country. Other MPs and members of the House of Lords are taking a healthy interest in his message; a wider participation of people in brass bands. So much so, that they have formed a cross party parliamentary Brass Band Group. Over thirty Lords and MPs are now signed-up to the group and the list is growing. Some, such as Lord Foster of Bishop Auckland, have campaigned on behalf of brass bands for many years but others are gaining a fresh insight into this vibrant art form. A list of those MPs and Lords that are members of this group will be published on the BFBB website soon.

 

The inaugural general meeting of the group was held at the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday evening, 8^th July 2008. I was asked to attend on behalf of BFBB. After the election of the various officers I gave a brief overview of banding in general and the work of BFBB in particular. BFBB was then asked to perform the duties of group secretariat, to which I readily agreed. Meetings will be held at the Houses of Parliament twice a year. It will be a wonderful platform to air the views and discuss the issues that matter to the brass band sector.

 

This is an opportunity to be grabbed by brass bands, when the list is published, take a look at it and if your MP isn’t on it, write a letter urging him or her to join the group. This group will be able to influence decisions taken in parliament that will affect the future of all British brass bands.

Meeting with Peter Wanless, Chief Executive, Big Lottery Fund

Whilst I was in London with Jeff Ennis MP for the formation of the Parliamentary Brass Band Group, we took the opportunity to meet with Peter Wanless, Chief Executive of the Big Lottery Fund. Brass band’s applications for funding from the Big Lottery Fund meet with about a 50% success rate. Last year bands received £109,663 and this year, until the end of June, they have been granted £53,902 from the fund. In addition to this the National Youth Band of Great Britain has received £573,000 of Big Lottery funding over the last five years through Youth Music and this figure increases year on year. Peter Wanless explained that two of the current funding schemes will be of interest to brass bands:

 

Awards for all

 

Awards for All is a Lottery grants scheme aimed at local communities. The fund awards grants of between £300 and £10,000 in a simple and straightforward way. You can apply at any time and the application form is short and simple.

 

Reaching Communities

 

Reaching Communities will give grants of more than £10,000 and up to £500,000, including a maximum of £50,000 for capital grants. The fund has set a maximum overall project size of £750,000 and £200,000 for the total capital element within a project. They will fund projects for up to five years

 

I asked how brass bands may better access the Big Lottery Fund and we discussed the possibility of BFBB becoming a ‘helper organisation’ for bands that wish to access funds, however, more discussions will need to be had in order to establish how this idea might work in practice. The 2012 Cultural Olympiad and the legacy trust were also discussed and further discussions are likely.

Meeting with Helen Ball of Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council

Brass bands and their associations would find a chat with the Local Government Arts Officer very useful. Alan Davey, chief executive of ACE, has made recent appeals for voluntary arts groups, such as brass bands, to foster better relationships with local government, and I for one agree with him. 

 

Although BFBB is a national organisation Arnold Tattersfield and I went for a meeting with Helen Ball of Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council. We found the meeting extremely informative and helpful. Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council is one of a number of forward looking and innovative councils that have decided to support the art and culture in their area with commitment and openness by pledging time and resources to National Indicator 11 ‘Engagement in the Arts’ (NI 11).

 

NI 11 will be used to measure attendance at, and/or participation in, the arts at the local level. Councils that have signed up to NI 11 realise that participation in the arts, including banding, is an important part of a full and fulfilling life and provides unique personal and intrinsic benefits. It can also have a range of local impacts, including promoting health, education and well-being. Other councils that have taken up this insightful policy for local government can be found listed on this blog at the Local Authorities page.

 

Our discussions with Helen centred on the ways in which the council and BFBB are able to support each other. BFBB has agreed to assist the council to achieve their NI 11 targets and urges bands to talk to, and work with, their own Local Authority Arts Officer if their authority is part of the scheme. In return, the council has agreed to improve communication links and provide easy access for local bands to the Local Authority Arts Officer. They will endeavour to gain full knowledge and understanding of our sector and continuity of these new practices and links has been agreed to. Further to this, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council will assist bands with applications to ACE Yorkshire for funding. The council is also going to assist BFBB to contact other local authorities through the National Association of Local Government Arts Officers and BFBB is considering using its experience with the council as a model for future partnerships with other local authorities.

 

To ensure there is progressive interactions and healthy collaboration between BFBB and Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, quarterly meetings are going to take place.

Our Creative Talent

A major national conference, entitled ‘Our Creative Talent’ was hosted at the Barbican centre, London on 1^st & 2^nd July 2008 by DCMS, ACE and VAN. The focus of the event was to launch new research that looks in detail at the size make-up and impact of the voluntary arts sector and its potential for growth. On the agenda were also discussions and presentations about the significant contribution that participation in the arts makes to local communities. Of course brass bands are right at the heart of many of our communities and that is why I attended the event.

 

The keynote speakers were Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Minister for Culture; Alan Davey, Chief Executive, ACE; Robin Simpson, Chief Executive, VAN and Feargal Sharkey, Chief Executive, British Music Rights.

 

Much of Margaret Hodges’ presentation was centred on the recent MacMaster’s report and the notion of excellence. She made a welcome distinction between excellence and elitism and spoke about our nation’s social capital, support for the arts from ACE and local authorities, and the diverse ways in which we all communicate and network in this electronic age.

 

Both Robin Simpson and Feargal Sharky called for the recognition that arts groups, including bands, crave for, as well as asking the government for better communication and involvement, support with capacity building and improved innovation and challenges for the sector.

 

So what of the future? Emerging proposals for arts and culture in the 21^st centaury are gathering around the provision of ‘informal adult learning’, that is, finding a balance between the provision for skills and qualifications and the funding of activities for community development. Government, both local and national will be searching for a framework of values that will include the broadcasting media, the use of public spaces and consultation with the voluntary arts sector. A further government report is expected in September 2008 followed by a policy paper that will set out the future vision for Informal Adult Learning.

 

This was truly an inspiring conference. VAN is certainly centre stage to represent the arts at national level, quite rightly so. The brass band sector should be in full support of VAN and congratulate them on a superb event. It was an important day for the voluntary arts, brass bands included, what a pity that none of our so-called band press were there to cover such a significant meeting. Such influential events are vital to the development of banding in the UK.    

One Voice Conference: 14th June 2008

The BFBB One Voice Conference took place on Saturday, 14^th June in Birmingham and delegates from all brass band associations throughout the country were invited to attend. The event was skilfully chaired by Paul Hindmarsch and over thirty delegates participated in the presentations and wide-ranging discussions.

 

The presentations covered a number of salient issues for brass bands and particularly focused on links with local authorities and local communities. Ian Carter from the Southern Counties Amateur Brass Band Association, Peter Fraser from the Scottish Brass Band Association and Louise Renshaw from Macclesfield Youth Band all spoke about the promising initiatives and developments in their associations and bands, while Alun F Williams of Greater Gwent Music Services and Steven Legg of Gloucester Music Services gave fascinating insights into their work and the connections that bands could make in this sector.

 

The evaluation forms for the conference have been handed to me and they make vary encouraging remarks, many congratulating the BFBB on running a superb event and asking for an annual seminar. I am happy to echo their sentiments. For those who attended, it was informative, thought provoking and constructive; for the BFBB, it was a successful event which should be repeated annually. A detailed report about the conference will be made available from the BFBB after further evaluation.

Arts Participation Manifesto Consultation Event

On Monday, 9^th June 2008, I was in London with about fifty other people from a wide variety of arts organisations, local authorities and umbrella bodies to assist in the development of an Arts Participation Manifesto. Discussions focused around finding a way of getting more people to engage with the arts in a positive way over the next ten years.

 

The task of finding a consensus was not easy and took most of the day. Activities centred on small groups that then put their observations and opinions to the remaining delegates by combining themes through a process of assembling ideas.

 

Though a definitive manifesto has not yet been agreed, key goals and a means by which its aims might be met have been. The process of developing a full blown Arts Participation Manifesto will no doubt take another twelve months or more but a good start has been made. For once, a project that claims to champion participation has started off by sending out the right signals and, more importantly, involving people in its initial construction processes.

2012 Cultural Olympiad: The Inspire Mark

On Wednesday, 28^th May 2008 I went to a briefing in Leeds about the new 2012 Inspire Mark. The meeting was hosted by Arts & Business Yorkshire and presentations were made by Francesca Canty, Kian Garin de Loach, both of LOCOG, and Tessa Gordziejko, the 2012 Regional Programmer for Yorkshire.

 

The briefing explained that an ‘Inspire mark’ had been produced as a part of the London 2012 brand family. It was emphasised that this branding is only for non-commercial projects. The mark will endorse the fact that a project has been ‘inspired by London 2012’ and that it reflects the values of the Olympic and Paralympic Movements. This is a first time a brand mark of this nature has been approved for any Olympic or Paralympic Games.

 

The LOCOG team said “The inspire mark will be awarded to exceptional non-commercial projects across culture, sport, education, environment, volunteering and business regardless of scale. Successful projects will be granted the right to use the mark on various project materials, such as posters, brochures and websites and will also be included in the Cultural Olympiad’s national publicity”. It was stressed that the mark will not be approved to appear near to commercial trade-names or logos. I asked how bands that are sponsored by commercial organisations and have the name of that organisation in their title were going to get approval for their projects. The LOCOG team were unsure of how this would affect such events and said that each project would be assessed individually.

Meeting with ACE: 6th May 2008

On Tuesday, 6^th May 2008, I attended a meeting with Mr Alan Davey, ACE Chief Executive, Mr Jeff Ennis MP, Bryan Catcheside, Musical Director of Ascot Brass and other representatives of the Brass Band sector and ACE. This was a worthwhile meeting where the following points were discussed:

• Grant applications and the nature of the complicated form. Mr Davey told the meeting that only 16 applications had been received from the brass band sector in 2007 (including BFBB’s for the 2007 European Championships) whereas there had been over 100 from small jazz groups and organisations.
• Social inclusion and a wider participation agenda
• Lottery funding
• Youth and training bands
• The ‘take it up’ scheme

 

There was a sense that the points we raised were received by ACE with sincerity and consideration. Mr Catcheside noted that ‘It is clear that there has been a legacy of suspicion regarding the funding of brass bands stemming from an impression that lottery money made available to bands in the past was squandered rather than used wisely’.  The ACE representatives recommended a central organisation, namely the BFBB, should provide a conduit for advice regarding applications for funding. BFBB is seeking further meetings with ACE to expand this proposal into a useful tool for bands.

Moreover, BFBB will need to work closely with ACE to provide a channel for applications and introducing a form of self-regulation within the brass band sector to provide evidence of wise use of allocated funds.  As with all financial initiatives, a demonstration of secure procedures is more likely to attract funding.

 

National Government & Brass Bands

(1) Arnold Tattersfield and I held a meeting with Mr J Ennis, MP for Barnsley East and Mexborough, on Friday, 7^th March 2008 at the National Office. Matters discussed included:

• The role of BFBB 
• Mr Ennis’ recent delegation meeting with the Minister for State for Culture Media & Sport 
• Funding issues for brass bands 
• The direction of further funding campaigning
• A forthcoming meeting arranged with the Director of Yorkshire Forward 
• The Voluntary Arts Network (VAN) 
• 2012 Cultural Olympiad

 

Following the successful meeting Mr Ennis asked a question in the House of Commons on Monday, 10^th March 2008, which was subsequently broadcast on BBC Radio 4:

 

          Jeff Ennis (Barnsley East and Mexborough) (Lab):

Does the Secretary of State agree that the British Federation of Brass Bands, which is based in Barnsley … will play a vital role in making a success of the Cultural Olympiad?

 

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Andy Burnham): It absolutely will … On brass bands, I am absolutely confident that the rich heritage that my hon. Friend describes – celebrated in the film “Brassed Off” – will play a very important part in our Olympic celebrations.

 

(2) I was then invited to join Mr Ennis’ delegation to meet The Director of Yorkshire Forward. The meeting was held in their offices in Leeds on Monday, 17^th March 2008. Issues discussed were:

 

• Justification for supporting bands
• Business Models for bands
• 2012 Cultural Olympiad
• Youth bands/KS2 (Barnsley’s £250,000 programme and the infrastructure required to deliver in the future)
• University selection/Fairness in higher education/Widening participation agenda
• Loss of sponsorship for Championship bands

 

Once again this was a meeting with some success. Yorkshire Forward will fund/advise (probably BFBB) on a programme of Business advice and planning for brass bands. Also funding for some events connected to 2012 Culture Olympiad (through Yorkshire Culture). In a surprise move Yorkshire Forward said they would fund Grimethorp Band to the Europeans this year at £20,000 and for a further two years if it is a Yorkshire band that represents England.

 

 

2012 Cultural Olympiad/Creative Programmer for London 2012 (Yorkshire)

On Friday, 14^th March I had a meeting with Tessa Gordziejko, the Creative Programmer for London 2012 (Yorkshire), at Yorkshire Culture offices in Leeds. Among the items discussed were:

 

• National Signature Projects (2^nd Tier) involving the central aims of Youth, Innovation & Diversity and 2012 Sounds/Youth Music
• Themes for Yorkshire, and other regions, at 3^rd Tier level; which are (i) the moving body & (ii) public space animation
• The launch of the Cultural Olympiad on 24^th August 2008. In Yorkshire Events will be centered in Bradford, Hull, Leeds (jazz music theme) & Rotherham