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Cumbria Dance Development Plan 2005-2008
Cumbria Dance Development Plan 2005-2008 commissioned by Cumbria County Council & Arts Council North West Lynn Fade
West House
Tenter Row
Crosby Ravensworth
Penrith
CA10 3HY lynnfade@christianbarnes.co.uk
01931 715546/07074 731706
Contents
_______________________________________________________ Contents
Introduction
Vision
Local, Regional & National Context
Creating Opportunities
Dance Partnerships
Dance Opportunities in Lifelong Learning
Supporting the Professional Dance Sector
Investment & Regeneration
Investing in the Dance Infrastructure Dance as an External Investment Lever Dance Facility Provision
Quality of Life & Access
Social Inclusion & Community Regeneration through Dance Dance as a Contributor to Health & Well-Being
Appendix I – list of consultees
Appendix II – Youth Dance Worker job description Appendix III – schools questionnaire results (November 2004) Introduction
In September 2002 Barrow-based Dance Resource Ltd (DARE) was funded by Cumbria County Council and Northern Arts to undertake an audit of dance activity across Cumbria. This work was further augmented by research completed by Dance Northwest during 2003.
The combined efforts of these investigations addressed the following:- • a survey of existing dance practitioners (professional, education-based and community) within the county
The information was gathered from questionnaires, telephone interviews and one focus group meeting.
In order to build on this foundation Cumbria County Council and Arts Council North West appointed a temporary Dance Co-ordinator in 2004 to create a vision and development plan for dance across the county. The Dance Co-ordinator was supported by a Steering Group comprising representatives of Cumbria County Council (Cultural Policy Unit), Dance Northwest, Cumbria Programmers Network, and Arts Council North West. Since the initial audit in 2002 the Arts Council of England has re-structured and Cumbria has been embraced by Arts Council North West (formerly North West Arts Board). This change has meant an alteration in the regional dance infrastructure governing Cumbria. Dance Northwest is currently the national dance agency servicing the North West and comprises Cheshire Dance, Ludus, Dance Initiative Greater Manchester, and Merseyside Dance Initiative; Cumbria is not represented within Dance Northwest by an ‘agency’, although professional practitioners in Cumbria are offered the same opportunities to engage with networking events, continuing professional development, grants, marketing and promotion, etc, as each of the other four dance agencies in the North West. Dance Northwest is currently undergoing an internal review; it is therefore unclear at this stage how Cumbria and Dance Northwest might work together in the future. The strategy process looked first at the county’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in terms of dance.
Strengths
• arts venues – their enthusiasm, the existing Programmers Network and the fact that some are on the national touring circuit for dance
• dance audiences in some areas, particularly Barrow & South Lakeland
• dance expertise in some schools – legacy of Enid Hobba, Dance for Joy
• commitment to the strategic & countywide development of dance (ie, countywide commissioning of audit/strategy)
• proliferation of amateur/voluntary led dance activity
• dance programming knowledge within venues & touring networks Weaknesses • no Cumbria based dance company of regional/national significance
• lack of signature dance event
• little financial support for dance programming
• no existing network or support structure for dance practitioners
• no single focus for countywide dance information and advice
• marketing and promotion of existing dance offer
• dance audiences in some areas, particularly Copeland & Allerdale
• little knowledge of who’s involved in dance in Cumbria & what they do Opportunities • to develop a unique identity/voice for dance in Cumbria
• to make sure dance is benefiting from wider creative industry support
• Cumbria Dance Co-ordinator role
• Cumbria Programmers Network funding bid to Arts Council North West
• partnerships between dance practitioners and key public services
• site specific work using Cumbria’s landscape/venues
• cross district/venue working
• strength of dance within neighbouring regions Threats • sustainability of initiatives/projects
• perception of little dance activity to date
• unclear relationship with Dance Northwest
To further develop dance in Cumbria it would be sensible to build on existing strengths and opportunities, and address the weaknesses and threats in a strategic way that maximises partnership working.
This development plan acknowledges the ideas, issues and information shared freely during consultation by individual practitioners, venues, cultural organisations, potential partners, LEA staff and arts development agencies (see Appendix I for full list of consultees). The representations of all involved have, where possible, been incorporated into the priorities and actions for the future. The purpose of this development plan is to set out the intentions of Cumbria County Council, ACE:NW and its partners for the development of dance across the county between 2005-2008. Vision Cumbria has a desire to achieve so much more in terms of dance. The Arts Council North West and the county’s receiving theatre venues are keen to see dance developed as an artform; the county and district councils are keen to utilise dance in the delivery of community and corporate objectives. To develop dance both as an artform and as a regeneration tool is the ambition of this strategy. The long-term vision, beyond 2008, is for Cumbria to become a centre of excellence for dance in the North West and indeed the UK. The aspiration is for:-
• Cumbria to be home or host to a producing dance company
• the county’s colleges to be training the very best contemporary dancers
• employment opportunities across the county to be retaining and attracting the very best dancers and dance workers
• Cumbria to be fully supportive of its professional practitioners by creating an environment in which they will flourish
• key public services across the county to be choosing dance alongside other delivery mechanisms as an effective means of engaging with target users
• young people to be benefiting from the wealth of dance expertise and knowledge in the county
• performing arts venues & cultural events programmes to be showcasing increasingly better quality dance and in greater quantity
• Cumbria to gain a reputation as the premier destination for national and international dance retreats
• Cumbria to have integrated dance activity into its core public health functions
• Cumbria to have established and be regularly using a range of appropriate dance spaces across the county This is undoubtedly an ambitious vision although one which, given time, can wholly or in part be achieved. The following development plan is about putting in place an infrastructure in Cumbria to enable the big vision to happen. The region as a whole will benefit from Cumbria’s vision and commitment to develop dance. This is a real opportunity for dance to have a truly inclusive North West identity.
For Cumbria to be taken seriously as a centre for dance excellence it must develop its own niche in the market, its unique selling point (USP). Cumbria is synonymous with the breathtaking landscape of the Lake District and this is the key to unlocking the dance USP. In order to achieve the long-term vision there are many smaller steps to be taken in the short and medium term. This development plan identifies these and sets out a series of actions for the period 2005-2008. Local, Regional & National Context For Cumbria the prevailing brand and image of the Lake District masks a raft of enduring problems. The county is undergoing rapid change and dramatic decline in its relative wealth; indeed Cumbria is the only county in the UK experiencing economic decline. There is a pressing need to find ways of arresting this downward spiral in prosperity and associated quality of life. Two regeneration agencies – Rural Regeneration Cumbria and West Lakes Renaissance – are in place to drive forward sustainable regeneration linked to an over-arching Cumbria Vision. A significant caseload of their work now and into the future is around the nuclear de-commissioning of Sellafield and post Foot & Mouth Disease recovery and diversification. Cumbria has a population of 489,800. A quarter of the working age population is economically inactive, with the highest unemployment levels in Barrow (18.6%) and Copeland (15.7%). Limited opportunities for work in higher growth sectors, combined with low wages means that Cumbria struggles to retain and attract graduates. The county welcomes 15 million visitors each year signifying that tourism is a crucial economic sector for Cumbria. With this high dependency on tourism comes the need to constantly develop new products, programmes and initiatives to keep ahead of the game. There are extremely active voluntary and community sectors in Cumbria with an established track record of delivery at a local level. This is particularly evident within the cultural sector. Creative Partnerships Cumbria and Cumbria Youth Music Action Zone are two exciting opportunities for the county. In both instances funding and creativity is being targeted at those in greatest need with the intention of improving the experiences and life chances of young people. There will be other legacies of these programmes including professional development for creative practitioners and capacity building within Cumbria’s schools and LEA. Locally dance has been the least developed artform. The county does not have a producing company, a dance agency or a dedicated dance venue. It does have a cluster of performing arts venues which are on the national touring circuit for contemporary dance productions, two geographical centres of existing dance development activity, and many dance practitioners. There is also a strong commitment and aspiration from all dance partners to move the sector forward in the County. Dance Northwest is the National Dance Agency for the North West region. It is part of a network of agencies across the UK which exist to support, promote and foster dance activity for all ages, abilities and cultures. Dance Northwest runs a professional development programme for dance artists at all stages of their careers, which facilitates and supports the creation of new work and career development. A review of the structure and role of National Dance Agencies was undertaken by Graham Devlin in 2003/04. His subsequent report called for greater clarity and understanding about the role of National Dance Agencies, the need to address their inconsistent and short term funding streams, and the need to capacity build not only within their own organisations but also within their regions in terms of producing artists and companies of artistic merit. As a result Dance Northwest is currently undergoing a review of its own structure, place and remit across the region. This should be complete by late Spring 2005. Nationally The Culture Media and Sport Committee published a report “Arts Development: Dance” to the House of Commons in July 2004. The Committee examined the current state of the dance economy, the effect of public investment on the dance sector, and dance and young people in relation to education and opportunities for progression within the sector. The key issues raised were (a) for Government to set out a clear, overarching policy for dance indicating how it will achieve its objectives of “excellence, access and a contribution to healthy living”, (b) for the Department for Education and Skills to carry out a policy review relating to the place of dance within the National Curriculum, (c) for Youth Dance England to ensure that the youth dance sector thrives and produces the dancers of the future, (d) for Government to investigate further how it can increase the number of people gaining health benefits through participation in dance, (e) for more research to be carried out into the benefits of dance in reducing crime rates and in increasing social inclusiveness, (f) for lottery funding to continue to contribute towards new facilities for dance and (g) for the sector to increase the pay levels of dancers. The dance sector is well provided for nationally in terms of organisations and support mechanisms. Arts Council England is the most significant funder of national and regional organisations and projects, and is instrumental in the development of dance in each of its regions. Creating Opportunities: Dance Partnerships
There is already evidence of good partnership working across the county for the benefit of dance. Examples of this are:-
Cumbria Programmers Network – a partnership of representatives from all county venues whose core business is programming arts and cultural activity. The network meets quarterly to forward plan, avoid duplication and competition in terms of programming, and to work together on mutually beneficial initiatives such as joint marketing, mailshot co-ordination and audience development schemes. The network has recently been successful in obtaining grant funding from Arts Council North West for 2 years to programme contemporary dance performances and associated education/outreach activity. West Cumbria and Highlights Rural Touring Schemes – these two programming networks identify and book good quality, professional music, dance, drama and visual theatre performances which are hosted in partnership with village halls, schools and other rural community venues across the county. Both networks are long-established and offer well patronised services; both would like to further develop dance audiences through participatory activity and more extensive programming. Cumbria Sport – is part of the Cumbria’s Local Education Authority supports the delivery of dance within all 332 schools (dance falls within the PE curriculum). For the past three years Cumbria Sport has organised a schools dance festival across Allerdale, Carlisle and Eden in partnership with Cumbria Dance, a private dance school based in Carlisle. Cumbria Sport has also formed a strong partnership with Cumbria Sure Start (early years service) to deliver Movement & Dance in the Foundation Stage training to early years settings and providers. Dance Resource Ltd (DARE) – was established in 2002 and receives strategic support from Barrow Borough Council. Since 1990 with the support of Northern Arts (now Arts Council North East), the Borough Council as a Dance Action Centre delivered a successful programme of activities for participants and audiences. DARE grew organically from this body of work and has strong partnerships with the council, Forum 28 and Furness College. The company delivers the dance element of the Performing Arts National Diploma course in exchange for office and studio space and administrative support from the college. The county’s principal asset in terms of dance is its personnel – the professional people who teach young and old, choreograph new work for presentation, and programme dance performances from knowledge and experience built up over many years. In order to optimise this asset it is essential that partnerships are established between those who have dance skills and knowledge and those who could benefit ie, Cumbria Youth Offending Team, Connexions, Young Cumbria, Barnardo’s, Homestart, NHS Hospitals Trusts, Primary Care Trusts, Aim Higher, Cumbria Arts in Education, Creative Partnerships Cumbria, Social Services, Haverigg Prison, etc. The Cumbria Programmers Network’s grant from Arts Council North West to programme dance is a real opportunity to assist in building an audience for dance across the county. It is imperative that the Network operates collectively to attract diverse and significant dance artists and companies to the county for performances and residencies, and to maximise marketing for dance. There is the potential to link planned education and outreach work delivered by visiting companies to the Creative Partnerships Cumbria programme, gifted and talented cohort, or the existing and proposed youth dance companies. ACTION • Commission sector-specific marketing for dance across Cumbria to lift the profile of existing & new activity and develop new audiences.
Creating Opportunities:
Dance Opportunities in Lifelong Learning
There are many opportunities for dance to connect with cradle to grave learning. Cumbria Sport already delivers dance training to early years practitioners, child minders, etc. Several dance workers offer baby dance sessions within their locality, organised and publicised independently. These are over-subscribed and demand is high. Provision of baby dance is greater in the south the county than in the north. Creation of further opportunities where there are gaps and promotion of these through the County Council’s Children’s Information Service would be beneficial.
The schools dance festival mentioned previously has an aspiration to be countywide and enable those schools in South Lakeland, Barrow, and Copeland to participate. The festival has in the past utilised professional dancers and companies to go into schools and work with teachers to choreograph a dance which is then showcased as part of a celebratory event. The festival is self-financing and in its current format benefits approximately twenty schools per annum. The workshops and showcase event are jointly co-ordinated by Cumbria Sport and Cumbria Dance. In a similar fashion The Brewery Arts Centre has in recent years organised and hosted a primary and secondary schools dance platform over 3 nights, giving the opportunity for over 600 children to perform live in a professional theatre; DARE also organises a dance showcase event for local schools at Forum 28. Teaching staff in Cumbria’s schools would welcome the opportunity of more information, advice and guidance regarding dance in the curriculum (see Appendix III for schools dance questionnaire results). TOP Dance training (whole school) is being rolled out to all 285 primary schools across the county. This is a long and phased programme of training and gives teachers the resources and planning information required to deliver learning through dance activities. Many schools ‘buy in’ dance professionals to deliver performances or workshops on occasion. This is an area of concern in terms of quality assurance; schools are not necessarily receiving worthwhile or value-for-money experiences from the professionals they engage. This is due largely to a gap in knowledge and understanding on the part of teachers as to (a) who is out there in Cumbria and the North West and appropriate to use in school, (b) what dance can deliver (aside from PE) within the curriculum and (c) how to get the most out of a workshop or residency through planning and follow-up work. Similarly dance workers are often unfamiliar with the National Curriculum and the potential for delivering dance within it. At present schools seek and receive information about dance from a variety of sources; there has been no mechanism for offering all schools the same wider dance opportunities. There is, however, dance expertise in some of Cumbria’s schools – a legacy of Enid Hobba, Senior Lecturer in Dance, who taught at St Martin’s College, Ambleside (formerly Charlotte Mason College) and who formed the company Dance for Joy in the mid 1960’s. The company performed nationally and internationally until her death in 1995. Many of Enid’s graduates (and company members) have remained in the county and are still teaching in schools. It would seem sensible to build on this strength so that their expertise and enthusiasm can benefit other schools, particularly as there seems to be such a need to share good practice in dance across schools. Creative Partnerships Cumbria is keen to ensure that training and professional development for both LEA staff and dance practitioners is one of the legacies of its programme over the next three years. A recurring theme during consultation was that of progression routes for young people. One-off residencies and projects within schools and youth clubs are valuable and worthwhile but for those who are inspired and enthused by this there is currently very little for them to move on to. How can you begin a lifetime’s interest or career in dance if you live in Cumbria? At the moment there are two youth dance companies in the county serving their immediate locality. This good practice could be rolled out across the county, and even culminate in time with a county youth dance company which could perform and compete alongside other UK youth dance companies. Youth Dance England has just announced plans for regional Youth Dance Co-ordinators from September 2006. This means that a North West Co-ordinator will be available to further support and assist youth dance activity across the county. In September 2004 Cumbria Institute of the Arts (Carlisle) started to offer a BA (Joint Honours) degree in Dance. The course focuses on contemporary dance for performance and includes work placement and visiting choreographer opportunities. National Diplomas in Performing Arts are offered at all four of Cumbria’s tertiary colleges – Cumbria Institute of the Arts, Lakes College, Furness College, and Kendal College. The Lakes College (Workington) contracts Theatre by the Lake to deliver its Performing Arts course which is drama focussed. The college would like to offer a full time dance course in the future, use dance as a means of engaging students with learning difficulties and include dance within their portfolio of community outreach work. Cumbria County Council’s Adult Education programme offers a wide range of informal dance tuition delivered from schools, colleges and community facilities in urban and rural areas. Current provision includes flamenco, salsa, jive, circle, Arabic, jazz, mambo, ballroom, line, Scottish country, contemporary, tap, folk and old time. Enquiries and requests for dance provision other than that listed here should be monitored to identify gaps, particularly with cultural diversity in mind.
ACTION
• Roll out schools dance festival countywide and re-introduce links with professional companies • Organise Dance in Education Conference for school teachers & dance practitioners • Establish youth dance companies in Allerdale, Copeland, Carlisle & Eden • Convene an Activ8 team (school teachers with dance specialism) to offer dance information, advice & guidance to other schools • Send regular dance information to schools through Cumbria Sport
Creating Opportunities:
Supporting the Professional Dance Sector
There are at least 100 people earning a full or part time living from dance (excluding school teachers) in Cumbria. In the main they work in isolation, certainly from each other but also from the wider dance/arts community. Without exception, they would welcome regular contact with each other and access to wider communication and support networks.
A major drawback to date has been simply not knowing who all the practitioners are in Cumbria and what they are doing. Now that a comprehensive directory exists making links with each other will be much easier. It will also be a useful tool for agencies and organisations that need to identify dance practitioners living and working in the county. There are several practitioners who live in Cumbria but who work outside the county because there are more opportunities elsewhere; there are those who, constrained by domestic circumstances, live and work here but feel restricted by the opportunities available locally. Much of this development plan is focussed on creating employment opportunities for Cumbria’s dance practitioners by raising their profile with service providers, creating a wider awareness of what dance can do, and by building the capacity of practitioners to a level whereby they have the knowledge and confidence to approach potential partners and create employment opportunities themselves. Cumbria’s dance practitioners have each expressed a variety of business, creative and professional development needs. These can be addressed by putting practitioners in touch with opportunities across the North West or further afield where appropriate or through commissioning bespoke training here in Cumbria. Cumbria Cultural Skills Partnership and DARE Ltd both have key roles to play in brokering and delivering a continuing professional development programme for dance which is demand-led. Several practitioners have suggested the need for a regular professional class in the county possibly led by local dancers on a rotational basis. Payment of fees and/or travel expenses in connection with continuing professional development activities should be explored and encouraged where possible. Cumbria should also work in partnership with Dance Northwest when formulating a professional development programme and ensure that Cumbria-based events and opportunities are regularly included in Dance Northwest communications. Additionally the Foundation of Community Dance is proposing a national framework for continuing professional development which will fully emerge later in 2005 following further consultation. There are several mentoring schemes currently available across Cumbria and the wider North West region and this is an opportunity for dance practitioners in Cumbria to strengthen particular areas of their work, make themselves more employable as a result, and establish a range of useful contacts within the sector. Dance is, of course, a creative industry. It would be good to see an increase in dance SME’s accessing mainstream business support and grants, taking advantage of Cultural Business Venture support, and representing the dance sector on Cumbria’s Creative Industries Affinity Groups. The ‘buy Cumbria’ mantra can and should apply to dance; the best of Cumbria’s dance practice should be promoted more widely within the County and exported beyond where appropriate. Funding secured from the North West Regional Development Agency and Cumbria County Council has enabled a new Creative Industries Partnership, entitled Creative Cumbria, to be formed. This has been created with the aim of increasing the value of the local creative economy. The up-to-date information there now is about the dance sector in the county should ensure that dance has a significant voice in these new developments.
ACTION
• Set up and sustain a regular briefing to dance workers to ensure they are plugged in to wider communication and support network • Establish and make sustainable a regular networking and continuing professional development programme • Create directory of Cumbria dance practitioners to be included on www.cumbria-artefacts.org.uk, Cumbria Arts in Education’s website and integrated into the Creative Cumbria directory Investment & Regeneration: Investing in the Dance Infrastructure In order to action this development plan and to make a difference to all those people involved in teaching, programming and performing dance in Cumbria a framework must be in place so that development can continue and be sustained in the long term. In Barrow and Kendal there is good, integrated dance development provision through DARE, Forum 28 and The Brewery respectively whereas in other parts of the county dance development has been on a project-by-project basis and therefore difficult to maintain. Each of the county’s performing arts venues, both rural touring networks and every school & college have all been key providers to date and all are linchpins in the ongoing and extended provision of dance opportunities. Several strategic options for Cumbria were considered. They took into account the need to introduce development activity at the earliest opportunity, the cost implications of each option and how funds might be raised, the sustainability of each proposal into the long-term, how it might complement and inform the emerging Dance Northwest re-structure, how each would best service the geographical spread of Cumbria, and how each would best deliver the actions outlined in this development plan. The proposal for Cumbria is that:- 1. the County Council retain an element of dance development staffing over the lifetime of this development plan to drive forward short and medium term actions and to set in place the key delivery partnerships and mechanisms for the future. (Many elements of the development plan will be delivered by partners.) The part-time role of Cumbria Dance Co-ordinator is funded until March 2006; this would mean that two further years of funding would need to be identified. 2. two part-time Youth Dance Workers (2 year contracts) to be employed, one through a venue or organisation in either Allerdale or Copeland, and one through a venue or organisation in Carlisle or Eden. This role might be shared with a college or cluster of schools, for example, which might employ the Dance Worker for the other half of their time. Alternatively the Youth Dance Worker role might be fulfilled by a dancer or company-in-residence attached to a venue. We are looking for creative employment solutions that will improve the likelihood of sustainability for these roles beyond the initial two years. The remit of these posts would be to develop and service youth dance companies in Allerdale, Copeland, Carlisle and Eden, to establish a programme of young people’s participatory dance activity in support of both rural touring networks, and to support the School Sports Co-ordinators (PE and School Sport & Club Links Strategy) in addressing an identified need to increase out-of-school hours dance provision. 3. the Cumbria Dance Co-ordinator and both Youth Dance Worker posts work strategically with DARE Ltd based in Barrow and The Brewery’s Dance Development Officer based in Kendal. This would provide total countywide coverage and effectively create a Dance Development Team which would work collaboratively to deliver countywide initiatives. 4. the Cumbria Dance Co-ordinator will fundraise for the staffing infrastructure between 2005-08. It should be noted that The Brewery’s Dance Development Officer post is funded until February 2006 through an Arts Council North West grant and income generated from delivering dance activity. Also that DARE Ltd has a post of Dance Projects Co-ordinator written into its forward development plan and is currently looking for opportunities to establish and fund this post. It is important to secure a future for The Brewery’s post and DARE Ltd into the long term. Additional funding will be sought by the Cumbria Dance Co-ordinator towards these posts as part of the wider funding package. The funding will be sought from a combination of the EQUAL Programme (European Social Fund & North West Development Agency), Cumbria County Council’s Local Public Service Agreement, and the Big Lottery Fund (Young People’s Fund). There is, of course, no guarantee that the applications will be successful and each dance provider should continue to make their own plans for future provision in collaboration with the Cumbria Dance Co-ordinator. 5. the Cumbria Dance Co-ordinator represents Cumbria at Dance Northwest directorate meetings (subject to the Dance Northwest re-structure). The complete dance structure would therefore be as follows:- Proposed Dance Structure - Cumbria Dance Northwest <---> Arts Council North West | Cumbria County Council
Cumbria Dance Co-ordinator | | | | | Dance Brewery’s Allerdale/ Eden/
Resource Dance Copeland Carlisle
Ltd Officer Youth Youth
(Barrow) (Kendal) Dance Dance
Worker Worker \ \ / / local and countywide projects/programmes It is hoped that by March 2008 the capacity of the county to commission, programme, project-manage and sustain dance activity will be greatly improved. It would be necessary at the end of the current development plan to evaluate progress and determine the best way forward thereafter. ACTION • Support Dance Northwest’s review and ensure Cumbria’s representation in the new network
• Fundraise, recruit & appoint two part-time Youth Dance Worker posts across Allerdale/Copeland and Eden/Carlisle
Investment & Regeneration:
Dance as an External Investment Lever
Dance has the ability to draw down economic development funding as a creative industry, artform funding from public and private arts agencies and charities, and social regeneration funding for capacity building and well-being initiatives. Dance is well placed to deliver key social and economic outputs and has a role to play in expanding Cumbria’s cultural tourism offer.
There are two areas which would be worth further exploration in terms of their ability to generate inward investment and contribute to the economic regeneration of the county. Firstly, the re-location of a significant producing dance company to Cumbria. This is certainly a radical proposition but one which does have precedent elsewhere. This should not be considered as a ‘quick fix’ solution to import a dance presence into Cumbria, but rather as an opportunity to feed Cumbria’s dance sector from the top down as well as from grass roots up. The presence of a major dance company would add significantly to the existing cultural profile of the county and would have many benefits:-
• Assisting with graduate retention and may also bring back dancers to Cumbria who have gone elsewhere to train and work
• Linking with the Dance degree and Performing Arts courses around the county to provide shared opportunities such as residencies, workshops, apprenticeships/work placements
• Creating a tenant for a proposed state-of-the-art cultural facility for Cumbria
• Offering high quality education/outreach to Cumbria’s schools & community groups
• Producing, rehearsing and showcasing work locally, thereby enriching the programmes of Cumbria’s venues
• Being an ambassador for Cumbria when touring nationally and internationally
• Providing a better quality of life and lower cost of living for company members
• Strengthening Cumbria’s existing creative industries sector Introducing a dance company to Cumbria within the context of strategic development could be the catalyst for a wealth of innovative cultural activity and knock-on benefits. It may be that a long term residency of a company in the county or the identification of an “associate” or “resident” company be piloted to explore the benefit and worth of a more permanent proposition. An associate/resident company or artist could utilise county venues and spaces to research and develop work, and establish a core of local dancers who might rehearse with the main company and then provide a permanent “company” presence in the county to deliver education and outreach work ahead of the main company tour. Secondly, the development of Cumbria as a destination for national and international dance retreats. The concept might comprise:- • An annual programme of events for dance practitioners (similar to DanceEast’s recent rural retreat for international ballet directors)
• A national/international exchange programme for dance practitioners
• An annual programme of holistic dance courses utilising the landscape/environment as inspiration and setting
• An annual timetable of venues/spaces within the county which are available for research/development/production by visiting national choreographers/companies
• An annual commission/bursary/residency linked to Cumbria’s unique landscape/environment Both of these ideas require further and detailed consideration but could together evolve into Cumbria’s dance ‘USP’. They would gain tremendous strength from co-existing. A wide range of partners would need to be involved to bring these ambitious proposals to fruition including Cumbria Tourist Board, Cumbria Vision (Rural Regeneration Cumbria and West Lake Renaissance) Cumbria Inward Investment Agency, Culture Northwest, Arts Council of England, Culture Northwest and the British Council. ACTION • Explore the concept of an associate company with Rural Regeneration Cumbria • Explore the feasibility of a major producing dance company re-locating to Cumbria and the infrastructure required to sustain them and/or grow our own • Research, develop and pilot a dance retreat programme Investment & Regeneration: Dance Facility Provision
It was evident during the course of the research for this development plan that there appears to be a lack of appropriate facilities for dance in Cumbria. This is one of the key elements of the county’s infrastructure that needs to be in place before other aspects of development can proceed. It is acknowledged that rural areas such as Cumbria cannot have (and do not need) the same arts venues as cities. But without suitable arts spaces both production and presentation of the arts are severely restricted. Eden is the only district without an established performing arts venue and, as a consequence, is planning to develop a programme of urban space dance events as an antidote to the lack of venue.
Cumbria has 9 performance venues – The Brewery Arts Centre (Kendal), The Old Laundry (Bowness-on-Windermere), The Coronation Hall (Ulverston), Forum 28 (Barrow-in-Furness), Rosehill Theatre (Whitehaven), The Carnegie (Workington), Theatre by the Lake (Keswick), The Stanwix Centre (Carlisle) and The Sands Centre (Carlisle) – and many more spaces where classes, workshops, projects, and rehearsals do and can take place. There has not, to date, been a comprehensive audit of these smaller, more informal facilities and knowledge of this would be a useful planning tool. Many spaces with sprung floors are in multiple community use (ie, Appleby Market Hall, Kendal Town Hall, Salterbeck Oval Community Centre); some are dedicated arts facilities with unsprung space (ie, The Play Station, The Kirkgate Centre, The Heron Theatre); others are under-used as dance spaces (ie, the studio at St Martin’s College, Ambleside) because circumstances have changed; others in the process of planning could be influenced at the design stage (ie, new Penrith Leisure Centre).
Arts Council North West is just about to embark upon an audit of space in schools with Performing Arts and Sports College status across the region. If Cumbria is to become a centre of excellence for dance in the future it must identify a range of usable, well-lit and heated dance spaces which can be utilised by a cross section of dance practitioners from inside and outside the county. ACTION • Commission and publish a comprehensive dance space directory for Cumbria Quality of Life & Access: Social Inclusion and Community Regeneration through Dance Up and down the country the arts are being used successfully to engage socially excluded individuals and communities. Cumbria already has several models of good practice principally in artforms other than dance. It is the ambition of this development plan to increase the extent to which dance is used as a social regeneration tool. Some examples of how the arts are engaging with those on the margins of society are as follows:- • Barrow Borough Council was designated a Dance Action Centre in 1990 to enable the area to engage with contemporary dance through audience development and participation. The council managed a programme of professional residencies and performances and a participatory programme of weekly workshops, dance summer schools, training for dance teachers and a range of community performances. Since 2001 with the support of the borough council DARE has used dance across the borough to address issues of isolation and build capacity within the community. DARE works with programmes such as Surestart and Aim Higher to target contact at excluded groups. • Eden Arts commissioned a young people’s theatre company to develop a performance highlighting the wider impact and effect of anti-social behaviour. This was intended as a preventative measure, targeted at 5-8 year old, and was showcased to 33 schools across Eden and Carlisle districts. This project was significant because it was initiated and funded by the Local Strategic Partnership as a means of addressing their Crime & Disorder agenda. Cumbria has four Local Strategic Partnerships (LSP’s) and each has a mission to improve the quality of life and life chances of their communities. • Theatre by the Lake has assembled a six strong youth theatre outreach team courtesy of Learning & Skills Council funding and is delivering education work to young people in Keswick, Cockermouth, Silloth, Workington and Carlisle. Additionally they are partnering Cumbria’s Youth Offending Team and Haverigg Prison (Millom) in a first-time collaboration on a drama project. • Prism Arts (near Carlisle) was set up in 1987 specifically to engage with excluded groups. It has worked largely with learning disabled groups and has established Starfish Theatre Company which is now being facilitated by the outreach team from Theatre by the Lake. Starfish is now looking to constitute itself as an independent organisation. Prism Arts has done some dance activity in the past through a project called Spinning Yarns and would be keen to include more in the future.
Whilst there is good and innovative practice within the county there is a need to know how other services and agencies across the UK use dance to engage users, effect change and meet targets. There is a significant role for dance advocacy in Cumbria, which utilises best practice ideas and personnel from elsewhere to champion the effectiveness of dance to Cumbria’s key services. We should not forget the important role that the voluntary sector plays in creating and participating in dance opportunities. There is a vast amount of dance activity in the voluntary and amateur sector in Cumbria. The nature of county as predominantly rural with many small villages has bred an almost “make you own entertainment” attitude which still continues to this day. Dance, of course, is very much part of this entertainment portfolio, with many village halls hosting weekly old time, sequence and folk dancing which attracts mainly older participants. From Cumberland Morris to Scottish country, from line to circle, from belly to clog, Cumbria boasts a social dance group for almost every conceivable dance style. Cumbria is keen to encourage the continued practice and celebration of traditional and indigenous dance, and its contribution to the many carnivals and festivals on the annual events calendar. ACTION • Assist LADA’s with the delivery of dance projects within their programmes • Commission and deliver dance advocacy work across various services using best practice from elsewhere in areas of health, youth justice/prison, and youth work Quality of Life & Access: Dance as a Contributor to Health and Well-Being Dance has an important role to play in health education, in making people feel well and in helping people to choose healthier lifestyles. Dance can become a focus for those experiencing ill health and provide valuable leisure and social opportunities. And dance is the artform that is most readily recognised by the health sector as having direct relevance and impact on health improvement. Cumbria is fortunate to have working in the county an experienced and established dancer who has specialised in dance and health projects over the past fourteen years, and an existing arts and health network across which good practice can be shared. Additionally there is a commitment within some districts to promote and encourage dance through their Physical Activity Strategies. Whilst the North West Arts & Health Strategy is a real opportunity to integrate the arts into health policy and planning at a regional level, there is still much to be done to win hearts and minds at a local level. Dance and movement can alleviate pain, provide another language for people who cannot articulate themselves, assist with rehabilitation, keep people fit, etc. Our bodies are central to how we perceive and express ourselves. Dance and movement is already a proven contributor to preventative and remedial well-being. The statistics and anecdotal evidence required by Primary Care Trusts to mainstream dance into their public health solutions already exists. Advocacy within the health sector is still needed to change attitudes, allay fears, and give greater understanding to healthcare managers and strategists as to the improving qualities of dance and movement. Another key issue in Cumbria is training and support for:- • dance practitioners who are either already working within (or on the margins of) the health sector, or who have an aspiration to do so
• healthcare professionals to deliver and extend dance and movement work within their own day-to-day practice ACTION • Ensure dance is a theme at a Culture & Health Conference planned for autumn 2005, organised by Cumbria Cultural Forum • Encourage and support a range of dance activity in partnership with health and social services sectors
Appendix I List of Consultees Carol Leathley, Cultural Policy Unit (CCC) Irene Faith, Eden Arts
Dick Capel, East Cumbria Countryside Project Miranda Tufnell, practitioner
Doe Brannon, Barrow Borough Council Andy Booth, Quondam Arts
Vanessa Foster, Cumbria Sport Philip Lee, Business Link
Mick North, Carlisle City Council Julie Tait, arts consultant
Imelda Winters-Lewis, South Lakeland District Council
Amanda Mortlock/Alan Jackson/Sue Jenkins, Dance Resource Ltd
Denise Allen, Cumbria Arts in Education Jane Hackett, practitioner
Helen Moffitt, Brewery Arts Centre Karen Stack, practitioner
Peter Davies, Cumbria Cultural Skills Partnership
Kate Wise, Creative Industries Development Officer
Barbara Slack, Highlights Rural Touring Rachel Towe, practitioner
Peter Tyas, Copeland Borough Council Pippa Colman, practitioner
Rachael Jones, Allerdale Borough Council Denise Hutton, practitioner
Patric Gilchrist, Theatre by the Lake Heather Main, practitioner
Carolyn Nuttall, Morecambe Bay PCT Cath Sims, Ludus
Deb Barnard, Ludus/Dance Northwest Chris Reed, practitioner
Barbara Renel/Debbie Marper, practitioners Gillian Peel, Prism Arts
Rob Cartner, Youth Offending Team (CCC) Daphne Cushnie, practitioner
Pam Johnson, Arts Council North West Fran Leaver, practitioner
Andy Mortimer, Creative Partnerships Cumbria
Pat Glenday, Lakes College Cindy Zudys, practitioner
Michael Clarke, Rural Regeneration Cumbria Jenny Crane, practitioner
Rachel Bartholomew, Dance Northwest Louise Walton, practitioner
Nicola Skillen, St Benedict’s RC High School Stephen Gilby, Lakes College
Diane Amans, Freedom in Dance Kate Whitmarsh, Rosehill Theatre
Claire Wickham, South Lakeland Leisure Trust
Fiona Powley, Cumbria Institute of the Arts These conversations have all be in person with the exception of two telephone calls. Appendix II CUMBRIA COUNTY COUNCIL JOB PROFILE COMMUNITY ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT
CULTURAL POLICY UNIT Post Title: Youth Dance Worker (Allerdale & Copeland)
Youth Dance Worker (Carlisle & Eden)
Responsible To: Community Development Officer (Culture) Grade: tbc Main Purpose: These part-time posts will deliver a significant element of the new Cumbria Dance Development Plan. Each is offered as a two year contract until March 2008. The successful candidate(s) will work alongside two existing dance workers in the county as a team to deliver countywide benefit in addition to working within their immediate districts. The post will report to the Community Development Officer (Culture) but will be managed on a day-to-day basis by ? for the Allerdale/Copeland post and ? for the Carlisle/Eden post. Location: The Youth Dance Worker posts are both peripatetic roles which will require frequent travelling around their particular districts and, on occasion, across the county. The Allerdale/Copeland post will retain a hot-desking and administrative base at ? and the Carlisle/Eden post at ?.
Principal Accountabilities
• To be an inspirational and enthusiastic ambassador for dance.
• To deliver successfully a range of programmes and activities outlined in the Cumbria Dance Development Plan.
• To broker successful relationships and partnerships with and between a range of youth and school providers.
• To provide an important point of contact and conduit for dance information in Allerdale/Copeland and Carlisle/Eden.
• To operate effectively and efficiently both as a team member and when working alone. Main Duties • To research and establish new youth dance companies in Allerdale, Copeland, Carlisle and Eden.
• To establish a programme of participatory dance work in association with West Cumbria Rural Touring and Highlights Rural Touring.
• To make links with local schools, the School Sports Co-ordinator Programme, and local youth services/groups to identify gaps in out-of-school-hours dance provision and offer activity to fill those gaps where there is an identified need. | _tcm6-32236.gif)
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