South East Northumberland, Arts Development Study by Sara Robinson / 2011

The brief and methodology


The brief

With the support of Arts Council England managed funds, Queen’s Hall Arts - who will oversee arts development for the county from April 2012 - commissioned this study into the development of a clear arts strategy for the south-east of the county.

Since the creation, in 2009, of a unitary authority for Northumberland, there has been some progress in developing a more strategic approach to delivering arts services in the county. This has included a greater collaboration between the main performing arts venues and the continuing growth of arts development work including mobile cinema, small-scale touring (Highlights), a youth dance network and arts & crafts networking.

In 2010 a venues study was completed which was not only important for the venues but which also informed broader strategic considerations, not least because the venues in Berwick, Alnwick and Hexham were identified as cultural hubs from which arts development can flow. There are very few professionally run arts organisations in South East Northumberland (SEN), no dedicated gallery spaces, and the two performing arts focussed venues in the area (The Phoenix in Blyth and Seaton Delaval Arts Centre), are run by volunteers on a part-time basis without the resources or expertise to instigate the breadth of cultural activity that a population of this size may want. This issue, together with the semi-urban demographic, means that the area needs a different approach to arts development. On the heels of this has been the new NPO[1] application process of Arts Council England which will affect the 'arts landscape' of the county and region from April 2012. There has been a paucity of arts focussed investment from Northumberland Council and Arts Council England into the area in recent years, but both organisations, together with Queens Hall Arts now view it as a strategic priority.

The purpose of this south-east study has been to audit and analyse current patterns of delivery and activity and make recommendations that can inform strategies and decisions of funding bodies, arts development agencies and individual artists and arts organisations. The brief covered the following areas:

  1. An examination of the role and effectiveness of current arts development services.
  2. Mapping building-based provision and assessing development capacity, with a particular focus on the Phoenix in Blyth.
  3. Assessing the current and potential delivery of other key facilities e.g. Woodhorn Museum and Seaton Delaval Hall.
  4. Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the arts sector in south east Northumberland.
  5. Identifying opportunities for expanding arts activity.
  6. Making recommendations to the public funders, with especial regard to investment priorities.

Methodology

We concentrated on personal interviews (either on the phone or face to face) with people involved in some form of arts delivery. Seventy-two of these were completed. Given the paucity of professionally run arts organisations in south east Northumberland, it was important to talk to people based in and beyond the region, involved in education, youth and community development, health, policy makers, regional organisations, private sector and voluntary sector venues and organisations. Appendix 1 lists the interviewees.

We ran a consultation workshop with twenty young people from YPIN (Young People in Northumberland), and another consultation event at Newbiggin Maritime Centre with forty-four people involved or interested in the arts in SEN to share findings and generate new ideas.

Findings from the recently commissioned Northumberland-focused Audiences North East Research, Northumberland Mapping: Cultural Engagement in Northumberland have also fed into this study.

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South East Northumberland, Arts Development Study by Sara Robinson / 2011

Context

South East Northumberland (SEN) is the former Wansbeck and Blyth Valley districts comprising several core areas; it is not a unified place with an identifiable heart, but rather a series of towns and villages based around the former fishing, shipping and mining industries. It is home to c141,441 people (the total population of Northumberland is 312,000) and comprises three main conurbations:

·  Cramlington (population 40,000), on the edge of Tyneside which was classed as a ‘new town’ when development started in the 1960’s and has grown steadily since. It is home to the Concordia leisure centre.

·  Blyth (population 35,000), which has seen some of its major industries decline in recent times but also some superb regeneration along the beach, port and quayside (around the theme of renewable energy), the Blyth Community College who are actively involved in the arts, the new Bede Academy school and is home to the Phoenix Theatre, Headway Arts and Blyth Valley Arts and Leisure.

·  Ashington (population 27,000), a former a coal mining community, with the recently developed Woodhorn Museum and Archive, a new leisure centre being planned by NCC, and Ashington Development Trust are looking at the feasibility of developing the redundant art deco Old Co-Op as an arts and social space.

SEN also contains a number of smaller settlements:

·  Bedlington (population of 15,300)

·  Seaton Valley (several villages totalling a population of 15,000 comprising Seaton Delaval: p 5000, Seaton Sluice: p. 3000, New Hartley: p. 2000, Old Hartley, Holywell and Seghill). The Seaton Valley area has a beautiful coastal area, a new music festival, voluntarily run visual arts development, and is home to the newly re-opened Seaton Delaval Hall (run by the National Trust) and the voluntarily run Seaton Delaval Arts Centre.

·  Newbiggin-by-the-Sea (population 7,000). Newbiggin is also based around a stunning coastal area, with the renowned public art installation 'Couple', the brand new Maritime Centre and a strong community arts scene.

·  Choppington, Stakeford, Guide Post

·  Ellington, Lynemouth & Linton

SEN is the most densely populated part of the county and 99% of its residents are white British. According to the Audiences North East research, SEN broadly follows Great Britain in terms of gender split, age profile and economic activity, though it has fewer students, more residents who are unable to work due to disability/illness and fewer with higher educational/vocational qualifications.

The Audiences North East research used two profiling tools to show the 'types' of people living in the area in terms of their economic situation and level of engagement in the arts. The table below compares statistics from the South East with the West of Northumberland and the national average in England. For a further explanation of these classification groups, see Appendix A5 in the Audiences North East research available from Queens Hall Arts.

Economic type and levels of engagement with the arts / South East Northumberland / West Northumberland / England average
Wealthy Achievers / 15% / 47% / 24%
Urban Prosperity / 1% / 3.5% / 12%
Moderate Means / 22.7% / 10.2% / 13%
Hard Pressed / 32.2% / 15% / 19.9%
Highly engaged / 4.8% / 11.2% / 8.3%
Some engagement / 70.2% / 70.2% / 69.4%
Not currently engaged / 25% / 18.6% / 23.3%

This information verifies the fact that a different approach to arts development is required in SEN.

Mapping - art form and geographical spread

Appendix 2 is an Excel spreadsheet with the detailed mapping of arts activities split into geographical areas. It is not exhaustive but provides a strong indication of the available arts offer.

For this section we have summarised provision by a) art form and age spread, and b) geographical spread.

Arts development for children and young people has emerged as a priority area through this research; a comprehensive assessment of current practice and identified issues can be found below on page 14.

1. Art form and age spread

Dance is well provisioned, both for young people and for adults. Dance City offer a progression route which picks up the gifted and talented through taster session in participating schools and offers heavily subsidised weekly Foundation workshops at Blyth Community College for ages 7 -12 on Saturdays, followed by the chance to audition for the Dance City based Centre for Advanced Training for ages 13+. The latter provides 8 hours of training, which is free to young people living in households with less than an annual income of £40,000. Other art forms could learn from the dedicated progression routes provided through Dance City's interventions and the private dance schools.

SEN has a number of well-established private dance schools[2] whose pupils go on to full time academies and who regularlywork in the West End or with Ballet Companies. Many will host performances in places like Newbiggin Sport Centre or Blyth Community College or out of the area.

For those on limited budgets, Blyth Valley Arts and Leisure's (BVAL) inclusive Dance Officer Sophie Johnson (part of the Sports Development department), offers a number of dance groups across SEN in partnership with community venues and extended services, and facilitates a dance networking group. Sadly the three year Sport England funding which covered the costs of her post (amongst others), comes to an end in March 2012. The Northumberland Youth Dance Hub - a partnership between Queens Hall and Dance City - provides further affordable (or free) options to young people attached to schools in and Cramlington and have recently provided boys' taster sessions. Those who show a real interest can join the Dance City progression route mentioned above.

To compliment the work of BVAL’s Dance Officer, BVAL run one off intensive dance projects of new work, such as a Ludus residency, the Shall We Dance project delivered by Tin Arts for the over 50s, and more recently the Barefoot Dance Project, performing in Seaton Delaval Hall, with choreographer Tim Rubidge and artist Tony Murray, involving two school groups and four community groups inSeatonValley.

Dance options for adults are currently limited to traditional and dance-fitness forms and Appendix 2 outlines those on offer that we are aware of[3].

The dance offer in schools is less positive. Dance City did a schools audit across the North East, and Northumberland had the smallest number of young people involved in dance through schools. 87% of schools do not teach dance as a separate subject. However, it is gratifying to note that three of the most proactive schools mentioned are SEN-based.[4]

Very little, if any professional dance comes into the area, except for BVAL's occasional booking of ariel dance artists and Ludus Dance. The Northumberland Dance Hub has arranged trips to Alnwick, Hexham and Newcastle to see work.

However more SEN based people participate in dance than any other art form, thanks to the professional input from BVAL, Queens Hall, Dance City, private dance schools and teachers. The Schools Sports Partnership run a countywide Dance Festival in schools in March, much of which takes place in SEN. There is therefore scope to build on the energy and level of activity for dance that exists in SEN, building on the schools Dance Festival, with an annual, celebration that joins up the varied amateur and professional activities on offer from the public, private and voluntary sectors, and showcase a greater range of dance. A larger festival, linked in with the existing dance offer and Dance City's annual hunt in participating schools for enthusiastic, talented young people, could encourage a wider interest in dance by schools, enabling the three who are already dance focused to set the benchmark. A festival would also build profile for the art form, drive up expectations, provide milestone events to build momentum towards, expose local people to professional dance and encourage them to perform themselves, thereby sustaining involvement and engagement in this art form.

Visual arts, crafts and photography groups for adults are also well provided for, with over 30 regular groups operating in SEN. Almost all are self-organised and funded with very little intervention from external agencies other than adult education. Two local professional artists lead several of them, others are self-led and many would expressly value more expertise from a wider range of artists. There is a clear opportunity here, and the chance to build on the wonderful Pitman Painters' legacy...

The Sean Henry Couple project through Inspire Northumberland is a much talked about initiative, which not only resulted in a huge, permanent installation but also got the town talking and arguing - and creating art like never before!

To get a sense of the number of adults creating art in the area, we asked interviewees to pass us the name of visual artists, professional, non professional and amateur living in SEN. Appendix 3 is an impressive list of 130 names. It is disappointing then, especially given the public art on display now, that the county-wide Network Artists Open Studios has just one SEN based artist exhibiting this year (Peter Seddon), in a pub, and he is the first since the closure of Woodhorn Church studios. The membership of Network Artists is self-selecting, focused on existing professional or emerging artists who are taking it seriously enough to earn money from their work. Most artists in SEN - professional or otherwise - feel the costs for entry are prohibitive, and there is little active encouragement from Network Artists to get involved. As funders of the Open Studios, perhaps Northumberland County Council could encourage Network Artists and identified partners (Woodhorn, Baltic. Belsay Hall) to take a different approach in SEN, one which enables artists in the area to get involved, possibly with the support of a curator or professional artist/co-ordinator, which builds on the lure of Couple and the existing creative developments along the coastline.

It is difficult to know the quality of visual arts opportunities provided through schools without further research, but the end of Creative Partnerships and the council funded education interventions (with The Forge) will mean less current input from professional artists within schools. The NHS Foundation Trust, together with BVAL employs a part-time curator to bring artwork by local people, schools and professional artists into hospitals. It has been hard to get the schools to take up the opportunity.

There are two glaring gaps in visual arts provision. The first is non-school based visual arts groups for children and young people, with just two that we know of (Pop Bottles in Seaton Sluice and the Youth Arts Forum at Newbiggin Arts Forum) and a desire from organisations like the Buffalo Centre, and the youth service to develop this provision. The youth service, along with community-based organisations do run ad hoc sessions, which are primarily self-led. A youth worker told us. 'We know there is an appetite because when we leave marker pens and paper out the young people always doodle away.'