AGENDA ITEM 3: MINUTES OF LAST MEETING
Minutes of Creative Network South Meeting held on Friday 28th July 2017 at 9.30am
at New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth
1. ATTENDANCE
Present:Stewart Dunn, Creative Network South (CHAIR)
Charles Freeman, Creative Network South
Lisa Hall, PA to Executive Directors/Business Information Manager at Hampshire Chamber of Commerce
Ming Wu, The Makers Guild
Jon Adams, Flow Observatory
Alex Reynolds, Southampton Solent University
Aaron Butson, South Downs College
John Thompson, TSE Productions
Gwyneth Campling, Hampshire Cultural Trust
Lucy Marder, South East Museum Development Programme
Paul Spencer, Winchester BID
Camilla Sharp, Eastleigh Borough Council
Jo Dalling, Portsmouth City Council
Anthony Dean, Winchester University
James Andrews, Solent Growth Hub
Apologies:
Stewart Dunn welcomed network members to the New Theatre Royal. Laura Doye provided background to the development of the theatre and to the redevelopment of the theatre and links between the theatre and the university.
2. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING
Minutes of the meeting were noted.
It was noted that Peter O'Sullivan, Adrian Moss, Jane Bryant are working with Southampton City Council and Southampton Culture Trust on Mayflower 400 project and this might provide significant opportunities to develop work based learning initiatives in the digital sector.
Aaron Butson director of business growth and innovation South Downs College offered to
give a presentation on the work of the college in relation to apprenticeship delivery.
3. UPDATE REPORT
The update report was noted.
Charles Freeman and Stewart Dunn will meet with Denise Edghill and Dawn Baxendale Chief Executive Southampton City Council and new PUSH lead for Culture, Creative Industries and the built environment, to discuss the work programme of Creative Network South and the launch of the declaration in August.
Creative Network South's new website will be launched in the autumn, the content of the old website has been preserved and will be reused on the new website.
Portsmouth City Council expressed an interest in being involved in the Southern Policy Centre culture placemaking seminar.
4. CREATIVE INDUSTRY DECLARATION AND BUSINESS PLAN
The declaration has been drafted and designed with support from Carswell Gould. Proposals for the launch will be discussed with Dawn Baxendale chief executive at Southampton and lead chief executive for the PUSH culture creative industries culture inbuilt environment themed panel.
5. RESEARCH NETWORK
Dr Alex Reynolds reported that Stephen Hall had been appointed as chair of the research network and following meetings with Charles Freeman and Paul Spencer a programme of events is being developed for 2017/18, these will include the Sandpit event to identify opportunities of collaboration between members of research network and creative industry organisations. Following a survey of network members themes of future work have been identified:
· Start-ups, student enterprise, creative entrepreneurship, change management (23 researchers)
· Digital media for culture, heritage and education (14 researchers)
· The arts in wellbeing, outreach, community and education (14 researchers)
· Critical approaches to cultural labour, the arts and creativity (10 researchers)
The first proposed event is likely to be Sandpit workshop to identify potential collaborative projects.
NOTE: key issue of research network is to viewing definitions of the creative industries.
6. MUSEUM HACK DAY
Lucy Marder gave a verbal report on the museum hack day held at Southampton Solent University held on the 21st June.
The event was collaboration between The South East Museum Development Programme, Southampton Solent University, Digital South, Creative Network South and Venture Fest. Arts Council England also supported the event. Participating museums included:
· King John's House Heritage Centre Romsey
· The Lightbox Museum and Gallery Woking
· Maidenhead Heritage Centre
· Mary Rose Museum
· Pendon Museum
· Southampton Arts and Heritage
Each museum was teamed with digital designers, developers, technologist and academics, the teams were challenged to find solutions which will bring the museums into the digital age by bringing collections to life, enhancing the appearance and visibility of the collection or by attracting new audiences.
During the course of the day each team pitched their proposals to a panel, the winning museum the Lightbox Museum and Gallery in Woking was given £2 000 Seed funding to bring the ideas to life.
7. FLOW OBSERVATORIUM
Jon Adams gave a presentation on the issues facing neuro-divergent artists and the background to the establishment of flow Observatorium. https://www.newtheatreroyal.com/news/funding-flow-observatorium/
Building on the advocacy work undertaken over the past 18 months, Flow Observatorium aims to become a national hub and centre of excellence for, and led by, neuro-divergent artists. FlOb(Flow Observatorium) will support neuro-divergent artists to make work, collaborate and engage within the cultural sector in creating attitudinal and physical ‘safe spaces’, and will address and campaign for parity and fair play in the various arenas in which neuro-divergent Creatives participate. Flow will also be collaborating with major universities on academic papers, projects and empirical evidences to support the advancement of neuro-diversity theory and neuro-divergent culture and creativity.
Flow has received funding from Arts Council England
Charles Freeman declared an interest as he has been invited to be a Trustee of Flow.
8. PORTSMOUTH CULTURE STRATEGY
Josie Dowling outlined the proposals for the development of the Portsmouth cultural strategy, which is being supported by Arts Council England. The strategy will strive to engage the cultural and creative community in the city and will provide a platform for collaborative working to take advantage of grounds swell of creative activity, which is taking place in the city.
Members of the network were invited to contact Josie so that they could contribute to the development of the strategy.
9. HAMPSHIRE CREATIVE EXPO
John Thompson from TSE productions, gave a presentation on proposals for the Hampshire Creative Expo. The Expo will be hosted at South Downs College on 21 March 2018. The launch will take place at South Downs College on 21 September 2017.
10. TOUR
Members of the network were invited on a tour of creative industry work spaces in Portsmouth, these included:
· New Theatre Royal
· Makers Guild Portsmouth Guildhall
· Cell Blocks Historic Dockyards
· The Hotwalls
The Formal meeting Closed at 11am
11. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
To be advised.
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