Annual Report - 2008/9

CUMBRIA ARTS IN EDUCATION
(also trading as CREATIVE FUTURES CUMBRIA)

Charity registration: 1019774

1B, Hobson Court,
Penrith 40 Business park,
Gillan Way,
Penrith,
Cumbria
CA11 9GQ

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2009
_____________________________________________________________

The trustees have pleasure in presenting their report and the audited financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2009.

THE TRUSTEES
The trustees who served the charity during the period were as follows:

Charles Mitchell : Chair: April – 15th Nov 08 (resigned from board 15th Nov 08)
Alan Dickenson : Chair : appointed 15th Nov 08

Corrinna Cartwright: Vice- Chair April – 15th Nov 08
Rob McGraw: Vice Chair: appointed 15th Nov 08
Ian Booth
Sarah Kekus
Alan Niekirk
Linda Dean
Ian Farren
Roger Bingham
Neil Simco
Peter Hooper
David Penn
Irene Faith (resigned from board : 31st March 09)

ADMINSTRATIVE INFORMATION:

TREASURER: Tony Schofield

ACCOUNTANTS:
Dodd & Co,
Clint Mill,
Cornmarket,
Penrith,
CA11 7HW

BANK:
Nat West: Ambleside Branch
Cheapside,
Ambleside,
Cumbria,
LA22 0BL

MANAGEMENT :
The Director, Dr. Margaret Riches, has responsibility for the day-to-day management of the charity.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing document
Constitution adopted 19th May 1992 as amended 22nd February 1993; 7th October 2002; 23rd February 2005 and 15th November 2007.

Methods adopted for the recruitment and appointment of new trustees
Nominated by members and elected at AGM

Trustee Training:
Trustees receive up dates from external sources on matters relevant to governance.

July 2008: an agreement commenced with Peninsula Business Services to provide advice on Personnel Employment Law and Health and Safety. In addition to specific advice being available to the Director and Trustees on a 24hour basis, regional seminars available which Trustees may attend.

September 2008 : a seminar was led by an external consultant to advise on ‘risk management’ and the legal requirements of Trustees regarding Employment law.

November 2008: a session led by a representative from ‘Business in the Arts’ focused on the requirements of Trustees, Trustees liabilities and the benefits of becoming a ‘Company limited by Guarantee’.

New Trustees receive an induction pack, an initial meeting with the Director/ other Trustee, the invitation to attend Board meetings as an observer and training about the requirements of a Trustee commensurate with their prior experience and knowledge about this role.

A policy and procedures for the induction and training of Trustees will be developed during 2009-10.

Decision making:
Staff, under the direction of the Director, have responsibility for:
o Project planning, development and implementation.
o Activities that fulfil the requirements of Health and Safety and Personnel Law.

Trustees are responsible for decisions relating to:
o Strategic development
o Risk management
o Financial management
o Human resources

The allocation of grants:
During 2008-9 grant allocation became a more significant aspect of the work of the organisation.

Two sources of funding were available which entailed the allocation of grants to schools/ other arts based organisations:
-Creative Development Grants provided by Cumbria County Council
-Grants to schools through the Creative Partnership Programme to support the development of Enquiry / Change programmes.

The following procedures for grant allocations were followed:
o The criteria for grant allocation, deadlines for applications and application packs were published on the web site. They were available in different formats and circulated by post if required.
o Applications were considered by grant review boards consisting of :
-Project / programme managers
-Trustees and/or professionals external to the organisation with recognised expertise in the relevant fields for which the grants were to be used.
o Decisions regarding grant allocations were reported to the Board of Trustees.
o Grant payment conditions and contracts/ partnership agreements were provided to all successful applicants. These conditions include the requirement to provide reports on project progress/ outcomes, evaluations and statements of expenditure. Grant payments were made when these conditions are met.

A Grantmaking Policy based on the procedures that have been undertaken this year, will be developed during 2009-10.

RISK MANAGEMENT
During 2008-9 major risks were identified in the following categories:

i) Operational risk:
a)Re-Location:
The expansion of the organisation and the need to re-locate to larger premises had to be carefully considered to ensure that:
-the location would be easily accessible for the charity to continue to provide the service
-the lease agreement was sufficiently flexible to ensure that long term financial obligations would be manageable and consistent with the projected income of the charity linked to existing or anticipated fixed term project funding.
-re-location packages to staff / redundancy terms could be met.

The risk was minimised by taking appropriate legal advice from legal and HR professionals.

b)Re-naming the organisation
The decision to adopt a different operational name for the organisation was considered advantageous as the new name would signal the expansion of the charity’s remit. The change in the ‘branding’ was however considered a risk because the public may not have recognised that the organisation was continuing to provide the services for which it had always been valued.

Advice on how to minimise this risk was provided by an external consultant with expertise in advising organisations on re-branding. As a result a communication strategy was planned which included:
-the development of a brochure which indicated the objectives of the organisation, included examples of recent work and outlined plans for the future.
-a high profile launch on 15th October to publicise the ways in which its original objectives would continue to be delivered and enhanced through the Creative Partnership Programme and other new projects that have since been developed.
-modifications to the web site.

ii) Financial Risk
a) Fixed Term Project funding : This limits the ability of the organisation to secure long term funding and generally plan over a longer period than 2 years.

Minimising risk:
Staffing levels have been kept to a minimum with fixed term contracts/ seconded contracts issued in preference to permanent contacts for posts that are mainly responsible for project activities and therefore subject to the availability and demands of project based funding.

Future Funding: The Business Plan identified the need to diversify the sources of funding so that proportionately more will be obtained in future from the Private Sector and other Trusts and Foundations. This will attempt to minimise the impact of less funding being available from the Arts Council and Lottery funds due to funding being diverted to the Olympics.

Financial Management: The expansion of the organisation has meant that more extensive financial accounting systems have been introduced and a full audit has been undertaken. An Operations Manager was appointed to undertake the book keeping and accountancy procedures under the direction of the Treasurer.

A finance sub- committee has been formed. It meets with the Treasurer, Director and Operations Manager at least three times per year to scrutinise the accounts and consider future plans. Recommendations regarding financial matters are made by this group to the full board of Trustees.

i) External risk: the impact of the ‘economic recession’ has meant that the aspiration to obtain a higher proportion of future funding from the private sector and other trusts and foundations to support programme development for 09-10 and beyond has not been realised.

Minimising risk: Trustees decided that the position regarding the existing fixed term and seconded staffing contracts could not be changed.

ii) Law and regulation compliance risk:
Health and Safety and Employment Law:
It was recognised that the expansion of the organisation presented greater risks regarding compliance to health and safety and employment law.

Minimising risk: the agreement to contract the services of Peninsula to advise on personnel and Health and Safety Law for the next five years was considered a suitable strategy that would ensure that Trustees were always able to access up to date advice.

PUBLIC BENEFIT:
The Trustees have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Commission in exercising their powers or duties by
increasingly monitoring the quality of provision to the educational and creative sectors through direct observation of a sample of activities provided by the charity and receiving and commenting on reports regularly prepared and presented by the charity’s project managers.

The charity’s objects relating to Public Benefit are outlined below.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

The charity’s objects are to:

Advance the education and training of the public, of all ages and backgrounds by:

(a) Supporting and developing opportunities for educational and community groups to work with creative practitioners for the development of creative skills and aptitudes throughout Cumbria and elsewhere, as selected from time to time by the Board.

(b) Promoting and providing training and continued professional development in arts, management and educational skills for creative practitioners and those working in learning environments.

(c) Providing information and advisory services through liaison with educational and community groups to increase their interest and understanding of the arts and creative processes.

(d) Working in partnership with other agencies in furtherance of the Object of the Charity.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Summary of main achievements of the charity during the year:

Since April 2008, when Cumbria Arts in Education became the designated host organisation for the Creative Partnership, Cumbria Programme the organisation has:

• increasingly focused on supporting schools in the development of creative teaching and learning strategies

• gained recognition as the lead organisation in Cumbria for the promotion of creativity

• established its operational identity as ‘Creative Futures Cumbria’ (CFC).

• establishing a new office base in a location which is more easily accessible

• revised and re-structured the web site and created an ‘extra net’ which provides easily accessible on line information to CFC staff, creative practitioners and creative agents engaged in project activities.

Summary of the main activities of the charity in relation to its objects:

Creative Partnerships fosters innovative, long term partnerships between schools and creative professionals, including architects, scientists, multimedia developers and artists. These partnerships inspire young people, teachers and creative professionals to challenge how they work and experiment with new ideas.

Following the findings of independent research and a national OFSTED Inspection, a Parliamentary Select Committee acknowledged that the Creative Partnerships Programme had made a sufficiently significant positive impact on the achievement of young people that a further phase of the programme should be funded 2008- 2011.

During 2008-9, 25 schools have received grants of up to £3,000 each and engaged in a one year creative learning programme targeted at a specific group of pupils and teachers.

In areas of Cumbria which face particularly challenging circumstances, 15 schools have become involved in the Change School Programme. Change Schools may receive up to a maximum £15k per annum for three years to undertake an intensive three year programme that supports the creative development of the whole school.

As well as receiving grants, Enquiry and Change schools also receive the support of a Creative Agent who acts as a ‘critical friend’ supporting the development of their programme and brokering their relationship with the creative partners who will be directly involved with the work in the school. A team of 14 Creative Agents have now been recruited and trained for this role.

Over 1300 pupils have been involved in creative learning developments across the 40 Creative Partnership schools, supported by 45 creative practitioners.

The Creative Development Grants of up to £750 per programme have continued to provide small scale project funding for schools, colleges and community groups to enable them to access the skills and expertise of artists and creative practitioners.
These projects have usually involved the development of specific skills. During this year, for example, there has been an increase in the use of digital media.
A total of 25 projects involving over 2,500 children and young people were undertaken during 2008-9.

The development of Creativity and Critical Thinking across the curriculum

Substantial funding of over £127k from The Training and Development Agency (TDA) enabled Creative Futures Cumbria to provide three different programmes which all focused on the promotion of the cross-curricular dimension of creative learning and critical thinking (which is now a requirement of the revised curriculum) but supported the professional development needs of particular groups of teachers:
iii) Those preparing to teach the 14-19 Creative and Media Diploma : from 2008 in the Carlisle area.
iv) Those who are in the Early Stages o f their Teaching Career, defined as having less than five years teaching experience.
v) Those who are teaching the revised Key Stage 3 Curriculum involving studies about global interdependence, environmental sustainability and citizenship.

Each programme was designed to enable individual teachers to have the opportunity to work extensively with at least one creative practitioner, who would help them to reflect on their creative pedagogical practice, plan and implement a scheme of work where different creative learning strategies could be explored.

A total of 18 teachers from 16 schools, supported by 16 creative practitioners, participated in the programmes.

Professional Development Opportunities for Creative Practitioners

The mentored training programme has continued to provide professional development opportunities for creative practitioners. During 08-09 10 mentee practitioners and 10 mentors shared their experience of working in educational settings.

During this year, an additional opportunity was provided for established creative practitioners to undertake further professional development with the support of bursaries of up to £500. An evaluation framework was devised to encourage creative practitioners to reflect on their learning and identify the aspects that they found most useful. 15 Creative Practitioners have received professional development bursaries.

Generally, their feedback has indicated that the creative practitioners particularly valued the opportunity to further develop and apply their skills by working in different educational / community contexts. These findings will inform the professional development opportunities that Creative Futures Cumbria will aim to provide during 2009-10.

Creative Ambassadors
Creative Futures Cumbria launched the Creative Ambassador programme in March 2009. Creative Ambassadors are professionals from diverse backgrounds who have a creative element to their practice and are prepared to participate in this programme as ‘volunteers’.

The regeneration of Cumbria depends on motivating and raising the aspirations of its future workforce. To meet the challenges of tomorrow’s world, today’s young people need creative talent, enterprising attitudes and the confidence to develop innovative ideas and practices to address the needs of the future. Our Creative Ambassadors will provide the role models and the inspiration to help to make this happen.

Creative Ambassadors will visit schools to meet children and young people. Through short facilitated workshops or presentations, they will provide them with opportunities to find out more about a wide range of jobs and routes to careers in the creative sector and creative industries. They will focus on working with 9-19year olds.

Five Creative Ambassadors have now been trained and have already led a workshop with children at a primary school. Their professional backgrounds include:
-a chef
-a printer
-a graphic designer
-a broadcaster
-a visual artist and events manager.

Creative Futures Cumbria has also hosted a session for students on the University of Cumbria MA Community Arts training programme to encourage and prepare them to undertake residencies in school / community settings.

Young People’s Arts Awards
The Arts Council Young People’s Arts Award Programme provides an opportunity for young people (11 -25 years) to develop their leadership skills and expertise in a selected aspect of the arts. Accreditation can be gained at bronze, silver and gold levels. Young people are supported through this process by Arts Award Advisors. Creative Futures Cumbria continues to be an approved trainer of Arts Award Advisors.

Artsmark:
The Artsmark school accreditation scheme enables schools to gain recognition for the breadth of its arts based curriculum. Creative Futures Cumbria has continued to provide workshops and school based advice to support schools in the preparation of their applications. A total of 17 Cumbrian schools gained Artsmark during 2007-8 this included 10 gold and 2 silver.

PLANS: 2009-10
In the year ahead Creative Futures Cumbria will continue to nurture the imagination, creative aspiration and talents of its young people and professional colleagues from both the education and creative and cultural sectors.

i)The Creative Partnership Programme will be expanded to involve
30 Enquiry Schools, 17 Change Schools and 14 Creative Agents.

ii) Creating Sustainable Futures’ Funding from the Ernest Cook Trust will be used to enable a group of young people to develop their awareness of environmental and sustainability issues by participating in a residential weekend at Malham Field Studies Centre. Their learning will be facilitated by a digital media artist and a professional writer.

iii)Additional funding will be sought from the private sector, other trusts and foundations and public sector sources to continue to build on the funding that is currently available through Cumbria County Council, Creative Partnerships and the Arts Council to :

• Offer grants for schools, community organisations and creative practitioners to access support for creative development programmes in a range of settings across Cumbria.

• Continue to recruit creative practitioners from the creative sector in different areas of Cumbria to become Creative Ambassadors.

• Provide further opportunities for creative practitioners to develop their expertise through the mentoring programme and a bursaries by working collaboratively with partner organisations to establish a ‘training consortium’. This initiative will be co-ordinated by Creative Futures Cumbria. The Training Consortia will aim to provide a generic training programme and bursaries for mentees who will then have an opportunity to work in a chosen educational/community context. Lead artist mentors with experience of working in the relevant field will support mentees through the initial stages of their practical experience.

• Programmes which focus on children and their families/ carers accessing cultural and creative activities together will be developed through:

o A music/ story telling programme focusing on Early Years and implemented collaboratively with Early years Practitioners and volunteers in Children’s centres.

o An action research Cultural Offer Pilot programme involving 6-8 schools in the Whitehaven area, will be developed in collaboration with Cumbria County Council Adult Services and Extended Schools network. This will aim to provide opportunities for children/young people to access high quality creative, cultural activities within/just beyond their immediate locality.