Agenda and draft minutes

The confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting of 17 September 2024.

The minutes of the meeting of 17 Sepember 2024 were confirmed and signed.

To receive an update on:

·         Amplifying Community Art & Culture Project

·         Fenland Culture Partnership and Sub-groups

·         Arts Council England Place Partnership Application.

Jamie-Lea Taylor provided an update on Creativity & Culture Development as follows:

Amplifying Community Art & Culture Project

§  Fenland Culture Fund Round Two. A collaborative project funded by UK: SPF and ACE. It was launched in-person this time at a celebratory event held on 20th November with the afternoon opening with a reading from 2024 FPL winner Hannah Teasdale, and previous recipients brought work to show and talk about and celebrate what they had achieved with the fund. The second round was then open for entries until 13th January. Support was offered in-person if people wanted to access it, and more commonly by phone and email.  55 applications were received, which had increased from the 42 in round one. The decision-making panel were selected and they met Friday 31 January 2025 so notifications to applicants are expected this week. The budget available has been slightly increased to £55K and the panel have awarded this budget in full, with the Council looking forward to seeing a range of new projects, activities and investments take place in Fenland across the year.

§  The Council have been offering a series of free workshops for those working or volunteering in the arts, culture and heritage sector in Fenland. These training sessions are responding to identified support needs in the local sector specifically around marketing skills development. The first of these sessions was called Understanding Audiences in Wisbech in November with a Social Media & Email Marketing workshop held in March in January 2025, and the next session is about Practical Strategies for Data and Ticketing which will be in Chatteris later this month. So far these have been well attended, been both a great opportunity to offer this high-quality, professional education to the local cultural workforce for free, but also, the Council has found there has been a real benefit to bringing people together around a table, in a room, to share, learn and network. 

Arts Council England (ACE) Place Partnership Application.

• This is one of ACE’s most significant funding streams and following a huge amount of work from partners over a very extended period of time, Fenland submitted an EOI and found out in October that it was accepted and were invited to submit a full application which was submitted at the end of November 2024.

• The lead applicant is Clarion Futures with FDC as a strategic partner as well as several other partners as there are varying degrees of partnership options which is allowing the opportunity for those that can invest time and skills alongside partners which have actual cash match investment too.
• If successful the project will start in April of this year and last for three years finishing in 2028, with there being two main areas of focus which are about improved infrastructure and cultural leadership development in readiness for multi-art form, landscape wide, quality festival programming at the end.

·       The Council are expecting a decision by the end of this month whether they have been successful.

Members made comments, asked questions,  ...  view the full minutes text for item CAH8/23

Members received a Fenland Poet Laureate Awards update presented by Jamie-Lea Taylor a follows:

§  a total of 71 entries have been received, 34 in the adults and 37 in the youth category.

§  The ceremony is to be held again at March Town Hall on the evening of Friday 21^st March.

§  Poets who are shortlisted will be invited to attend and winners will be announced on the night.

§  There has been a huge amount of both entries and enquiries from people that are not eligible because they are out of district or even the county.

§  This committee has until midnight on Monday 10^th February to respond, and then the judges will come together to make their final decisions. From there Jamie-Lea Taylor will work again with the Communication and Design Team to produce the anthologies and everything else needed for the awards ceremony event.

Members noted the information reported.

Councillor Sennitt Clough presented information on a Regional Flag Design Competition as follows.

·       She had recently had a meeting with the Flag Institute to clarify a couple of questions that have arisen since this idea went to Full Council.

·       The first concerns the Fenland District Council Flag which came into being in the 1970’s after the last big boundary change, this is not a community flag but a Council banner so that flag would not be able to represent a community or a region and there were also some issues with it being incorrectly adapted from the crest on the carpet in the Council Chamber.

·       The second question concerns the flag that was proposed at the last Full Council Meeting that was designed within the last few years by a person from Ely. This flag design has not been accepted by the Flag Institute as their preference is where no historical design exists for a community flag the development of a design is through public competition, this maximizes public involvement in the process and mandate for future adoption. The Flag Institute also make reference to any design meeting standards.

Members made comments, asked questions, and received responses as follows:

·       Councillor Hicks stated that he felt this was a good idea and has had lots of positive comments from residents about a regional flag.

·       Councillor Purser stated he agreed this was a good idea and would give a regional identity. He continued he felt there should be a couple of items included within the competition to reflect the Fenland history, like the Fen Tigers, and that this is the only area in the Country where the motto is in Dutch as it was the Dutch who drained the Fens many years ago and there are also several historical figures which originate from the Fenland area who could be included as well as the local farming.

·       Councillor Nawaz agreed with the proposal but stated there is only so much that can be reflected within a flag and looks forward to seeing what would come out in the public consultation. He continued to ask who will have ownership of the flag? Will it be the Fenland District as it exists now or a broader Fenland area which reaches beyond the Fenland Council, and will they be involved in the public consultation how will the changes to Local Government impact on this project? Councillor Sennitt Clough responded the idea would be that this is a flag that represents the Fens as a region because it would not be tied to the District, the Council would be working with the Flag Institute and they would guide the Council of all on the policies and procedures to get it officially accepted by the Flag Institute if this project goes ahead and would be run outside of any Council role and governed by the Flag Institute.

·       Councillor Hicks stated that Fenland is a very big area, would there be a consideration for an area to be ring  ...  view the full minutes text for item CAH10/23