« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
Annex B
Our methodology
Our remit
The Cultural Commission was established in March 2004 with the appointment of its Chair, James Boyle, to undertake a comprehensive review of culture in Scotland. It began its work in early July 2004 following the appointment of its Commissioners in June 2004. The Commission's remit, as outlined in the Cultural Policy Statement, April 2004, was drafted by the Scottish Executive following the First Minister's 2003 St Andrew's Day speech.
The Commission's remit was wide-ranging with respect to what aspects of culture should be considered. The remit also advised the Commission on how it should consult with the cultural community, stakeholders and the wider cultural community.
1) The Cultural Commission (the Commission) will use the First Minister's St Andrew's's Day speech and the Minister's policy statement to provide context to their deliberations.
2) The Commission's procedures and findings will acknowledge the First Minister's statement that:
"Our devolved government should have the courage and faith to back human imagination, our innate creativity, as the most potent force for individual change and social vision."
Jack McConnell, St Andrew's Day, 2003
3) The Commission will be expected to develop its own working method consistent with the composition of the group and the expectations of the remit.
4) The Commission will be expected to involve and enthuse the cultural community in Scotland and internationally as well as ensure that interested parties from all sectors of public life are heard.
5) The Commission should seek to involve those who perceive themselves to be stakeholders and those who would not see themselves as such.
6) The Commission should encourage innovative and radical thinking and solutions, and confront stereotypical notions of culture and cultural provision.
7) The Chair of the Commission will be expected to have regular update meetings with the Minister. It is expected the Minister will meet with the full Commission quarterly.
8) The Commission will make its final report to Scottish Ministers by June 2005, and will submit an interim report in October 2004.
Our understanding
The Commission decided upon an open and reiterative process, with three successive periods of consultation followed by three periods of consideration and analysis. The first two periods of consultation included written consultation and involved meetings with the cultural community and the public.
We used the following techniques in the collection of information, evidence and material for this report:
two phases of written consultation
three rounds of meetings with the cultural sector
two rounds of public meetings
meetings of the Commission's Thinking Groups
ad-hoc focus group meetings
desk research
international observation and evidence of best practice from the UK and abroad
research projects/consultancy
conference attendances.
Written consultation
The two phases of written consultation, from late August 2004 through to January 2005, were run in distinct and themed phases: firstly, cultural rights and entitlements, and secondly, developing talent. Consultation was targeted at stakeholders from the cultural sectors and the general public. Copies of both consultation documents are available on the Commission's website. The response rate to both phases was excellent, with 223 responses to phase 1 and 163 responses received to phase 2. A list of all those who responded is in Annex K.
Phase 1: General comments from a citizen's perspective
During phase 1, we asked for general comments on various issues of relevance, both to individual organisations and members of the public. We also asked consultees to take a citizens' perspective and to frame their responses under the following headings:
education: how do we develop artistic, cultural and social skills and provide cultural knowledge?
institutional infrastructure: how best to organise and support the cultural sector in Scotland to deliver the maximum value in the most effective manner?
delivery of and access to, services: how best to provide cultural facilities and ensure the widest access?
marketing and promotion: how to increase and broaden the profile of the audience and the public engaging with cultural activity in Scotland?
encouraging creativity: what is the best way to maximise the creative potential of the people of Scotland?
In their responses to Phase 1, many stakeholders signalled the opportunity for more effective planning, funding, and delivery across the cultural sectors.
Phase 2: Proposals for implementation
Phase 2 of our consultation was informed by the responses received during phase 1. On the basis of a set of 62 pan-sectoral questions, we asked our stakeholders to shape and define robust, implementable proposals. In particular, stakeholders were asked for their views on:
the practical development and use of cultural rights
institutional infrastructure
the balance of responsibilities for planning, delivery and evaluation at national and local level.
The 62 questions pursued the complex and inter-related cross-sectoral issues that had been identified in our phase 1 work. Stakeholders were provided with the option of answering all the questions in detail or using them as a prompt to address the issues more broadly. The questions were designed to help sort the weak ideas from the strong ones, the impractical from the practical and the incidentals from the priorities.
Some stakeholders raised concern about the tight deadline for the Commission's two consultation phases and in particular, indicated the difficulty in responding to the 62 pan-sectoral questions. In response to this, a decision was taken to allow some flexibility around deadlines, with the Commission accepting responses after the stated deadlines and during consideration and analysis time. Over 50% of respondees choose to respond to all 62 questions.
Copies of the Commission's consultation documents and all the submissions received can be found on the Commission's website: http://www.culturalcommission.org.uk /
Phase 3: Cultural rights and entitlements
Our third phase of consultation focused on cultural rights and entitlements, and its alternatives to the current cultural infrastructure. For this phase, there was no written consultation document and instead we presented our options to the cultural community via meetings with the cultural sectors and the Commission's Thinking Groups. We asked for immediate feedback and received 23 written submissions on our proposed options.
At all stages of the Commission's work, deadlines were extended as much as possible to maximise the number of submissions and thus strengthen the validity of our conclusions and recommendations.
Meetings
Meetings with the cultural sectors
It was our intention from the start that we would work in close partnership with the cultural community. This was achieved by corresponding and meeting with the sector's lead cultural agencies, organisations and interest groups. For practical reasons, the cultural community was initially divided into a number of cohesive sectors, and then a lead agency for each was identified. It was then the role of that lead agency to host the meetings and invite participants.
The agenda at the first two meetings of the sectoral groupings was focused on the Commission's two consultation documents. At the third and final meeting of the groups in early May 2005, the Commission outlined its proposals on cultural rights and entitlements and its alternatives to the current cultural infrastructure and asked for feedback.
Three separate meetings were held with representatives from the following sectors:
These meetings brought together expertise and experience from across the different sectors, with each sector being asked by the Commission to develop, where possible, consensus around a single sectoral response to our consultation. The composition of the cultural sectors evolved slightly between phases 1 and 3.
Public meetings
The first two phases of consultation corresponded with public meetings across Scotland. The purpose of the meetings was to ensure that the Commission's consultation was as wide reaching and inclusive as possible and to engage as much input from members of the public and those who would normally see their views as relevant to the debate. Meetings were held in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dumfries, Dundee, Aberdeen, Inverness, Perth, Stirling, Paisley, Peebles and Dunfermline.
As with the sector meetings above, the agenda for these meetings was based on our phase 1 and phase 2 consultation documents.
Meetings of the Commission's Thinking Groups
We established six cross-cutting, thematic Thinking Groups in the following areas:
education
access
rights and entitlements
delivery
creativity
support.
Their membership was drawn from the artistic, business, academic, voluntary and creative sectors and their purpose was to assist the Commission in reviewing the outputs of its consultation phases and material obtained through desk research and other consultation activities. The groups met four times between November 2004 and May 2005. Their first three meetings were spent reviewing material. At their fourth and final meeting in May 2005 the Commission outlined its proposals on cultural rights and entitlements and its alternatives to the current cultural infrastructure. The Commission asked for feedback, as it had with the sectoral groups. Details of the Commission's Thinking Groups' remit and membership is in Annex C.
Ad-hoc meetings
During our consultation process, a small number of ad-hoc focus group meetings were facilitated on our behalf. There were two types of meetings:
focus groups which brought together individuals from cultural sectors with no obvious lead agency, including street art, dance and traditional music, to comment on our consultation documents. The need for these meetings was identified during the analysis and consideration of phase 1 submissions. These meetings took place during phase 2 and filled gaps in our knowledge or evidence base.
focus groups which brought together named individuals from a sector or organisation/body to answer specific questions relating to our remit or provide assistance where specific expertise was required e.g. Chairs of the National Performing Companies.
Research
Desk research
We employed a full-time researcher who undertook a substantial desk review in parallel with other research, to support the collection of evidence and data.
The desk research focused on a number of key areas, including:
cultural rights
equitable access
innovative delivery of cultural education
support for artists
data on creative industries
the arts, culture, sport and tourism sectors
mapping data on Scottish trends and profiles.
Key aspects of the Commission's research can be found on the Commission's website.
International observation and evidence of best practice
An important aspect of our research was the sourcing of examples of best practice, both nationally and internationally. Evidence and case study examples are used throughout our report to highlight existing Scottish and UK best practice and to demonstrate that particular measures and initiatives are deliverable. Internationally best practice is used to demonstrate the breadth of the Commission's research and to indicate practical options available to the cultural community and government.
Research projects/consultancy
In October 2004, the Commission appointed: PMP/Donaldsons to undertake a review of local authority culture and leisure provision and benchmarks and standards. It also appointed Bonnar Keenlyside to review the input of the voluntary sector. The timescale for completing both projects was extremely tight and where possible deadlines were extended to improve the response rate and encourage participation in the work.
PMP/Donaldsons' work included:
assessment of the current levels and physical condition of local authority and major private-funded infrastructure for culture and leisure in Scotland
identification of any inconsistencies in provision across Scotland against the average, including shortfalls or over-supply, particularly between rural and urban areas
consideration of ways to maximise the use of existing facilities, including partnership opportunities
audit operational and financial aspects of existing facilities, including maintenance and management costs
information to inform investment strategies for repair and new build in relation to those facilities for the next 20 years to support the provision of local authority culture and leisure facilities
suggestions on ways to deliver such strategies consistent with Best Value.
The aim was to comment on consistency of provision across Scotland, to consider what resources were available for culture and to consider the potential for innovative funding solutions. The response rate to the surveys used by the consultants was poor (at around 50%) although attendance at workshops was good, indicating the willingness of local authorities to drive forward the Commission's work.
Bonnar Keenlyside's work included:
identification and mapping of voluntary and charity sector arts and culture activity across Scotland, highlighting any gaps in activity - geographical, the nature of activity or the demographics of participants
audit the contribution of the voluntary/charity sector to arts and culture provision across Scotland and suggestions on how to develop and support this, highlighting examples of excellence or best practice
suggestions on the nature of the relationship between the voluntary/charity sector and the public and private sectors, highlighting examples of partnership.
Their research findings were based on 800 survey responses, telephone conversations with 50 individuals and development sessions attended by 70 participants from the voluntary sector. The work received considerable support from the sector, and those who took part in the work considered it to be a very welcome, productive and beneficial project.
Copies of both research reports are available on the Commission's website.
Conference attendances
Our desk research was supplemented by attendances at a small number of relevant conferences. As a consequence, we were able to access and incorporate the most up-to-date and emerging material available, both nationally and internationally, on key aspects of our remit. We were also able to access and question experts in particular areas of cultural policy.
Conferences attended included:
Mission, Money and Models (I): New Approaches to Sustaining the Arts in the UK, 28 June 2004, London, Arts & Business
Conference on Cultural Rights and Human Development, 23-27 August 2004, Barcelona, UNESCO and Interarts
Digital Media Strategy Group Seminar, 29-30 September 2004, Fife, Scottish Executive
Cultural Policy: The View From Europe, 7 October 2004, Edinburgh, The Saltire Society
DCMS Charter Review Seminar: Radio, 28 October 2004, London, DCMS
International Education Conference, 23 November 2004, Edinburgh, Scottish Executive
Scotland's Tipping Point: A one-day strategy and networking event on the rapid transformation of Scotland into a confident, positive and healthy nation, 2 December 2004, Glasgow, Scottish Centre for Confidence and Well-Being
CCPR Seminar on Cultural Rights, 14 December 2004, Glasgow, Centre for Cultural Policy Research
Lecture: The Barnett Formula and Fiscal Policy: What Lies Ahead, 14 January 2005, Edinburgh, VisitScotland
Mission, Money and Models (II): New Approaches to Sustaining the Arts in the UK, 7 February 2005, London, Arts & Business
Future Academy Symposium: With or Without Buildings? 25 February 2005, Edinburgh, Edinburgh College of Art
CCPR Seminar on Creativity and the Artist, 1 March 2005, Glasgow, Centre for Cultural Policy Research
Lecture: Charities - All Change, 21 March 2005, Edinburgh, Royal Society of Edinburgh and Pagan Osborne Solicitors
The Art of Regeneration, 29 March 2005 , Glasgow, Centre for Cultural Policy Research and Communities Scotland
CCPR Seminar on Cultural Governance, 14 April 2005, Glasgow, Centre for Cultural Policy Research
« Previous | Contents | Next »