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10 PERTH & KINROSS

Project Background and Rationale

Background

10.1 The StART Project 2007 was the Pathfinder project managed by Perth and Kinross Council. The Pathfinder primarily targeted community groups in rural and isolated areas in East Perthshire, as well as those affected by high unemployment and low educational attainment.

10.2 The project was centred on an existing annual community arts development Festival: stART, one of the largest community-driven participatory Arts Festivals in Scotland. The Cultural Pathfinder project looked at the work of the stART group to see how such a community approach could help to deliver 'cultural entitlements' in a local area. The Pathfinder allowed the Festival to be expanded so that the benefits could be felt locally over a longer time period. stART OOT was the name given to the Cultural Pathfinder element of the project and represented events that were chosen and hosted by community groups already in existence or events that celebrated local culture and heritage.

Aims and Objectives

10.3 The overall aim of the Start Festival was to develop a community capacity/development model through the delivery of high quality, community driven, arts development opportunities within the rural Strathmore area of Perthshire. It was envisaged that the project would enable communities and individuals to feel empowered to shape their own notion of cultural access, which would be supported by the Community Planning process and not prescribed by it. The main aims of the project as set out by the evaluation plan:

• to enable communities to define and deliver their own cultural access, networking, finance and partnership working;
• to increase opportunities for individuals and groups within the community to develop and share skills, increasing community capacity;
• to offer access to high quality arts tuition, through (what has become) one of the largest participatory arts Festivals in Scotland;
• to support existing local groups engaged in cultural activities, to help them to become more sustainable and self-sufficient;
• to encourage communities to invest time and effort in their environment through facilitating projects that bring about physical and artistic changes thus encouraging a greater sense of 'ownership' within the community;
• to develop communities that inform and influence cultural service delivery and develop an interface with the Community Planning process; and
• to offer communities the opportunity for celebration of community identity and increased sense of community cohesion.

Funding

10.4 The total cost of the project was £86,565 of which 43% (£37,565) was funded by the Cultural Pathfinders programme. Match funding was provided by Perth and Kinross Council (£39,000) and Awards for All (£10,000).

Strategic Fit

10.5 The Pathfinder is aligned with national policy relating to culture as it has a strong focus on communities to inform and influence cultural service delivery, and developing interface with Community Planning. This fits with the focus on CPPs getting involved in culture and on putting community empowerment at the heart of planning for culture. A further key aim of the Pathfinder was to support local groups engaged in cultural activities to become more sustainable and self sufficient in delivering activities.

10.6 The application guidance sets out a range of funding criteria for the Pathfinder Programme and the initial aims set out for this project demonstrate a strong fit with these. Firstly, the Pathfinder fits with the aim of focussing on communities that are under-represented as it set out to target a rural deprived area in East Perthshire with isolation issues, and it emerged around the expressed needs of local people for cultural activity.

10.7 It also fits with the aim of exploring culture's benefits across Local Authority departments and Community Planning activity by setting out to integrate the delivery of Community and Arts Development services into the local Community Planning process, and into other departments/bodies. This includes local adult education, schools, regeneration trusts and economic development. The Pathfinder also fits with the aim of involving local partners and a range of sectors by aiming to offer opportunities for individuals and groups within the community in terms of high quality arts provision.

10.8 The project demonstrates commitment to effective community consultation and giving local people a real influence in developing the project and their cultural needs by aiming to enable communities to define them in the context of the Festival project and to develop interface between the community's cultural aspirations and the Community Planning process.

10.9 The project fits with Perth and Kinross's existing Cultural Strategy, 2005, where one of its key aims is to develop and support links between communities and local cultural activities. The strategy outlines a basis for working with individuals, communities and service providers to frame a local interpretation for cultural provision that is supported through the Community Planning process. The strategy aims to ensure that barriers to cultural activities such as rural transport issues are overcome when possible. The cultural strategy is currently being redeveloped and it is anticipated that the findings from the Pathfinder will feed into this process.

10.10 The Pathfinder also links in with Perth and Kinross's Community Learning and Development priorities, which include the following:

• achievement through learning for adults, through community based activities; and
• achievement through building community capacity by enabling individuals, groups and communities to develop the confidence, understanding and skills required to influence decision-making and service delivery.

10.11 The project aimed to develop an interface between the community and the Community Planning process. It was very much a 'bottom up' approach where groups were given an opportunity to develop their own projects/events as part of the Festival and were supported in developing the capacity and skills to do so. The routes were in place, through the Local Regeneration Partnerships and the Local Authority partnerships such as Lifelong Learning and Health and Well Being to feed information, outcomes and recommendations through to the Community Planning Implementation Group. This aim fits with the one of the key principles of the Community Plan, which relates to generating effective community engagement and providing opportunities for communities to shape and influence policies and decisions that affect them. Supporting communities to develop the necessary skills and confidence, ie building capacity, is identified as fundamental to achieving this.

10.12 Culture also sits within the Vibrant and Successful Area Theme - there is recognition that tourism is an essential element of a thriving economy and that there is a need to maximise the impact and effectiveness of cultural activity in Perth and Kinross to attract interest and investment. One of the outcomes relates to Perth "have a thriving economy including successful tourism and cultural sectors".

10.13 In addition, the consultations identified that the project aimed to use arts service delivery as a way of promoting and impacting on health and wellbeing, fitting with the target outcome of the community plan: to improve the health and well being of individuals in the community.

10.14 The various Festival events and activities also contribute towards the aims of the Local Regeneration themes including raising educational attainment by increasing the number of residents taking part in learning opportunities and engaging young people.

Activities and Processes

10.15 The stART OOT Pathfinder element of the project had two main areas of activity:

• groups already involved in ongoing community based activities were asked what kind of cultural activity they would like to be involved in and then asked if they would like to host a workshop. In addition, new members of the community were then encouraged to attend the group experimentally to try new activities. This achieved three things: it supported existing groups by providing funding for new activities; it generated greater publicity to attract new members to groups and it increased and promoted access to new cultural activity within East Perthshire; and
• a series of events celebrating the culture of the Strathmore region and the lives and traditions of the travelling people (traditionally resident in the area) were supported by the National Portrait Gallery.
• The Festival involved high quality arts activities in a variety of locations indoors and outdoors, led by experienced artists from the local area. A total of 84 separate activities were offered as well as a processions with a fire show at the end.

10.16 The Pathfinder element of the project built upon the structures and processes developed and already in place from previous stART Festivals. A key difference was that in 2007 a committee of local community groups was given responsibility for hosting activities using arts providers of excellence. The committee did this by drawing down funding and disseminating it to those local interest groups keen to host an event. Following the events in the Festival, the committee made available small amounts of funding for groups to explore further their chosen activity.

10.17 Activities included building relationships with local groups to develop local support and networks. The Festival was publicised and support was given to the committee to design and produce a brochure of events. Funding was given to local groups in order for them to host participatory events and high quality artists/facilitators were located and booked to run workshops. The project worked with local schools to publicise the event and enable all age groups to take part in the activities. It also worked with the community to exhibit the work produced during the Festival and to showcase cultural opportunities in the area.

10.18 The Pathfinder was about delegating responsibility to the community groups and enabling them to make decisions about what they wanted to provide. An element of the project was largely related to creating processes for local people to plan and create their own arts and cultural opportunities by providing contacts, creating networking opportunities and introducing them to groups and artists so that in future when developing projects they could locate and approach artists and arts organisations themselves. The Pathfinder also developed ways for organisations to communicate with key contacts in Community Planning. A large element was about community capacity building.

10.19 Figure 1 below outlines the delivery structure of the stART Festival.

Figure 1: stART Festival delivery structure

10.20 This delivery structure (on a much smaller scale) was in place from previous stART festivals but became much more complex, with a greater number of integrated partnerships and community groups involved following Pathfinder funding. In addition, the stART committee, consisting of a range of community organisations was formed to deliver the stART OOT element of the Festival.

10.21 The Pathfinder was led by the arts team in the Council, cultural coordinator and the collaborative community capacity builder. A cross- council approach to delivery was taken, which included schools, environmental services, the library, adult learning and specialist arts service. The core delivery team worked closely with the local community activities in terms of planning and delivery.

10.22 The Pathfinder successfully achieved cross collaboration between council departments as the Festival provided a means by which the various departments could meet their own goals. For example, the photography project with an adult literacy group in Rattrie met the objectives of arts development as well as adult learning and the community capacity team within the Council.

10.23 The planning began around 10 months prior to the event. The committee interviewed and employed a coordinator for the Festival for the two months running up to the festival and various individuals and partners took on the roles of fundraising. Funding was secured from a wide range of organisations and sponsors (as shown above).

10.24 The Festival was successful in drawing in the support of a wide range of local partners, including schools, the police and fire services and professional artists and companies. A wide range of groups were approached to host activities.

10.25 One of the key successes of the Festival was the integrated partnership approach that was taken. The Festival was a means by which the objectives of a range of partners could be met, in the council and across Community Planning. Individuals involved in Community Planning were the supporting groups in developing activity, for example, the Community Learning and Development manager in East Perthshire (who sits on the Community Learning and Development sub-group) was heavily involved in providing the links between the council and the local community and in supporting the groups in delivering activities.

10.26 Various routes were created by which information, ideas and recommendations could be fed back to the East Perthshire CPP. For example, through the Local Regeneration Partnerships and themed partnerships, such as Lifelong Learning or Health and Well Being, who were key partners in the delivery and funding.

10.27 Other stakeholders such as the National Portrait Gallery and the National Youth Choir were integrated by being asked to participate in various aspects of the project. For example, the National Portrait Gallery worked on and provided a display for the travellers' exhibition.

10.28 There were several reasons why the Perth and Kinross Pathfinder delivery model worked well in practice, one of the most important of which was the quantity, range and strength of local community groups in East Perthshire. Perth and Kinross Cultural and Community Services also has strong links with the local community groups and has good knowledge and skills in terms of engaging with and listening to local groups. The inter-disciplinary working of the arts team with the Community Learning Development staff underpinned the success of the project. Skills and existing networks that have been built up over the years with various organisations were important.

10.29 The evaluation was carried out by an external evaluator. There were limited issues with the evaluation process and a good response was received from beneficiaries and participants, enabling the evaluators to demonstrate outcomes of the project. The only issues were in term of demonstrating long term outcomes and impacts, as it is too early to do this at this stage. The Scottish Government toolkit was utilised, giving a clear account of progress against indicators.

Achievements and Impacts

10.30 The Pathfinder Evaluation Plan detailed the target inputs, outputs and projected outcomes of the project and the Final Report reported on progress against these. The section below analyses the extent to which these targets have been achieved.

Activities

10.31 All of the following activity outputs as set out in the evaluation plan were delivered:

• develop meaningful relationships with local groups and individuals in order to review the Cultural Pathfinder proposal;
• create a planning document for the project;
• use previously developed processes, aid the stART committee in its endeavours to substantiate and develop local support and networks;
• publicise festival events and availability of start up funds and design a brochure;
• employ web designer to create a website, monitoring evaluation Consultant and festival coordinator;
• disseminate funding to local groups to host participatory events from arts providers of excellence;
• locate and book artists/facilitators to run workshops during festival and bookings taken from individuals wishing to take part in the Festival;
• insure health and safety and insurance are in place;
• work with local Schools to publicise the event and enable all age groups to engage fully in available activities and work with local media to promote event;
• organise the end of festival parade (fire sculpture, pipe band etc.)
• make resources available for small, inspired groups to further explore the interests or activities, which took place during the festival (March 07) for potential further development; and
• work with the community to plan an exhibition of work produced during the Festival, to showcase cultural entitlements opportunities within the local area.

10.32 The only activity output that failed to be achieved was the development of an evaluation model in partnership with other Cultural Pathfinders (Dundee/Fife). This was found to be impractical due to differences in focus and timescales and the collaborative events were considered sufficient enough to gain awareness of other projects and identify learning points.

Activity Outputs

10.33 In addition to the above activity targets, the following activity/output performance indicators were also set out in the evaluation plan:

• produce statistics from evaluation forms completed by individuals who took part in festival workshops;
• track people's ongoing participation in cultural events to monitor impact of festival;
• monitor expressions of interest in new/different cultural activities; and
• monitor unpredicted impact of increased cultural activity in the area where it became apparent and directly linked back to the stART festival.

10.34 Again, overall these were targets were achieved, although there were some difficulties encountered in gathering evaluation evidence due to time lags in impacts occurring.

10.35 Each individual was given an evaluation form to complete and the return rate was 58.7% (a satisfactory return rate). High proportions provided very positive responses on their experience of the workshops.

10.36 Interviews with participants tracked ongoing participation in cultural events. During these interviews, it was found that very few people continued to take part in cultural events. However, it should be noted that these interviews were conducted soon after the festival took place and that it make take a longer time period before these impacts start to occur. However, there were a few examples of participants starting businesses as a result of participating and of individuals enrolling in other classes. However, this study has created a baseline for the committee, on which future research can be based.

10.37 Expressions of interest in new/different cultural activities were more difficult to measure as it takes time for ideas to develop and come into play. Also, there was strong take-up of stART-up grants to fund various group activities in the autumn months following the Festival.

10.38 The impact of cultural activity in the area where the Festival took place was measured through 100 private interviews with participants. A series of case studies highlighted that:

• cultural participation is an invaluable tool to promote well being for communities and individuals; and
• access to cultural activity can in certain circumstances provide an opportunity for economic development for communities and individuals.

10.39 The case studies also highlighted that taking part in cultural activity can help people to express themselves, build self confidence, give people control and make first steps towards helping people who suffer with depression and act as a support network to those facing problems.

10.40 It was found that the workshops inspired or encouraged a small number of participants to start-up a business or at least consider the option, demonstrating that the Pathfinder has had some impact upon influencing the economic regeneration of the area. The HMIE inspection also highlighted some important impacts of the Festival on participants. Some of the activities delivered through the Festival acted as a self help mechanism for individuals and supported them, particularly those facing issues such as depression.

Participation

10.41 The Pathfinder was successful in meeting all of the participation indicators and in some cases, outperformed targets. A return rate of 58.7% was achieved from evaluation forms, slightly less than the target of 60%. The Pathfinder aimed to fill 70% of the workshops, although this was maybe an inappropriate measure as many workshops did not have an upper limit. However, it did achieve strong numbers of participants, with an estimated 558 unique individuals attending plus a further 350 at the parade.

10.42 The target of interviewing 20% of all participants was overachieved as some 40% of participants were interviewed. The Pathfinder aimed to cover a wide range of ages, families and individuals. Almost as many males as females participated, which was better than expected. The event also attracted a good spread in age groups. Most participants were in the 5-17 year old age groups, but it did attract a greater proportion of 18-24 year olds than expected (a group considered to be hard to reach).

Satisfaction

10.43 Again the Pathfinder performed strongly against satisfaction targets, with almost 94% reporting that they enjoyed the workshop they attended and evidence of a strong desire to attend future meetings.

10.44 Overall, the Start committee was very satisfied with the organisation and execution of the Festival. However, some concerns were raised, most of which related to the size and the scale of the Festival and the fact that it had grown substantially. It was felt that the event required a massive amount of voluntary input and a lot of hours and commitment in terms of workload - more than was originally anticipated and this put a strain on the committee members.

10.45 A key objective was for communities to feel empowered regarding planning, running and participating in events and workshops. The evaluation evidence suggests that the host groups have gained significantly in terms of confidence in hosting future events, they have a better knowledge about how to book and secure artists and all unanimously agreed that they would try and host future events without the assistance of paid council employees. All felt that, as a result of watching and learning from the Festival, this has led them to believe that they can do it themselves.

10.46 A review of all the funding applications has been carried out and all of the monies have been spent in the way that was set out originally. Maximum value for money has been the priority throughout the planning of the Festival.

Impacts

10.47 Progress reported against the following impact targets in the evaluation report was very positive:

• increased contact between community groups and Community Learning and Development staff and agencies;
• host groups reporting an increase in participant numbers;
• increase in the quality of cultural activities;
• communities develop a much broader understanding of the arts and cultural activities/entitlements and how they might become involved in those activities; and
• cultural entitlements will be supported through the Community Planning process and not prescribed by it.

10.48 All area Community Development staff reported increased contact with groups as a result of a workshop or activity that took place during the Festival stART OOT events.

10.49 Very few groups reported participants coming back to take part in the groups on an ongoing basis. However, many do not operate during the summer and this is a measure that needs to be carried out later and on an ongoing basis when the groups recommence.

10.50 The evaluation highlighted that the biggest change is the diversity of activities now taking place on a regular basis. For example, youth groups are exploring their notion of cultural access by being given the opportunity to take part in activities such as graffiti art. Local schools also reported taking part in more varied projects.

10.51 Development workers and participants alike highlighted the fact that people in the Strathmore area now look at culture in broader 'all encompassing terms' rather than just art. A number of participants expressed interest in joining the stART committee so that they might have the opportunity to influence cultural provision in future years.

10.52 The evaluation highlighted that the stART festival has been a practical example of Community Planning in action. The Pathfinder supported the local community in delivering their own provision and influencing future provision. It has brought people together in the community locally and there are several routes and processes available by which the local council, public agencies, voluntary staff and communities have the opportunity to feed their ideas, issues and recommendations forward and onto the Community Planning implementation group so that they can be tackled properly.

Value for Money

10.53 The following sets out value for money indicators of the project and progress against them:

• cost of the workshop tutors, and the cost of materials - £8,996;
• cost of venues - £30;
• cost of publicity material - £1,000;
• website - £4,000; and
• cost of extra staff employed for festival - £1,400.

10.54 These indicators are poorly defined in that they only measure the costs of the Festival. No specific targets on the cost indicators were set and no benchmarks with which to compare them were provided. Therefore, it is not possible to evaluate whether this is good or bad performance.

Outcomes

10.55 Progress reported in the evaluation against outcome targets was mixed. It was not possible for the evaluators to measure whether stART has generated a renewed sense of pride and interest in the local area or will reduce incidents of vandalism.

10.56 The evaluation was unable to find evidence of increased demand for workshops and the use of local halls as a result of this year's Festival. However, there was evidence of increased awareness of local provision and of facilities in the area.

10.57 Through the support of the Cultural Pathfinder project, existing groups will become more sustainable and self-sufficient. All of the groups reported feeling more confident as a group since the Festival and are now more aware of knowing how to approach things like finding a tutor and, booking them, employing them and hiring venues. In addition, all groups reported feeling more enabled to identify ways of overcoming problems they face as a group.

10.58 Many of the workshops will produce physical structures that will be of benefit to the local area. (stone carving workshops will provide stones for park walls, living willow sculptures will create an outdoor class room for a local primary school etc).

10.59 A further outcome target was to create in the long term, greater access to cultural activities that will increase the skills base of local people, thus improving the local economy by providing a skilled workforce from within the community rather than employing skilled labour from outside. The project also aimed to generate increased tourism in the area. Progress against these targets was not reported in the evaluation report. However, these are longer term targets and it is difficult to measure progress against them at this early stage.

Contribution to Strategic Objectives

10.60 We have identified a number of key strategic objectives to which each of the projects would be expected to contribute. Here we provide an assessment of the extent to which the stART project has successfully:

• engaged under-represented groups in arts/cultural activities;
• encouraged collaborative working within and/or across authorities;
• engaged CPPs and other partners/stakeholders;
• delivered effective consultation with communities;
• delivered something that is truly new and additional; and
• considered and ensured the sustainability of its impacts.

10.61 This section draws on the feedback from the evaluation fieldwork as well as lessons reported by the projects through their interim and final evaluation reports.

Engaging Under-represented Groups

10.62 The evidence would suggest that the Festival successfully engaged and consulted with under-represented groups in cultural activity, namely those in deprived and rurally isolated rural areas in East Perthshire who face many difficulties in accessing high quality arts. Essentially the Pathfinder built on the ongoing work of existing groups already operating in the area, gave local groups the opportunity to say what kind of cultural activity they would like to be involved in, and provided the resource and support to help them do so.

10.63 The Pathfinder engaged these groups (some of which were challenging to reach) through a range of methods:

• the Festival found it very challenging to engage individuals from a specific very deprived and hard to reach estate in Rattrie. To overcome this, the end of the Festival parade and fire display was directed through the street to ensure that everyone got involved and it attracted large numbers. These individuals did not come to the Festival so the Festival was taken to them, and according to the evaluation plan they really enjoyed it. This generated a positive atmosphere in the community and meant that many people who had been considered 'hard to reach' became involved;
• the project directly approached adult learning workers in the area and asked them to be part of the project, this allowed them to access groups that they would not otherwise have been able to;
• East Perthshire has a high number of travelling groups, the committee wanted to be as inclusive as possible and include a wide range of the community so the leaders of these groups were approached by the committee to encouraged them to become involved; and
• the committee visited schools in rurally deprived areas in order to raise awareness amongst young people and get them interested. Community and Learning Staff were active in the high schools encouraging people to engage. In addition, workshops were held in the run up to the Festival to encourage people to take part.

10.64 Decision making was devolved to the various participant community groups and they were given options about what they wanted to do. The various groups were provided with a menu of prompts, making sure there was a range of inspirational projects available. The festival also provided the funding, resources and support for various groups to try activities out for the first time. Therefore the festival gave them an opportunity to get involved and gave them opportunities to develop their own projects and activities and to build their own decision making and management capacity. It has allowed community groups to address skills in a professional way and demonstrated the relevance and benefits for their own work. The Pathfinder also resulted in a directory of community groups and artists being produced for future use by the groups.

10.65 The Pathfinder was a way of engaging with a wide range of individuals and groups in East Perthshire, including artists, young people in schools, adult learners, travellers and many more. Arts and culture brought a new approach and perspective to the way the various groups were operating in the area. The artists shared their skills with the community groups and although their agendas were not always the same, they were often compatible.

10.66 For example, participatory arts provided opportunities for an adult literacy and a young parents group to take part in cultural activities in a structured and professional way whilst at the same meeting their own objectives. The informal process of taking part in arts and crafts provided the perfect environment for the young mums to open up and discuss issues.

10.67 The Pathfinder used culture and arts as a means of learning and bringing together small and isolated communities in the rural area of East Perthshire. Individuals were given the opportunity to engage with learning through the medium of visual arts, film, multi-media, textiles etc. The Rattrie media group were given training on editing, writing and directing film. They regularly filmed events and activities taking place in the area, such as school events or views of people on various issues relating to the area. This developed their skills and allowed the views of Rattrie to be captured on camera, creating potential for information to be used in the future to influence and capture the attention of those running services in the area.

10.68 The Pathfinder was also successful in giving local residents a 'voice' with regards to what they want and need in the area where they live. For example the visions of the Rattrie project allowed people to photograph and document their local area. This provided a really useful means by which local people could look at the community, put forward suggestions about how it could be improved and provide views on their vision of the future for the area. The project has assisted in the regeneration of the area because as a result, a number of adult learning activities were set up such as arts and crafts activities, family book classes and IT training.

Collaborative Working

10.69 The Pathfinder did not seek to work with other local authorities or with partners in other areas. It did, however, develop strong links across various service areas within Perth and Kinross Council, Community Planning and local service providers and interest groups and this is considered to be one of the key strengths of the project. The Pathfinder was led by the arts team in the council, working closely with the collaborative community capacity builder within Community Learning and Development. A cross council approach to delivery was taken, which included schools, environmental services, the library, adult learning and specialist arts service. The core delivery team worked closely with the local community organisations in terms of planning and delivery. There were a number of key features of the Pathfinder, which contributed to the strong collaborative working:

• Perth and Kinross culture and community services have built up strong links and networks with the large range of community groups in the area. This has been achieved through working with them in the past and building relationships over time;
• the Pathfinder involved extensive inter-disciplinary working between the arts team and the Community Learning and Development staff;
• the project was characterised by the breaking down of boundaries between disciplines and roles and people worked together for the benefit of the community;
• a passion for and strong understanding within the stART committee of culture and its benefits and application in a community setting;
• strong focus on working with local service providers in East Perthshire such as the police, voluntary sector, fire station;
• skills, enthusiasm and commitment of all partners who know how to engage, listen and coordinate with partners on such a large complex project;
• activities were designed to meet the objectives and contribute to the priorities of all partners involved across the Council, on the CPP and on the stART committee;
• the partners involved in the Pathfinder have built up strong links with the local community and built their trust; they have also built up a strong knowledge of the issues they face, and are embedded in the local community. This has enabled them to broker links between the community and the council.

10.70 There can often be a perception with councils and amongst key decision makers of arts and cultural activity as a social gathering. These perceptions were challenged by the skilled arts team members who have the trust of the local communities and know the issues that they face. They were aware how to target arts activities appropriately and to maximum effect. Their approach has encouraged community members to come out and get involved. The benefits and outcomes of taking such an approach are becoming apparent, key partners involved in delivering the Pathfinder also have strong networks and influence within the council (contacts, attending meetings etc) and are getting the message across.

10.71 A further benefit is that the Pathfinder has strengthened the link between cultural service and well-being and illustrated the importance of the arts for local provision.

10.72 The importance of using the correct language to sell the benefits of cultural planning when approaching partners was highlighted as being very important. The Perth Pathfinder achieved this by demonstrating community learning outcomes, through meetings and getting key individuals to walk around the parade route and just demonstrate practical examples of the benefits/outcomes of such a project on a small locality. It was reported that doing so takes time and persistence. This process of influencing key individuals has taken years in Perth and Kinross and has only been achieved through building networks and partnerships, having meetings and persistently pushing the message through.

10.73 This Pathfinder benefitted from being strongly supported by the service manager of Cultural Development in the Council, who became strongly involved in the political issues such as promoting the outcomes of the Pathfinder and discussing the evaluation and benefits to key influencers within the Council, politicians and other stakeholders.

10.74 The Pathfinder was used as a good practice example by HMIE, thus giving the project status, and raising its profile and support in Perth and Kinross Council. As culture has now became a priority for the Council in the last six months, it is expected that this will secure funding for future events. The project has also generated awareness at ministerial level, as the Minister of Europe, External Affairs and Culture Member of the Scottish Parliament (Linda Fabiani at the time) and John Swinney the Minister for North Tayside attended the Festival and the presentation at the Perth event.

Engaging Community Planning Partners

10.75 One of the key objectives of the project was for community groups to get their message across and develop their knowledge in making links and establishing contacts so that their projects have the same opportunities in delivery as projects funded by local authorities. The Local Regeneration Partnership ( LRP) played a role in delivering the project and the community projects presented information to the LRP and this made it possible to get items on the agenda. In addition the Community Planning Implementation Group ( CPIG) was given evidence, and so has the potential to have an impact on planning at the higher strategic level. There are some issues in that the routes for getting views across have to be planned out in advance.

10.76 The Pathfinder was delivered in close partnership with Community Learning and Development and the outcomes were fed into the lifelong learning committee, and also to the CPP. Much of the evaluation covered the learning benefits of the Pathfinder. Again these recommendations and outcomes and benefits were fed into the CPP, demonstrating and providing evidence of the benefits of arts and culture.

10.77 The Festival represented a huge exercise in community engagement and in exploring the needs and requirements of the community. It built substantial interest, enthusiasm and expectations amongst those involved. A key lesson was the importance of having the routes and structures in place to ensure that the outcomes can be fed through to strategic decision makers and funders and that the resources are there to fund activities.

10.78 Although the processes were in place for doing this, it was reported that the structures and resources for taking forward the recommendations were not in place.

10.79 The main barriers in integrating planning for cultural provision within the Community Planning process encountered by the Pathfinder were:

• bureaucracy;
• negative opinions and low prioritisation of cultural activities;
• lack of availability of funding and resource;
• the wide focus of the Single Outcome Agreements;
• lack of access to Community Planning structures by grass-roots providers; and
• lack of knowledge of Community Planning processes and relevant contacts by grass-roots providers as well as of the obligations/responsibilities of key individual decision makers.

10.80 The Festival acted as a way to broker those links and foster relationships between Community Planning and grass roots providers. It provided an opportunity for networking, exploring ideas and options, needs and requirements. It also created an opportunity to raise awareness and demonstrate the benefits of culture. It opened up minds and started to get the weight of organisations such as the council behind local service providers.

10.81 The Festival has created a model which has allowed the community to influence arts and cultural provision.

10.82 The Pathfinder has also successfully influenced council policy and their approach to working with communities. Much has been learned from placing key council staff directly into the areas to create interventions and engage with the communities.

10.83 The project has also raised the profile and strengthened the position of arts development within the council and Community Planning. The Pathfinder has influenced the lifelong learning sub group on the CPP which has led to them take a different approach to planning across the Council. There is also now a cross council group looking at cultural planning. Following the Pathfinder, the council has now identified culture as a main priority strongly driven by motivation, commitment and strong focus on integrated working across professional disciplines.

Additionality

10.84 The feedback from consultees suggests that without Pathfinder support, the stART Festival would have continued at its previous scale and size. However, without funding, the additional stART OOT element of the Festival would not have been delivered. Pathfinder funding allowed the festival to be extended in terms of its activities, the number of partners it worked with and the scale and range of community groups engaged. It also provided the resources, funding and capacity necessary to support groups to try out new high quality arts activities that they otherwise would not have considered.

10.85 Another very important outcome of the Pathfinder was that the funding allowed the projects to be evaluated and the impacts measured. The evaluation demonstrates the benefits of the project and the case for cultural engagement adding to previous evidence of the value of such interventions. This evidence will allow the council to invest in cultural engagement.

Sustainability and Legacies

10.86 The stART Festival was an existing project and will continue regardless of Pathfinder funding. The project has solidified the status of the art team within the council and has generated interest and requests for the culture and community services team within the council to deliver similar projects.

10.87 There are now an increased number of community art activities that are sustainable and not dependent on levering in lots of money. An element of the stART project was focussed on supporting community groups to build capacity to plan and deliver their own projects. Projects have become more sustainable on their own and it has built the capacity of organisations to plan and deliver their own initiatives.

10.88 StART has been successful in achieving a long term impact and some of the activities introduced will be sustainable. Various community groups from schools to healthy eating classes, mental health groups, youth projects, adult literacy, some of which did not before, now see arts as an integral part of their provision. Community groups have increased the number of arts activities that they are involved with. In addition, joint working across cultural and community services staff has led to improved support for the community.

10.89 A further long term benefit of the Pathfinder has been an increase in awareness of local community issues through communities coming together primarily with an arts focus, and this has developed social capital and cohesiveness and supported well-being and good mental health in the area. The Festival has built up interest and momentum, leaving a need for resource and a key contact to take forward what has been achieved so far.

10.90 The Local Regeneration Partnership ( LRP) has secured funding for a local natural heritage project and the success of this was partly due to the Pathfinder project. The Pathfinder played a role in encouraging lots of people to get involved, facilitating networking opportunities with key decision makers and helping to demonstrate the general benefits of arts projects.

10.91 One of the main issues identified was with regards to successfully following through and building on the activities of the project and Festival in future. The reduction in cultural coordinator programme funding means that Perth and Kinross may be unable to sustain some of the posts necessary to continue some of the work delivered as part of the Festival. Discussions highlighted that there is uncertainty about how this will be resolved. However, what the Pathfinder has achieved, is that it has strengthened the position of Cultural Services within Perth and Kinross Council, therefore putting in the department in a stronger position in terms of its ability to access healthy ongoing investment in culture.

10.92 An integrated model of working has been developed with a focus on the local community. The success in East Perthshire will have a longer term impact in that it has put cultural higher up the agenda, and it has built the capacity of local organisations in terms of their ability to deliver arts and cultural activities and secure funding on their own. The Pathfinder also resulted in a directory of community groups and artists being produced for future use.

10.93 A very important legacy of the project is that it has resulted in a new cultural sub-group on the lifelong learning sub group being developed, which includes the council, cultural planning, education, planning, Scottish Enterprise Tayside, college and museums personnel, cultural venues and representatives of the voluntary arts. This represents a strong partnership with the potential to introduce culture onto the agenda.

10.94 The Arts Development Team within Perth and Kinross Council has recently initiated a new project looking at cultural planning within the Local Authority. They are working in partnership with SE Tayside, VisitScotland, local businesses, housing, planning, and regeneration departments as well as retail and hospitality sectors in developing future plans in terms of cultural provision. They are planning to undertake a mapping exercise in March analysing current gaps and existing provision, the results of which will inform the refresh of the cultural strategy and strengthen cultural provision in Perth. This new project is partly a legacy of the Pathfinder as the learning, information and knowledge generated has provided context and influenced the form that the cultural mapping exercise has taken.

10.95 Despite this, the evaluation provided limited evidence of the Pathfinder impacting upon ongoing participation in cultural activities by participants and on participants coming back to take part in ongoing activities. However, the evaluation did take place soon after the Festival and so it is possible that these legacies may occur at a later stage.

Overall Assessment and Key Lessons

10.96 Overall the consultation and evaluation evidence suggest that this has been a successful Pathfinder. It performed well (and at times outperformed) activity, participation and satisfaction targets. A number of impacts have been identified, several of which are long term in nature. It is a project that has had strong links with and ownership by the local community, with clear focus on community capacity building. The critical success factors were:

• the skills and methods used by the delivery team in engaging with and listening to local groups were critical for ensuring participation from all groups, particularly the hard to reach;
• the inter-disciplinary working of the arts team with the community staff and building on the networks that have developed up over time between the council and the local community were important;
• giving communities the opportunity to develop and deliver their own cultural activities develops learning and builds capacity to enable them to continue delivering such activities with assistance in future;
• the partnership structures in this model were critically important for building links with and gaining trust from the community; and
• developing and building links with Community Planning and involving key members in the delivery has been valuable in terms of facilitating information flow and promoting the agenda. However, in order to influence funding and decision making structures and processes have to be developed enough to enable this to happen.

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