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3 PATHFINDER PROJECTS - AN OVERVIEW
Introduction
3.1 This section provides a brief description of the Pathfinder projects, focussing on their aims and objectives and the kinds of activities undertaken. More detailed accounts of each project can be found in the case study reports in the Appendices.
3.2 The Programme supported a very rich and diverse set of projects, and it was always the intention that the Programme would support a broad range of different approaches so that appropriate learning could be gained. However, this diversity mitigates against a simple taxonomy of projects.
3.3 While some projects could be characterised as being explicitly strategic in their intent (ie where the goal was to use community and partnership interfaces to develop or influence strategies, plans or policies), others were more practical in their approach, building on grass roots participation in cultural activity and using the observed benefits to engage partners.
3.4 Whichever approach was used, throughout the Programme there was a strong emphasis on community engagement, consultation and partnership working, with many projects taking what could be described as an action research approach to developing an understanding of what people expect and want from 'culture'.
Aims and objectives
3.5 Each project set out a range of aims and objectives at the funding application stage, in line with the stated funding criteria. The original objectives of the 13 Pathfinder projects clustered around a number of themes, as follows:
- widening access and participation;
- planning for cultural provision and links to Community Planning;
- community consultation and engagement; and
- cross-service working.
Widening access and participation for under-represented groups
3.6 Unsurprisingly, exploring and addressing barriers to participation which prevent individuals from engaging with culture was a commonly stated aim of most projects.
3.7 Some projects targeted specific groups such as older people (Glasgow, SLP), rural communities (Perth and Kinross, Western Isles, Dumfries and Galloway and Aberdeen City/Aberdeenshire), residents living in the most deprived areas (Dundee, Renfrewshire/East Renfrewshire/Inverclyde, Clackmannanshire, South Ayrshire), children and/or young people (Highland, South Ayrshire, Renfrewshire/East Renfrewshire/Inverclyde, Perth and Kinross) and people with disabilities (Glasgow, Fife, Edinburgh). A small number of projects sought to conduct broader consultation right across their authority areas, some of which also identified specific target groups. These included Fife, Perth and Kinross, Western Isles and Edinburgh.
3.8 Many of the projects aimed to carry out research to explore barriers to participation, engaging with citizens from a wide range of backgrounds to explore how these barriers might be overcome.
3.9 By increasing access and participation, projects envisaged that this would result in outcomes such as increased learning, life skills, healthier lifestyles, creative skills and community capacity building and empowerment.
3.10 All projects hoped to develop fresh approaches and/or models for exploring and providing access to cultural opportunities, and increasing participation. Some also sought to encourage participants to take a role in shaping provision such that it could be designed to meet the needs of the community.
Integration of cultural activities and planning into Community Planning processes
3.11 All of the projects sought to impact in some way on the Community Planning agenda and influence Community Planning processes. Projects sought to link to and engage with the various service departments and sectors in the Community Planning process and feed the results of their projects into community plans.
3.12 Several projects aimed to work with CPPs to support the participation agenda by working to facilitate links and communication between regeneration companies, public agencies, arts organisations, Council departments, other sectors and cultural services.
Community consultation and engagement
3.13 All projects aimed to engage and involve local residents, partners and other organisations collectively in consultation on the future development of local cultural provision. Participants' voices and aspirations were to be captured and passed on to local authorities and CPPs, encouraging community participation in Community Planning processes and ensuring that voices were 'heard'. Indeed, many of the projects set out to test new methods of community consultation through cultural participation.
Cross-service and collaborative working within and between Local Authorities
3.14 All of the Pathfinder projects aimed to develop cross-service working and involvement in order to engage other services in the wider role of culture, and three of the projects ( SLP, Aberdeen City/Aberdeenshire and Renfrewshire/East Renfrewshire/Inverclyde) adopted a cross-authority approach to consultation and cultural engagement and participation amongst communities. The intention was that cross-authority working would generate useful learning, promote cross-authority planning and delivery, and create efficiencies.
3.15 A number of the projects also set out to engage with national cultural organisations, including the Scottish Arts Council, national companies and the National Collections. This included direct involvement by the National Theatre of Scotland (Highland, SLP), Scottish Ballet (Highland), Scottish Opera (Highland), Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Highland, Edinburgh), BBC Radio Scotland (Highland), National Portrait Gallery (Perth and Kinross) and the National Youth Choir (Perth and Kinross). The Scottish Arts Council also had involvement in a number of Pathfinders, most notably in Fife and Dundee, and the Edinburgh project included national cultural and sports organisations in the consultation process.
Project approaches
3.16 As noted, the Pathfinder projects were all very different in their approach and in the activities that they supported. However, the projects tended to take one of three broad approaches:
- broad community consultation on aspirations for cultural provision using a variety of methods, cultural and otherwise;
- participation in cultural activities as a way of exploring and expressing community aspirations about culture; and/or
- a 'cultural planning' approach.
3.17 These are broad and overlapping approaches (eg participatory activities were often used for the purposes of community consultation and cultural planning approaches incorporated elements of both of the other two) and are not intended to provide a hard and fast categorisation of projects. Rather they are used only to convey in the broadest terms the kinds of approaches developed by the projects.
Broad community consultations
3.18 Five (arguably six) of the projects focussed on broad consultation with communities from across the local authority area - the Western Isles, Fife, Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, Aberdeen City/Aberdeenshire (and possibly Dundee, although its consultation work was concentrated in two specific areas of the city).
3.19 The Western Isles project consulted with stakeholders and communities across the islands through a series of facilitated public meetings, one-to-one discussions, questionnaire-based surveys, and through 55 creative workshops using a range of creative techniques to allow participants to express themselves.
3.20 In Fife, the consultation process was extensive and very wide ranging, making use of a variety of methods and techniques to engage people. These included drama work in nurseries, mock television studio activities in public spaces, mobile texting, image campaigns and survey work as well as consultation with stakeholders and partners.
3.21 The Dumfries and Galloway Pathfinder consulted with three geographically defined communities through the use of surveys, discussion groups, film making, creative workshops and cultural activity diaries and blogs.
3.22 In Edinburgh, the project covered culture and sport, and combined detailed research and analysis work to map patterns of cultural participation and identify barriers to wider involvement with extensive consultation with partnerships and community representative organisations. The main vehicles for consultation were surveys (some existing and some new), focus groups, one-to-one discussions and a large conference event attended by arts and sports providers, local government, CPP representatives and other key partners.
3.23 Finally, while the Aberdeen City /Aberdeenshire project did involve consultation with communities in the two areas, the project was more strategic in that it focussed mainly on the structures and processes that could support joint planning for culture across the two authorities. The project had less focus than some others on creative intervention within target communities.
Participatory approaches
3.24 Participatory approaches are differentiated from the broad consultation above by their focus on more tightly defined participant groups or by the provision of opportunities to participate in cultural activity (to increase cultural participation as well as a means of consultation). Projects here included South Ayrshire, Renfrewshire/East Renfrewshire/Inverclyde, Clackmannanshire, Glasgow, Highland, Perth and Kinross, Dundee and SLP.
3.25 All of these projects worked with defined groups of participants through a programme of cultural activities, including literature (reading and writing), drama work, digital media, dance, music, heritage, sport, film and other creative activities. The idea here was that cultural participation would allow participants to express themselves in new ways that could help inform a better understanding of their interests and aspirations for local cultural provision, as well as providing opportunities for new cultural participation. Many of these projects also combined participatory approaches with research work to inform future planning.
3.26 The Glasgow, Highland, Renfrewshire/East Renfrewshire/Inverclyde projects, although targeting different groups, had the common features of using a participatory approach to provide groups with new opportunities to engage in culture, developing key lessons on how best to engage these groups and creating an evidence base of impacts, which could be used when attempting to engage strategic partners in culture in the future.
3.27 Two other projects are worthy of mention here for the specific nature of their approaches. In Clackmannanshire, the Pathfinder was an exercise in 'grass roots' engagement, planning and creative evaluation. The project provided local residents with opportunities to participate in cultural activities shaped and informed by their own interests within a dedicated arts facility in the community. The Pathfinder supported a digital artist in residence responsible for working with community participants and conducting a creative evaluation of the process and its outcomes.
3.28 The Perth and Kinross project worked through and extended existing partnerships and structures to support an existing community arts festival. It provided support and resources to community groups and organisations across a wide-range of areas such as health and family planning to encourage them to develop and manage new cultural activities, areas in which they had not previously worked. This devolved approach was designed to build community capacity to plan and deliver cultural activities.
Cultural planning approaches
3.29 It is worth also noting that a number of the projects took a 'cultural planning' approach. According to the National Cultural Planning Forum:
"Cultural planning is a holistic approach to sustainable cultural and community development which embraces a broad definition of culture as a way of life. It takes as its starting point the process of identifying, mapping and building on community assets, values and traditions, and seeks to develop those assets through creative activities which engage, involve and empower local people and involve artists in cross sectoral/inter-agency partnership working."10
3.30 Cultural planning differentiates itself from planning for culture as it is broader in scope, and constitutes a culturally sensitive approach to planning and policy making across different service areas. It is based on a broad definition of culture which goes beyond culture as the arts, and embraces the various elements that comprise way of life. As such, it is not about creating arts or cultural strategies, but is based on the analysis of the cultural assets of an area and building on those resources to create a holistic approach to planning.
3.31 Cultural planning approaches are typically delivered through a prescribed methodology involving initial mapping of local cultural assets (broadly defined) and community consultation and capacity building through creative processes.
3.32 Pathfinder projects that identified themselves as taking a cultural planning approach included Fife, Western Isles, Dundee, South Ayrshire and Clackmannanshire. This is discussed in more detail in Chapter 8.
Summary
3.33 It is not possible in a brief overview such as this to do justice to the complexity and richness of the individual projects. Rather the purpose here is to provide a broad sense of the different approaches and activities that have been delivered through the Programme as a context for the evaluation findings. More details on each of the projects can be found in the case studies in the appendices.
3.34 The Pathfinder programme has supported a very diverse range of projects and approaches designed to meet different aims and objectives. However, all share certain characteristics in that they sought to:
- develop a better understanding of local community (especially under-represented groups') aspirations for culture;
- inform future planning around culture;
- demonstrate the value to individuals and communities of cultural participation; and
- engage partners in strategic debate about the value of culture (often across a range of policy areas/sectors).
3.35 It is worth noting that all of the projects had aims and objectives that are highly consistent with the ambitions of the Programme. Indeed, the very diversity of the projects funded is a positive outcome in light of the Programme's aim to explore different approaches and generate useful learning.
3.36 It is also important to note that the project evaluation reports indicate that the projects generally delivered the range of activities identified in the original applications and evaluation plans. Where projects did deviate from plans, changes tended to be relatively minor and were often justified responses to changes in circumstances. In a few cases, certain activities were not delivered (eg two projects did not carry out planned baseline analyses) and the reasons for this were not always clear. However, the evidence suggests that projects generally met, and in some cases exceeded, the programme of activities originally identified in the applications and evaluation plans. The impacts of these activities were more variable, as discussed later in the report.
3.37 In the chapters that follow, we provide an assessment of the achievements and impacts of the Programme, based on the evaluation evidence submitted by the projects and the programme of consultation undertaken by the evaluation team.
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