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5 ADDITIONALITY, SUSTAINABILITY AND LEGACIES

Introduction

5.1 The study brief called for an assessment of the additionality of the Programme, and of its legacies, including sustainability. The assessment provided here is based on the information provided by projects in their reports and on the feedback gained through the consultation programme, supplemented in places with follow-up telephone calls to track progress of some key Pathfinder outputs.

Additionality

5.2 The assessment of the additionality of the projects is based on feedback from consultees - project managers and wider partners - about what would have happened without the Pathfinder funding and support. Projects can be considered additional in four main ways:

• they would not have happened at all without Pathfinder funding (full additionality);
• they would have happened in some form but not on the same scale (scale additionality) or of the same quality (quality additionality); and
• they would have happened but later (time additionality).

5.3 Where projects reported scale or quality additionality (no projects reported time additionality) we have not sought to place a proportional value on this eg the project was 50% larger as a result of the Pathfinder Programme, as these estimates are typically difficult for projects to provide.

5.4 Of the 13 Pathfinder projects, eight were reported as being fully additional, ie they would not have happened at all without Pathfinder funding. For the remaining five, the feedback was that projects would have happened in some form, but they would have been smaller in scale and ambition and of lower quality overall. Therefore, on this basis, the additionality of the Programme has been strong. This is summarised in Table 5.1:

Table 5.1: Project additionality

5.5 In the case of Perth and Kinross, it is worth noting that while the stART Festival would have happened anyway (and was already in existence) the stART OOT elements ¹³ (which were Pathfinder funded) would not have been possible. Therefore, the Pathfinder project would not otherwise have happened and can be considered to be additional.

5.6 Amongst the projects that reported scale and/or quality additionality, the Pathfinder support added value in various ways. Most obviously, it allowed authorities to conduct larger projects than would have been possible on existing resources, and in many cases allowed the leverage of further funding. Here again the kudos of being part of a national Government funded Programme in Scotland was reported to be useful in persuading other funders to contribute.

5.7 In some projects, the Pathfinder input added value in other ways. In the SLP project it was reported that while the organisation might have attempted a similar project at some time it would have been smaller and would not have attracted the National Theatre of Scotland ( NTS). Indeed, the fact that the project was part of the Pathfinder programme had strong appeal for the NTS, and their input was widely reported to have added real value to the process (as reported earlier).

5.8 In Highland, the Pathfinder allowed the projects to reach far more children than would otherwise have been possible through existing Highland 2007 activities. Similarly, it was reported that while Fife Council would have undertaken some form of consultation to inform development of a cultural strategy, the Pathfinder allowed a far more ambitious and imaginative consultation process to be delivered.

5.9 In Edinburgh the Pathfinder funding allowed a very wide and ambitious consultation, and in Perth and Kinross, the scale of the workshop and activity provision would not have been possible without Scottish Government support.

5.10 Finally, while the Artshop facility in Clackmannanshire was not created by the Pathfinder, the funded project supported the work of the digital media artist in residence and gave the Council confidence to engage other partners.

Innovation

5.11 In addition to the assessment of additionality, we have also considered the extent to which the Pathfinder projects have delivered something that is truly new and innovative, and here the findings are more mixed.

5.12 A number of the consultees commented that many of the activities supported through the Pathfinder were not new, as similar initiatives had been delivered in the past. However, some of these projects were new to the areas in which they took place (eg South Ayrshire) even if similar projects had been delivered elsewhere.

5.13 In addition, there were elements of many projects that were genuinely new either in the way in which they were delivered, the partnerships that were established or the community groups that were involved.

5.14 For example, in the SLP project, working with NTS and older people was new, as was the attempt to deliver the same model across different local authority areas at the same time. For the participants, the experience was genuinely new as this was for many the first time they had taken part in a drama project.

5.15 In Fife, the project made innovative use of new technologies in its consultation processes, both at the Gathering events (through voting systems) and in wider community consultation (eg Culture Booth). Similarly it was reported that the Western Isles project also piloted new consultation approaches that had not been tried before in the area. For example, through work with Theatre Hebrides, the Pathfinder was able to engage young people in the area in creative consultation processes. This was highlighted as previous attempts to engage this group through more traditional means had been less successful.

5.16 In the Perth and Kinross project, the community-based approach was new in that it provided community groups with an entirely new opportunity, and the HMIE recognition of the project as good practice lends support to this assessment.

5.17 Finally, the Clackmannanshire project took an innovative approach to community learning and area regeneration through cultural participation and delivered a project that, while not unique in its ambitions and approach, was certainly new to Clackmannanshire. It has also been recognised as a model of good practice by HMIE¹⁴.

5.18 Therefore, while it can be argued that many of the Pathfinder projects are not innovative in the sense that they have developed entirely new models of community engagement and consultation, many have contained elements of innovation and have delivered something new in their areas and communities.

Sustainability and legacies

5.19 Sustainability in the context of the Pathfinder programme is a vexed issue. Essentially there are two aspects to sustainability:

• the sustainability of projects and activities; and
• sustainability at a strategic level.

Project sustainability

5.20 It was never intended that the Pathfinder programme would provide follow-on funding to support the continuation of project activities. The Programme was designed to test pilot approaches and to plan for sustainability through the development of approaches that could be mainstreamed, if successful.

5.21 However, a number of the projects did report that without additional funding support, they would be unable to continue the Pathfinder work. Arguably, this reflects a mistaken understanding of the purpose of the Programme and may have influenced the limited impact of strategic engagement with partners in these projects. Sustainability challenges experienced by these projects have therefore been more about sustaining the project activities (the opportunities for cultural participation) than creating a strategic legacy, for example, through new links to Community Planning or cross-service working within the authority. In a couple of cases, it was felt that the Pathfinder had created a demand for opportunities to participate in culture that could not now be satisfied without additional external funding support.

5.22 In contrast, some other projects considered sustainability from the very start, seeking to build capacity within communities to sustain cultural activities.

5.23 At one level, the SLP project is inherently unsustainable as the project came to an end with no follow-on funding and SLP is not in a position to continue the work immediately. However, as noted earlier, all of the groups that took part in the project continue to meet with at least two actively working with local partners and seeking funding to support new cultural projects.

5.24 Similarly, the Perth and Kinross model has built local capacity amongst community groups, and some of the activities initiated through the Pathfinder will be continued either through integration with the activities of other service departments or through community organisations running projects without the need for significant additional funding.

5.25 Feedback from the consultation work indicates that some of the activities initiated in the projects in Glasgow and Renfrewshire/East Renfrewshire/Inverclyde will continue either through small amounts of new funding levered (Glasgow), or through national provision (Renfrewshire/East Renfrewshire/Inverclyde, through BookStart provision).

5.26 Finally, the Clackmannanshire project was developed with sustainability in mind from the start. It has secured new sponsorship from Carronvale Homes (as reported earlier) and a retail outlet has been established which will covenant a share of profits back to the Artshop facility. Community involvement in the management of the project has also developed, further helping the facility to become a sustainable community asset. However, its future is not secure, and the Artshop relies on volunteers, and maintaining an adequate level of volunteer input is an ongoing challenge.

5.27 Therefore, there is evidence that some of the activities supported by the Pathfinder projects (ie cultural activities) will continue through new funding sources or through the capacity building impacts of the projects, even if this has not been the case in all projects.

Strategic sustainability

5.28 The Pathfinder Programme was designed to be strategic, and the aspiration was that projects would create a strategic legacy that would support and enhance cultural provision in each of the Pathfinder areas. However, as discussed in Chapter 4, not all projects were successful in developing longer term mechanisms for productive strategic engagement with key partners.

5.29 Nevertheless, there are important strategic legacies of the Pathfinder Programme, as follows:

• the formation of new partnership structures with responsibility for developing the interface with CPPs and driving forward cultural strategy in Fife, the Western Isles and potentially also in Perth and Kinross;
• the development of a new cultural mapping project to inform a refreshed cultural strategy in Perth and Kinross (although not fully attributable to the Pathfinder, the Pathfinder project has informed and influenced this work);
• new investment in culture in Fife (£1m for a new year-long celebration of Fife culture);
• also, in Fife, recognition of culture and cultural participation within the Community Plan and SOA (culture has been identified as a supporting driver in the Fife SOA);
• interest in the development of a National Theatre of Scotland for older people, with wider local authority interest (a legacy of the SLP project);
• improved connections between cultural organisations and communities in Dundee and Dumfries and Galloway;
• a new Cultural Pledge for Edinburgh and wider partner commitment to taking it forward with strong links into Community Planning and the SOA;
• a legacy fund for the Highland Promise, with £125,000 already raised (of a total allocation of £600,000 for wider cultural activities);
• increased profile for culture in all participating authorities (although the impacts of this remain unclear in many places);
• strong cross-service links, new partnerships and increased profile for culture and culture-led regeneration in Clackmannanshire; and
• the creation of a substantial bank of knowledge, information and data (including some of the creative outputs of projects) that demonstrates the value of cultural participation and the role of culture across a broad range of policy areas and priorities.

5.30 This is encouraging, and the evidence is that the Pathfinder Programme has created a range of potentially important strategic legacies that could have a significant impact on the delivery of cultural activity in different parts of Scotland.

5.31 It is also clear that some of the Pathfinders have been more strategic in their intent and approach than others, and it is these projects that have sought sustainability through new structures, partnerships and strategic approaches to culture. These include Fife, Edinburgh, the Western Isles, Perth and Kinross and, possibly, Clackmannanshire. In Edinburgh for example, the focus on the development of a Cultural Pledge was driven by the aspiration to influence the plans and strategies of culture and sports providers in the city. This is an approach designed very much with strategic sustainability in mind.

5.32 Others have sought strategic engagement but found that hard to achieve for a variety of reasons - structural, attitudinal and resource related.

5.33 It is also unsurprising that the projects that have achieved more visible levels of strategic impact and sustainability have often been able to build on existing partnerships in areas where there is a level of interest in and commitment to culture, and where the work and support of key individuals has been important (both in terms of project delivery and senior strategic support). Of course, the sustainability of these developments remains to be seen in the longer-term and will depend on the availability of resources, and the ongoing engagement and support of key partners. Interestingly, there are also those that have taken a deliberately broad view of culture, and have sought to move away from a narrow view of culture as simply being the work of arts development teams.

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