The Scottish Government

OLDER VOICES

(Talkin' 'bout my generation)

A Cultural Pathfinder Project

for the Scottish Government

Delivered by Scotland's Learning Partnership with the National Theatre of Scotland and eight local authority partners

Final Report

Prepared by

Liz Gardiner (External evaluator)

and Jacqueline Whymark (Pathfinder Project Manager

Contents:

1. Background

2. Context

3. Evaluation Methodology

4. Specific Measurable Results

5. The impact of findings and issues on the bigger picture

6. Conclusions and recommendations

Annex 1 Participating Organisations

Annex 2 COSLA agreed Outcomes, National Indicators and Targets

Annex 3 Project Aims and Objective

Annex 4 Specific Area Comments

Appendix A. Participant Interviews

A.1 Angus

A.2 Inverclyde

A.3 Stirling

A.4 Argyll and Bute

Appendix B. Interview Responses - SALP partners in Local

Authorities/Community Planning Partnerships

B.1. Thersa Lamb, Aberdeen City Council

B.2. Bill Hunter, East Ayrshire Council

B..3 Catriona Henderson, Inverclyde Council

B.4. David Rennie, Step Up Project

B.5 Isabel Cumming - Stirling Council

B.6. Kate Brown - Fife Council

B.7. Ann Craig - Angus Council

B.8. Lulu Johnston, Scottish Arts Council

B.9. Fiona Miller, Tricky Hat Theatre Company

B.10. Simon Sharkey, National Theatre of Scotland

Appendix C - Interview questions,

C. 1. Cultural Planning Questionnaire used with CPP representatives

C. 2. List of questions asked of participants

C. 3. List of questions asked of SALP pathfinder project partners

Section 1 - Background

" I now feel I have something to give, to contribute. I felt I was of no further use before"

(Participant, SALP Pathfinder 2007).

1 Background

1.1 Talking 'bout my Generation was a project designed by the Scottish Adult Learning partnership (SALP) to strengthen the impact older people could have on their local Cultural and Community Planning processes. The project established, developed and maintained locally focused groups of older people in four Scottish Local authority areas. Group members were encouraged to share their stories and experiences as a way of ensuring that their cultural aspirations were articulated and that they made an impact on their local Cultural and Community Plan.

1.2 As a precursor for preparation and research purposes, SALP initiated a pilot project (during 2006/07). There were 4 local authorities involved: Angus, Argyll and Bute, Fife and North Lanarkshire.

1.3 Following the successful completion of the pilot project and in discussion with SLP's partners' forum, it was agreed that four new Local Authorities would be invited to take part in the pathfinder: Aberdeen City, East Ayrshire, Inverclyde and Stirling.

1.4 Stirling and Inverclyde successfully completed their programmes in 07/08 with East Ayrshire and Aberdeen City having to withdraw due to local changes in circumstances. It was agreed with the Scottish Government at that time to replace them with 2 of the local authority areas from the initial pilot, these being Angus and Argyll and Bute.

1.5 Over the two years of pilot and Pathfinder Project, there were, 8 local authorities involved in total as follows:

A table providing more information on each area's involvement is provided at Annex 1.

1.6 Of the Four local authority areas where the project was seen to have been successful, there are two of those that stand out in terms of measurements against sustainability objectives. These are:

1.7 The purpose of this report is to analyse and evaluate the key ingredients for success:

· Those factors that were present in the two areas identified as successful and that were absent in the areas where the projects were less successful.

· To identify if these factors replicable and rolled out.

and

· If so, identify the mechanisms and structures needed to replicate success.

Interim Findings

1.8 In March 2008 SALP submitted an interim report to the Scottish Government's Pathfinder Team. At that point SALP were midway through this Older Voices Pathfinder Programme and the participating groups had shared their work with each other and, as a result, it has been possible to gather evidence from both participants and partners.

1.9 The second half of the Pathfinder focused on a final presentation/production and event attended by representatives from the participating local authority areas including elected members and heads of service, representatives from the Community Planning Partnerships, and MSP's. This provided an opportunity for the Evaluation Team to gather evidence from those key stakeholders.

1.10 Artists, the Scottish Arts Council and SALP's senior management team were also interviewed during the final stages of process.

1.11 The final report of this Pathfinder includes as Appendices the findings from all the interviews carried out. As highlighted above, it focuses more the most successful participating local authorities (Angus and Argyll and Bute) and seeks to capture the key learning points from the case studies of best practice.

1.12 This final report benchmarks these findings against examples from other pathfinder initiatives around Scotland as well as referencing the Department of Culture and Museum Services (DCMS) pathfinder report of the study of English projects published in 2007.

Section 2 - Context

" this project has given us a voice. People of our age are not listened to you know"

(Participant, SALP Pathfinder, 2007)

The Context in which this evaluation was conducted is cultural planning

2.1 In Scotland and elsewhere, at neighbourhood, city, regional and national levels, there is a growing realisation that culture can deliver on many aspects of community engagement, empowerment and leadership. As the World Conference on Cultural Policies, held in Mexico City in 1982, highlighted: "Culture is a leading source of intellectual renewal and human growth, and can be understood as embracing all creative activity, not only the traditional, or 'high', arts but popular mass culture as well."

2.2 Anthropologist Ulf Hannerz defines culture as "The meanings which people create, and which create people as members of societies" and in The Long Revolution, Raymond Williams states that culture can be understood as "a particular way of life, which expresses certain meanings and values not only in art and learning, but also in institutions and ordinary behaviour".

2.3 Cultural Planning is not arts development. Arts development in this context is viewed as a methodology where the starting point is an identified "deficit". Similarly, Cultural Planning is not planning for culture, it is a culturally sensitive approach to planning and policy from education, health and social work to economic development, tourism, place making, jobs, training and employment.

National Policy

2.5 The Scottish Executive commissioned the cultural Pathfinder's during the period of the previous government administration and the current Scottish Government have maintained an active interest and commitment to completing, and evaluating, the process.

2.6 The process was instigated on the basis of a policy commitment to:

· Nationally: support talent and excellence in culture, to help it to develop and to encourage more people to enjoy our world-class cultural national collections and national performing companies. And, to utilise the positive impact culture can have in every area of Government.

· Locally: encourage more people to enjoy cultural activities by asking local authorities to develop cultural 'entitlements' for their area, in consultation with local people and to ask local authorities to undertake cultural planning, feeding into Community Planning.

2.7 In a Ministerial statement in October 2007 a re-focus of cultural policy was announced. This changed the emphasis from establishing cultural 'entitlements' to an approach that will seek to create a consensus of shared goals and outcomes between local and national government. The broad aim of ensuring that a wide range of cultural opportunities is available across Scotland has been maintained.

2.8 In addition, the Culture Bill which, in its draft form, proposed establishing in law the need to create cultural entitlements locally will not now appear in the final draft. In effect these changes altered the original intention of the proposed legislation and has resulted in the intended outcome - a suite of locally relevant and achievable cultural entitlements - is no longer appropriate. However, as will be seen throughout this report, the process of seeking to identify the nature of the distinctiveness of culture in each local authority area and examining the structures for providing it has been very valuable in terms of allowing older voices to be heard.

2.9 In particular there are three areas that overlap strongly with the Scottish Government's realigned policy: with findings and recommendations that can be applied locally and considered nationally or for appropriate local authorities.

· an emphasis on community consultation,

· integration with the community planning process,

· the introduction of cultural planning.

The Role of the Public Sector

2.10 In November 2007 COSLA developed guidance for Local Authorities on the production of the Outcomes, National Indicators and Targets required to deliver on the new single outcome agreements (SOA's), several of these have particular relevance for cultural development. A list of the agreed outcomes, National indicators and targets is provided at Annex 2.

Community Planning

2.11 The Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs) in the participating local authority areas currently operate a structure of key themes covering different sectors: e.g. health, employment, vibrancy, and learning. It is part of the remit of this Pathfinder to assess how far a cultural planning approach will flourish under sectoral/thematic structures such as these. In most areas, the current Community Planning structure is under review. Some partnership restructuring recommends that the CPP becomes a single tier partnership, with "place making" replacing the different themes. It will be particularly interesting to monitor the impact of this restructuring in terms of the roll out and support for cultural planning methodology.

2.12 In many areas, the CPP have been very supportive of the arts and culture sector and the contribution it makes to the economic and social development of their areas. However, in other areas culture is seen as an add. It may be important in the future to establish a structure, or at least a formal monitoring mechanism, that ensures that CPPs are fully engaged with establishing and delivering the cultural agenda in their areas.

2.13It is worth highlighting that changes are being considered to the structure of

CPPs in terms of their various responsibilities and Arts and Culture could come under different departments as a result. For example, a CPP where culture is currently the responsibility of Education or Arts Development could instead be located in Planning. Any restructuring is likely to happen from mid-2008 onwards and there would be gains for this Pathfinder programme from on going monitoring of the impacts of these developments.

Cultural Planning

2.14 For local authorities and CPPs to deliver on key COSLA objectives, and for the Scottish Government to achieve its ambition of a vibrant sustainable Scotland leading the way in Europe, Scotland must rise to the challenge of moving from the compensatory logic of traditional arts policy to more 'productive' forms of cultural development, where funding is understood as investment in creativity, in providing employment and wealth-creation opportunities for its people. Culture's special and often difficult association with policy resides in its relationship to civil society. In both historical and contemporary terms, culture is about citizen-development - about conduct and affiliation, identity and sense of place. It is about "folk, work and place", as Scottish geographer and planner, Patrick Geddes put it.

2.15 Culture is an important structure for democracy, autonomy and self-expression. Cultural processes address social exclusion and inclusion. We know these things both practically and theoretically but until now there has been little work done (in Scotland and elsewhere) to translate this knowledge into democratic, inclusive and effective forms of delivery.

2.16 This Scottish Adult Learning Partnership (SALP) Pathfinder sought to draw from these ambitions to develop a way forward which relates to national policy and provides a framework for delivery at local level: a set of "key ingredients for success"

The SALP Pathfinder has been structured and conducted in two phases:

Phase one - initial interventions, sharing and learning from practice (reflected in the interim report).

Phase two - dissemination of practice and roll out of key ingredients for success.

2.17 The interim report was presented at the conclusion of phase one.

It documented the process and the learning "so far" from participants and partners.

2.18 This final report provides a more concentrated analysis of two of the local authority areas illustrating and evidencing the best practice and disseminating this to other local authority areas who feel that they are less well prepared to implement cultural planning within their community planning agendas.

2.19 The report highlights best practice as well as articulating some key messages for success and maps a way forward for successful, vibrant, sustainable communities in a confident, successful Scotland. Section 3. Evaluation Methodology

" I had no idea what we were going to be getting involved in. We were told it was a "learners" group. I thought, what on earth am I going to learn, I should be the teacher at my age! But it wasn't that at all. It was much more about sharing. Sharing experiences, learning from each other and recognising ourselves in each other.

That was wonderful".

3.1 There were two main areas of focus in terms of establishing the impact of the project:

· on the participants themselves (qualitative evidence gathered through feedback from participants/artists, visual and other documentation).

· on the local authorities and community planning partnerships (quantitative and qualitative evidence gathered through desk research, telephone interviews and face to face consultations)

3.2 The evaluation was carried out using the following material:

· artists' session record sheets

· artists session outputs

· SALP partner organisations representatives in face to face/telephone interviews

· local authority/CP telephone interviews

· Project participants in face to face interviews

· artist evaluation report and final event

· steering group discussions and feedback sessions

· desk research using documents and the internet to look at comparable approaches in Scotland, the UK and World-wide.

Specific measurable outputs and methodology

3.3 This evaluation records and analyses the various consultations with artists and project team and records anecdotal evidence, artist session record sheets and artists responses to the sessions in creative notebooks. In addition, the evaluation used the major project outcomes as an element of the process. These were:

a. a sharing event where theatre made in each of the local authority areas was shared with participants, groups and officers from each of the other participating local authorities. This was a single event which took place on Thursday, 6th December in the MacRobert Centre of the University of Stirling

b. the creation of an instillation incorporating images and sound-scape recordings from the workshop programme built into an interactive experience where participants will be able to "walk through" activating the sounds and images as they go.

c. A touring exhibition in early 2008, incorporating the installation and the performances which will tour to each of the participating local authority areas. These events will be scheduled to coincide with local community planning partnership meetings, will invite councillors, officers and stakeholders and will be mounted in a working community planning area office (or nearby suitable venue. These events will comprise the installation, performance event and discussion with the CPPs

d. A documentary film of the process which will record the workshops, rehearsals, performances, discussions and findings - all of which will be fed into the evaluation.

3.4 A summary of the project aims, activities, outputs and outcomes follows the Scottish Executive's evaluation plan template and is outlined in Annex 3.

3.5 The ambition was that, through artists engaging with older people in different local authority areas, a new network would form - a network that discovers and then continues to explore a new form of theatre which emerged. The Pathfinder was built from the learning and success of over a pilot project during 2007 that worked in four local authorities and engaged with four newly formed peer groups aged over 50 years old.

3.6 The outcomes from the three-month Pathfinder engagement process were given a platform through an event held in the Mac Robert Centre of Stirling University on Thursday, 6th December 2007. This provided an opportunity for the groups to participate in a "sharing" performance followed by a facilitated discussion in a café environment . This event allowed participants from different local authority areas to meet and exchange thoughts and experiences with each other:

"I don't think people fully understood what they are involved with until they came here today" (Arts Development Officer, Inverclyde Council)

3.7 Early in 2008, an event was run in each of the participating councils' community planning partnerships (CPPs). These events allowed project participants to share their views and voice their aspirations with a view to influencing local decision making and establishing the project methodologies as an element of future planning processes.

Section 4: Specific Measurable Results

"Language, people, crafts.. People out and about, looking at the environment, Scottish culture, their own culture."

(Partner, SALP Pathfinder, 2007)

"Ask any modern storyteller and they will say there is always a moment when they are touched with fire, with what we like to call inspiration, and this goes back and back to the beginning of our race, to fire and ice and the great winds that shaped us and our world. The storyteller is deep inside every one of us. The story-maker is always with us. Let us suppose our world is attacked by war, by the horrors that we all of us easily imagine. Let us suppose floods wash through our cities, the seas rise . . . but the storyteller will be there, for it is our imaginations which shape us, keep us, create us - for good and for ill. It is our stories that will recreate us, when we are torn, hurt, even destroyed. It is the storyteller, the dream-maker, the myth-maker, that is our phoenix - that represents us at our best and at our most creative"

(Doris Lessing - Aged 88

November 2007 From her acceptance speech on receipt of the Nobel prize for literature)

Introduction

4.1 This document records of the significant elements arising from SALP's Cultural Pathfinder, including the process itself. It is not a cultural strategy document but it offers SALP and the participating local authorities a number of recommendations for future action. The learning from the Pathfinder process, together with the partners' findings and experiences are offered alongside some of the conclusions that have presented themselves so far to this evaluator.

4.2 During this evaluation process we talked to 28 of the partners, involved 86 individuals and drew a number of common experiences and issues from interviews with them. We collate their learning into this conclusions section and offer a list of the key ingredients for the successful engagement of older people through a cultural planning methodology.

4.3 Over 200 older people across eight local authority regions were engaged with the project over a two-year period:

"I hadn't been out of my house in nearly a year until a friend brought me along to this project and it has probably saved my life".

(Participant, SALP Older Voices Pathfinder)

"this project has made me visible again"

(Participant, SALP Older Voices Pathfinder)

4.4 Each area hosted a different number of workshops depending on:

- their participation in the pilot

- their capacity to deliver

4.5 Every fully participating local authority area received an equal share of two artists:

* A visual artist who carried out 15 days of work in photography, digital art and audio recording towards the creation of a final installation

* A film artist who carried out 18 days across the whole pathfinder recording moving images for a final film edit of the process and the outcomes

4.6 A more detailed report on each area is provided at Annex 4.

4.7 The importance of giving older people a voice in their society is essential if Scotland is to grow into the kind of nation that is envisaged in our Government's aspirational national priorities.

4.8 The following learning points were highlighted by artists through a range of evaluation mechanisms including - their session record sheets, session outputs, reports and feedback following the final event. In addition to these more formal evaluation mechanisms, we have include relevant anecdotal comment and evidence that:

• Strengthens the voice of older people as valued citizens and generate social capital

• Explores the theatre arts (voice and word, image, dance, music and presentation of ideas) by exploring stories from the life experiences of the participants using drama techniques.

• Explores with participants what cultural engagement means to them and the ways they would/might like to expand that

• Develops a community that shares and discusses members' aspirations for cultural engagement through dialogue between geographically disparate groups

• Examines the political voice in art by looking at the national collections and contemporary repertoire as stimuli for creation of new theatre

• Measures the impact of our process on the well-being and connectivity of the participants

• Creates digital media to transform participants' own imagery and photographs into a projection and light-scape environment for performance.

• Connects older learners in the arts from other projects and initiatives from across the country by inviting them into our national theatre of scotland exchange and café events.

• Builds professional capacity so that the group of artists and educators who have confidence to work with this age group in a non-reminiscence process can be widened.

• Captures and shares the learning using film and the evaluation toolkit provided (attached)

The Findings

4.9 General

· The opportunity presented by this cultural pathfinder process (which was investigating the potential of cultural planning methodology) was to broaden the scope beyond "arts" and beyond "education/learning" - redefining the importance of culture from a whole council and partnership perspective. Some partners grasped this opportunity and are using their findings to lobby their local community planning partnerships to put culture at the core of their Regeneration Outcome Agreement (ROA) plans.

· Cultural planning gives the potential methodology for bringing all of the various strategies together - achieving the ROAs in the community plan, fulfilling the agendas of all partners.

· Successful partners in the project recognised huge opportunities in existing resources: the passion of local people (in this case older citizens), local groups, agencies and stakeholders. It became clear that everyone is committed to the best for the area and it's future. Successful partners used the opportunity to engage older people in the community planning process.

· Where quality work is being achieved with a sustainable future it is through partnership with existing third sector organisations e.g. the Haydays group in Fife, located within an existing third sector organisation supporting an already established group. This was a real cultural planning approach - building on what is there through incremental creative processes. It worked well because the local authority was he facilitator rather than delivery agency (the Byre and Haydays were the delivery mechanism) this ensures sustainability:

The Issues

· The feedback from this consultation has been overwhelmingly that participants and agencies share a definition of culture, not as "arts", separate and discrete, but as "a way of life".

· Participants and agencies all agreed the arts are part of the overall culture of their areas.

· In delivery mechanisms, however, it remains difficult to take holistic approach - arts still kept separate with small budgets and low profile. There remains only patchy understanding across the local authority and community planning partners of the role of culture as central to every agenda.

· The challenge for the future is to have every department of every local authority and every partner agency within each community planning partnership embrace culture and cultural processes as joint responsibility.

· Progress towards this situation is patchy - ranging from " almost there, we're pushing at an open door" to some of the areas where there was an early drop out from the project where SALP contacts, departments and agencies saw the pathfinder as "not part of our remit - you need to talk to the arts officer".

· Where there has been success, from the outset it was acknowledged that the Arts Development Officer or the community learning staff would not be able to deliver on the outcomes from the process: rather there would have to be partnership, creative solutions and empowered third sector organisations if sustainability were to be achieved.

· Where there has been success, there has been acknowledgement that the only way forward is in partnership - partnership between local authority and other public service providers as well as the business community and the third sector. The challenge for the non participating agencies is for them to move from seeing themselves as direct service providers to facilitators of initiatives which are already happening.

· The Pathfinder process has highlighted the wealth of initiatives that are already happening (many of which are struggling) these could be supported strategically and, where appropriate, replicated in other local authority areas.

4.10 SALP realise that they are in a fortunate position within this pathfinder process: having been involved with so many different local authority areas, we intend to expand the scope of our final report to include learning from other pathfinders where the focus has been on older people (Glasgow in particular).

Section 5 - The impact of findings and issues on the bigger picture

The Older Voices Pathfinder "is for those tiny, invisible loving human forces that work from individual to individual, creeping through the crannies of the world like so many rootlets, or like the capillary oozing of water, yet which, if given time, rend the hardest monuments of human pride."

William James

5.1 The following paragraphs relate the evaluation findings to the "bigger picture" in relation to National policy, the role of the public sector, community planning, cultural planning and reflects on the future.

National Policy

5.2 There are two main areas of context that serve as a relevant backdrop for consideration of the pathfinder process and its outcomes. They are:

1. Scottish Government policy

2. CoSLA National Indicators and Targets

5.3 The current situation regarding National Policy is outlined in paragraphs 2.5 - 2.11. It is almost certain that there will continue to be policy developments at national level (particularly with the postponed introduction of Creative Scotland in 2009) that will require local government to be flexible and responsive.

The role of the public sector

5.4 Local Authorities have a key role to play in the transition to a more broadly shared responsibility for cultural provision in Scotland. They already have a statutory role with the community planning process, as well as the burden of expectation from the community (as outlined above).

5.5 More practically, they have created a very good starting point for establishing a set of common goals and shared values in public service delivery. It would make sense to continue the approach they have started and encourage other organisations and agencies to co-locate their agendas.

5.6 Direct delivery by the public sector is not an option when culture is adopted as a way of life and implemented through cultural planning methodology,

5.7 This Pathfinder has come across key people within local authority partners with passion, drive, and commitment. There are, in equal measure, third sector organisations and older people themselves with talent, ability and a commitment to be a contribution within their community planning processes. The ideal match is where the public sector supports these emerging third sector champions to achieve sustainability.

5.8 Cultural planning has much to offer local authorities and community planning partnerships as they struggle with community planning Regeneration Outcome Agreements (ROA's) and single outcome agreements.

5.9 There are other public sector bodies that will have a key role to play, most notably the emerging Creative Scotland. Interviews with representative officers indicated that it is "too early" yet to tell where the new body will see its role in supporting cultural planning.

5.10 There is a key role required from a body like the proposed Creative Scotland in terms of providing cultural leadership: both supporting, nurturing and developing it in the field, within local authorities and community planning partnerships; amongst grass roots organisations, cultural bodies and across all sectors as well as providing the leadership in cultural planning methodology from the top.

5.11 The cultural coordinator programme is now without funding from Scottish Arts Council (SAC). The intention was that SAC would fund these posts for 3 -5 years and then local authorities were expected to mainstream the posts. It now looks unlikely that this will happen.

Community Planning

5.12 Community Planning Partnerships in Scotland are tasked with the strategic planning and delivery of Government objectives on smarter, fairer, greener, wealthier and healthier communities. The Scottish Government view the community planning process as a key opportunity and potential mechanism for the agreement of cultural policy and delivery of cultural provision.

5.13 There is a very wide and variable understanding of the definition of cultural planning and its potential role in community planning between the various local authorities in this study - from indistinguishable with cultural policy to "planning for culture".

5.14 Some community planning partner representatives seemed to regard cultural planning either as an "alternative to community planning" or as just another "base to be covered" along with health, employability and so on rather than a methodology which, underpinning all of it, could potentially offer solutions to perceived problems of delivery.

5.15 Where there is an understanding of cultural planning methodology, there is a marked difference in the success of the pathfinder and the potential for sustainability in the projects.

5.16 A move away from project by project support for key cultural organisations may help these crucial third sector partners to plan, develop, grow, learn, and train new talent, so that Local authorities and community planning partnerships can maximise the benefit of their powerful contributions.

Cultural Planning

5.17 Cultural Planning is not the planning of culture. Rather it is a culturally sensitive approach to planning and policy which places culture and people at its core. While cultural policy has a sectoral remit (i.e., the Arts) cultural planning takes a broader definition of culture as a way of life.

5.18 It has been one of the more striking aspects of the process that when asked to define 'culture' respondents have offered a broad range of areas from language and heritage to the broadest definition of "a way of life". When asked to define 'the culture of their "place", they were proud and passionate. They evidenced a real sense of ownership/stake/willingness to help to shape their own futures.

5.19 This approach contrasted sharply with the attitudes of some community planning partner/local authority representatives. Cultural planning in some areas is regarded as being the remit of the arts development team who (where there is an understanding of the distinction within the arts development team) resources are stretched to deliver arts development and there can be no attempt to look at cultural planning methodology.

5.20 Where culture is seen as cross cutting and cultural planning as the role of all partners to deliver, there is evidence of real progress. Even in some of these areas, there is acknowledgement that the surface is no more than scratched with the real potential of a cultural planning approach within every policy area unrealised.

5.21 Training in cultural planning methodology for staff and local authority officers in different departments as well as key agency officers would be key to ensuring a joint and shared responsibility for cultural planning. This training should be linked to actual projects on the ground.

5.22 If cultural planning methodology is to work, it requires the power to lie with the grass roots. Local people (in this case, the older people themselves) must be in the lead: forming shaping and generating their aspirations, plans and visions. To "take root" and flourish, however, it must be supported at every level from the top down. It also requires cross-sectoral partnership. Where cultural planning is seen as the responsibility of a department called arts development, culture and leisure services or community learning and development, it will wither on the vine. If, on the other hand, it is embedded within community planning practice and is seen as the responsibility of every partner in the community planning partnership, there is every opportunity for real learning and development of practice.

5.23 The need to establish more fixed structures that enable joint strategic planning and delivery of cultural planning to take place has been indicated in our findings. Essentially, the task (now that key ingredients for success are being uncovered) is to build on them creatively for the future economic and social wellbeing of Scotland.

5.24 There is a widely felt confusion between what is meant by arts development and cultural planning. There is therefore a need for Government to distinguish between arts development and cultural planning - both are needed and relevant but the nature of each is not understood or appreciated within many local authority areas and amongst community planning partners. If this situation were to remain there is a real danger of not fully capitalising on either. It has been identified that there is a need for training in this area and there are mechanisms for training and learning in place through the National Cultural Planning Forum and it's various members.

The future

5.25 It may be useful to establish an audit of current activity, collated in a consistent style, from all current cultural providers within each local authority area (in the public, voluntary and private sectors). This audit could be carried out on a regular basis (every five years?) with a view to setting measurable benchmarks of activity and impacts to demonstrate the value (or otherwise) of investment in particular geographic and cultural areas.

5.26 The Scottish Government are to undertake an overall evaluation of the Pathfinders, however, it would be appropriate for the participating local authorities and appropriate local partners to consider the benefits and lessons to have emerged from the SALP Cultural Pathfinder and to adopt an appropriate strategic response.

5.27 One practical way of maintaining the momentum would be to develop a series of tightly focused pilot projects that demonstrate cultural planning in practice within local authority areas where there is currently no engagement with the Pathfinder process and ensure that there is training in cultural planning methodology (aimed at officers within local authorities and community planning partnerships) linked to the projects as they develop.

5.28 A series of cultural planning pathfinders designed to deliver on community planning objectives within different local authority areas could look at the outcomes of a cultural planning approach when applied to each of the priority areas: health, education, employability and so on. Similarly, a series of cultural planning pathfinders designed to deliver on each of the single outcome agreements within selected local authorities: greener, fairer, smarter, wealthier, healthier.

5.29 A control group of outputs assessable using HMIE evaluation frameworks for example could measure differing levels of success where a cultural planning approach has been adopted and where it has not.

5.30 One emerging finding with huge implications for the implementation of cultural planning is that there is a tendency currently to view local authorities and in particular their arts officers and cultural co-ordinators, as having the responsibility for culture in their respective areas. This is not a helpful perception, nor an accurate reflection. It would perhaps be more useful to portray culture, as seen by the participants, as "a way of life" affecting the whole community and crossing all sectors/agencies.

5.31 A cultural planning methodology acknowledges community, organisational and individual diversity and complexity. Cultural planning therefore could be applied in policy areas such as health, education, housing, regeneration, heritage, and, indeed all other areas. For cultural planning methodology to be adopted across every policy area, there would first need to be a recognition that:

· It is cultural planning and not arts development.

· Cultural planning must not be funded from an arts development budget (which

need to be ring fenced for the important activities of arts development)

5.32 If cultural planning approaches become an important mechanism for implementing policy agendas in all of these areas, then funding for 'culture' becomes less of a concern. Culture, in turn, genuinely moves centre stage and takes its rightful place as its community's 'way of life'.

5.33 Local authorities, understandably, currently feel pressure to 'deliver' the arts and culture. With some minor adjustments in expectations locally, they could evolve a more facilitating role and seek to achieve more cross-sectoral, inter-agency working. Perhaps the role cultural coordinators/creative links officers in a post pathfinder process could be developed as an integral to the community planning aspirations, it might be about spotting and developing opportunities for cross sectoral, inter agency cultural planning processes within every service area of each local authority and community planning partnership council?

5.34 If this is the case, then every department/service area/partner agency could contribute a small proportion of the cultural coordinator salary. The cultural coordinator would then be managed by a cross sectoral partnership (maybe the Community Planning Partnership?) rather than be located within education or arts development.

5.35 Possibly most crucially of all, there is a need to invite the key cultural leaders who have been working in this field for many decades, have deep knowledge and understanding of the complexities of the field, to teach, train, guide and support all other sector professionals (including the voluntary and community sector themselves). These leaders are located both within and out with the local authorities.

5.36 What has been very clear during this evaluation is that the cultural ambassadors we have in our midst are mostly invisible. Their voice is quiet and as a result their influence is limited because of the current structures we have in place to support this area of work. Currently there are no progression mechanisms for sharing and developing and learning from the collective experience.

5.37 Without these cultural ambassadors being nurtured and encouraged to adopt strategic leadership roles, there will be slow progress beyond where we are now and we will continue to "reinventing the wheel" and not build on the successes of our highly developed ground up networks and experience.

5.38 Without the "will" from the top down (the Scottish Government and Chief Officers within local authorities/community planning partnerships), bottom up processes can never be implemented or rolled out effectively.

Section 6 - Conclusions and recommendations

"This is not just activity to pass the time"

" There are lessons for us all here - the way the generations follow on one from the other"

"I am transformed. I have the confidence to speak out that I never had before"

"We feel we can achieve anything and that spills over into other aspects of our lives. Instead of feeling helpless, I feel I can turn my hand to anything if I want to"

"This is going to continue and we are going to go on and on getting better and better"

(Participant, SALP Pathfinder, 2007)

6.1 The SALP Pathfinder has presented a unique opportunity to evaluate the implementation of an identical model within several local authority areas. During both the interim and final evaluations, key issues were identified. These are summarised in the following paragraphs.

Key Ingredients for Success

6.2 Some voiced criticisms of the SALP approach as top down and felt that they parachuted in. This is perhaps because SALP brokered the authorities' interest and involvement at Manager or Director level inside each authority, this has given us the chance to identify and evaluate what are the essential ingredients for success from a bottom up approach.

6.3 In the first instance, there is a need to identify the reasons for differences between those local authority areas where the project has succeeded and those where the impact has been less marked. For this project and any cultural planning intervention to impact on a given constituency and local community planning the following circumstances need to exist. There needs to be:

· an understanding of cultural planning as a joint responsibility which straddles all departments of the council and is not located somewhere with a title of "arts development"

· an understanding within community learning and development of the potential of creative processes as a powerful tool for delivering on community learning priorities.

· an understanding within other council departments of the potential of creative processes as a powerful tool for delivering on all agendas.

· a dedicated local authority representative on staff with the skills training and ability to understand and support creative processes.

· a commitment from the highest level within the council.

· a collective memory and confidence that builds on existing groups and activities rather than attempting to start something from scratch, in a vacuum.

· the ability to keep a weather eye on how best to capitalise on the intervention opportunity so that existing initiatives can be supported to flourish.

· an understanding of the local authority and its partner agencies as facilitators rather than service delivery agencies.

Pathfinder legacy, recommendations for the next steps

· The Scottish Government are to undertake an overall evaluation of the Pathfinders, however, it would be appropriate for the all of the participating local authorities and appropriate local partners to consider the benefits and lessons to have emerged from the SALP Cultural Pathfinder and to adopt an appropriate strategic response.

· One practical way of maintaining the momentum would be to develop pilot projects that demonstrate cultural planning in practice within local authority areas where there is currently no engagement with the Pathfinder process and ensure that there is training in cultural planning methodology (aimed at officers within local authorities and community planning partnerships) linked to the projects as they develop.

· A series of cultural planning pathfinders designed to deliver on community planning objectives within different local authority areas could look at the outcomes of a cultural planning approach when applied to each of the priority areas: health, education, employability and so on.

· A series of cultural planning pathfinders designed to deliver on each of the single outcome agreements within selected local authorities: greener, fairer, smarter, wealthier and healthier

· A control group of outputs assessable using HMIE evaluation frameworks for example could measure differing levels of success where a cultural planning approach has been adopted and where it has not.

6.4 Finally, two absolutely crucial factors:

1. Partnership with the third sector and an aspiration to empower and facilitate emerging groups into independent cultural social enterprises or voluntary bodies in their own right. Only when this key factor is present will sustainability be possible. Without the organic growth of new and emerging cultural social enterprises, cultural "provision" will be limited by the ability of the local authority to fund activities - a model that is never going to facilitate cultural planning and full potential will never be reached

2. The presence of a cultural animateur* (or a partnership between cultural animateurs in different sectors) in every local authority. Someone with the deep knowledge and understanding of cultural planning methodology who can train, mentor, disseminate practice and co-ordinate all the participants across all sectors and including the community/voluntary sector. These animateurs or 'cultural planners' need to be completely integrated and working across departments inside the Government and a key member of the senior management of our local authorities.

* An animateur is someone charged with seeing that audiences get a chance to connect to art and culture in new ways. He or she helps those involved as they develop techniques for reaching out to the communities in which they work.

Annex 1

Participating Organisations

Annex 2

COSLA agreed Outcomes, National Indicators and Targets

Outcomes

· We are better educated, more skilled and more successful, renowned for our research and innovation.

· Our citizens are successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens.

· Our children have the best start in life and are ready to succeed.

· We live longer healthier lives.

· We have improved the life changes for children, young people and families at risk.

· We live in well designed, sustainable places where we are able to access the amenities and services we need.

· We have strong, resilient and supportive communities where people take responsibility for their own actions and how they affect others

National Indicators and Targets

· Increase the social economy turnover.

· Increase the average score of adults on the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale by 2011.

· Increase the percentage of adults who rate their neighbourhood as a good place to live.

· Reduce number of working age people with severe literacy and numeracy problems.

· Increase positive public perception of the general crime rate in local area.

· Increase the proportion of adults making one or more visits to the outdoors per week.

· Improve peoples' perceptions, attitudes and awareness of Scotland's reputation.

· Improve the quality of healthcare experience.

Annex 3

Project Aims and Objectives

Overall aim

The overall aim of the project was to bring together and empower older people - improving the extent and quality of their community and cultural engagement.

Objectives

The objective from the three-month process was:
* to give a local, regional and national platform for the work through a series of "sharing" performances and café conversation sessions .

Annex 4 - 1

Area by Area

5.1. Angus (Arbroath)

5.1.1 The project and the process

The Pathfinder project was a welcome intervention in the Angus Gold programme which has been running for several years now.

The Artist/facilitator's preferred artistic medium is movement.

The group decided to be ambitious and tackle ambitious issues head on. Their question for creative enquiry was "What makes us flourish?"

As Phillip Pullman said recently of his novel the Golden Compass: "Some subjects are so large they can only be dealt with adequately in a children's story."

The answers discovered and portrayed to us during the sharing session on December 6th 2007 were both profound and moving. Total beginners in the areas of both theatre and philosophical enquiry, the Arbroath group created a mythical society where everything is utopian. Inhabitants are polite, caring and supportive of each other. There is a blandness here, however, which invokes a sense of emptiness and lack of purpose. Utopia is not growing and developing. Utopia is not progressing, transforming, striving ever harder for deeper understanding.

Without warning, the society is plunged into a period of post nuclear holocaust darkness where inhabitants are separated. Greed and selfishness rule with their bleak consequences. The characters speak to us in a stingy, un co-ordinated way (each one clicks on his or her torch before speaking giving an eerie distorted face mask of fear and introspection. The characters have no interaction with each other at all except to steal, grab, push or otherwise dominate each other.

The payoffs are clear - we get the last of any remaining resources, we manage to feed ourselves at the expense of others, we get to be "right", justifying our actions with explanation and "reasonable argument" but the ultimate fate of this society is clear to see.

The final scene gives our society a chance to explore the human condition at it's best and most workable. Love is present. Relatedness, communication, talk and listening to each other are all happening.

We see a society where there is mutual respect. In particular, there is respect for the elders of the community - those wise ones who have so much to teach us through their story telling and learning of a lifetime.

Our elders are telling stories of the past - not as mere nostalgia, but so that we can learn from them and incorporate the learning from them into our plans for the future.

5.1.2. Critical Feedback (comments from the audience after the performance):

"Fantastic Ideas"

" I can't believe how clear and powerful this is. I know you hadn't had time to rehearse it and you didn't even really know what was going to happen at the end. For that it was amazing!"

"It could really be developed"

"You are so right about the great truths. We need to hear them in simple form"

"the torches looked great!"

5.1.3. Strengths:

There were many strengths to this project. These are evident in the quality of the artistic process and the outcomes/impacts in terms of the participants. There was a strength also in the partnership with the Angus Council member of staff and Angus Gold. Cultural planning processes are never top down, dropped in from above with no structure for sustainability. The Arbroath process was an excellent example of cultural planning in practice. Building on the existing Angus Gold project, the SALP initiative was seized on by Angus Council as a way of empowering participants, expanding and developing the programme into new ways, accessing new and hitherto unexplored funding streams (which the participants themselves will research and access) thus building towards an independent, self sustaining project.

A major element of the undoubted success of this project is the experience of the Angus Council representative and her understanding of the theatre and drama process and her ability to maximise the benefits and potential of the project. In addition, and understanding how to work in partnership and the complexities of supporting and empowering community groups, has made her role crucial in:

· publicising the opportunities and informing potential participants,

· supporting group members to attend the sessions,

· sorting out the issues and problems as they arise between sessions,

· communicating with participants between sessions,

· supporting the artist and ensuring everything is in place ready for each session.

· taking on board the aspirations of the group as they emerge from the process and ensuring that there is a process for developing, stretching and moving the group to the next stages of their development

· fundraising and co-ordinating sustainable operations beyond the life of the SALP funded project

Angus Council's whole community learning and development agenda has an understanding of the role of the creative process in learning and development. An important point to note is that those involved within Angus Council have an arts background and are involved in community drama as a leisure pursuit. This level of expertise and understanding gave support to the grass roots to ensuring that the process was nourished. Staff were able to spot areas of linkage, potential growth, expansion, interconnectedness and to support the group to build on those.

It is evident that in the Arbroath situation, there was always an aspiration for sustainability and continuation. These aspirations were built in from the outset and were therefore achievable

5.1.4. Weaknesses:

As with most local authorities, there are limited funding opportunities within the council for expansion of the community learning programme. There will be limited financial support from the council therefore for the development of the creative group in the future. This perceived weakness has been turned into a strength by the group. They have used the lack of on going financial support (but continuing support from key council staff) to turn their backs on a dependency on council funding as a given. They have, preferred to seek alternative sustainable and one off funding initiatives. So far this is proving successful and the group are already employing the artist/faciliator directly for a further series of creative sessions.

5.1.5. Learning from experience:

The Agus Council staff's ambition is to mainstream the programme within the council. So far this has been difficult to achieve. The SALP project has provided new possibilities in terms of making the case within the local authority. Even if mainstreaming is not achieved in the short term, through empowerment of the participants, sustainability and access to independent funding streams, there is some surety that the group will continue to flourish at least in the short term

5.1.6. Conclusion:

The Angus Gold experience has been a particularly satisfactory one. With sensitive, well skilled local authority staff that understand how to make best use of a creative intervention, the project has rooted and empowered participants and has a real chance of a sustainable future

Annex 4-2

Argyll and Bute - Rothsay

The Rothsay group partner was formed from members of an existing third sector cultural social enterprise, the Step Up Project.

David Rennie is the Director of the Step Up Project another member of Ste Up's staff was designated to be the liaison person between the group and SALP.

5.4.1. The project and the process

This project was a follow on project from an initial Older Voices intervention earlier in 2007 (January to March). The group therefore had already experienced the power and potential of exploring and sharing life experiences through drama techniques - learning from each other and performing in front of others to gain and share even more with and from each other.

Some of the group were new members with no previous experience, attracted by word of mouth from the enthusiasm of the sessions earlier in the year. Others were seasoned practitioners who have had the opportunity to work in these methods at other ages/stages and times of their lives. Most were coming back to the sessions having experienced theatre processes for the first time in the early part of the year and were aware that they had a level of experience and skill that was now being stretched. They knew they were being taken to the next level and the pride and sense of achievement was palpable.

The partnership with the Step Up project had been firmly established in the early part of the year. Step Up is a cultural social enterprise. They have a centre which they kick started with SIP funding for IT training. The Step Up project is inclusive, it offers a "step up" to those who know themselves to need a hand as well as to those who are already firmly established and are looking for the next "step" on from where they are. There is training available now in all kinds of skills and activities from cooking to therapy, massage, writing, music, drama, movement arts and crafts. The curriculum for learning is totally responsive to the user groups and is based on sharing/learning together. The centre is run with a minimum paid staff cohort and is supported hugely by volunteer help, work experience placements and referrals.

The artist/facilitator for this group had worked with the Group before and was delighted to be able to build on the work started earlier in the year - building relationships and stretching participants to the next stages of their potential as well as skilfully integrating the newcomers:

" This is one of the strengths of the creative process: it's not a linear, step by step learning process so anyone can link in at any point and progress at their own speed to the level of their own abilities" (Artist/Facilitator).

The Artist/Facilitators' preferred medium of artistic expression and exploration is writing, and in particular, writing for drama performance. The pieces were written by the participants during the 5 allocated sessions and the results were challenging, multi layered and at times, shocking in their impact.

The issue of sexual activity and the elderly was explored with sensitivity and compassion as two former acquaintances whose relationship, in their 20's, had been platonic, rediscover each other 40 years later. In 10 moving minutes of whispered dialogue, they tentatively explore each other's minds, spirits and bodies.

Another multi-layered piece explores the way our society patronises rather than reveres it's elders and wise ones. A grieving daughter is clearing out her dead mother's belongings when the next-door neighbour arrives to "help". We cringe at the neighbours insensitivity as she advises the stuff should be dumped in it's entirety, without even looking at it, and certainly without allowing herself to get lost in nostalgia. We recognise the dilemma of politeness versus the instinct to reject the offers of "help". We celebrate with our heroine as the neighbour discovers the glorious glamour girl and fashion icon she has been in the past and we are left with a sense of loss as we suspect the neighbour completely misses the point and the learning in her final words of wisdom.

5.4.2. Critical Feedback - comments from the audience after the performance):

· The writing was excellent

· There's so much in here

· very creative, brave and challenging

· you really put yourselves on the line with the sex scene. Congratulations for that

· When I look at how well you have done I feel nervous about what we are about to show you

5.4.3. Strengths:

The SALP partner in the case of Rothsay was a committed cultural social enterprise with a deep understanding of cultural planning processes. Step Up's Director has more than 20 years of experience in the field having been a freelance artist who had been developing cultural planning interventionist methodologies throughout his career with various arts/cultural organisations, third sector bodies and public sector agencies. He has brought all of this learning and experience to the Step Up project and the result is an organisation which knows how to work in partnership and understands the complexities of supporting and empowering community groups. The commitment to the project was total. A worker was dedicated as the liaison interface between SALP and the participants and co-ordinated the project in between the artist/Facilitator's visits. This provided a crucial role including:

· publicising the opportunities and informing potential participants,

· supporting group members to attend the sessions,

· sorting out the issues and problems as they arise between sessions,

· communicating with participants between sessions,

· supporting the artist and ensuring everything is in place ready for each session.

· taking on board the aspirations of the group as they emerge from the process and ensuring that there is a process for developing, stretching and moving the group to the next stages of their development

· fundraising and co-ordinating sustainable operations beyond the life of the SALP funded project

A further strength is that the community planning partnership has culture embedded in it's priorities for delivery. There is understanding of and support for cultural planning processes at this level too.

There is already a "next stage" in place for this group. Step Up has raised funds through the CPP to employ the Artist/Facilitator for a further series of sessions with the group. As with all the groups that Step Up facilitates, the group is forming itself as a constituted body and they will soon be able to fundraise for themselves. There is real chance of progress, development, on-going learning and fulfilment of potential now.

5.4.4. Weaknesses:

There was an initial lack of clarity as to the purpose of the Pathfinder.

"we were unsure of the context: arts development, theatre skills training, audience development, community learning and development?. I don't know if what we did with it was what was anticipated, but we basically seized it and made it our own. We used it to support our own plans"(Step Up Director).

The perceived weakness was therefore quickly turned into a strength and matched SALP's hopes that this is exactly what the different groups and their leaders/partners would be enabled to do with the offer of the project.

5.4.5. Learning from experience:

If Cultural Planning methodology is to work, it requires empowerment from the grass roots. Local people must be in the lead: forming shaping and generating their aspirations, plans and visions. To "take root" and flourish, however, it must be supported at every level from the top down. It also requires cross sectoral partnership.

Where cultural planning is seen as the responsibility of a department called arts development, culture and leisure services or community learning and development, it will wither on the vine. If, on the other hand, it is embedded within community planning practice and is seen as the responsibility of every partner in the community planning partnership, there is every opportunity for real learning and development of practice.

A cultural planning approach to adult learning is the focus of this study in Rothsay, but with a community planning partnership who are overtly adopting culture at the core of their agenda, the next stage could well be a cultural planning approach within every other department of the council and sect oral agency within the partnership.

5.4.6. Conclusion:

A cultural planning approach to adult learning is the focus of this study in Rothsay, but with a community planning partnership who are overtly adopting culture at the core of their agenda, the next stage could well be a cultural planning approach within every other department of the council and within every sectoral agency within the partnership.

The suggestion from Step Up's Director is that the "door is open" to this in Argyll and Bute. The obstacles to be overcome are lack of knowledge of "how to". Training is therefore seen as a priority to ensure that the impetus is not lost as people within public sector agencies flounder in the "trying to do it" and write off the potential that is clearly evident now.

Annex 4-3

Inverclyde (Greenock)

5.2.1. The project and the process

This was a first time involvement with the SALP Pathfinder from Inverclyde Council. It is clear, however that they have shown total commitment to it - providing the project with a designated officer - the Arts Development Officer with 14 years of experience in the area.

No one in the group had previous experience of writing or theatre work and there was an initial confusion as to what the group was going to be doing. Potential participants weren't sure if it was a theatre/drama project, a writers group or an advocacy project.

"We could have had more people involved if we had had a series of outreach workshops in different places from which a core group could have emerged. It was difficult to get the group together under the circumstances. Publicity was confusing".

The Arts Development Officer was not phased by any lack of clarity and has the expertise and understanding of the council and the cultural planning processes and grasped the opportunity, taking a cultural planning approach and incorporating an element of planning for the sustainability of the group. From a Council point of view, it is clear that the Young at Art group (a council run leisure and recreation group who are participating in arts activities as a social interaction opportunity) will not be able to sustain the on going development of the SALP pathfinder so she is actively exploring alternatives.

The group were able to meet in the imposing setting of Greenock Art Gallery and they were supported by an artist/facilitator whose preferred medium of artistic expression and exploration is writing, and in particular, writing for drama performance. The pieces were written by the participants during the 5 allocated sessions and the results were challenging, multi layered and at times, deeply moving in their impact.

The opening piece featured an elderly man sitting by his window looking out at the view and remembering the same view as it had been in the past… the trees which have been cut down, the school, the buildings and people who lived there in the past and are gone. There is a strong message here about heritage. Museums preserve artefacts and pieces of art deemed to be worthy of preservation. It's every bit as important to preserve stories, memories, the learning from the past so that we can move into the future informed by the past and with the lessons used powerfully in creating the future.

Another powerful piece explored the issue of the changing roles as we grow older: the "passing of the conch" as aunt rose looking after her niece becomes aunt rose being looked after by her niece and they are joined by shared memories. We were moved to tears as they recalled their visit to "La Boheme" and listened to the beautiful haunting passion of its music one more time.

And there was not one woman in the room who did not gasp with recognition at the sharing of that moment when, looking in the mirror we, for the first time, see our mother looking back at us!

5.2.2. Critical Feedback (comments from the audience after the performance):

* The honesty of the work is deeply affecting

* There are lessons for us all here - echoes of our own lives.. the importance of memory, the way the generations follow on one from the other

* very creative, very moving

5.2.3. Strengths:

The SALP partner was a committed and experienced Arts Development Officer with a deep understanding of cultural planning processes who has brought all of her learning and experience to her work. The result, has empowered and supported many organisations to self sufficiency - beginning with the local youth theatre group and encompassing every art form.

The identified benefits of having an experienced Arts Development Officer with responsibility for the project was invaluable especially the understanding of knowing how to work in partnership and understands the complexities of supporting and empowering community groups. The commitment to the project from the council was therefore strong and they provided the Arts Development Officer as the liaison interface between SALP and the participants. This provided a crucial role including:

· publicising the opportunities and informing potential participants,

· supporting group members to attend the sessions,

· sorting out the issues and problems as they arise between sessions,

· communicating with participants between sessions,

· supporting the artist and ensuring everything is in place ready for each session.

· taking on board the aspirations of the group as they emerge from the process and ensuring that there is a process for developing, stretching and moving the group to the next stages of their development

· fundraising and co-ordinating sustainable operations beyond the life of the SALP funded project

It is interesting that Arts Development Officer's post in this Council has moved back and forth between different departments- from education to economic development. There is obviously an understanding that culture works across all areas and therefore there is an openness to developing a more sustained and sustainable cultural planning approach across the council and the Community Planning Partnership. There is, however, a lack of understanding of how to do his as some departments are still looking to arts funding to fund a cultural planning approach in their service area rather than funding cultural planning approaches to their service areas from their own budgets.

5.2.4. Weaknesses:

There was an initial lack of clarity as to the purpose of the Pathfinder and the Arts Development Officer criticised the process of identifying participants as "weak":

" I put out publicity through my data base of contacts and groups. It would have been much stronger if there had been funding for John (the artist /facilitator) to do an initial outreach programme around all the day care centres etc and gathered a group of interested parties from that process. We could have had many more participants benefiting from the process if we had done it in this way."

5.2.5. Learning from experience:

If Cultural Planning methodology is to work, it requires commitment and funding from all the different service areas/community planning partners. As long as it lives in a box marked "arts" or "arts development" it will never reach anything like it's full potential

The situation in Inverclyde seems to be ripe for development in this area.

5.2.6. Conclusion:

The role of local authority Arts Development Officers is as cultural champions. Their role is to facilitate, co-ordinate, empower what is happening on the ground. The role is not to interfere, dictate or "provide services". Partnership working is the key and the Arts Development Officer is in a unique position in terms of encouraging/training and supporting other departments within the council to develop cultural planning approaches within their service areas. Similarly, the Arts Development Officer is in prime position to provide training, support and development to other sector members of the cultural planning partnership.

Annex 4-4

Stirling

5.3.1. The project and the process

This group met in the Cowane Centre which is a very accessible multi purpose centre attracting mainly groups with special needs during the day. In the evenings the centre is used by local drama groups and art groups.

The Stirling group was mainly women with visual impairment who were already using the centre for a meeting, drop in and socialising group.

The Community Worker responsible for the Group felt that she was not really the right person to act as liaison for the group. She was unclear at first of both her role and of the purpose of the group. The publicity was confusing and she feels she probably confused things further when she introduced the group to the idea of being involved in the project. She talked to them about performance, learning drama skills and that this probably put them off.

The artist facilitator's approach was improvisation techniques and each session was designed to allow the group to explore different aspects of their own lives - incidents that happened which either filled them with joy/love or left them feeling frightened or upset.

Session one focussed on "my experience of being", the way I feel physically, emotionally and mentally, as I grow old.

Amongst the responses were expressions of "how glorious it is to be alive; how lucky I am to be waking up once more to live one more day (and what a gorgeous day it is to be alive). Also expressed was the physical deterioration - the old muscles and the sore bones and the need to be active with exercise and walking.

Remaining sessions with the group focussed on creating scenes which one of the group members described from memory. Out of these processes emerged some very powerful and moving pieces. There is an incident on the bus when the elderly lady feels threatened and pushed out of her seat by a group of teenagers from the local school. We sense the threat, the upset and the stress as well as the loneliness and the wish to just be with these young people and be allowed to contribute to their lives with wisdom and love.

Another particularly strong scene was a birthday party where the hostess has invited friends who are visually impaired. The discomfort of the birthday girl's sister is both comical and uncomfortable as the guests search to "see" her features and discover the clothes she is wearing by touching her all over with their exploring fingers.

5.3.2. Critical Feedback -comments from the audience after the performance:

· I had no idea what we were part of until today.

· This the most exciting thing I've been involved in for a very long time.. probably ever

· I really enjoyed that.

· It was moving and funny. I had tears in my eyes

· You are telling the story of my life.

· There hasn't been one group today that I haven't been impressed by.. in fact it was hard to concentrate on our own one coz I was so blown away with what other groups were doing.

5.3.3. Strengths:

After an initial rather confusing start, this group formed well and is extremely keen to continue beyond the life of the SALP Pathfinder. They have many ideas as to how their project could move forward and develop. They are enthusiastic and prepared to work together in the future to do what it takes to make sure it happens.

5.3.4. Weaknesses:

The group members are elderly and visually impaired. There is a limit to how much they will be able to manage themselves in terms of co-ordination, project management and fundraising. There is a history of having "received no support for huge efforts" in the past and after initial joy and ambition, things falling away through lack of support with fundraising and administration. There is a danger that a repeat of the disappointing experience could be on the horizon. SALP cannot continue to take the work forward (nor should be the body to take it forward). The Community Worker is unsure of her role/authority or mandate from her employers to take up the mantle. The participants are determined to keep the group together but the danger is that, at best, without an artist/facilitator, they will tread water and be unable to fulfil potential and progress to next stages and continue to be stretched. A worst case scenario is that once again they will put energy in only to be disappointed and be left with no way of taking things forward.

5.3.5. Learning from experience:

The main learning from the Stirling experience is the importance of the mechanisms for on-going local facilitation. Without support on the ground, the necessary support work will not happen. This includes:

· publicising the opportunities and informing potential participants,

· supporting group members to attend the sessions,

· sorting out the issues and problems as they arise between sessions,

· communicating with participants between sessions,

· supporting the artist and ensuring everything is in place ready for each session.

· taking on board the aspirations of the group as they emerge from the process and ensuring that there is a process for developing, stretching and moving the group to the next stages of their development

· fundraising and co-ordinating sustainable operations beyond the life of the SALP funded project

· lobbying on behalf of the group and ensuring advocacy beyond the life of the SALP funded

5.3.6. Conclusion:

There is a clear directive from the Stirling group participants to the local authority. There is a need for the local authority to fulfil the role of facilitator rather than service provider.

Participants are convinced that best value is represented by the level and efficacy of support mechanisms in place to support the aspirations and vision of the voluntary sector:

"we know ourselves what we want and need. We want help with doing it ourselves. I'm sure the classes in Falkirk are very good but nobody wants to go. We would rather they spent the money supporting us to do our own things and so that we can keep Marie. We need someone like Marie she stretches is!" (Participant).