Agenda item

Agenda item

Manchester International Festival

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive & City Treasurer and Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods)

 

This report provides a positive picture of the outcomes of the evaluation of the Manchester International Festival 2019 and re-confirms the funding arrangements for 2021 Festival as approved by the Executive on 18 October 2017.

 

The Committee is invited to comment on the report prior to its submission to the Executive on 13 November 2019.

 

Minutes:

The Committee received a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer and the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) which provided information on the outcomes of the evaluation of the Manchester International Festival (MIF) 2019 and re-confirmed the funding arrangements for the 2021 Festival as approved by the Executive on 18 October 2017.  The Committee was invited to comment on the report prior to its submission to the Executive on 13 November 2019.

 

John McGrath, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of MIF, referred to the main points and themes within the report, which included:

 

·         An assessment of the delivery of objectives for 2019;

·         Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), sustainability and financial performance;

·         The zero carbon agenda;

·         Staffing; and

·         Future planning.

 

The Leader highlighted the opening in 2021 of The Factory, which would be the new hub for the Festival, and reported that it was proposed to maintain the level of funding from the Council, supported by a significant investment from the Arts Council England towards the running of The Factory and to build MIF’s capacity to run the Factory.  He informed Members that the biennial MIF had previously been awarded funding from the Council every two years for the next Festival but that he would be recommending to the Executive that longer-term funding arrangements be put in place for MIF and The Factory. 

 

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

 

·         That this was a fantastic event and Members wanted to ensure that it was accessible to all residents;

·         To request a ward breakdown of volunteers from Manchester;

·         To request further information on what was being done to encourage people in areas with lower levels of engagement to access, participate in and volunteer at MIF, noting that some people could not afford even the discounted £10 tickets;

·         What was being done to promote employment opportunities to local people;

·         Whether 30% of attendees being from Manchester was sufficient and could more detailed information on where attendees were from be provided; and

·         How the figure on the economic impact of MIF had been arrived at.

 

Ciaron Wilkinson, MIF’s Cultural Connector, outlined the work he had undertaken over the previous 18 months to work with communities which were less likely to access arts and cultural activities, engaging with local partners such as Ward Councillors and the Council’s Neighbourhood Teams and holding events and activities within the local area in order to increase residents’ awareness of and willingness to participate in MIF.

 

John McGrath reported that a lot of outreach work had been carried out to recruit a diverse range of volunteers for this year’s Festival and that this had been successful in recruiting volunteers from diverse backgrounds and, to a degree, in recruiting volunteers from a range of locations.  He informed Members that the work that Ciaron Wilkinson had been doing had aimed to encourage residents in those wards to engage with MIF in a range of different ways, as audience members, as participants, as volunteers and as employees.  He acknowledged that some people could not afford the discounted £10 tickets but reported that some free tickets were made available through local organisations and there were also a number of free events which were part of the MIF programme.  He reported that his organisation was also working to address other barriers to people’s attendance, for example, working with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) regarding transport to events. 

 

John McGrath outlined the range of methods his organisation had used to encourage local people to apply for jobs with MIF.  He also informed Members about the traineeships which MIF had offered this year which had led to all seven apprentices going on to employment.  He advised Members that the proportion of MIF employees from BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) communities had increased considerably and his organisation was aiming to increase recruitment from a range of wards across the city.  He reported that his organisation was in a period of expansion and informed Members about the training programme which was being developed, stating that it would increase people’s awareness, particularly young people’s awareness, of the range of jobs available within the creative industries. 

 

The Leader advised the Committee that there needed to be a balance of attendees from Manchester and people from further afield as the event was used to promote Manchester on the international stage.  He highlighted that audience attendance was increasing overall, which included an increase in Manchester residents, and that Manchester residents were increasingly participating in the Festival in different ways, not just as audience members.

 

Decisions

 

1.                    To request a ward breakdown of volunteers from Manchester.

 

2.                    To request more detailed information on where MIF attendees were from.

 

3.                     To request information on the methodology used to calculate the economic impact of the Festival.

 

4.                    To endorse the recommendations to the Executive that:

 

The Executive is recommended to: -

 

1. Note the substantial achievements of the 2019 Festival in overachieving its objectives, particularly in continuing to grow its international reputation, increasing co-commissioning partnerships, record attendance levels and increased involvement by Manchester emerging artists;

 

2. Recognise and support the importance of maintaining public sector funding commitments in order to attract significant match funding from other public and private sector partners;

 

3. Delegate responsibility to the Strategic Director of Neighbourhoods and City Treasurer in consultation with the Executive Member for Finance and Human Resources and Executive Member for Skills, Culture and Leisure to finalise the financial arrangements.

Supporting documents: