UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Arts and Culture Board Meeting
Wednesday 15 June 2011
DRAFT MINUTES
Attending, Christine Allison (CA), Philip Attwell (PA), Dominic Jinks (DJ), Janice Kay (JK), Nick Kaye (NK),
Kate Offord (KO), Gareth Oughton (GO), Richard Wells (RW), Helen Taylor (HT), Kate Tyrell (KT)
Apologies: Gina Cox , Jess Gardner, Camilla Hampshire, Elena Isayev, Marc Jordan, Catherine Leyshon,
Pippa Warin (Kate Offord attended in her place)
1.
Notes/Actions from the previous meeting (31 March 2011)
1.1
The following amendments to the minutes were noted:
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1.2
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2.
Apologies had been sent from Kate Tyrell
Item 1.11 should read that the BSO are part of the Arts Council portfolio
and that they were visiting Exeter for a launch event at Kay House in May as part of their commitment
to return to the University of Exeter and to develop their relationship with the University through a series
of smaller events, for example, working with students.
Item 2.3 should read £5,000
Item 2.8 should refer to Alan Cotton
Item 7.2 should say that DJ would be replacing HT on the Exeter Cultural Partnership Board and that
the University had not featured in the strategic planning of the document regarding Exeter
Matters arising from the minutes:
Item 2.2 – DJ has scheduled a meeting with Kevin Gaston at Tremough in July regarding the
development of a ESI research showcase studio and artist in residence.
Item 3.1 – DJ had established that the Barnfield Theatre is run by Barnfield Theatre Ltd, which is a
registered charity.
Item 5.3 – DJ confirmed that he had given Debbie Brett’s team a series of interview questions that can
be asked to Alexander Beleschenko.
Item 6.1 – DJ reported that he had met with Marion Wood, Kate Tyrell, Sarah Snow and Adele
Wordsworth share an overview of their respective calendars of events and have decided to continue
with these meetings.
Chair’s items
JK reported that the BSO event at Kay House had been very successful, with 108 people attending. She had
been very impressed by Kay House as a setting for such an event.
3.
University Art and Culture Development Fellow report and feedback from Tremough Campus
Culture Festival
3.1
HT presented her reports which had been circulated. She confirmed that her fellowship was ending in
October 2011 and was in the process of completing the events for which she was responsible and
handing over her responsibilities to DJ. She was now developing a new role of Arts & Culture Fellow
within the College of Humanities.
3.2
The Tremough Campus Culture Festival was discussed. HT reported that feedback from this year’s
festival had underlined the importance of having a festival based in Cornwall. She felt that the festival
would continue to grow and she had received some interesting ideas for extending the Festival. The
timing of the festival was discussed. It was not ideal for attracting students, but linking it to the Daphne
du Maurier Festival helped to give more publicity to the event. People at the Daphne du Maurier
Festival had suggested that the Tremough Campus Culture Festival should be held on the day after
their festival but this would result in the Tremough Campus Culture Festival being held on a Sunday,
which would present public transport problems.
DJ flagged that the opening of the Forum would be in May 2012 which could cause a problem with
resources for the team and running of the Tremough Campus Culture Festival. The exact date for the
Forum opening had not yet been announced.
3.2
The Howard Barker premiere was discussed. Visibility of the event had been increased with a push by
DK working with the Northcott marketing team and DJ reported that the publicity had highlighted the
involvement of student interns. KT commented that it ended up having as much profile and audience
numbers as one could expect in June. The event demonstrated how the Northcott could work
effectively with the University’s drama students. NK stated that the legacy of the event was important,
such as making the podcast and the Howard Barker archive available on the University website and
ensuring information about the involvement of student interns was posted on the Student experience
part of the website.
4.
Arts & Culture Report
4.1
DJ presented the report and plan for the Arts & Culture team. He reported that most familiarisation had
taken place and the team were now moving into a planning phase. Communications were still being
developed – the Web team were working on the Arts & Culture web pages and calendar and the
Design Team were producing a set of digital blank templates for posters. PA’s team had developed a
service level agreement with the Design team which had helped to formalise the working process with
them and suggested that DJ contacted his team for a copy, as it could be useful for the Arts & Culture
team.
Action: DJ
4.2
DJ was involved with art in the Forum. He reported that Alexander Beleschenko was very happy with
the work. He has agreed to develop plaques, free of charge, giving information about the work.
The Neil Canning painting Axis was being reproduced and enlarged for installation in the Student
Services Centre in the Forum. The cost of this is being closely monitored as it could become too costly
a process.
The result of annual fund bids for further artworks in the Forum was currently awaited.
DJ had started discussions with Marion Wood, Kate Tyrell and Adele Wordsworth regarding events for
the Forum opening. DJ/KT are happy to provide suggestions for events to Adele. However a major
obstacle to this is that there no set date for the event and it is not yet clear as to what budget is
available. DJ explained that this could hamper the ability to get high calibre names at such short
notice. JK explained that Michele Shoebridge was also looking into Forum opening events and it was
important to make sure all preparations were linked.
4.3
NG was organising the WordQuest literary series. This had been advertised on the front page of the
University website. JK noted that it was important that events organised as part of the Arts & Culture
Strategy on the front page of the University website were clearly signposted as such.
4.4
DJ reported that the Arts & Culture Management Team was involved in identifying flagship works
linking research to arts and culture across the University. DJ was currently developing a proposal for
the Arts Council seeking funding for research projects with arts and culture impacts. It was confirmed
that the Arts & Culture Management Team was an action-based group which would be reporting on its
progress at future Arts & Culture Board meetings.
4.5
JK stated that there should be a review of the Arts & Culture Board at the end of the year which should
include a review of its composition to ensure that key external stakeholders were included.
4.6
DJ noted that the next Exeter Cultural Partnership meeting would be in July at Reed Hall attended by
himself and HT.
4.7
HT raised the issue of the EXEtreme Imagination Festival and said it should be described first and
foremost as a festival.
DJ confirmed that Cypress Well had invited partners in the EXEtreme Imagination Festival to attend a
meeting they were facilitating in July to discuss the findings of the last EXEtreme Imagination festival
and to discuss next steps. KT & HT said they hadn’t received an invitation to this; DJ said he would
forward the invitation to them.
Action: DJ
Both KT and HT felt that the EXEtreme Imagination festival should be led by the University with Debra
Myhill as lead and that this should be clarified to Cypress Well.
4.8
JK confirmed that Hilary Mantel and Neil Canning would be receiving honorary degrees in July.
4.9
GA reported that as the RAMM bar was currently closed, Student Art Week had had slightly less
attendance than last year.
4.10
HT asked for the Tremough Campus Cultural Festival to be moved under the heading ‘Festival’ in the
Arts & Culture plan.
4.11
The University was involved in a Victorian studies day associated with the RAMM Launch, with money
being contributed from the Arts & Culture budget.
4.12
RW reported that there would be a launch of a research based project in Torquay with Francesca
Stavrakopolou speaking.
4.13
JK advised all that it was important that the Arts & Culture team were kept informed of events, so that
they were all branded with the Arts & Culture Branding.
5.
AHRC Knowledge Exchange Hubs Update
5.1
RW updated the meeting on the progress of the application Knowledge Exchange Hubs funding. An
expression of interest had been submitted in a consortium with the University of the West of England,
Bristol University and the Watershed. It was one of fifty bids that had been submitted. Our bid had
been shortlisted as 1 of 7 consortia. Each hub will be worth £4.8m over four years. The deadline was 7
July for the next phase of the application which was currently being worked on with partners in the
Consortium. The final outcome would be known in mid-August.
5.2
One idea for engaging the creative industries was to work through existing art practitioner networks. To
this end, RW asked members to suggest names of existing networks as well as any knowledge of
creative landscapes in the South West Peninsula – ie any data about the creative economies in the
Peninsula.
5.3
Bath and Cardiff Universities will also be affiliated to this bid and it could also involve UCF and
Plymouth University although they are not at the heart of the bid.
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6.
Forum Arts Update
See 4.2 above.
KT asked about the VIP led event at the Forum on 28 October. She was concerned about student access to
the piazza, for example in welcome week. DJ to query this with Adele Wordsworth.
Action: DJ
7.
Arts & Culture Board attendees
7.1
DJ asked whether a new Board member should be recruited to replace Richard Lamming who had
stepped down. JK invited members to consider someone with external focus to join the Board.
Action: All
7.2
NK commented that with an Arts and Culture Management Group being action-based, then the Board
should be external focussing. He felt that these structures will be very valuable if we are successful in our bid
for the Knowledge Exchange Hub. It was decided that the group would discuss a more externally facing Arts &
Culture Board at the next meeting when the outcome of the AHRC bid will then be known.
8.
Date of the next meeting
The next meeting will be 11 October, 9 am – 11am, in the Council Chamber, Northcote House, Queens Drive,
Streatham Campus, EX4 4QJ
9.
None
Any Other Business