Dual Use Arts Strategy: Partnerships with Community Colleges
Background – Making tight budgets go further
In September 2003 the rural area of South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) introduced a dual
use arts strategy (DUAS). Unlike its sports equivalent, which focused on the shared use of school
facilities’ outside school time, the DUAS prioritised extending the work of the Village Colleges
(secondary schools) into a range of community-facing arts activities.
The partnership agreement between the District Council and the Village Colleges is unique in the UK.
The DUAS is not a centrally managed arts programme that delivers arts to the community but
a strategic partnership approach that discovers and promotes arts within the communities it serves.
The strategy prioritises increased participation in arts activity - led by voluntary organisations and
professional artists - and aims to strengthen local arts networks, improve communication
and increase the quality and frequency of arts experiences. This is achieved through the
appointment of key local staff known as Arts Development Managers (ADMs).
ADMs are employed by village colleges and report to the principal but part of the post funding
comes from the District Council, giving ADMs the wider community remit. This partnership is
reviewed annually and signed off against an agreed action plan to meet local strategic aims with an
additional two meetings throughout the year to monitor progress. Some ADMS work for one college
and others work between two colleges. The ADMs meet as a group with the District Council officer
once a month to plan district wide initiatives.
There are currently five ADMs in South Cambridgeshire, working out of seven village colleges
(Melbourn, Swavesey, Comberton, Sawston/Linton, and Cottenham/ Impington). Each college area
and the villages and neighbourhoods in that area are different and the ADM develops a tailored
approach to their work, one that best meets the needs and character of the areas they serve. The
ADMs work together under the umbrella of stART (www.start-arts.org.uk), an organisation which
was officially constituted in January 2009. In 2012 StART changed its tag line from ‘supporting arts
development’ to ‘sharing arts: connecting lives’ in order to highlight stART’s role in creating and
sustaining local arts networks and the collaborative approach to partnership working.
In 2010-11 the partnership between Melbourn Village College and South Cambridgeshire District
Council was joined by Wysing Arts Centre an NPO, which employed the Arts Development Manager
(under the title of Education Development Manager at Wysing) for one day a week, rising to two
days a week from 2011.
Key aims of the ADM posts:
•
advocate learning through and about the arts
•
strengthen the role of the village college as a local hub
•
support stART in the development of the arts locally
To achieve these aims, the ADMs work under three clear, yet linked, strands. These are:
 Development Programmes - These are initiatives developed from needs/opportunities
identified by the ADM and key stakeholders. They may be district-wide or patch-specific.
 Support - This includes consultation/advice offered to local groups, schools and residents
wishing to develop new/existing opportunities.
 Communication and Advocacy - This involves maximising the promotion of the arts and
advocating their value
Benefits to Community Colleges:
• Leveraging in external funding - around £50k
• Increased press hits and positive PR
• Working with primary schools and to increase numbers (per head funding) – MVC has 8
small feeder schools
• Support adult education and school venue development
• Extended Schools projects and increased community engagement
• Support gaining Artsmark, arts specialisms and supporting Arts Award in school
• Being ofsted friendly!
• Brokering partnerships with arts organisations and community groups e.g.
music/theatre/dance residencies, public art projects etc
• Bringing in more professional artists and increasing arts opportunities
For information on stART and district wide projects see:
www.start-arts.org.uk
The stART now toolkit: www.startnow.org.uk