Lincolnshire’s network of arts venues has been a life-saver – as some venues may not have survived without it, according to Chloe Brown.
Since 2010, Lincolnshire One Venues (LOV) has been developing a new way of working; challenging how venues and cultural organisations work together to become stronger, cohesive and more adaptable in the current economic climate. This network of ten visual and performing arts venues* initially came together out of a necessity to survive – the group’s motto at the start was ‘Collaborate or die’, or as any good motto must also be in Latin: ‘Aut mori collaborate’.
The venues are a mixture of small-scale theatres and arts centres, a museum, a contemporary art gallery and a national centre for craft and design, all spread across the vast county of Lincolnshire, perhaps better known for its fens and food production than its pockets of innovative artistic activity. Through collaboration, the LOV network believes that it can provide a unique solution towards the goal of integrated planning, programming and delivery of the arts across sparsely populated areas. Sally Harrison, General Manager of South Holland Centre in Spalding, said: “The development of LOV has been a very empowering thing for the venue and for me personally. It is difficult to remember how isolated and undervalued we felt before LOV.”
Without LOV coming together it is likely that some of the network members would not be in existence today
The real key to our success has been the simple agreement, right from the start, that we would focus on the things we could change together, the things that connected us, not our differences. This makes for a very positive and focussed collaboration where action and change are at its heart, both for the individual organisations involved, as well as the cultural landscape and infrastructure of the county.
One of our collective aims is to build new audience relationships and deepen our connection with the local community. Out of this came the ‘LOV Young People’s Programme’, a project funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. It aims to increase opportunities for young people aged 12 to 25 as audience members, participants and producers, with the ultimate goal of enabling young people to influence decision-making and lead on areas of programming within the venues. Simon Hollingworth, Creative Director of Lincoln Drill Hall, said: “The involvement and energetic engagement of the project team is helping us drive and steer our activities. The strategic thinking that is taking place ‘over the top’ of the whole countywide project is making us feel that all of the ideas and activities we are currently engaging in are not isolated at this one venue, but are part of a bigger picture.”
Young producers across the network are involved in all aspects of event production and delivery in the venues – creating events aimed at their peers such as monthly open mic nights, as well as taking responsibility for specific areas of artistic programming. Having a remit around programming places the young people at the heart of the ten organisations and gives them status. Some partners (which have boards) have extended the process by inviting young people to be trustees. The young producers gain support from the shared delivery team as well as venue staff, and receive specific skills workshops to support their development as programmers, for example, working with professional comedy and music promoters, as well as attending the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for programming inspiration.
There have been a lot of changes over the last five years. It took time at the start of our collaboration to convince stakeholders and funders that LOV did not need to become a single organisation and that this was not about cost-cutting but about strengthening our offer. It certainly feels that there is a greater understanding about this collaborative way of working now and there are more networks in existence across the cultural sector. From North Devon to Norfolk, we have been sharing our learning with some of them along the way.
The reality is that our motto back in 2010 has stood us in good stead. Without LOV coming together it is likely that some of the network members would not be in existence today. The partnership has matured and grown in strength and we now come together because we can see the value in it. We are currently looking to the future and developing the next phase of the programme. We want to find ways to test the model we have developed and share our learning with other organisations and make the young people’s programme more sustainable and less reliant on external funding. So perhaps rather than ‘Collaborate or die’ I like to think our new motto (although I think it has been used before) is ‘All you need is LOV’.
Chloe Brown is Project Manager for the LOV Young People’s Programme.
www.lincolnshireonevenues.com
*The ten venues are: Lincoln Drill Hall, Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, Terry O'Toole Theatre in North Hykeham, The Collection and Usher Gallery in Lincoln, The National Centre for Craft and Design in Sleaford, South Holland Centre in Spalding, Guildhall Arts Centre in Grantham, Stamford Arts Centre, Trinity Arts Centre in Gainsborough and Louth Playgoers Riverhead Theatre.
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