Talk. Discuss what commissioning means to your organisation, with your Board, partners and stakeholders. The IDeA report ‘Creating Better Outcomes for Children and Young People by improving the Commissioning of Cultural Services’, provides a useful starting point.
Develop an understanding of local government, its structures and processes. National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA) produce free basic guides about how local authorities and local area agreements work, available from their website. Your local authority website should be able to give you a lot of information, including details of Local Strategic Partnerships. Talk to your local authority arts/cultural officers, or find out if there is a third sector support officer who can advise you about your area.
Understand the needs and priorities for your community. Invest time in understanding your area’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, Local Area Agreement and National Indicators. These may be published on your local authority website, or you can request them.
Connect to support, representation and advocacy. Bedford Creative Arts and Point Blank both received support from third sector support organisations. You will be eligible to receive support if you are an independent not-for profit or charitable, values-driven organisation. If your organisation is not in the third sector you will still be able to access some free or low cost resources from the following organisations. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations is a lobbying organisation that represents the views of its members, and the wider voluntary sector, to government, the European Union and other bodies. Through the free to join Public Service Delivery Network it offers information, advice and training. NAVCA is the national voice of local third sector infrastructure in England. It offers a mapping service where you can locate local third sector infrastructure organisations, which can support you and details of where to find tenders. Its Local Commissioning and Procurement Unit has produced useful free publications including ‘Do I need an ISO’, about finding a relevant quality mark and ‘Pathways through the Maze’, a guide to procurement.
Bassac, a membership body for community organisations, offers a dedicated advice and support service for organisations wanting to work together effectively, provided by highly experienced independent facilitators. Support is tailored to what a group needs and, in return, they expect a high level of commitment. This service is part of the Collaboration Benefits programme funded by Capacitybuilders. Contact Keith Kibirango: keith@bassac.org.uk.
Prepare. Consider how your organisation manages and demonstrates quality and value for money, and explore which quality marks or accreditation would be right for your organisation. Consider where to build partnerships or consortia, and ensure you collect robust evidence of how your work impacts outcomes. The IDeA toolkit ‘Understanding Commisioning’, is a useful guide to preparing to engage with the commissioning process.
Arts Council England is working with a range of partners to offer support to arts organisations which want to engage in commissioning. You can find information, cases studies, key documents, details of training events and links to other support on our website. Arts Award offers young people a nationally recognised qualification, and can support organisations wishing to develop a body of evidence and establish quality frameworks. The pilot of the next generation ArtsMark will recognise quality arts learning opportunities offered by any organisation.
Published: 24-05-2010