Normally when I?m asked to tell a story I like to start at the beginning; but I can?t start at the very beginning of this story because I wasn?t there, explains Sarah Foster. I joined Creative Arts East (CAE) part-way through a merger process.
Three organisations ? Create!, Rural Arts East (RAE) and the literature development project Wordwaves ? had already come together and the final part of the jigsaw, a merger with Norfolk Arts Marketing, was on the horizon.
As an incomer to the organisation I had no knowledge of the past history and was completely engaged with the process of becoming a single organisation. Others, however, had been engaged in the process far longer, and had been through a great deal to get to this point. Nicky Stainton, now Executive Director of CAE and formerly Director of RAE, the organisation which eventually took the role of lead body, recalls ?It was a long, difficult and quite expensive process. But that was to be expected. There were a lot of stakeholders involved ? the Regional Arts Board, seven Local Authorities, two boards of trustees, two steering groups, employed and contracted staff, members of the organisations, and the wider arts community across the county. To begin with nobody knew what the impact would be on those organisations that merged, or on those not involved. It took a great deal of discussion to agree the role and purpose of the new organisation, and to identify the potential benefits. Initially there was a lot of suspicion about the motives of the funders. People feared that it was a cost-cutting exercise wrapped up as a new initiative ? a common response to change, and one that is quite often correct!?
The long period of insecurity about the future of the four organisations was very demoralising for staff and trustees, and development activities had to be put on hold until the picture became clearer. ?The need to review, map, consult and confer, in the name of an open and democratic process, meant an interminable number of meetings and documents,? comments Nicky Stainton. ?Everyone sat on the fence for ages. In retrospect I believe that what was needed was someone to work with a small group of key stakeholders ? the organisations? CEOs and a couple of funders? representatives ? to define the vision and then select one or two people to champion the idea and present the arguments clearly and persuasively. The benefit of the merger derives from closer working and the sharing of ideas and inherent strengths. That was never used to move the process on; instead, the divisions and the differences came to the fore.?
Ann Young is the Create! Officer who had been working solo, prior to becoming part of CAE. She recalls: ?The process was strange ? it felt as if I had no choice really. But then, the job as it was (and still is) is just impossible anyway. I feel that Create! has gained a lot from the merger in terms of support and resources but I have become, as I knew I would, a ?Disability Officer? dealing with corporate policy, and advice and consultancy, internal as well as external. This leaves less time for project development.? Being suddenly part of a larger organisation when you are used to working in a much smaller environment presents its own challenges. As Ann comments: ?Personally, I find it a little strange working with non-disabled people. I miss being with other politically-minded disabled people which is why conferences and other events are so very important to me. I need that contact to recharge my creative and political batteries.?
Wordwaves was in a unique position because the project was without a permanent key worker when the merger took place. The steering group agreed to the merger and the stakeholders contracted a freelance co-ordinator to hold the fort until the new structure was in place and a permanent literature development team could be recruited. This took place during 2002/2003, and a part-time Literature Development Officer and Assistant, employed by CAE, are now based at The Millennium Library at The Forum, in Norwich. It is widely felt that the project has benefited greatly from its place in the new body, and is much less vulnerable than it would have been otherwise.
The final merger, with Norfolk Arts Marketing (NAM), was the most challenging of the four mergers that created CAE. NAM had been delivering marketing services to the arts sector for 10 years and was run by a board of directors from the leading arts organisations in Norfolk. Like RAE, it was a charity, but there were differences that had to be managed. NAM was a membership organisation and CAE is set up to be a non-membership organisation, so one consequence of the merger was that members had to be converted to subscribers. For me, the key issues were gaining an understanding of the services they provided, who their customers were and the issues the staff faced in delivering those services. I also wanted to build effective working relationships with the staff as their manager. I was greatly supported by Mark Hazell, Marketing Director of Norwich Theatre Royal and Chairman of NAM who is now on the Board of CAE, and it has proved invaluable to have that kind of continuity both during and since the merger. Regular staff meetings, performance appraisals, progress meetings with the Executive Director, staff and board away-days and open lines of communication have all helped the team develop a strong sense of being one organisation.
One year on, the merger can be judged to have been worth it. The organisation is no cheaper to run but gives much better value for money. It is more secure, more strategic, more ambitious, more effective and more widely known. But this could probably have been achieved with less pain!
Sarah Foster is Communications and Marketing Manager for Creative Arts East
t: 01953 713393; w: http://www.creativeartseast.co.uk e: sarah@creativeartseast.co.uk