Content

 
 

8.1

Members considered a report of the Executive
Director of City Futures which asked the Economic Development and
Skills Policy Committee to approve the Sheffield Culture Strategy
for publication and dissemination; and to support the Council
Culture Team in their ongoing work to activate and deliver the
strategy in partnership with the sector.

 

 

8.2

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the
Economic Development and Skills Policy Committee:-
 
-      
Approve the Culture Strategy for adoption and publication

 

 

8.3

Reasons for
Decision

 

 

8.3.1

The recommendation for the Committee to
approve the Culture Strategy for adoption and publication follows
previous Committee reports in September 2022, February 2023,
September 2023, February 2024 and July 2024.
 
Throughout the process of developing a new
Culture Strategy for Sheffield, the Committee have taken a
leadership role in endorsing a new strategic approach to culture in
2022, commissioning the work to complete this Strategy in 2023,
reviewing progress over the last 12 months and providing feedback
on an earlier draft before reviewing the final version of the
Strategy being brought to this Committee.
 
Having a strong, robust and evidence based
Cultural Strategy is central to growing investment and funding for
the sector across the city. We will use it to develop and bid for
funding, develop strategic partnerships, to strengthen
Sheffield’s relationship with South Yorkshire Mayoral
Combined Authority (SYMCA), Arts Council England and private and
public funders.
 
By establishing a clear and agreed set of
priorities for the sector, the Strategy will provide a clarity of
focus which will enable a coordinated city-wide approach to bidding
for limited public resources, reducing unhelpful competition and
provide confidence to funders, public and private, of a sector
wider response to growing the sector.
 
The Strategy is ambitious in its creative
missions and outcomes, and these will only be achieved through a
joined-up approach to leverage more investment into the city. There
is a pipeline of capital cultural projects in Sheffield which are
seeking funding, a number of cultural organisations looking for
improved or permanent physical spaces, a wide range of Page 38
programmes and services which will deliver high quality creative
and cultural outcomes for people in Sheffield. These would all
benefit from greater financial resources and a redressing of the
balance in national funding for Sheffield compared to other Core
Cities; and this is something that the Strategy will support the
Council to achieve by raising the profile and position of culture
in Sheffield and advocating for support to aid growth.
 
There will be a need for financial support to
deliver the Culture Strategy and the team are already looking at a
number of areas of work / relationships / applications to kickstart
the activation of the Strategy:
 
• Making a Place Partnership application
to the Arts Council (with match funding required from the Council /
SYMCA)
• Working with SYMCA to unlock funding
and support for culture as one seven regional priorities for growth
across South Yorkshire
• Continuing to work with the Culture
Collective on mechanisms and models for private sector support for
culture
• Sharing details of the pipeline of
heritage and cultural projects in the City with the Heritage
Fund
• Making use of UK Shared Prosperity Fund
funding (in the short term to boost capacity in the Culture Team
and deliver some activation events and activity)
• Reviewing the UK Shared Prosperity Fund
funded Cultural Pipeline Fund which has provided seed funding to
cultural organisations in the City
• Leveraging funding by connecting
culture to other city priorities as part of a joined-up approach,
including health, skills, education, and regeneration.

 

 

8.4

Alternatives
Considered and Rejected

 

 

8.4.1

Alternative Option 1: Sheffield
continues to use the previous strategy developed by the Culture
Collective. It was recognised that there was a need for further
engagement with the culture sector to create a strategic approach
and a framework that was representative of the whole sector. The
content of the Culture Collective’s strategy was embedded
into the new Culture Strategy.

 

 

8.4.2

Alternative Option 2: The Committee does not
approve the Culture Strategy for adoption and publication. The
likely result of such a decision would be that the Council would
suffer significant reputational damage in its credibility and
cultural leadership regionally and nationally. The Culture Strategy
has been co-funded by Arts Council England and the University of
Sheffield and has had significant support and engagement with the
cultural sector in Sheffield. Any rejection of the findings or lack
of commitment to the adoption would likely result in future
relationships with key funders and stakeholders being damaged.