Festivals Forum - Update Meeting (18 March 2005)

The second meeting of the Highlands and Islands Festival Forum took place after the Audience Development Conference 2005 in Inverness. Twenty representatives from festivals and other arts organisations were present at the meeting.

The general agenda of this, the second, meeting of the HI~Arts Festivals Forum was to update delegates on progress to date and to establish a means by which the project can move ahead effectively.

The following is a summary of the issues raised and an overview of where we think the consensus lies in taking the next steps.

The need for a Forum

Earlier in the day we had learned about the Association of Festival Organisers UK and the work they have been doing over the last 18 years. Although AFOUK is not an exact model for the proposed Highlands & Islands Forum (it largely represents traditional music festivals), many of the benefits of collaborative working were noted in terms of shared information, lobbying and advocacy. It was also noted that AFO has not been particularly active in Scotland and there is an opening for a new organisation to make a significant contribution.

HI~Arts has made representation to the Scottish Arts Council, suggesting that a regionally based Forum for the Highlands & Islands could be a model for a National initiative, with HI~Arts taking a developmental role in fostering it as an independently constituted group. We have not had a response to the proposal to date, but based on the outcome of this meeting we feel there is sufficient interest from delegates in continuing to develop the Forum as far as we can.

It was noted that we should be wary of duplicating the work being done by existing organisations, and that PAN already represents an established network working very effectively in the sector. However, PAN is very supportive of the Forum and we agree that by working collaboratively we can form a position of greater strength and support for festivals.

The HI~Arts team gave an update on developments with the web portal, and this will be added to in the coming months as a resource and information base. We have experienced a little difficulty in obtaining contact information from some potential members; this may be for any number of reasons but we feel this list will grow as the web resource becomes established.

The suggested model

It is proposed that an initial steering group is put in place consisting of Forum members with support from HI~Arts. At this meeting, eight delegates put their names forward. As you will see from the list below, this initial group represents an excellent cross section of experience and involvement and we are hugely encouraged by this level of support.

Ultimately what we hope is that there will be representation from all regions within the Highlands & Islands. The idea is that the Forum should be geographically represented rather than led by genre or style. The steering group, which ideally should meet 2 or 3 times a year, can help develop that regional representation through “leading by example”. In other words, regions not currently represented would begin to see the benefits of membership as things progress and be encouraged to get more involved.

As this model develops it will hopefully be clear that extending the project to a National level will bring greater benefits – through advocacy, lobbying and greater access to resources and networking possibilities.

We discussed briefly the idea of membership subscription. While it is not being suggested at this point, it was noted that this can promote a sense of commitment among members. It may be a subject to come back to, but would be a group decision and not one imposed by HI~Arts.

The role of HI~Arts

The main remit for HI~Arts at this point will be to facilitate and co-ordinate the development of the Forum and to continue working on the web portal for at least the next twelve months. HI~Arts will hand over this role to an independent group as and when that group is sufficiently stable to carry the project forward, but will continue to work in support of the group wherever possible thereafter.