BREAKTHROUGH FUND

Support for exceptional cultural entrepreneurs

£84,812 in 2011/12

The Breakthrough Fund aims to unlock significant developments and outcomes in the arts that would not otherwise be achieved. It responded to the compelling visions of outstanding individuals working across art forms and contexts in the role of ‘cultural entrepreneur’, offering transformational and timely support to them and their organisations to pursue these visions. There were three annual selection processes (2008, 09 and 10), which resulted in 15 grants totalling £3,879,765 – ranging from £83,000 to £360,000, with an average value of £255,000. During 2011/12, the first three of these grants completed (Felix Barrett and Colin Marsh/Punchdrunk Productions; Gareth Evans/Artevents; and David Jubb/Battersea Arts Centre). The remaining 12 will conclude at various points through to 2015.

As planned, Breakthrough Fund advisor Kate Tyndall undertook an interim evaluation of the programme to make an initial assessment of the outcomes and impacts of the Fund’s grants, consider the strategic role of this kind of support, and analyse the way the Fund was set up and run. She drew on a thorough analysis of nomination, application and grantee data across three years; research to identify notable UK and international comparators; phone and face-to-face interviews to establish perspectives on the programme and its place within the current UK context; and the evaluation and monitoring of all the grants.

This interim evaluation will be considered by the Foundation during the coming months and updated as further grants conclude. It will also incorporate, in due course, longitudinal reviews two years after the completion of each grant. We expect to start disseminating some of the learning emerging from this work during 2012/13, and will be developing a view on whether to renew or re-imagine the Fund.

Awards for Artists

Support for individual visual artists and composers

£416,462 in 2011/12

The Awards for Artists scheme supports individual artists to develop their creative ideas by providing funding with no strings attached over three years. The Awards are made on the basis of need, talent and achievement. In 2011, awards of £45,000, paid in three annual instalments, were made to eight recipients:

Composers

John Butcher, Larry Goves, Matt Rogers

Visual Artists

Janice Kerbel, Amalia Pica, John Smith, Sue Tompkins, Rose Wylie

During 2011/12, the Foundation undertook a review of the scheme to understand more about the impact it has had on the practice and lives of recipients; to update our knowledge of other prizes and awards in the UK; and to ensure that the scheme is still relevant and needed. The review resulted in trustees agreeing, in September 2011, to continue the scheme for a further five years and to increase each of the eight annual Awards to £50,000.

Findings from a mapping of other awards and prizes available to composers and artists in the UK are published on a new website (www.fundingforartists.org.uk), where users can search for sources of funding for individual artists and composers. We hope the resource will be useful to the wider sector.

The mapping exercise further confirmed the truly unique nature of the Awards for Artists in the UK.

ArtWorks: Developing Practice in Participatory Settings

Support for infrastructure development in artist training and development

£147,502 in 2011/12

Artists are at the forefront of delivering much of the work that the Foundation funds through its Open Grants. To be most effective, artists need training that will help develop not only their own practice, but also the skills required to work in participatory settings such as prisons or schools. Although training opportunities exist, they are far from comprehensive. Lack of coverage in certain art forms, geographical areas and settings is affecting the quality of work being delivered. ArtWorks therefore aims to achieve a significant shift in provision, infrastructure and opportunity that will directly affect quality.

We are supporting five consortia of artists, arts organisations, employers of artists and training providers to develop new approaches to training and continuous professional development in participatory arts. Each ‘pathfinder partnership’ is addressing specific issues to develop a better understanding of what constitutes quality in participatory work and what artists need in order to deliver this level of work.

In 2011/12, the partnerships carried out programmes of research and consultation, and began to deliver action- research based activities. Cross-pathfinder learning is a critical element of the work.

In October 2011, with support from the Cultural Leadership Programme, we held an event attended by 80 people – ‘Leading through Practice’ – that considered how artists lead in participatory settings. We commissioned research on further and higher education provision that will audit the initial training available to support this work. We also launched an online resource that is being populated as the initiative develops. We hope this will assist the wider sector in developing practices.

Project director Dr Susanne Burns is working closely with the pathfinder partnerships and an evaluation team, led by Tamsin Cox from DHA Communications, to develop a framework for dissemination of the learning that is emerging from the initiative.

Our Museum: Communities and Museums as Active Partners

Facilitating organisational change within museums and galleries

£1,435,747 in 2011/12

In July 2011, trustees allocated £3.2m to fund a new Special Initiative to support a process of development and organisational change within museums and galleries committed to active partnership with their communities, with the ambition of affecting the museum sector more widely.

Our Museum offers support for organisations to manage significant structural change. It is not about short-term project funding, but about facilitating organisational change so that participatory work becomes core, embedded, sustainable and less at risk of being marginalised when specific funding streams run out. In early 2012, grants were awarded to the following nine organisations: Belfast Exposed; Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives; Glasgow Museums; Hackney Museum; Museum of East Anglian Life; Tyne and Wear Museums and Archives; National Museum of Wales; Ryedale Folk Museum; and The Lightbox, Woking.

This initiative is enabling these museums and galleries to place community needs, values, aspirations and active collaboration at the core of their work; to involve communities and individuals in core decision-making processes; and to ensure that museums and galleries play an effective role in developing community skills, through volunteering, training and apprenticeships. The distinctive characteristic of Our Museum is a collaborative and reflective learning process through which institutions and communities share their experiences and learn from each other as critical friends. Our wider aim is to document and analyse principles and ways of working that bring communities and their values to the core of museums and galleries – and that can be applied to other institutions to achieve significant shifts in participatory practice within the sector nationwide.

Dr Piotr Bienkowski was appointed project director in July 2011 and is leading the programme’s development and implementation, working closely with an evaluation team of Gerri Moriarty, Sally Medlyn and Helen Corkery. They will run a session focused on the initiative at the Museums Association conference in Edinburgh in November 2012, titled ‘How can organisational change make you a better participatory museum?’

Open grants scheme

The Arts Open Grants scheme supports work that increases people’s enjoyment, experience and involvement in the arts. Our grants aim to enable organisations to experiment with and develop new ways of engaging with audiences and participants. This might mean introducing more people to traditional cultural activities or ensuring that the widest range of people have a greater opportunity to shape their own experience of the arts and culture.

Within this theme, we support work for people of all ages, with an emphasis on inter-generational initiatives where young people are one of the groups involved.

Grants awarded in 2011/12

Sorrell Foundation

£149,873 over 38 months

Saturday art clubs – where schoolchildren study art and design at their local further and higher education colleges – are nothing new. Established in the 1950s after the Festival of Britain had reignited a national drive to promote British art and innovation, the Saturday art clubs were, for a couple of decades at least, a hotbed for future creative entrepreneurs.

John and Frances Sorrell set up the Sorrell Foundation in 1999 after selling their hugely influential design consultancy. Both had cut their creative teeth at Saturday clubs before the idea was shelved in the 1970s, and they recognised the potential today’s art colleges can offer to young people beyond their student body.

“There’s a huge untapped resource available,” says Frances, “which can give young people an insight into the art and design sector and highlight the employment possibilities that, in most cases, their parents and teachers are unfamiliar with.”

The Sorrells revived the concept in 2009 and PHF was the first to endorse their commitment, facilitating an expansion in the number and geographical spread of participating colleges. By 2012, 17 colleges were committed, but with the announcement of government funding in response to the Henley Review of cultural education, and with other funders on board, the Sorrell Foundation is on target to have 50 colleges signed up – half of those available nationally – by 2014.

Under the programme, art colleges make links, often for the first time, with local schools. They invite pupils to enrol on a 30-week programme of Saturday events that, some participants are happy to admit, get them out of bed in the mornings. Guided by college staff and student volunteers, the pupils try their hands at drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, print-making, ceramics and digital graphics. A trip to London art galleries doubles up as a get-together for all participating clubs. Masterclasses from artists such as Anthony Gormley and Thomas Heatherwick confirm that fulfilling careers are achievable.

The young people stage an end-of-year show at Somerset House in London, where they proudly display their creativity.

“We celebrate their achievements and John and I make sure they all have their hands shaken and are given a certificate,” says Frances. “Some say it’s the first they’ve ever had.”

Ministry of Stories

£150,000 over three years

How do you get children interested in creative writing? Lure them into a ‘monster supplies’ shop of course, with tempting bars of ‘impacted earwax’ (clotted cream fudge) and tins of irresistible ‘zombie fresh mints’ (mint imperials). It is a strategy that is working well in Hoxton, East London, where unsuspecting children aged 8–18 are drawn into the clutches of volunteer writing mentors working at the back of the shop for the Ministry of Stories (MoS).

Inspired by the American author Dave Eggers, whose first writing workshop for children was fronted by a pirate shop in San Francisco, the MoS was set up by author Nick Hornby and co-directors Lucy Macnab and Ben Payne in 2010.

“We saw huge potential for the idea to translate into something we could do in the UK,” says Ben. “We chose Hoxton because not only is there a wealth of creative people – our potential volunteers – but there’s a high level of need with 75 per cent of local children from low income families.”

A six-month pilot was planned but, such was the response from local schools, young people and volunteers (1,000 came forward and 200 have now been trained), that the Ministry seamlessly continued with its stated aim of ‘creating a nation of storytellers’. Participants either attend on organised school trips, or through drop-ins and workshops like the after-school project to produce a series of children’s adventure tours of the local area.

From creating a local newspaper to composing soap scripts, the Ministry finds exciting ways to engage children in writing across all genres, conscious that the transition to secondary school can often be when a young writer’s interest dips. “Writing a comic or for a computer game is as appropriate as writing fiction or poetry,” says Ben. “It’s important to give young people an insight into writing in all its forms.”

The PHF grant has supported the MoS to grow. Ben and his fellow ‘ministers’ are now investigating different sustainable models for replicating the idea elsewhere in the UK. Acknowledging that a rich supply of creative volunteers underpins its success, he is confident that other projects, drawing inspiration from the Ministry, can take root across the country.

Meanwhile, at the back of the monster supplies shop, one inspired 10 year old writes: ‘There is a jelly stall at the Olympics and Sid the awesome panda is absolutely terrified…’

English National Ballet

£97,000 over 39 months

Inspired by the work of a dance programme for people with Parkinson’s Disease in Brooklyn, English National Ballet was determined that it too could make a difference for sufferers of this debilitating condition.

“I was convinced this was something we should be doing,” says Fleur Derbyshire-Fox, director of learning. “We had the resources to deliver the work with sensitivity and, as we have a national remit, we could – indeed, should – become UK ambassadors and make a real contribution.”

Since the launch of the first pilot sessions in 2010, English National Ballet has delivered regular sessions in London. Unlike other therapeutic interventions that use dance and music, its model is first and foremost an artistic intervention which has much wider benefits.

“It’s no good saying dance can help,” says Fleur. “You actually have to prove it.” And so, from day one, English National Ballet invited researchers from Roehampton University to analyse its programme. Through electronic monitoring, observation and interviews the academics were able to quantify the physical and psychological benefits.

One 70 year old participant commented: “Parkinson’s feels like having your feet nailed to the floor, but I feel good as soon as I come out of the class. I have a renewed feeling of confidence.”

“It’s a dance class, in a dance space, conducted by dance and music professionals,” says Fleur. “But with contributions from our costume designers, artists and musicians we also introduce the participants to the entire context of our work.”

Over a whole term, the participants work through different movements that stem from English National Ballet’s repertoire, building a dance vocabulary which they share in an informal performance and take away to their everyday lives. They also see the company perform, meet the dancers – some of whom they have worked with – and discuss the show afterwards over a cup of tea and a biscuit.

In much the same way the Brooklyn project has now rolled out across America, PHF funding has allowed English National Ballet to embark on a three-year expansion programme. Developing its delivery team and a strong network of four regional hubs, it will deliver short training courses and awareness days.

“We’ll be able to identify, train and support a dancer and musician in each area to lead pilots that replicate our London programme,” says Fleur. “And by working with regional Parkinson’s support groups we’ll expand this life-enhancing project to even more participants across the country.”

“Parkinson’s feels like having your feet nailed to the floor, but I feel good as soon as I come out of the class. I have a renewed feeling of confidence.”

– Dance for Parkinson’s participant

Ongoing grant

Royal Shakespeare Company

£180,000 over 37 months

Six years ago the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) radically changed the way it worked with schools. Moving beyond the traditional workshop, it set up a new programme, still based on the excitement of working towards a performance, but adding a significant teacher training element that cascades to other educators in nearby schools.

The Learning and Performance Network was borne out of the RSC’s assertion that young people get the most out of the playwright’s work when they ‘do Shakespeare on their feet, see it live and start it earlier’.

“I think it is an amazing experience actually performing Shakespeare in front of hundreds of people and just to have the chance to do something like that is amazing. I would love to do it again!” – Samuel, a pupil from St Peter’s Primary School, Nottinghamshire

Each year another ten hub schools are enrolled into the network. In turn, each recruits seven partner schools in their regions. These clusters then embark on a three-year action research programme which starts with the hub teachers – normally English or drama specialists – developing their classroom practice through inset days with RSC actors and with trips to Stratford. Three teachers from each hub also begin a postgraduate certificate in the Teaching of Shakespeare, run by the RSC in collaboration with the University of Warwick.

After the first cohort of schools had gone through the programme, the University of Warwick Research Centre was also commissioned to analyse its effect. “It gave us robust, externally verified evidence of the impact on students, teachers and the wider school community,” says the RSC’s director of education, Jacqui O’Hanlon. “And, because it is as interested in the journey as in the destination, PHF also helped us share our research and have an honest, open dialogue with our peers.”

In its second year, the programme spreads its wings to embrace the cluster schools and work towards a regional performance in which hundreds of young people get stuck into a 400 year old play, bringing it to life for their communities. One student, after taking part in a performance, wrote: “I think it is an amazing experience actually performing Shakespeare in front of hundreds of people and just to have the chance to do something like that is amazing. I would love to do it again!”

Year three will see more performing and sharing within the cluster, bringing the Bard’s work closer to a local audience.

“PHF has continually challenged us to deepen our connections with communities,” says Jacqui. “This year we are working with five new regional theatre partners, and the hub schools, to explore how we can do this. Our legacy should be to leave a community that is much more confident in sharing Shakespeare with everyone.”

A new grant of £320,000 over four years for the continuation of the Learning and Performance Network has been awarded and will start in the autumn of 2012.

Completed grant

Sistema Scotland

£234,000 over 28 months

“The Foundation was a crucial early partner for us,” says Sistema Scotland’s director and CEO, Nicola Killean. “They believed in our vision, gave us credibility and gave subsequent funders confidence in our ambition.”

That was less than four years ago. This summer, as part of the London 2012 Festival, young musicians from a deprived Scottish housing estate shared an open-air stage in their home town with the world-famous Simón Bolívar Orchestra, as their families watched with pride.

The Simón Bolívar Orchestra is one of dozens established as part of the world-renowned ‘El Sistema’ scheme in Venezuela, where classical music is used as an instrument of social change. It has produced thousands of self-confident, engaged citizens and a significant number of internationally acclaimed performers.

Inspired by their results, Nicola and her team set up the first UK project in 2008 in Raploch, a troubled area of Stirling. Although the neglected physical environment was being regenerated, the potential of local children was overshadowed by the consequences of long-term unemployment and low self-esteem.

“Our Big Noise programme is about scale and intensity,” says Nicola. “Learning an instrument is not easy and working en masse teaches young people about teamwork, cooperation and dedication.”

Big Noise Raploch now works with 450 children, from toddlers to 11 year olds. The older children eagerly practice four nights a week after school and five mornings during the holidays. The social benefits to the children, their families, schools and community have been well documented in a government report. A father of two, delighted by his children’s renewed focus, commented: “Confidence just oozes out of them both.”

“Learning an instrument is not easy and working en masse teaches young people about teamwork, cooperation and dedication.” – Nicola Killean, Sistema Scotland’s director and CEO

Although Raploch is geographically well-defined with a small, settled population, Sistema Scotland is convinced an adapted approach can work in other pressurised communities. “Music as a tool can be transferred to larger urban settings,” says Nicola. “We are investigating that now. Symphony orchestras should be in any community that needs one.”

The benefits of preventative intervention with young people can be difficult to measure, but Stirling Council is more than convinced of the ‘Big Noise effect’ and has committed to fund 75 per cent of the Raploch programme from 2013. Some of today’s young music-makers may become professional musicians, others may volunteer on the project or simply become dedicated parents listening to their own children perform. “It’s about generational change,” says Nicola, “and we are making that change right here in Raploch.”