MINUTES. Creative Scotland Board Monday 28 March am Waverley Gate, Edinburgh

Transcription

1 MINUTES Creative Scotland Board Monday 28 March am Waverley Gate, Edinburgh Present: Sir Sandy Crombie (SC) (Chair) Peter Cabrelli (PC) Gwilym Gibbons (GG) excluding Item 4 and 11 Steve Grimmond (SG) to Item 3 Professor Robin MacPherson (RM) Gayle McPherson (GM) Barclay Price (BP) Dr Gary West (GW) Apologies: Ruth Wishart (RW) In attendance: Andrew Dixon (AD) Venu Dhupa (VD) Alyson Hagan (AH) Karen Lannigan (KL) Iain Munro (IM) Caroline Parkinson (CP) Wendy Wilkinson (WW) Vickie Ambrose (VA) Chief Executive Director of Creative Development Director of Finance & Operations Head of HR Director of Creative Development Director of Creative Development Deputy Director Culture Division, Scottish Government Senior PA 1. Apologies and Declarations of Interest Sir Sandy Crombie welcomed all to the meeting and referred to the neat and tidy office space. Andrew Dixon explained that the clean desk policy is working really well and it is also good to see external clients hotdesking in the public spaces. It was noted that there has been a positive reaction from visitors. The following declarations of interest were noted: Item 4 & 11 - Gwilym Gibbons agreed to leave the room. Item 4 - Steve Grimmond agreed to leave the room. Item 3 - Sir Sandy Crombie referred to his role as Vice Chair 1

2 Item 8 Item 8 RSAMD in relation to the items in the Chief Executive update. - Steve Grimmond referred to being a partner in the project. - Robin MacPherson referred to Edinburgh Napier contact with the organisation. 2. Minutes of previous meeting, matters arising and action points 2.1 The minutes of 28 February 2011 were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting Matters Arising Item Creative Scotland Tax Status Alyson Hagan reported she had received confirmation from charities law advisors Maclay Murray and Spens (MMS) that their submission to OSCR on Creative Scotland s behalf had been unsuccessful. OSCR s view was that Creative Scotland would be likely to fail the charities test due to some of Creative Scotland s functions as stated within the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act The purpose of this submission was to determine if OSCR would support Creative Scotland s proposition that it met the charitable test in relation to function/purpose, if successful this was to support the submission to HMRC for charitable status for tax purposes. AH reported that she would be discussing the next steps with MMS and tax advisors KPMG, which would now be in relation to seeking specific tax reliefs, as opposed to charitable status for tax purposes. Item 3.6 Pensions it was noted that the Board accepted the text. 2.5 It was noted that in general the aim is to get to rolling programmes whenever we can on investment programmes. Film programmes would be without deadlines. 3. Chief Executive Update Corporate Plan - The Plan was released on 15 March 2011 and a very good response has been received. Andrew Dixon advised that he had recently had the opportunity to brief the Labour and Liberal Democrat MSPs for Culture who received it positively. It was noted that the Corporate Plan has proved its use for feeding into Manifestos. One of the challenges is the volume of responses of people coming back to the organisation wanting to do things. It was noted that the forthcoming Roadshows will be used to brief partners. There will also be a Gaelic version of the Corporate Plan available on the website. Communications a discussion took place with regard to the Communication Strategy and it was noted that the Board were happy with the direction in which the Strategy is going. It was highlighted that 2

3 Creative Scotland has received approximately 70 applications for the current Director of Communications vacancy. The recruitment process is underway and the first round of interviews are scheduled to take place on 6 April It is aimed to have someone in place by August It was noted that as Creative Scotland are keen to move forward with a number of measures, temporary support maybe brought in until the successful candidate is in place Local Authority budgets one area of concern is Aberdeenshire who took a 40% cut. Andrew Dixon attended a recent meeting with an approach to improve advocacy. If there is no improvement of the situation after one year, we may need to reconsider our investment to some of the organisations. It was agreed that Andrew Dixon would keep Board Members updated on progress. Action to AD UK budgets it was noted there will be a significant number of organisations that will cease to be funded in England this week. Winter Weather - the Government have agreed to winter weather allocation of 250,000 to Creative Scotland to support theatres affected by the snow. Film Production Studio Caroline Parkinson provided an overview of how the recommendation for the Clyde Studio to move forward was made. It is hoped that this will be a commercial operation that responds to market need. Further public sector contributions may be required to ensure it succeeds. British Film Commission National Advisory Board agreed that Caroline Parkinson be Creative Scotland s representative and asked the Board for approval. The Board approved this. Place Partnerships Venu Dhupa provided the Board with an example of how Place Partnerships are effectively working with Dumfries and Galloway - infrastructural development, more audience development etc. Speirs Lock additional work will be undertaken in relation to mapping strategically to inform an investment by Creative Scotland - further updates will be provided. 4. Foundation Review Venu Dhupa reported that the paper provided is at the conclusion of Phase 2 out of the 3 phases. We want Creative Scotland to be seen as an organisation that encourages development and ambition rather than a source to acquire funding. Phase 3 by setting up FO and FXO we inadvertently set up a hierarchy. 3

4 Organisations really need to consider their purpose rather than output before thinking about becoming an FO. It may be we decide to go for strategic commissioning rather than increasing the number of FOs Theatre Venu Dhupa provided an overview of the theatre ecology and it was agreed that in several cases theatre funding would be confirmed for two years subject to the broader review. Venu Dhupa provided an overview of the organisations where FO status had been recommended to be withdrawn. Further proposals will come to the June Board meeting. Communication we are in the process of creating a Communications Plan. It was suggested that Board Members be provided with a script of what the core messages are. It was noted that Creative Scotland will be advising organisations where FO status has been withdrawn not to communicate externally until all work has been completed in June. The recommendations submitted were approved by the Board and it was agreed that Venu Dhupa would produce briefs of sectoral reviews at a future Board Meeting. Action to VD 5. Strategy for Young People Arts and Creativity Iain Munro provided an overview of this Report which proposed a brief for a National Strategy for Young People, Arts and Creativity in Scotland. The Board was requested to approve the Brief for a National Strategy for Young People, Arts and Creativity in Scotland this was approved subject to further consultation with the Education Sector. The Board also agreed that Dr Gary West would Chair the Steering Group which will support the development of this Strategy. 6. Operational Plan Iain Munro provided an overview of the intent for the Operational Plan using the Report provided. It was discussed that this Plan is a key tool in capturing data from the start of a project and will continue throughout its life-cycle. It was noted that a consultation process with staff has commenced to provide input to the detailed content and this should be completed by the end of April st Century Financing Report 7.1 Andrew Dixon provided an overview of the Report provided and requested 4

5 the Board to note this and consider which areas they would like Creative Scotland to progress further work within the next 12 months. The Board was also asked to agree that the Report be made available for wider discussion with other partners. 7.2 The following was noted: There appears to be an error with regard to the games investment in Scotland Crowd sourcing a priority Festival Management Programmes at Universities were in place Andrew Dixon advised that the document was not edited when it was received but as there have been several suggestions, a meeting would be arranged with the writers to look at this further. Andrew Dixon referred to a report produced by Universities Scotland - high level analysis which might be useful for the Board to see in relation to creative industries. It was agreed this would be brought to a future Board Meeting. Action to AD Subject to the suggested amendments, the Board agreed for the Report to be shared with other partners. 8. Theatre Workshop Inspire Iain Munro provided an overview of the report provided and recommended that the Board approve the release 571,308. The Board approved the recommendation. 9. Management Accounts projection to year end and budget reallocations 9.1 Alyson Hagan advised the Board that due to unforeseen and high levels of leave within the Finance Team in relation to family bereavement and sickness, updated Management Accounts had not been completed as scheduled and were therefore not available for this meeting. 10. Update on Edinburgh Festivals Andrew Dixon provided an overview of the Report provided. It was agreed that a survey of the Edinburgh Festivals from last year would be presented at a future Board Meeting. Action to AD 5

6 11. Any Other Business Film Investment Fund Andrew Dixon and Caroline Parkinson provided an overview of the paper provided, answered questions and requested the Board s approval. The Board approved the paper. 12. Date of next meeting 12.1 Friday 24 June am - Edinburgh 6