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UK Dance Manifesto
A Chance for Dance Symposium By Carole Edrich |
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The daytime session was intended for those wishing to lobby and fund dance. Steve Carey; lobbyist and owner of a City PR company, explained in some detail the workings of Central, Regional and Local Government before two inspirational presentations by Assis Carreiro; Director of Dance East, and Cheryl Butler; funding co-ordinator and Director for Arts in Eastleigh. The major points of the day can be summarised under the headings; timing, planning, organisation, communications and tools, believe in what you do and make it good and the importance of unity. Timing
 © Dance UK
Bruce Sansom set the scene: “GCSEs in dance have increased by 125% since 2001 and after the film Billy Elliot the number of male applications to the Royal Ballet have increased from 30% to 70%, In 1978 Dance Umbrella attracted 5,000 people and last year the 27th Dance Umbrella festival attracted 20, 000. There are big and important issues to be addressed in such a diverse sector, and coming to a clear and succinctly set of ambitions for the Dance Manifesto was a difficult task delivered beautifully.” Sir Gerald Kaufman talked about the importance and all-pervasiveness of dance and its power to transform lives and finished by saying; “All artistic activities can not fund themselves wholly. Funding is not simply about paying for a performance, it’s making sure that dance is an integral part of the school curriculum. That’s why we regard it as an appropriate matter of attention by parliament and why we have set up an all party dance committee. I can not overestimate the importance of it in combating crime and improving social and health aspects, as we found in our report. It is an absolutely marvellous committee. I’ll finish by saying that one of my posters shows gene Kelly in Broadway in singing in the rain. What does he say? He says < < Gotta dance!> > ” Arlene Phillips started by talking about how Strictly Come Dancing had made social dancing more acceptable for men and its advantage as an exercise form. She continued by emphasising the fact that dancing transforms lives and that it is especially beneficial in schools, giving children who may not be academically gifted can feel comfortable, valued and accepted and finished by imploring everyone to work towards getting dance into schools. Christina Chrissou talked of the constant process of lobbying and fund raising that is vital for Akademi’s success. She talked about how their work fostered talent and provided fair wages and teaching opportunities to many dancers and described Akademi’s work on inclusivity. She concluded by saying that the Dance Manifesto really does represent their goals and that she was at the symposium because she doesn’t want to wait for 20 years for politicians to talk about dance in the same way they talk about wind turbines now. Jane Robinson talked about the Music Manifesto, drawing parallels with what she saw in the Dance Manifesto’s work. She finished by emphasising the need to make a call for action to those who expressed an interest and by repeating that there is power in working together. Caroline Miller called for support in the first phase of the Dance Manifesto, adding a request to write to your local MP and councillors by the end of 2006 to the points already summarised. She then finished by discussing the power of petitions and names and asked each member of the audience to get three of their friends to join the manifesto. Mike Lee talked about how the Olympics campaign was planned and managed, injecting a level of pragmatism and structure born from his own experience. He discussed how important it was to keep media interest high between PR milestones, the importance of building broad support outside of specialist areas and of understanding your audiences and then talked about the Cultural Olympiad between 2008 and 2012. Bruce Samson summarised and opened the floor to debate, the major points of which were:
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Transcript Caroline Miller: Introduction (Director, DanceUK) It’s commonly understood that while the industry is good at marketing dance, building audiences and getting press coverage, it’s not so good at communicating with politicians. It’s important to do this because it helps them (politicians) understand the resources that dance needs Today will include an overview of DanceUK lobbying kit, a review of central, local and regional government with regards to lobbying and some inspirational case studies We need to learn how to communicate with them (politicians) so they know why dance matters. First introduce Steve Carey. Steve Carey runs a City PR company and also lobbies gave a comprehensive overview of the structure of government, primarily at national levels but also dipping into regional and local levels. He has also worked PR for 2 local authorities and has been a Liberal Democrat Councillor and case studies providing some practical, real-life examples how some people have successfully lobbied for dance.
Steve Cary talked about the structure and language used by local and regional government, parliamentary and government forums and then went on to discuss the similarities and differences between lobbying and public affairs. Then he ran briefly through the dance toolkit before a very brief questions and answers session. Lobbying is the systematic effort to influence pubic policy through legal methods. Dance UK is working towards get a coordinated and systematic approach to local and regional levels to influence public relations and the government. The worst time to lobby is when you want something – you will be unknown to the politicians and have not established a level of communication, understanding or trust. The best time to lobby is when you can offer something. He went on to say that one of the challenges of the day was to find out what special thing each of the delegates can bring that will benefit and support the dance manifesto and in their own lobbying. He also asked the delegates to think about what they wanted to achieve, both collectively in the manifesto and individually as groups and organisations. Since most dance organisations do not have massive resources, so they need to target their resources to get maximum benefit from it. There is no point in writing to all 646 MPs because most letters will go in the bin, so he said he’d discuss the way of deriving the most effective methodology in terms of targeting the resources that delegate organisations have. To do this it’s necessary to understand a little about Central, regional and local government and where lobbying is most useful and appropriate. Parliament is a legislation factory that scrutinises government, raises taxes, debates issues and is the highest court in the UK. The primary legislation is an Act of Parliament but other instruments are delegated legislation, statutory instruments and private bills (these are promoted by an organisation, railway or local authority or organisation such as Transport for London or public Region). Before a bill is published a Green Paper is issued. This is a really useful consultation document which throws out ideas, articulates issues, is useful for feedback. In this it is possible for anyone to provide comments, discuss what is going to affect them and make suggestions. These comments are quite frequently taken on board. A White paper then draws all comments in together and publishes them. Rather than going straight to the first, second and third reading of a Bill, the government now says they have “draft bills” in which they are “minded to legislate”. The idea of this is to provide an opportunity for a joint committee to look at the bill in a less controversial or political way. The process of production of a bill is key to anyone who would like to influence the course of legislation. Parliament also keeps tabs on the Executive which also has an important bearing on what lobbyists want to do. Monday to Thursday every week there are oral questions in the House, when the Minister of one department of the government is present to answer questions. Any MP can question a Minister, the questions are written down, go to ballot, are shuffled around and picked. This gives a great opportunity to question a respective Minister about what they are and aren’t doing and the same is true for parliamentary questions to the Prime Minister (although Tony Blair decided it would be more convenient to take questions once a week for 30 minutes instead of every Tuesday and Thursday for 15 minutes). It has been normal to ask the PM what his diary is for the day, the very first thing for the day. He’ll get up and respond and then a supplementary question is given about which he has no idea. Nowadays an increasing number of people put the real question into the ballot as it increases the likelihood of getting a better response from Mr Blair. Any MP can put down a question to a government Minister which is usually answered in writing by a junior Minister. This is a useful lobbying tool as you can get your MP to ask questions that you couldn’t ask the Minister yourself. Questions are also debated by different parties, as they can choose to have a four hour debate on a particular subject. This is quite useful because with a concerted effort it is possible to get the government to debate issues that are of interest to you. General debates (called Adjournment Debates) also can be instigated by individual MPs and take place at end of sitting, but these are of 30 minutes duration at 10:00pm. The first person speaks for 15 or 20 minutes and gives others the opportunity to respond. This is useful because it gets a response from a Minister, gets your subject debated in the House and is extracted to Hansard afterwards. While the Minister has to attend an answer an Adjournment Debate, a new set of debates are also possible. Westminster hall debates sit at same time as House of Commons Main Chamber and can be quite useful to raise issues particularly if your cause is supported by a group of MPs who will challenge the motion. Early day motions are Early Day challenges but the actual Early Day never comes. This makes Early Day motions a good way to test the level of support for a motion. An Early Day potion is put down by a minimum of 6 MPs who try to get cross party support, evidenced by other MPs who sign a copy and hand in at the voting office. The following day an official report declares the motion, who is interested and who is supporting it. The more signatures on such a motion, the more likely it is the government department will think they should do something about it so Dance UK urges all dance organisations to get their MP to support and sign the Early Day motion on the Dance manifesto that they are currently trying to achieve. Petitions to the House are presented by a local MP, and it’s possible to get a couple of Ministers to say something in the house (or if they don’t want to, to table the petition). While they are not debated or voted upon they are printed in Hansard and the government department concerned receives a copy. There are a variety of different types of committees in the House which work bills. A relatively new innovation, select committees have also become quite powerful. There are also departmental watchdogs, set up to shadow each government department, and their enquiries produce reports. The government must respond to reports and once responded there is a debate, normally in Westminster Hall which challenges Minister on their response so this is another useful mechanism for lobbying parliament. In June 2004 the Department for Culture, Media and Sport produced such a report on Dance. That was a massive report. 71 organisations and individuals gave evidence. Next time that happens it will be much more than that, because of the information that Dance UK has gained as part of working on the manifesto which will work on the day and the expectation that other interested dance organisations (such as those who attended the Dance Manifesto meeting) will also put forward their views of what is important about dance The information and recommendations in this report and are key to where we go from here, to the way the Manifesto is drawn and to how Dance UK is challenging the government. It’s important that lobbying parties can say “3 years ago you said this, what have you done about it?” If you’re planning on talking to your MP about dance tell him or her about what the government said it is going to do, and from this you can ask him to ask a question about it in parliament. Producing the next report will again question Ministers as well as other individuals and organisations which encourages people to concentrate. Further opportunities for concerted, high level lobbying regarding this report is when it is reviewed and when it’s debated in Westminster Hall. It’s also possible to lobby at the level of Regional Assembly, local government, County and district council levels. Regional Assemblies are relatively new and all different, with the London Assembly little more than a glorified local authority, the Scottish parliament which makes law within defined area, the Welsh Assembly which is more than local government and less than Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly which can’t agree whether to sit or not. Local government may be comprised of some or all of unitary authorities, committees and parishes. Unitary authorities are like London boroughs and responsible for education, social services, planning, environmental health and parts of the Arts. County Councils and responsible for planning, highways, waste disposal, social services and arts and leisure. District councils are smaller and more local and deal with housing, planning appeals, not street, arts and leisure, rubbish and recycling as well as licensing of pubs, restaurants, theatres, community halls and anything that requires a public performance license. Some councils (like the London Assembly) have an elected mayor with no cabinet who is elected to a similar job to city mayors. Unlike the kind of mayor who opens fetes, they have phenomenal power are effective politicians and decision makers and can be valuable allies in the lobbying process.
Assis Carreiro I didn’t’ really have any training, I just created my campaign as what I thought would work. It’s what we’re doing and about using our skills and what we think will work and the contacts that will work to make changes. In arts we probably aren’t yet prepared to tackle this area increasing aspect of our jobs. We’re great with multi tasking, but when it comes to lobbying it s big scary world. We can also precious about what we do. We have dedicated our lives to it and believe that others should be as passionate as us. To be honest it’s not – Dance is often at the bottom of other peoples’ agendas and way behind things like child poverty, NHS closures, crime and terminal illness. However, we know that dance can be transformative and can be in and enhance other people’s lives in other ways, and need to get this across in a way that is attractive to the purse-string holders and influencers on committees. We really need to believe in our product and be sure it is of the highest quality, It has to be world class and can’t compromise on quality or become complacent. No matter how good you are at lobbying, if your product doesn’t live up to expectations it will be found out. So it’s quality that makes it in the end This organisation came to Suffolk 7 years ago but has been in existence 19 years. It has done well and now has a good profile and is well known in this community. When I arrived in Suffolk, many had no idea what we did. The Board of Directors were arts professionals who had been on the Board for many years and were lovely people but not what we needed. I spent time travelling up and down the east of England to find out how we could work together. It became clear that the name wasn’t right so we changed it to Dance East to better fit the remit. I was lucky because the new Chairman helped me resource the Board. We redid the constitution, instituted a 4 year turnover of Board members and made sure it was possible to get rid of dead wood. It was very hard work and we brought on someone to facilitate a Board Retreat and skills audit. That was useful in itself and also because half the Board realised that they didn’t’ have the skills and left. You need Boards that work for you. There’s no point in surrounding yourself with friends for protection but still need to be grown up about it. They are after all your employers and can hire and fire you In the early days it was hell finding the right Board members because neither of us knew anyone. It was hell in the beginning, I would tear my hair out wanting to place someone on the board but now have a queue! We turned to the Board bank in arts and businesses and had a maximum of 12 board members. Now we only appoint based on skills audits. If we need someone with knowledge of the law we look for them, if we need someone with business acumen or an accountant, or someone artistic who has crazy ideas we go and look for them. It’s really important to have people with experience and contacts, who can open doors with the movers and shakers in the community. Some might be social butterflies without jobs but that’s what we need because if you have someone wining and dining the right people you can me more sure that you have access to people. Basically the bigger the black book with phone numbers, the more doors they open for you. We also now have a non-elected development council. They help us raise money and if appropriate we can bring them into the development council without compromising the organisational structure. It also became clear that we need de proper facilities. We brought in a consultant in terms of where we should be. Don’t be hoodwinked into taking someone as recommendation, get to know the consultant and see what work they have done. We had some nightmare situations with people who were paid far too much money and were useless. We were really lucky with Devlin who has since become a good friend and he pointed out that whilst we had been as in Ipswich in 19 years we had no dialogue with them so there was no reason why we should stay there. That in itself opened doors. In the first year we didn’t have a venue. The local theatre had been closed for two years, so got in touch with Alborough productions and I said “if I do an application for 3 years of funding can we put on dance?” We are now in our seventh year. We got lists of every councillor and district councillor and our Chief Executive started inviting them to shows. Shows were first ones were safe. In the early days we gave away free tickets but now do that much less. We found that if we plied them with alcohol and gave them a good experience they came back That’s what we have continued to do. Some people were reluctant. After each production everyone sends email notes about who each guest is and what they are interested in. One man gave us £110,000 because we were able to appeal to him once we discovered his mother was friends with Sir Frederick Ashton. It’s important to listen to people and get the background for these things. In terms of the dance house, we found this wonderful ballroom so I went to the Chief Executive of Ipswich borough council and asked. I was told that we couldn’t have that but could have the waterfront. So we found someone willing to include us in economic development plans and the woman, who is now retired has become the honorary arts officer and it’s because of her that Dance East was included in all the requirements. We didn’t ask for it but it came, and we made sure that it was never forgotten by lobbying and got the same architect back for later developments. The first Chief Executive freaked out when he heard that I was going for an £800,000 price tag. Now the price tag is £3.9 million. The original Chief Executive who told us to move to the waterfront came to us asking to join the board to assist the development. I said no, you can be the Chairman because he makes a phone call and people speak to him. Now they have an arts officer and we even get an annual grant from Ipswich, but it took a long time. We also made a £7.9 million internal a deal with Ipswich and the regional development agency. The application was a huge thing and I don’t know what we did to get it. But one of my rules is never say no to an invitation and being passionate about what you’re doing, and believing in it helps. Our Hearts and Minds group is always working, they meet our local MP twice a year, when there are issues at the higher end they deal with them and it ripples down. The other think that has been great is look at projects that you do that are high profile. In 2000 we got Estelle Morris, who is really friendly and spoke from her heart to write to people about this. The Permanent Secretary also always came to this, so it’s important to make sure the right people are on your mailing lists. Get to know your MP. Our MP was one of the first to join the all party group. Since MPs need to be re-elected, they love getting their photo in the paper and it has really worked. We have a lot of conservative MPs and some of them are rarely regional dance attendees, but if someone sits next to them at dinner, you can often interest them in some way. Eventually you sieve through the people you meet to get to the right ones. One gentleman called me one day and said he want to take you out lunch because he would like to introduce me to someone who can help. Marie Ellen is a most amazing woman and on our Board, and if it wasn’t for her we wouldn’t have raised the money. When it came to the crunch we realised we had to raise 1.5 million privately in competition with 3 other capital projects in the community. We are nearly there, but it’s terrifying asking for money. We have strategies and sometimes it takes three years. You have got to get the timing right and it hast to feel right or it won’t work. We even had to design and print material that made sense for our appeal. We didn’t realise how appropriate it was at the time, but the branding is embraced by everyone and shows that we are working for all. You can’t make mistakes, can’t ignore people and must meet expectations. One event we held was a very upmarket ball, which for many guests was their first experience of our organisation. Over the following four weeks we invite and track every stakeholder even though we’ll probably never meet some of them again. So that’s how we do it. I have an amazing team to help me. None of us are professional fund raisers but it’s still the majority of what we do. Summary Steve Carey The worse time to lobby is when you want something. 60% of the work is not asking for money but becoming part of the scene. If you take 3 years to get £100,000, it’s not bad. The key thing is to know what you bring to the party, what is your special remit (part is obviously getting MPs in the paper) and part is getting the issues out there and asking how you can help. What do you want to achieve? More arts and dance centres? More people to dance? Can you find a hall for a local group? Who are your target audiences? Audiences come in 3 categories. The primary audience makes the decision to enable your wish list to come about, the second is those who influence people like the prime Minister, the leader you are canvassing, the borough councillor or civil servant. Advisors who don’t make decisions can still influence the people who do. The tertiary audiences are your allies. Think about education and arts, employment rights, professional development for the department of work and pensions, health related aspects to promote dance as part of the obesity challenge in the UK, education and skills for schools, trade and industry in regional development. Look for the role. Secondary spokespeople at a national level are also important. It’s easier for a Minister to take something on board if he knows he’s not going to get any flack for it. There are also MPs and peers with an interest in dance such as the former Speaker in the House (now in the House of Lords) whose bio says she was a Tiller Girl . Keep an eye at what your stakeholders are doing (Civil servants, local government officers, think tanks etc) and see if they might have an interest in helping promote your message or even getting some of their contacts. Tertiary spokespeople are your own board members, sponsors, membership groups. See who will sponsor or sign up as supporters (the programme of Sadlers’ Wells production has an entire page on sponsors for that, and the telescreens at Sadlers Wells have been donated by Bloomberg too). Use your allies, people who are signed up and committed. Get to their contact list, get their bums on seats and their contacts may well take it as a privilege to be invited. Take that bit of the manifesto that is important to them and talk about it, invite someone as local councillor and get their picture in the paper. Think about what is the best route, who do you know who needs something that you can provide and have your decision maker facilitating or in the middle. Look for a Ministerial group or decision makers, brief them so that they can appear informed wherever they are. Use the Dance Manifesto and toolkit to promote the government’s agenda. Tailor your activities and focus them. Let one or two local groups approach your local MP and say what they’re doing and that there is a prize giving that they would like the MP to attend, then get to know him there. Write letters to the media, to MPs, to local councillors, to your membership if you’re a membership organisation. Tell them that you have signed up to the Dance Manifesto and are talking to local MPs and councillors, say if they’d like to help please sign a letter or petition but don’t give out standard letters – everyone glances at them and gives a standard response. Public interest is a politician’s currency so use it. When you actually get to talk to people give them something to do. Never let them come in or leave unless they have made a commitment to do three things. If you are talking to an MP, ask them to sign the Early Day motion and talk about how few school teachers are qualified in dance, or how few people get dance lessons in their area. That gives the MP an opportunity to join the all party group discussions on behalf of their own constituency and then you can go back to them again and again. There is nothing worse than getting an MP, councillor or Peer who wanders into your event having been invited and a member of your team doesn’t know. Anyone who is at the event on the bight needs to be briefed and to understand the message, you need people to meet and greet, to look after and to show them around. Looking at political party websites only one party has formulated a policy on dance and our lobbying should change that. The Lobbying Toolkit DanceUK has tried to keep this short and concise. It’s object is to help interested organisations make the case for dance, help them see how they can help meet government agendas and decide on the best way to get involved. Choose your message and your target audience. One letter is not a campaign but needs to be followed up. Manage meetings, addresses, access and look for other lobbying activities and tools that can be used. Learn the terminology and how to treat your stakeholders. The Toolkit also has a simple guide on how to write a press release. One trick I use if I want to start lobbying is to write the press release first, then turn it into a parliamentary briefing by changing a few appropriate words. Choose your words to get as much impact as possible in a brief time. If your briefing is appropriate and timely it will be used because each politician wants to impress peers and higher-ups. Becoming knowledgeable on obscure information gives them a tick in the whip’s box and helps them climb the parliamentary hierarchy. Use as many sources as possible to quote from and to government. Nobody can write your campaign material for you because what you decide is down to you, but bear in mind that what you say should contribute not just your local, regional or national campaign but will also underpin what everyone else does.
4 local councillors in chief executive, deputy chief executive mayor and mayoress, Cheryl has been central to building this. I first came to Eastleigh as their Arts Officer, arriving when it was bankrupt I had no BS, no table and no phone. For the first 6 months you couldn’t even order a pencil but you could talk to people about what was being done and Eastleigh had nothing other than a few amateur dramatic companies. I wanted to make an impact so we did a year of the Arts and did trials of different art forms. We found that the one people most responded to was dance. Since we didn’t have the money or resources to be good at everything that was where we focussed, even though the local officers told me that I was completely insane and that nobody would come to Eastleigh and work in dance. I wrote to everybody – it was important to do some education work in a place where nothing had happened. The Royal Ballet had been given a remit to do something where nothing was happening and got back to me. They worked with us for two years and when I told the then Chief Exec we were going to work with the Royal Ballet he said don’t be stupid, my daughter works for the Royal Ballet and when I talked to my contact she said that his daughter would be visiting in a few weeks for a project they were doing in one of the schools. We took over a sports hall with 3,000 performers onstage. The Royal Ballet got changed in the badminton court and suddenly the borough’s profile for dance shot up and we had all the schools in the borough asking for help. What works really well with councillors is other people’s money. If you say “if you give me some money I’ll double it for you”. We got a little money going and set up a dance trust and got the first person working one day a week. We decided that if we were going to do dance we’d be the best at it and took up an office mantra of world domination. We’re still working on that mantra and are nearly there but it’s hard work. I’ve swept floors in community centres, made the orange juice, put on events in community halls that were inappropriate for the events but by the time the lottery started we wanted to make sure that every school could do a GCSE in dance and that colleges did dance degrees. Starting with the Dance Council I started to set up and fund my own building. The old town hall that hadn’t been used for years seemed appropriate although if you shouted in the wrong place the floor gave way. Getting other peoples money was a challenge we had to meet because the council had none and on the day the National Lottery was launched I said that we would apply and they were going to give us money. I was told not to be silly, but we put in our application and scored some of the highest points in the lottery and got one of the first grants. It wasn’t a huge amount of money, but 10 years ago we were able to open The Point – a purpose built dance centre of 300 seats with dance studios. We said it would be a centre of excellence for dance, other arts and community use and even had a presentation to celebrate 10 years of the National Lottery. In Eastleigh you can dance from age 3 months (we have a baby bounce class) right up till you are 80 or older. We have 25 classes a week in the studio and 100 other outreach projects, affect 8,000 to 10,000 people a year and have a dance festival with 5,000 participants a year. We have performance groups and help the new or younger companies with marketing, press, PR, business contacts, media presentations and we are always looking out for rising new choreographers to work for us on 2 year residencies. Councillors don’t help because they love dance, but because we take lots of young people off the street, contribute to the local economy, help in town centre regenerations and bring in a lot of money and resources to local youth movements. We are now raising the profile of dance to such an extent that they get positive column inches. This is our first 10 years and we have just set the building blocks. We have new build and additional workshops and I have my eye on the building across the road. That will enable us to do more creative work, offer more productions, rehearsal and residency space and we’ll double our footprint. Council leaders help us now because what we did made the people of Eastleigh happy and so long as we continue to give them positive stuff they will support us. It’s about speaking the language they understand and focusing on what they would go for. From being on my own I know have about 20 full time staff at work, 30 part time staff and 60 freelancers all working primarily in dance. I’d ask you to come to see for yourselves but this season’s seats are sold out. We managed all of this with no product and nothing at all so you can. Be passionate about things, find the right people and don’t be ashamed to look for private money. You’ll be hearing from us because now we have the local area tied up we’re looking at the next phase, so I look forward to seeing you on the next journey. Steve Summary That’s a phenomenal insider’s view of local government. Set your targets, understand what you want to achieve, plan what you want to do and how you deliver and then do it
Q – I’m curious to know how much power do Peers have and how do we know whether they do show up – when do we know we’re wasting our time after someone A – That’s a bit hit and miss, but you can normally narrow down those who are interested and knowledgeable by looking at their biographies in the website or by going to the all-party group which will give you a nucleus. Once the all party group is formally launched expect a letter. Q – What is the best way to monitor how government reacts to this report and lobbying A - One of the people in this evening’s debate will be the Chairman of that committee and was of the book. Ask him. Don’t write the question, raise the issue, say we’re trying to do this, how can I find out can you help and what do you need. Give the local MP 3 or 4 examples of questions they’d like to raise. Q – There is a fantastic emphasis in manifesto on heath and activities for older people, but is this a wrong time for lobbying? Blair is going, Brown will restructure. Is there a risk that all your work will get lost with the spending review, a change of focus of the economy and the Iraq war? A - Money is always tight in local government. The worst time to lobby is when you want something. There will inevitably be a shift in Ministerial responsibilities That said, some of those Ministers will be moving up in the departments they are in, they may be out after reshuffle or promoted, If the person you talk to has specialist knowledge he might be able to join the all party group, might be useful elsewhere for access or if he is promoted, so much the better. Ministerial and civil servants generally stay within their departments and can easily say to a new Minister that they thought he might like an enclosed briefing or maybe invite them to visit and see what is being done in your community. Don’t back the wrong horse, do an each-way bet.
 © Carole Edrich
Evening session – The Dance Manifesto
Jane Robinson, Deputy Director, National Campaign for the Arts, who can talk about what the Music Manifest
This debate rides the back of a real surge of interest in dance. At the moment the media coverage is massive, including that on the Birmingham Royal Ballet, adverts promoting various products using dance, the lady in Hong Kong who paid a ballroom champion £8 million to teach her how to be a ballroom dancer, strictly come dancing with its massive viewing figures. Arts Council statistics say that dance is the fastest growing art form which has more evenly spread profiles in terms of age, social glass and other groups than any other art. Dirty Dancing took £6 million 6 weeks before it opened and in schools the only thing more popular than dance classes is football. GCSEs in dance have increased by 125% since 2001 and after the film Billy Elliot the number of male applications have increased from 30% to 70%, In 1978 Dance Umbrella attracted 5,000 people and last year the 27th Dance Umbrella festival attracted 20, 000. After Billy Elliot the number of men applying to the Royal Ballet School rose from 30 to 70%, the 1978 dance umbrella attracted 5, 000 people while the 27th Dance Umbrella Festival attracted 20,000 last year. There are big and important issues to be addressed in such a diverse sector, and coming to a clear and succinctly set of ambitions for the Dance Manifesto was a difficult task delivered beautifully. David Lammy, the Minister of Culture is setting up a monthly dance forum from 10th October and today’s panel includes Sir Gerald Kauffman (Chairman of the 2004 Select Committee and supporter of the All Party Parliamentary Dance Group), Arlene Phillips of Dance Manifesto, Christina Sir Gerald Kaufman, MP Thanks. One of my more uncontrollable extravagances is buying vintage film posters and I was looking around my flat in London this evening and realised that 20 of them featured dance. There are more in Manchester. I am a patron of the international dance theatre awards. We hold an event over 2 weeks in Manchester every year and it is extraordinary to see the commitment not only of the young people who are aspirant dancers (one won awards as one of the dancers who played Billy Elliot) but it’s marvellous to see their families supporting them as well. The Chairman referred to the report that our select committee issued just over 2 years ago. It was a very remarkable event when we issued that. Not only did we publish the report and have a press conference, but for the first time ever we had a dance display in the Palace of Westminster, specially choreographed to fit into Portcullis House. What we found in the hearings and from the information we got before we published was that dance was one of the most popular activities of young people in this country, that it was growing more popular all the time, that it contributes to health and indeed is one of the most health giving activities, with swimming being its only real rival. Footballers use dance techniques when working out because of the strenuous nature of preparing for dance and the way it limbers up their bodies. It’s an international language and the one artistic expression that takes place on stage for which you need no interpreter. Its impact is absolutely immediate whatever dance type it is. I represent people from Asia and Bollywood, Broadway and west end musicals excite the enthusiasm of more and more people all the time. West end musicals grow on their own and nobody is asking that they are subsidised and what we said in our report is a major government commitment to dance and that’s why I’m so pleased that David Lammy has taken this up. All artistic activities can not fund themselves wholly. Funding’s not simply about paying for a performance, it’s making sure that dance is an integral part of the school curriculum. That’s why we regard it as an appropriate matter of attention by parliament and why we have set up an all party dance committee. I can not overestimated the importance of it in combating crime and improving social and health aspects, as we found in our report. It is an absolutely marvellous committee. I’ll finish by saying that one of my posters shows gene Kelly in Broadway in “singing in the rain”. What does he say? He says “Gotta dance!” Arlene Phillips I’m passionate about dance and want to talk about 3 areas. It was a complete and utter surprised to me when I was first asked to do with strictly come dancing. I thought I didn’t want to do it, but got involved, and through that programme have discovered an incredible amount of people going to dance classes of all kinds. The programme truly has made men comfortable with the idea of dance as an exercise and in particular ballroom schools can’t keep up with the demand from all ages. Just as an exercise form it’s incredible. At the moment there are more musicals opening in the West End than ever before. Theatres are packed, ticket prices are, I know, extremely high and I’m horrified how much people have to pay to bring kids to see a musical about children. But every show in the West End is doing incredible business and it is a thriving economy and I hope that the money can in some way be pumped back into schools. It has been probably mentioned over and over again, but that’s because it’s worth saying. Dance changes lives, teaches children how to respect tone another, helps them understand about working to achieve and if you have a child that doesn’t fit into academic work it’s very hard for the child but dance can make the child feel good about himself. I did the Commonwealth Games in 2000. We had lots of children of all shapes and sizes, small, rough, smooth, fat and fit. The big children were in white lycra and were so proud to be dancing they didn’t care, because dancing makes people feel good about themselves. I’m absolutely passionate that it will help the country as a whole if it gives it a chance. I’m aware there are people who want to work with children and haven’t the funding to do it and for me that’s a tragedy. I me here to implore that everybody fight to get dance into schools. Christina Chrisou We have been involved with recent commissions for the Mayor as part of the Big Dance and the Trafalgar Square Festival where dance was presented for thousands of people, and we’re also here because Akademi supports the dance manifesto and wants to continue enthusing with the message that the manifesto brings We do believe in lobbying as part of how we get to a place where we are given commissions. We are not a faith or political based organisation but seem to interact with them. It’s interesting that we have a debate about how the work could be influential and how we can support and contribute but it’s important to us that artistic work comes first. If it does align with political requirements we’re happy to be put in that box. Sometimes our work sits in an Asian or even a tourism box, but we are happy with alignment to any agenda so long as we can enhance health and creativity in schools. In terms of working with political people we have always believed in a direct approach and fearless communications and those willing to take the time with our work. As all this rolls on, we find politicians are sometimes powerful and sometimes less powerful. They are on our agenda to lobby whether or not they are in power at the time. We try to be inclusive to all types of political animals and decision makers but how we did it - maybe it starts because you have direct approach to the sources funding. When our director came in we knew that there was a serious requirement to lobby. For us it’s not a direct art the way we talk is both overt and subtle, with an occasional House of Lords party. Lord Sebastian Coe, our chief patron, came into our lives 20 years ago and the fact he’s now Chairman of 2012 committee is part of the design. We look at our board and think carefully about who can influence people on our behalf. Recently our Director was awarded the OBE for Services to Dance and has also been nominated as a Local Hero in Camden. A Leeds mp joined the battle of support for Asian arts, but even with all our site specific works it hardly mentioned us, but the press hardly mentioned us. We still have to go back to the funders year after year and fight for money, never resting on our laurels. Dance manifesto really does represent our goals, so we want to talk about them just as people who pushed the Green Agenda in 70s are now delighted now that they are centre stage. I want that for dance. It seems that the country’s sports agenda has been announced and I don’t want to wait for 20 years for politicians to talk about dance in the same way they talk about wind turbines now. That’s why I ‘m here. Jane Robinson I’m going to talk about the music manifesto, although I think you can almost replace the words music with dance. I’m going to talk briefly about how the music manifesto originated, what it aims to achieve, its successes to date and what it is going to do. When David Millibank, the then Schools Minister in 2003 a MCM delegation took leaders in music to see him and discuss the case for music. In July 2004 a star-filled function was announced which received a lot of media and press coverage. Although there was no printed manifesto, the five year campaign focussed on key priorities aimed at providing every young person with access to music, opportunities for more people to broaden their music interests and skills, to identify and nurture the most talented musicians, to achieve a work force in music and an infrastructure for music management. The infrastructure was considered as a whole. The government, music composers, venues and the industry were all called upon to back it and sign up to it. The department for Education and Skills itself pledged to contribute £108 million to the music standards fund by 2008 and appoint a Music Manifesto Champion. Since then we have sought to bring everyone working in the sector to contribute on information on the current state of music education by asking and answering key question and will finalise the programme in 2 weeks time. Year 3 will see real action and we already have 198 pledges from the 600 signatories of the Manifesto. The outline will have highlighted some of the differences. Music came from the top down, with an initiative from the government Minister (although this was in response to the sector). From the first the Music Manifesto had government backing and assent, although the critics still argue that there is not enough. That the Manifesto was launched from the industry is indicative, and engagement of the music industry is seen as vital to its sustainability. We don’t see an actual document but active endorsement through pledges of action focussed purely on music education and not the winder sector issues although there is a crossover with workforce development. But all the arguments are really about making the case for ensuring that the Arts is made and remains a vibrant and healthy sector. With a strength in unity you have examples of what can be achieved when the sector unites. Even though the music sector is full of disparate views and organisations, they all work together to back a common cause. Another lesson is a call for action which is also not dissimilar between music and dance. It’s important to have a set of recommendations based on priorities, a manifesto that has been welcomed by government and a delegation that took these priorities to the Minister for Culture in July. All of this will amount to little if we don’t also commit into taking it forward through real action. In uniting we must connect with broader initiatives and sit in the wider climate, especially with a new spending review and the Olympics on the horizon. We should unite for our own needs, and where expedient, link with others to work towards common goals. So for the Dance Manifesto common action is vital and we will work with you to ensure this happens. Caroline Miller It’s clear that something exciting is happening. While we don’t have many figures we can still see it’s impressive. Dance is the second most popular activity after football for guys and the most popular activity for girls, who stop doing most physical activity over the age of 14. So we have something great to celebrate but we’re not communicating it properly. Earlier I told how, in my first visit to the Houses of Parliament I was told that the dance sector as a whole was failing to communicate about dance and that most MPs didn’t even know their own constituency facilities. My goal for ten years time would therefore be that every single MP and Minister for culture would be able to name their facilities and say how they benefited their constituency, and that they’d enjoy dance. For this we need you to undertake four simple steps. Write to your local MP and councillors, introduce yourself or your people, discuss the benefits to the community and invite them to visit you. Show them a workshop, a rehearsal or tour your facilities and if you can’t get the MP or councillors invite their assistants since they probably do most of the work anyway. When you have done this, tell Dance UK and at the same time you write we will write on your behalf and tell them you are part of a network reaching millions. Finally we will talk about the power of petitions and names – if each of you tell each of three of your friends who are dance fans get them to join the manifesto. I’ve set myself a thousand names by the end of the first year, but I actually think it’s too low. We want the campaign to live and have set up a forum on the Dance UK website where people can put up anything that you want to start doing so that people can start to focus. The Dance Manifesto is a big thing and a big symbol. The four main names are some of the things we can unite behind. We’re in this room because we have already engaged in the sector but there are millions of people who aren’t part of the dancing mafia. Siroc Ltd may reach half a million people every year, but they probably don’t talk to many people here. Only united can we make a difference. Mike Lee My name is Mike lee and I know very little about dance. After so many important and intelligent contributions I come from world of sport, media and communications. I spoke recently at cultural leadership event at City University and some of the lessons from London 2012 campaign cut across. Also I do dance occasionally at weddings and birthdays, I’m a local resident and do come to Sadlers Wells. In a way I hadn’t fully appreciated how popular dance was, or what an amazing range it had in terms of diversity. I’ve seen this to be much greater than I had imagined and that is a sign of the success that already exists and maybe also a reason why the TV programmes took off. Looking at the manifesto, the principal aim is working on how to achieve some of the objectives in terms of securing better financing and facilitating being part of dance as a genuine profession. There is a lot of scepticism around, particularly in the decision making world. You haven’t seen scepticism like we had for the Olympics. Not just with the media in the early days, but also the cabinet, the public, Westminster, not just in London where they saw little benefit from the potential Olympics but across the UK in general. Scepticism also from the international audience about whether we could deliver and the most sceptical community was that of Arts and Culture who felt it was dangerous and potentially a threat with big impact on their funding. How did we get all the way to Singapore in July and secure victory? I can share four interesting and relevant lessons, one thought and a film. We had a 2.5 year campaign. Good campaigns last over a long period of time. When you’re not winning on day on day 25 it can feel demoralising and there were moments when we were told the bid was dead. Media stories had us in disarray. 2.5 years is a long time and takes you on a lot of roller coasters but good campaigns have phases, build momentum, have key milestones, develop hooks that gather momentum. Some of these included international representatives of the IOC coming to London, and when we created the 2012 day – December 20th, when every baby born on that day would have a right to take part in public ceremonies on that day. That was a part of creating media interest between milestones. The second point is that however interested people in this room are, do not underestimate the importance of building broad support. Politicians are swayed by the way they see public support. We had to make it appeal to Scotland, to Northern Ireland and at the end of the day, building relevance to those people and relevance and your link to them is an essential part of good media relationship marketing and communications. We would not have got there without real buy-in from our stakeholders. We had to change our Chairman to provide a different feel and voice. From Sebastian Coe to ambassadors one thing was clear, we needed one message and one voice and commitment to the script. When Beckham spoke for us, it wasn’t just as a global superstar but because he was an east end boy who understood the transformation of sport. When Blair talked for the Olympics he also understood the benefit. They all have to be part of the story and mean something to the narrative. Our third lesson is in understanding the audiences you’re addressing. Understanding the campaign is fine and it’s good too to have a good logo, but understanding how different audiences would respond was very important in terms of both national and international relations. One of our main targets was the 115 members of the IOC, but understanding how the audiences would play to the voters who would gather in Singapore was key. Just as we tailored our messages to show what could be brought to Leeds, we finally brought a unifying and powerful narrative to what London 2012 was about. We based it on real assets. London is a modern, creative, buzzy world city and we offered our country in terms of their cultural Olympiad. June Kelly was crucial in offering more than sport. Things such as legacy, diversity, tolerance, a global media centre, a passion for sport, youth inspiration and reconnecting with everyone. We knew the impact. Passion for the Olympics meant full stadia, connecting youth to sport, global media. We wanted to create news about this in terms of a modern approach so called it the first new technology Olympic games. Were creating something very emotional about a very rational argument and appealing to them as partners, brothers, sisters but also as hard-nosed business men and we know that the IOC face an aging demographic for their brand. So our brand was designed to enhance their brand. We won by 4 votes. That’s inches and centimetres and without the PR that would never have happened. Many feel that sport will dominate, some consider that the Olympics is an undoubted threat to what happened in 2008. In 2008 the 3rd Olympiad of IOC begins, and with that a that cultural Olympiad through art, culture and dance. This will mean representing mind, body and soul in the opening ceremony in London and a huge opportunity exists for culture to be engaged to help with the funding and make it very relevant to the London audience. Bill Morris’s job, to develop the Cultural Olympiad will be very important over the next 5 years. Helping to achieve the vision was at the heart of 2012. It will be the new national agenda but there is an opportunity for many different sectors if they get the link and message right. Now for the film – This wasn’t our final one, not the one we used in Singapore. We used it to say something about London, the reach of the 2012 Olympics and we used a bit of humour. We found that using humour to get people engaged and active can sometimes be very effective. Enjoy the film BS - Summary I’ve been scribbling notes trying to pull together a thank you for trying to talk about your various areas and pick the highlights of the things that were significant although quietly said. The impact of dance isn’t just for the performers, but also for those who support, those who participate and more. Loads of young children go to dance classes but can only get here with the support of their family and parents. Arlene said how dancing changes peoples lives and in particular encourages those who are excluded from academic studies as it is socially inclusive with other children. Children also discover more things about themselves, and going back to the beginning, when we’re talking about young people and not just children even more can be achieved. Christina talked about the 20 years of lobbying which got her where she is. It’s the reality and is how it became part of Akademi’s life because it was considered at every level. Even now everything you do at every level is considered in terms of how it will help and how it will further Akademi’s resources. Jane tells us that even though we are a disparate community we are united by one thing. We’re not alone either because we dance to music. Have we ever really stopped to consider how we can collaborate and have we ever got together and said there is power in numbers and voice. We can double our strength straight away if we work together. We need to talk in a unified voice. We have this great opportunity which is politically gaining more influence and momentum and can work on a much bigger scale even if it means working on small levels first. Finding out how to work and bring in each strand to create the huge web of power and talking about sport and what we learned through in the Olympic bid is how to tailor the same message to different people, even though we are delivering one message. Mike was creating a brand that enhanced sport, but also enhanced the opportunity given to people. So that’s how the power base (essentially the politicians) can be enhanced. How can we make it inconceivable that they won’t support us. It’s very clear that dance has enormous strengths and the thing for me is that if you have concerns about dance’s weaknesses it might be good to hear.
© Dance UK
Q & A Session
(A= audience, P=panel, initials of panel speakers given) A (Tomor Kokona, independent dance teacher) I work in dance for primary and secondary schools in West London and was part of the Dance Challenge when 500 dancers came to the area as part of Livingstone’s Big Dance. I’m not originally from the UK and have settled here and have had the experience of dancing with many dancers who are in my opinion the lowest paid artists. There are no unions for dancers and even at the ENO the salaries are just meagre. What do you think we can do to address this, since we work in an environment where people dance because we love it and are often our own victims. How many of you have dancers in communities that are part of the union? P You mean Equity. I agree with your desire to create a sustainable career. What should we be doing to achieve that. P (GK) Let me be clear about this. In the committee we carried out a series of enquiries on every aspect of the arts, dance, theatre, opera and orchestral music. What we found is that it’s relevant that the overwhelming majority of those who participate are badly paid. You read about the stars who are particularly well paid, and I’ve just been reading about Helen Mirren, God bless her. But must people who take part in all performing arts are badly paid. The Royal Shakespeare Company was doing Jacobean plays and some of their own members couldn’t afford to participate because their salaries weren’t good enough to support families. We talked about it with Equity. It isn’t good enough to trade on the fact that people love what they’re doing, and it’s essential that the general population shouldn’t derive pleasure from performers that are badly paid, whether they are dancers, the orchestra or actors. Otherwise we are simply exploiting people who love what they are doing for our own gratification. American Equity is very strong and supports dancers. Here equity is not so strong in that most dancers don’t bother to join and without numbers there is no strength. So even west end actors are low paid and what is even more shocking is that you can’t raise your salary either . Some long running shows have performers who get the same money as they got 6 years ago. If you’re 27 or 30 and have done 6- 10 west end shows and have to join 16-18 year olds on the same salary it’s hard. As you get older you have to give up because you have families. P (CM). These are difficult issues with no answer because artistic directors don’t have the money no matter how much money they want to pay their people. Sometimes dancers are their own worst enemy. Once fantastic session dancers made good livings on videos, but they are now just recognising that dancers straight out of college will take on work for nothing. So young graduates are working against established dancers and making a rod for their own back. David Lammy talked about problems with earning a living because they can’t stay where the work is because house prices are prohibitive. Key workers are assisted now, but can artists be included as key workers? We really have to think about how to take this forward. P (CC). One of the things Akademi has done is to look where else there is money outside the arts funding sector. It has been very successful in getting arts and health contributions and also employs dancers in teaching and education as community workers which extends their hours working with us and enables them to get more recognition and tools as well as a portfolio to enhance employment and career. We point people in the direction of those agencies and always offer the best rates of pay and good practice, becoming the conduit of the money raised. That way is a key way to turn in to a more positive existence. P (JR) I can say the same for the music community, It’s a problem that’s not exclusive to dance and is across all sectors. The case has to be made that dancers’ salaries won’t increase unless more investment is made in dance and we are looking to the government for more money across the entire arts sector. Making dance more integral to the future core of our society so UK Plc will suffer because a lot of people won’t enter the profession. There is a real danger with the shift that younger people who are looking for more sustainable careers looking outside of dance, and we may lose our dancers in the future and won’t be able to sustain ourselves as a leading creative nation because there is no way forward. So look outside of government departments too. P (BS). One of the really interesting things is that dance education is a burgeoning area. This isn’t to do with health although it is good to ensure that our young children grow up fitter and healthier. We want dance to be supported as an art form and the educational aspect of dance is seen as an art form and helps. Younger children can go on to enjoy dance as audience members, it’s not just for careers Not all children are going to have careers in dance and that’s fine but if they are touched by dance we want it to continue throughout their lives. Whether we get this depends on how it is talked about and lobbied and on our messages. A (Martha Oaks). Could you tell me, since all the bits in this brochure are asking for government money did you cost out how much it would all cost? P (CM). We wanted a set of aspirations as to what we were looking for, but we did this whole document in less than a year and there is scope to break down each section and ambition. We can do costings if that is what is useful. A There is no use in asking for money from the government if you don’t know how much you want P (CM) That’s certainly a consideration, but not the key point. Our consideration was a way to make the investment more effective by looking at our partnership working and strategy. There is an argument that says we shouldn’t just go to government cap in hand, but that we should say what we can achieve with a little more investment. A In 1945, Maynard Canes said “Now we have bamboozled the government into building the Opera House, we next have to build something where we can not just hear everything but see everything too”. So I think the important things are what come up time and time again. We need to establish a dance house. They’ve not done it. So, if you have no place where ballet can be seen, you can’t see ballet without doing it and the children don’t get a look in so they can’t go again so our audiences will remain small. I came to this party of 30 people sitting in £35 seats and all, knowing how you can’t see everything even in Sadlers Wells, and they still haven’t sorted out the way that tall people obscure short ones. So we should start first things first. 1945 is quite a long time ago, but the only theatre where you can see people’s feet is at the Birmingham Repertory. P We are now developing theatres for children and presenting more dance. It’s important not to indicate where but to allow communities to decide what they need. It’s more interesting perhaps that we won’t say that we just need one, but we need a number and that’s beginning to happen. P One thing that we can be doing is make sure that new buildings are useful for dance as well, and that there will be proper facilities. It may seem like a different agenda but it should not be an afterthought after the building has been constructed. A But hasn’t that been the core of thinking since the last election? A I just wanted to comment on something that Jane and other panel members were saying about further investment in dance. It’s important for dance companies to get the proper training in terms of business skills to make their companies profitable and self sustaining and therefore not relying on funding which might help salaries paid to dancers. I have a question related to promoting dance as an art form. How does the panel feel about being included in sports? P (AP). I am happy that dance is included anywhere, however you like. It’s exercise. It will help every kid and I’ve talked to people with schools this evening who are including dance as PE and giving PE time to dance as part of the curriculum. It’s absolutely fantastic. For a while I was involved with a TV company who were going into schools for a competition but the head of that then left. They wrote to all the primary schools in Britain to see if they would be interested and the response was phenomenal. They were offering to give the school hall, move the lunches, making time to dance. That’s one of the most important things about the Dance Manifesto – whatever type of dance it’s important. Salsa, rock ‘n ‘roll, Bangara. It’s all about dance coming together and being generous in whichever of your precious dance or art forms can be taken to children. P (BS). Gerald, you commented on footballers who are using dance as part of their training regime. P (GK). Obviously dance as such is what we are here to discuss and that’s what the manifesto is about but you can’t have a finite boundary between one activity and another. As I said, footballers, people like David Beckham have gone to dance simply because it is even more demanding an activity than sports. You go and watch the gypsies in Twyla Tharp’s company. They have tone and their bodies have to be amazingly healthy. It’s not simply the great dancers at every level. Every single member of the corps de ballet and every single member of the chorus line must be at peak physical strength otherwise they can’t do it. That’s why quite apart from the aesthetic pleasure of watching people dance if we’re not doing it ourselves, it is part of the contribution to health. If, among all the other things that we are trying to do to combat obesity we have a dance regime it is health giving whether the kid is going to be a professional dancer or just dance a bit. Promoting dance in schools is a huge contribution to the nation’s health. P (BS). If PE is entering into dance or dance to PE that’s great because schools are looking to introduce more dance. So if it’s beginning to infiltrate because that is the entry level great! Maybe the dancing community can lobby to ensure there are enough teachers who can go into primary schools and introduce dancing alongside this. P (GK). It is also important in a school in my constituency that has a high proportion of children of asylum seekers from a great many continents and origins. One thing they can all do together that makes them equal is dance. A (Jennifer Jackson, Ballet Independent Surrey University) I have a question and comment. I welcome the emphasis that is placed on the inclusivity of dance and the fact that it is diverse. It can cross boundaries and ages. The older can dance and life long learning. Quite a lot of elder and youth participation is essential and what we’re lobbying but what are we doing for adults throughout their life? You have a fantastic photo of the older dancer, my concern is that an emphasis primarily on education foe the young infantises us. Are we missing a trick here, people up to 80 are dancing, what are we doing to include and galvanise that community and what does that mean in terms of shift of physical or mental balance? There is a mental journey one goes through as a maturing dancer. There is a framed question about what were’ doing P (AP) Small change big difference. I spent a morning with Blair’s advisor. It’s about chasing the lives of older people through dance and experiences. It has to be reaching out to the old and infirm and it has been discovered that dance and movement is more help with Alzheimer’s than any drug. Ian Phipps is the man who is leading this, so I thing that just as this dance manifesto is for young people there is also a huge initiative to make change and bring dance and exercise to people because even 10 minutes a day can change lives. One apple a day, not just the 5 fruit can make a difference. Dance of any form can actually help and that’s being researched as part of a big movement. P (CM) The manifesto isn’t just about young people. Government agendas aren’t just about young people, the third point is available for everyone and there are groups who fed into this from the Saddlers Wells Over 60s group. It’s up to the individual to find out what they’re passionate about and maybe we should get another steering group with pockets of people who want to work in little groups with all the things we want to change. A (Karl Ambler). I’m one of the people who are often called recycled teenagers and would like to say a couple of things. It’s interesting that dance manifesto looks at the luxury of dance and health and physical well being. I’d like it to look at dance as a product. The reason I think it’s not succeeding financially is because we see it as cultural. Looking at it from a cultural perspective gives a basis of what people can do to make them feel good. Dancers don’t see it as that. Young people ask themselves if they can make it as a profession. I look inside myself and am really trying hard to live off it, and I’d like us to see it positively rather than look at it from other mediocre areas apart from compensating as a financial product In terms of music, if I make a record I can make a million pounds out of it. No dancers can do that. Footballers can make millions just kicking balls, we need to be able to make dancers see dance as a product. P (ML) The trick is to sell your rights to sky, employ agents and fill stadia. I was thinking about funding and the point the first speaker made. There is a danger of going cap in hand to the government, there is a sense that it’s not costed and more. I don’t know about dancers’ relationship with the corporate sector. I have a theory that post Beijing there will be a lot more corporate money kicking about that is in some way connected to the Olympia and have been talking to various organisations about how they can be involved. This not necessarily through the official organising committee, but how it can prize more money out of the Olympic sector. It’s important to know that the government likes to see you not just go with a begging bowl. A (Deborah Chatwin, Danceworks Sheffield). My thoughts are there are some fantastic statistics in manifesto as it is, and the film was great on the feel good factor. What would convince the sceptics in Yorkshire is additional statistics on the economics of dance and the way that a cultural sub sector can make a contribution to the economy. What has been done with that. Then we don’t need to just talk about social health from the aesthetic and artistic point of view but can also bring into discussion economic arguments that would carry more weight with councillors in Sheffield in particular P (CM). We tried to get every type of figure we could and had all sorts of people feeding into it. We just don’t have that huge critical mass of figures and need to look for research that will help us. It’s valid because we need more solid figures to back us up and as an industry we know we’re worth a lot. P (GK). The gentleman talked about manifesto commitments. One of the things that politicians have learned is that there is never enough money for everything. However much money you are using. Uncountable billions on the NHS isn’t enough. The same with culture, the same with entertainment. If you can’t quantify, what you can do is make a nuisance of yourself and grab as much as you possibly can when you’ve got it because it is never enough. P (BS). Look at local schools, parents, how many people spend money in restaurants, put together some rough ballpark figure and talk about how you have achieved the sum. Then say imagine this, and then imagine how much more if your local investment was greater. We can all do that locally and if we do we can feed it into Dance UK as quickly as possible. That way we can assure that DanceUK has as much information as possible and can generate more. P (GK). What part of Yorkshire? When I was in Sheffield, Blunkett was Leader of Sheffield City Council and did wonderful work in bringing new life to the Crucible. I said to him that he was doing a fantastic work in culture and he said would I please address the city council about it because they think the money should be going on garbage collections.
 © Carole Edrich
P (?) It’s about tailoring the audiences to do that. We’re doing it with comprehensive spending reviews and need everyone to feed those figures back so it can be represented A Maybe one of the jobs you (DanceUK) could do to facilitate this is to identify areas to that there is some kind of headings that you could use. P (?) At the moment the DCMS is working on the creative economy programme and it seems this should feed into that. Early next year will be a green paper to cross initiatives and it seems this is addressing cross departmental issues not just talking but actually getting ownership and buying from the Departments of Health and Work and Pensions. I work for the Design Council and am campaigning for design and creativity in the business sense. P (?) It’s important and interesting that consultation talks about the importance of the creative industry without actually referencing the arts. It’s important that the cross departmental agenda is established. Get in the information and make sure that arts and dance are part of government thinking. P (CM). The All party Dancing Group is hoping to raise the profile of dance in parliament. I wanted to answer with David Lammy’s Dance Forums. His department are thinking about bringing in the other dance forums too, so if we can get the information that we want discussed in these forums that could help. P (?).It seems it’s about getting back to the recommendations and getting or recommending owners for each P (?). I think the dance manifesto is fantastic and a huge stride forward particularly in dance where we have had to fight with other art forms. I work with recycled teenagers (with Karl) and know the interest in range of older people who work with others and grandchildren as carers. It is seen primarily as a fairly exclusive sector and to talk about it to have the knock on effect into creative economy is to ignore the fact that over the last 10 years whole communities have been excluded because they can’t afford it. We’re talking about those who can’t go to the deli to eat because they don’t have £3.50 for a cup of tea. Using the term exclusion from the voices of those who have experienced and taken part in those activities Years ago in the south bank when the GLC came in, when Alan Tomkin let people into dance events they all brought in their packed lunches. My father used to live in Festival Place. It’s seen as a fantastic place by the local authority but it’s very expensive. We must look at what is happening in the UK. Dance reaches out to many people because of what it is, it’s incredibly accessible. If we don’t make that primary, it will exclude people because some will be standing up with their nose pressed to the glass because they can’t afford it. They are embarrassed to bring out their packed lunches. We have to make sure that we understand what they want.. Make sure people can share in the products. P (ML). I am the one outsider in the room, looking at good lobbying and campaigning, moving from those who are convinced to the heart of the benefits of dance an those who might do it. The power of surprise is strong, and with so many great facts. Think about which ones are the most surprising about dance, these will have the best impact on decisions and decision makers. The thing that surprises me again is how many agendas you’re covering. Old age, celebrating modern UK’s cultural dimensions and so on. The message should be about how do we turn our agendas into government agendas and there is a trick in there about how to say what we’re trying to do. P (BS). Is that how we adjust our message for our audience and pull them into the bigger picture? P (ML). Yes – but I also think it is recognising that you have something to say. I think its’ about feeling how you can spearhead specific targeted audiences and from that get a bigger picture. If you dissect the narrative and if you apply what works best that works. Q (Suzie Crow – Ballet Independence Group and Institute of Education). I’d like to say it keeps leading back to the position of dance. We need to look at the kind of message that education gives about what dance is. It is largely taught by non specialist teachers who have to deal in other activities that are divorced from fellow art forms of music and drama. I think there’s a real danger of dance becoming simply viewed as fitness, which impoverishes us because we have not looked at it in a more rounded way. Dance is a source of cultural riches. It needs a place of its own and not simply a place in fitness. It should be part of education and part of the childrens’ own cultural background whatever that is. The message is that is instrumental but not simply of the body but also of the mind and the soul. If the national curriculum was to give it more space and time it might send a better message as to its value at the beginning P (BS). I think you’re absolutely right. The worry is if we say that it’s not good enough. I’d hate to say that what people are doing is not good enough, it’s just that they are so constrained by this culture of testing and focussing on core skills and there is little they can do. You’ll find that the vast majority of dance professionals’ experience haven’t come from their experiences in compulsory education but what they have gleaned outside in formal situations and consequently has a kind of invisibility. We need to be aware of its power. We need to lobby to ensure that dance is seen in its broader terms. We need to move it forward as part of an education strategy. It’s about providing it for children and affecting them for their whole lives. P (?). Yes, it is profoundly educating on many levels. I should also say that we need to lobby to turn it around and demonstrates the unique contribution that can integrate it. P (BS) We’re going to have to finish off here. I’m going to try and round up. Could each panellist please say just one thing they feel we could get from this audience to dance UK to help them feel that they influence what we can lobby. P (CC). I’d like to see professionals who do work in education settings in schools to unlock some other ways in which they work and be creative in getting dance to schools in other areas of the curriculum and I’m interested in seeing what models they use. P (GK). When I became Chairman of culture, media and sport, the committee received lot of visitors one of which was Nick Serota; Chairman of the Tate gallery, told me the number of hotel rooms that visitors of Tate filled. He was absolutely right even though I said he needed more, it’s one thing to talk of intrinsic benefits and another thing to interest politicians with many calls on finance. That’s why the lady who spoke earlier is right, in the end it is the ancillary merits that count. A (Martha Oaks). It is in this country although not others. Here we’re kind of philistines. At its heart, it’s a wonderful expressive art form and clearly we need to include it in our message P (GK). Dance is one of the most beautiful activities that humans can engage in. I’m a politician and can engage in large number of redistribution policies that might be construed as socialism I don’t care how it is described so long as it does the job. P (AP). I believe it’s imperative that we get dance in schools, whatever the ethic. It engages brain, body heart and soul I believe in it so strongly and that if dance was on the curriculum it could change so many things that are falling apart in Great Britain. Money has to somehow be put forward and I will lobby everyone I can. If everyone of those millions of those people those know that they could support dance by going to their MPs, it has to do something. P (ML). I would like to see a cultural Olympiad. Mind, body and soul from 2008 to 2012. P (BS). Hopefully with your feedback, more dance support and the MCA we can hopefully get the respect we are looking for. That is the message that everyone did put into this document. We are now pulling them all together and finding out how this would provide more information to a bigger group and I’d like to go back and ask people to find out some real facts as well as who you can talk to and how you might want to talk to them. Then let Dance UK know what you’re doing so that the information can be pulled together.
We have forums on the website where we plan to carry on the debate.
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