Over the last few months many of us have been holding our breath as one by one, we’ve discovered if key festivals and events such as Tramlines, Off the Shelf, Grin Up North and the Sheffield Food Festival, will stand the test of time and the £220m cutbacks the Council has to make over the next four years. So last week saw the launch of Sheffield’s Cultural Strategy, Created and Made in Sheffield. As I listened on, I realised the launch was more of an invitation to Sheffield people to get involved, rather than an insight into what the next couple of years might have in store. I’ve since had a look through the plans and here are a few innovations and features that caught my eye:
- ‘Stainless’ – a city festival, building on the success of the Galvanize Sheffield festival, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of stainless steel in 2013.
- Sheffield taking pART Awards – the Council will explore the feasibility of developing an annual community awards programme to celebrate the best of community art.
- Doc/Fest will switch to June in this year to increase its competitive edge with its international rival events.
- Sheffield Children’s Festival – this will include 1000 children taking part in a mass choir project and a public performance at the opening of UK School Games.
- Showcomotion – will relaunch the city’s film festival for young people.
- The unexpected – organisations will be encouraged to programme activities in unexpected places and spaces, e.g. factories, shopping centres, workplaces, parks, rooftops.
- Sheffield Music City will continue to develop the city’s music programmes with a focus on pushing the national profile of the Tramlines festival.
- City of Design – creating a critical mass of leading-edge design experts, to build on the work of Designed in Sheffield and possibly leading to potential city submission for UNESCO City of Design.
A number of familiar faces were at the launch so I took the opportunity to find out about their opinions and hopes for the City’s strategy. First up Alan Deadman, a music promoter and community activist. Listen out for more Sheffield voices on the subject later this week:
• Who are you and what you do in terms of Sheffield’s cultural life?
I’ve been promoting club nights and live gigs in Sheffield for over twenty years, working closely with the annual Sharrow multicultural festival for the past thirteen years. I am on the board of Tramlines Festival, programming the World Stage in the Peace Gardens and I’m a founder director of The Musical Works, a not-for-profit company providing music workshops for young people. For the last five years I have been a community representative on the City’s Culture Board where I’ve represented the music industry and the more underground creative networks.
• What was your initial reaction to the Strategy launch? I welcomed the Strategy itself. It built on five years or so of considerable development in the city’s attitude to culture accompanied by a great increase in the number and quality of festivals combining local roots with national and sometimes international impact. This development came to fruition with the process of building the bid for UK City of Culture. The launch itself however failed to deliver its key purpose, ie launching the Strategy, for me it was a wasted opportunity.
• What would you like to see come out of the strategy for your organisation and for the City? I welcome the priorities identified in the Strategy which reflect our own priorities and provide a framework wherein we can increase our impact. For the City itself I’m particularly interested in the proposed Creative Forum and how it can genuinely engage with the creative activists who are responsible for much of the city’s creative achievements but so often work below the radar.
Have a look at Created and Made in Sheffield for yourself and tell us what you’d like to see come out of it for Sheffield.