Will the Midlands Engine Strategy drive arts growth?
The government’s regeneration initiative will support cultural venues across the Midlands. But so far, the support is skewed in favour of large-scale projects.
The Midlands Engine Strategy, which will invest hundreds of millions of pounds in skills, connectivity and local growth, is a government plan to boost the economic strength of the Midlands.
Published the day after chancellor Philip Hammond’s first budget report in March, the strategy is designed to reinvigorate and regenerate an area that has been hit by a shortage of skilled workers, poor transport connections and slow business growth.
According to 2015 data from the Office of National Statistics, the proportion of highly skilled people in the Midlands was 15% below the English average, with statistics from 2016 showing that an eighth of people in the West Midlands have no qualifications. A high proportion of those who study in the area’s universities move away after they graduate.
Despite strong pockets of manufacturing across the Midlands, including a burgeoning ceramics industry in Staffordshire, overall productivity has declined. The productivity gap between the Midlands and the UK average has increased from 10% in 1997 to 15% in 2015.
The government regards arts and heritage as an important part of the regeneration process. To this end, the Midlands Engine Strategy, which will distribute £392m between 10 local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) across the region, will support several regeneration and cultural projects.
Tony Butler, the executive director of Derby Museums, says: “If you look at the other things that are being funded, it is great that culture is up there alongside infrastructure and business programmes. It shows that cultural activity is essential for driving civic spaces.”
On a similar note, Simon Brown, a curator at Nottingham City Museums Galleries and a Museums Association board member, says: “There are numerous examples of urban regeneration with museums at the core.”
According to the Midlands Engine Strategy report, £8m has been allocated to regenerate town centres across Nottinghamshire and redevelop Nottingham Castle; £2m to improve cultural infrastructure in Coventry and Warwickshire, including the redevelopment and expansion of Warwick Arts Centre; and £500,000 for a new visitor centre at Sherwood Forest and improvements to walking and cycling routes at the site.
Derby City Council had previously applied for £21.7m from D2N2 – the LEP for Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. This includes £3.6m for the redevelopment of Derby Silk Mill and the creation of a museum at the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. As Museums Journal went to press, the council had not been given official confirmation of the total amount it will receive for the project, but the strategy report stated that more than £2m would go towards it.
At the moment, the Midlands Engine Strategy’s support seems to favour established large-scale projects that have already attracted a fair amount of funding. Derby Silk Mill, for example, is expected to cost £16.4m, £4m of which will come from Derby City Council with £9.4m earmarked by Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) on receipt of a fully developed project proposal. Meanwhile, the £29.4m project to redevelop the Nottingham Castle site has secured £13.9m of HLF funding, while a trust has been set up to raise £3m. The local authority will also contribute about £5m.
Keeping venues open
Capital investment in high-profile projects is all well and good, but it doesn’t help address the challenge of keeping venues open when the local authorities that sustain them are under constant pressure to reduce their budgets.
“The government can’t say it’s investing in culture when it is taking away the running costs,” says Brown.
Even the most high-profile venues are not immune from this trend. The future of the £21m New Art Gallery Walsall was threatened towards the end of last year when Walsall Council was forced to make £86m in savings for 2016-20. Following a huge public outcry, in February the council’s cabinet approved a budget that outlined a new business model to save the gallery. Additional funding is being sought from Arts Council England.
Birmingham City Council has also rowed back on making a £750,000 cut to Birmingham Museum Trust’s funding when finalising its 2017-18 budgets. But funding beyond 2018 is still uncertain, and the city’s museums face the challenging task of diversifying income streams.
Rachel Cockett, the director of development at Birmingham Museums Trust, says: “Finding replacements for [public] funds and the need to diversify income is a major challenge. We have a growing lack of capacity and lack of resources for the research and development needed to work out how to generate more income.”
Working with LEPs
Capital investment made via programmes such as the Midlands Engine Strategy, says Cockett, could put museums in a better position to develop income. But to take full advantage of the funding available, museums will have to forge effective relationships with the LEP in their area, which can be a lengthy process. Birmingham Museums Trust got to know its LEP’s chair and key committee members by attending networking events and setting up a series of individual meetings.
It is also important to make LEPs aware of cultural projects as soon as possible, says Cockett. Birmingham Museums Trust is working on a seven-year plan that includes the refurbishment of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. “Even though this is in the really early stages, we are keeping the LEP informed,” says Cockett. “There is an application process [for funding] but you need to get on their radar. Ultimately, it is still about relationships with people.”
Quality of life
LEPs will be particularly interested in initiatives that improve people’s quality of life and attract people to work and live in the area.
“Businesses want good places for their employees to live and work,” adds Cockett. “It is important that museums and other cultural institutions don’t see themselves as separate from the local ecosystem.
“Museums are part of education, and often operate like businesses, and therefore rely on things like transport and the digital economy that the LEPs and the Midlands Engine are investing in.”
Much like the Northern Powerhouse, the Midlands Engine Strategy goes hand in hand with the government’s devolution agenda – the handing back of powers to major cities in England. The West Midlands Combined Authority is part of the devolution deal secured by local authorities and corresponding LEPs in the West Midlands. Its aim is to create an investment fund of more than £1bn through a 30-year revenue stream and locally raised finance.
It is in this context that Coventry is pressing ahead with its bid for UK City of Culture 2021. There are several advantages in embarking on a project of this scale when part of a combined authority. Not only has Coventry been able to host events related to the bid in high-profile venues such as Birmingham Hippodrome, it has also been able to promote it among Birmingham’s business community.
Laura McMillan, the manager of Coventry City of Culture Trust, says “Birmingham has thrown its support behind Coventry. We have always been the sister city to Birmingham, but have always lived in its shadow.
“The bid is rooted in the city of Coventry, but without our partners in Birmingham and Warwickshire, it would be difficult to show that we have the kind of widespread support that the judges will be looking for.”
If Coventry does win its bid for UK City of Culture 2021, it will be a real boost for culture’s place in the Midlands Engine Strategy.
However, the strategy was somewhat undermined last year when research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation highlighted that 10 of the UK’s 12 towns and cities in greatest economic decline are in the north. Local authority cuts have also taken their toll on services, and all but obliterated the museums service in Lancashire, where five sites closed in September.
The Northern Powerhouse has also been criticised for not investing enough in culture. When the strategy was set out in the 2014 autumn statement, more than £80m was allocated for culture. But with a single project in London receiving £144m, it was hardly a rebalancing of the north/south divide. Writing in the New Statesman, Julie Elliott, a Labour MP for Sunderland Central, said only 2% of funding had been earmarked for cultural projects, and the bulk of investment was going to the north-west rather than the north-east. The Great Exhibition of the North, hosted by Newcastle and Gateshead, goes some way to redressing this, and illustrates how partnership working is being encouraged through Northern Powerhouse initiatives.
Iain Watson, the director of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, which is involved in the Great Exhibition of the North, says: “The Northern Powerhouse is starting to bring together thinking across the north in a way that hasn’t happened in the past.”
Published the day after chancellor Philip Hammond’s first budget report in March, the strategy is designed to reinvigorate and regenerate an area that has been hit by a shortage of skilled workers, poor transport connections and slow business growth.
According to 2015 data from the Office of National Statistics, the proportion of highly skilled people in the Midlands was 15% below the English average, with statistics from 2016 showing that an eighth of people in the West Midlands have no qualifications. A high proportion of those who study in the area’s universities move away after they graduate.
Despite strong pockets of manufacturing across the Midlands, including a burgeoning ceramics industry in Staffordshire, overall productivity has declined. The productivity gap between the Midlands and the UK average has increased from 10% in 1997 to 15% in 2015.
The government regards arts and heritage as an important part of the regeneration process. To this end, the Midlands Engine Strategy, which will distribute £392m between 10 local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) across the region, will support several regeneration and cultural projects.
Tony Butler, the executive director of Derby Museums, says: “If you look at the other things that are being funded, it is great that culture is up there alongside infrastructure and business programmes. It shows that cultural activity is essential for driving civic spaces.”
On a similar note, Simon Brown, a curator at Nottingham City Museums Galleries and a Museums Association board member, says: “There are numerous examples of urban regeneration with museums at the core.”
According to the Midlands Engine Strategy report, £8m has been allocated to regenerate town centres across Nottinghamshire and redevelop Nottingham Castle; £2m to improve cultural infrastructure in Coventry and Warwickshire, including the redevelopment and expansion of Warwick Arts Centre; and £500,000 for a new visitor centre at Sherwood Forest and improvements to walking and cycling routes at the site.
Derby City Council had previously applied for £21.7m from D2N2 – the LEP for Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. This includes £3.6m for the redevelopment of Derby Silk Mill and the creation of a museum at the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. As Museums Journal went to press, the council had not been given official confirmation of the total amount it will receive for the project, but the strategy report stated that more than £2m would go towards it.
At the moment, the Midlands Engine Strategy’s support seems to favour established large-scale projects that have already attracted a fair amount of funding. Derby Silk Mill, for example, is expected to cost £16.4m, £4m of which will come from Derby City Council with £9.4m earmarked by Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) on receipt of a fully developed project proposal. Meanwhile, the £29.4m project to redevelop the Nottingham Castle site has secured £13.9m of HLF funding, while a trust has been set up to raise £3m. The local authority will also contribute about £5m.
Keeping venues open
Capital investment in high-profile projects is all well and good, but it doesn’t help address the challenge of keeping venues open when the local authorities that sustain them are under constant pressure to reduce their budgets.
“The government can’t say it’s investing in culture when it is taking away the running costs,” says Brown.
Even the most high-profile venues are not immune from this trend. The future of the £21m New Art Gallery Walsall was threatened towards the end of last year when Walsall Council was forced to make £86m in savings for 2016-20. Following a huge public outcry, in February the council’s cabinet approved a budget that outlined a new business model to save the gallery. Additional funding is being sought from Arts Council England.
Birmingham City Council has also rowed back on making a £750,000 cut to Birmingham Museum Trust’s funding when finalising its 2017-18 budgets. But funding beyond 2018 is still uncertain, and the city’s museums face the challenging task of diversifying income streams.
Rachel Cockett, the director of development at Birmingham Museums Trust, says: “Finding replacements for [public] funds and the need to diversify income is a major challenge. We have a growing lack of capacity and lack of resources for the research and development needed to work out how to generate more income.”
Working with LEPs
Capital investment made via programmes such as the Midlands Engine Strategy, says Cockett, could put museums in a better position to develop income. But to take full advantage of the funding available, museums will have to forge effective relationships with the LEP in their area, which can be a lengthy process. Birmingham Museums Trust got to know its LEP’s chair and key committee members by attending networking events and setting up a series of individual meetings.
It is also important to make LEPs aware of cultural projects as soon as possible, says Cockett. Birmingham Museums Trust is working on a seven-year plan that includes the refurbishment of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. “Even though this is in the really early stages, we are keeping the LEP informed,” says Cockett. “There is an application process [for funding] but you need to get on their radar. Ultimately, it is still about relationships with people.”
Quality of life
LEPs will be particularly interested in initiatives that improve people’s quality of life and attract people to work and live in the area.
“Businesses want good places for their employees to live and work,” adds Cockett. “It is important that museums and other cultural institutions don’t see themselves as separate from the local ecosystem.
“Museums are part of education, and often operate like businesses, and therefore rely on things like transport and the digital economy that the LEPs and the Midlands Engine are investing in.”
Much like the Northern Powerhouse, the Midlands Engine Strategy goes hand in hand with the government’s devolution agenda – the handing back of powers to major cities in England. The West Midlands Combined Authority is part of the devolution deal secured by local authorities and corresponding LEPs in the West Midlands. Its aim is to create an investment fund of more than £1bn through a 30-year revenue stream and locally raised finance.
It is in this context that Coventry is pressing ahead with its bid for UK City of Culture 2021. There are several advantages in embarking on a project of this scale when part of a combined authority. Not only has Coventry been able to host events related to the bid in high-profile venues such as Birmingham Hippodrome, it has also been able to promote it among Birmingham’s business community.
Laura McMillan, the manager of Coventry City of Culture Trust, says “Birmingham has thrown its support behind Coventry. We have always been the sister city to Birmingham, but have always lived in its shadow.
“The bid is rooted in the city of Coventry, but without our partners in Birmingham and Warwickshire, it would be difficult to show that we have the kind of widespread support that the judges will be looking for.”
If Coventry does win its bid for UK City of Culture 2021, it will be a real boost for culture’s place in the Midlands Engine Strategy.
What lessons can we learn from the Northern Powerhouse?
Although the Northern Powerhouse overshadows the Midlands Engine Strategy in scale and scope, it speaks to the shortcomings and triumphs of devolution and economic policies designed to bridge the gap between London and south-east England and the rest of the country. The Northern Powerhouse is noteworthy for the HS2 high-speed railway; devolving power to cities such as Manchester and Liverpool; and investing in culture, science and manufacturing.However, the strategy was somewhat undermined last year when research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation highlighted that 10 of the UK’s 12 towns and cities in greatest economic decline are in the north. Local authority cuts have also taken their toll on services, and all but obliterated the museums service in Lancashire, where five sites closed in September.
The Northern Powerhouse has also been criticised for not investing enough in culture. When the strategy was set out in the 2014 autumn statement, more than £80m was allocated for culture. But with a single project in London receiving £144m, it was hardly a rebalancing of the north/south divide. Writing in the New Statesman, Julie Elliott, a Labour MP for Sunderland Central, said only 2% of funding had been earmarked for cultural projects, and the bulk of investment was going to the north-west rather than the north-east. The Great Exhibition of the North, hosted by Newcastle and Gateshead, goes some way to redressing this, and illustrates how partnership working is being encouraged through Northern Powerhouse initiatives.
Iain Watson, the director of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, which is involved in the Great Exhibition of the North, says: “The Northern Powerhouse is starting to bring together thinking across the north in a way that hasn’t happened in the past.”