Meeting/Cyfarfod 01/04/09

MERTHYR TYDFIL ARTS CULTURE & MEDIA FORUM
FFORWM Y CELFYDDYDAU, DIWYLLIANT A’R CYFRYNGAU

4.00pm, Wednesday, 1st April 2009
4.00yh, Dydd Mercher, 1af o Ebrill 2009

Civic Centre / Bishop Hedley High School (3Gs)

Present:
Gus Payne – Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council (GP), Kate Strudwick - H4A(KS), Jo Richards – Dance practitioner (JR), David Jones - Yo! Maz (DJ), Lee Davies – 3Gs (LD), Alison Harris – VAMT (AH), Lis Mclean - Menter Iaith (LM).

1. Welcome / Apologies:
Apologies received from; Karen Dusgate – MTHA, Anne-Marie Carpenter (Chair) (AMC), Sally McIntyre - Communities First, Michelle Powell - Communities First (MP), Dinah Pye - Active Music Service (DP), Lesley Hodgeson - Glamorgan Gates, Chris Long - MTCBC, Andrew Thomas – Merthyr Tydfil College, Lisa Davies - Zoom Cymru.

2. Minutes from last meeting
All agreed last minutes as correct.
Meeting with Community Music Wales, Yo! Maz, MTCBC and Merthyr Tydfil College took place but took the form of a catch up meeting for the others as there were no college staff in attendance.

3. ACMF Chair
The ACMF Terms of Reference stipulate a maximum limit of 3 years for the Chair and a new Chair of the Forum should be elected by July 2009. Following a discussion on the length of time of continuous Chairship it was agreed that the ToR should not be amended. The ToR also advises an annual election, which will continue to be implemented.
Action: AH to send nomination forms via email to all ACMF members

4. Thought Sheet matrix appraisal
The group looked at the current matrix. Many of the Thought Sheet ideas have already been completed in some form or another, though there are still some gaps. The main project that has not been pursued is the Sunday in The Park idea. Which is still considered to be worth pursuing. This could be something that the proposed Activities group could look at and review after a set time scale (one year?). Suggestions for the Activities group could be to:
1. Draw up a rota and allocate a slot to a group
2. Regular intervals (i.e. last Sunday of every month)
3. Align with other events in the parks (Cyfarthfa and Taff Bargoed) or in the castle – or both
The possibility of a cover for the lakeside stage was also suggested. This would need to go through the strategic group, who would contact the relevant groups/individuals to clarify the possibilities alongside the proposed new developments for Cyfarthfa Park.
KS suggested breaking the matrix up into ‘aspirational projects’ and ‘happening’ projects.
And also that the matrix should perhaps focus more on setting up groups and programmes, rather than one off events.
Action: GP to forward Thought Sheets to ACMF members, suggesting up the idea of setting up groups and programmes

Updates
• Marquee; Public Art Strategy; Hong Kong Alley Artwork; Soar Arts Centre; Global Village; Arts Centre
No further updates since last month’s meeting.
• Creative Communities
GP, CL, KS and other local authority representatives from across the CC patch met with Strinda Davies - RCT (SD), who has taken over since Kevin Jakeaway’s post ceased.
CC has now essentially become two linked projects; a community participation strand (Outcomes fund) and a social entreprise strand (Convergence). The social enterprise strand has temporarily been parked due to the practicalities involved with funding priorities and a lack of realistic match funding required.
Financially the current CC (participation) project would be around £250k (though SD was going to press for an increase. This breaks down as £15k per authority per year. To get value for money this £15k (or there abouts) could form a project pot (rather than a part-time post) for CC, empowering the ACMF, to deliver on some of the priorities for Merthyr.
• H4A (KS)
H4A will also be in discussion with CC to decide on who delivers what and clarify where the boundaries are. There may also be the possibility of H4A having a Welsh language base with the Canolfan Gymraeg, Merthyr Tydfil.
H4A’s performance Valley’s Girl was completed on 28th March. Generally the project has been a great success with various art forms used and participation form all four county boroughs, including different age groups, disability groups and using both English and Welsh. However both LM and LD had some concerns about their groups feeling disempowered. KS expressed the need to include everyone and the way in which some groups took part (older ages and severely disabled) was purely through writing and recording (rather than live performance). KS also explained that this was the first project across the four boroughs and with hindsight some things would have been done diferently. The discussion ended and KS left the meeting before AOB. The subject raised again during AOB when GP reassured the group that there would be an evaluation process and any concerns could be discussed then.

6. AOB
LD and JR are about to submit a bid for a Dance Aprenticeship Scheme to a Home Office Anti-Street Crime initiative.
LM expressed a requirement for dance tutors who could speak Welsh as there is a high demand for dance through the medium of Welsh, but few tutors to facilitate.
LD explained that he is also interested in making a heritage book and is looking at the possibilities through the Heritage Lottery Fund.
LD expressed a need for the ACMF to work more with disability groups – a discussion on the 3Gs’ project Iron and Steal and Valleys Girl (please see above) then ensued.

7. Next meeting:
3rd June, 4pm, VAMT