Written evidence submitted by sporta (arts
20)
sporta emphasises the benefits of providing
cultural services in mixed-use leisure facilities run by social
enterprises at the heart of communities. We urge support this
provision and encouragement for its further imaginative development
through policies at national and local level.
1. sporta is the national association which
represents over 100 not-for-profit organisations and social enterprises
across Great Britain. Our members run sporting and cultural facilities
mostly under long-term contracts with local authorities, and many
also deliver additional community services. In total we operate
some 900 facilities serving 210 million user visits per year and
employ approximately 26,000 staff.
2. porta welcomes this inquiry. Our submission
on the issues which are raised by the Committee is focussed especially
on the need to recognise the role of cultural provision and services
delivered to communities by sporta members which are sometimes
not seen as within the definition of "arts organisations."
3. A few sporta organisations manage regular
arts and cultural venues which stand alone as part of their portfolios—theatres
and museums for example. Many others provide regular and community-based
cultural services in multi-purpose centres, and these services
increasingly cover a wide and eclectic range.
4. Our members believe that this broad basis
of provision has many benefits:
— for young people especially it washes
away what is sometimes a artificial distinction, in their minds
at least, between "sport and recreation" and "arts
and culture." This obviously arises in dance, but there are
other areas too, including various forms of youth/alternative
culture. And this is not confined to young people—elderly
people can enjoy a range of active and creative pursuits which
are not easily categorised, some new and some which are traditional
to their communities, perhaps even things revived from their younger
lives.
— at the same time provision in sporta
centres can help increase participation in more than one activity.
For example, a person who attends a centre for swimming or fitness
may be introduced to and find it easier to join in with a cultural
activity which is run in the same place, and which they might
not have otherwise considered if it required visiting an "arts"
establishment. And of course this can work the other way—people
visiting a centre for a more cultural experience can persuade
themselves more readily to take up exercise or a sport.
— cultural activities provided in this
way are additionally more open to local community choice, not
provider choice.
— delivery through one local social enterprise
structure improves cost-effectiveness.
5. When he recently opened a new sporta
facility in Rochdale Sir Steve Redgrave said:
"The new Middleton Arena is fantastic and
there's a real buzz here. I really like the way the arena incorporates
sport, arts and entertainment in one place."
6. The current need for expenditure cuts
are of course going to inflict some damage on the ability of sporta
members to provide cultural services to their communities—this
is likely to be both in the straightforward loss of resources
and in the tendency for local authorities to prioritise price
over quality and value for money in serving local community needs.
Also the dismantling or reduction in some national machinery,
including that of the MLA, will detract from their ability to
link in with national programmes. However, we hope that the greater
emphasis on local and user-base choice will be an opportunity.
7. The vital need is for national government
to maintain programmes and policies which encourage participation
in the arts and culture at community level and which is accessible
to a broad range of people in communities in all areas of the
country—including those who not easily able to reach major
national institutions.
8. Lottery and Exchequer grant funding should
not be diverted excessively to the major institutions but instead
be applied fairly and more imaginatively to support local provision.
9. National programmes to facilitate philanthropy
should include a focus on support for a wide range of community
cultural provision.
10. Local authorities who have not chosen
the sporta model should be encouraged to consider this as a cost
effective community-based way of delivering local cultural services,
and the benefits of this model should be protected.
11. Local authorities should also be encouraged
to give reasonable priority to community based culture which can
have even greater beneficial impacts at times of social and personal
stress.
12. sporta is available to talk constructively
with government and others about how to maintain and improve local
cultural services and would welcome the Committee's support for
our objectives.
August 2010
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