Setting the scene
As described above, there is a lot to do to ensure our cultural life continues to flourish and grow, so that it can deliver improved wellbeing for all our residents and contribute to our success.
It is a very challenging time for arts, culture and heritage organisations and businesses; by working together we can increase the amount of support they need to help them to help themselves and each other. Recovery from the COVID pandemic and recent economic challenges has affected all artists, organisations and businesses.
By drawing on the many creative assets we have in the borough and by fostering collaboration where it makes sense, we can use this strategy to strengthen the sector to fulfil its potential, driving our wider economy and offering opportunities for all.
The future of culture in Hammersmith & Fulham is of interest not only to the council, but also to residents, businesses, cultural institutions, educators, voluntary and public sector partners. People also told us that more could be achieved through effective partnership working backed by new investment so we can build on our many successes and ensure everyone has an opportunity to participate.
Together in Hammersmith & Fulham is about bringing all that we have to the table to help ourselves build a positive and thriving future.
In developing this strategy, people working across the creative sector in the borough shared their experiences of economic pressures and how that can threaten the very existence of large and small cultural organisations. Having access to a range of support – for example, expertise in fundraising – can help organisations become more resilient and achieve their full potential.
There’s a real appetite in the borough for working together to achieve more and attract new investment for culture. While there’s acknowledgement that no one partner has all the answers, we found enthusiasm to work collectively; this interest in collaboration underpins the positioning of this strategy as a shared endeavour, a strategy not just for the Council, but for the Council and its partners in the arts, culture and heritage sectors.
The challenges ahead of us are increasingly interconnected and complex.
Our world is uncertain and change is accelerating faster every day. Our response must be to work together to find solutions and turn challenges into opportunities. Increasingly, public policy is moving to be “place-led”. It responds to the assets and needs in local areas, informed by the real-life experiences of residents and reflecting a shared responsibility for change, while acknowledging the very different resources which each partner can bring to bear.
There is an important role for the “anchor institutions” in a place, with the greatest resources and capacity, to support this work.
This strategy, its priorities and actions, have been developed through collaboration. Without a doubt, if it is to deliver on its ambitions, it will need to be owned, resourced, delivered and monitored in collaboration too.
Our opportunities
- Build on the partnerships that have initiated this strategy to create wide ownership and capacity for change, ensuring residents, including those with particular needs or talents, have a strong voice and agency to lead planning for activities relevant to them
- Promote inclusion for older and younger residents and visitors in cultural events and activities, including through harnessing the energy and talent of our Youth Council representatives to promote inclusion of a multi-generational audience
- Only by working together can we achieve progress on the Climate Emergency we face. We have an opportunity to ensure that our cultural stakeholders bring diverse voices to this conversation, including through using the power of culture and the arts to engage and educate
- Work hand in glove with our cultural sector, the large and small cultural organisations, individual artists, national bodies and commercial attractions to develop proposals for investment in Hammersmith & Fulham’s cultural offer
- Work in partnership to manage Hammersmith & Fulham as a distinctive destination with a strong cultural and creative offer, high quality visitor experience and consistent and compelling promotion including bidding to become London Borough of Culture
How we'll get there
Work effectively as a place-based partnership that is inclusive of the local authority, cultural sector, anchor institutions and residents
Actions
- Establish a Cultural Compact to lead, champion, develop, deliver, resource and monitor the actions plan and develop collective approaches to supporting the sector’s resilience
- Seek investment to commission and promote arts and cultural activities as means to engage and educate people of all ages about environmental sustainability and the climate emergency
Increased and diversified resources for the arts, culture and heritage
Actions
- Develop an Investment Plan to increase and diversify investment in the arts, culture and heritage
- Actively promote crowdfunding initiatives for community-led cultural projects, furthering cultural investment across the borough
Our cultural organisations are thriving and they’re resilient and sustainable
Actions
- Facilitate networks to foster a culture of knowledge-sharing and innovation
- Work with partners to explore co-investment for capital improvements to cultural infrastructure to improve energy efficiency