Derby Cultural Diversity Arts Network

Donna Greene (DG), Corey Mwamba (CM), Gopa Nath (GN) and Stephen Munn (SM) were present, and are collectively referred to as “The Group”.
Wenna Stockdale (WS) was invited but apologised.

Main Points

1. The budget effectively stands at £4000 since Derby City Council took £4000 to fund a Community and Cohesion Event
2. DCDAN is drafting criteria for funding small collaborative projects and development opportunities
3. DCDAN is putting together a programme for Derby Feste's open stage in September

1. Service Agreement
The service agreement was signed by CM, and by DG on behalf of the group; invoices have been sent.
2. The Budget
2.1 Rights, boundaries and access
Although the budget for the DCDAN was quoted as £10000 at the last meeting, WS noted to The Group in an e-mail (dated 15th July 2008) that

“We have had to agree however, and our hands have been well and truly tied, to give £4k of this year's £10k to the Community Cohesion team for a high profile Community Cohesion celebration event in Arboretum Park on the last Saturday of August.
“Whether this event will actually happen, I'm still not sure [...] but they assure us it is happening and the powers that be, which are much higher than me (and even Pete [Meakin] or Ray [Rippingale]) have insisted that we use £4k of the Cultural Diversity Arts funds to support it, though we have been able to confirm that we will only be paying for high quality professional artists who should be performing on the day.
“We are also planning on spending £2k on Corey's administration, so that still leaves us with £4k to play with for the next 9 months.”

In short, the budget effectively stands at £4000. What was not explained previously was that the money used to fund the Cultural Diversity Arts pot was actually an allocation from the old Equalities department, now the Community Cohesion team. However, as the allocation had already been made, it did seem highly unusual for a re-allocation to be made so hurriedly.

GN knew about the Arboretum event and stated that she was unsure about its level of organisation.

SM asked about the status of DCDAN: was it an interim measure until the Diversity Officer came in? There was some discussion on this.

GN and SM wondered how the new Diversity Officer's budget would be funded. The Group reasoned that the Diversity Officer post as we knew it would not exist, and that it had been subsumed into the “DerbyLIVE!” structure; so the budget should come from there. Clarification is needed on this.

GN mentioned that The Group still hadn't come up with terms of reference as we were asked by Pete Meakin – but that the draft of the terms had stated that The Group should have a say on budget spending.
The Group collectively felt that this sudden change in fund allocation was committed unfairly and seemed underhand.

2.2 Allocation criteria
SM reasoned that although the budget has been reduced, The Group should use what was left to do something positive. GN stated that The Group could still create criteria for allocating funds for small projects. After some discussion, The Group decided on these core criteria:

• the projects must have a local emphasis
• rather than asking for “quality” in the work, there has to be evidence of quality in the collaboration itself
• The project would show a decent planning structure
  Collaborative projects would be bid for by all parties

Questions were raised as to how the application should be set out, and The Group agreed to consult the Council's Small Grants form for guidance. DG suggested that the budget should also be used to fund development opportunities for the Network. All agreed in principle. The Group asked CM to draft a budget; and as a group aim to bring this new funding structure available for April 2009.
Action: CM to draft budget; ALL to set criteria for applications

3. Feste and Cultural Olympiad – our contribution?
Bob Rushton from the Assembly Rooms used the DCDAN web-site to put a call for artists wanting to perform at the Cultural Olympiad handover celebrations.
SM told The Group that Deda (formerly Derby Dance) was running an open stage for Derby Feste in September, and that DCDAN might be able to use it as an opportunity for showcasing work of the members. Deda would be able to cover some expenses. SM and CM were set to meet and talk about the best way to organise the stage.
Action: CM and SM to meet and organise open stage for Derby Feste

4. Cultural City Executive
The Cultural City Executive is a body that was formed as part of the Derby City Partnership. Even though SM and GN sit on this body, the Cultural City Executive doesn't know that DCDAN exists. SM said he'd contact Ray Rippingale and ask for DCDAN to be put as an agenda item.

5. Web-site
CM has created a DCDAN web-site, after several members of the Network asked for one; and has added several interactive elements to it, such as a calendar to put events on, and personal web-logs. However, it seems that only the larger organisations are using it; so those that asked for it are not getting any benefit from it. CM asked The Group to spread word of the site and use it more often.

6. Meetings
The next Group meeting is on Tuesday 19th August at 4p.m., at Deda.

The next Network meeting is on Tuesday 2nd September at 5p.m. (location to be decided)