Agenda item

Polly Hamilton, Assistant Director, Culture, Sport and Tourism

Leanne Buchan, Assistant Director, Culture Sport and Tourism, gave the following powerpoint presentation on the Children’s Capital of Culture:-

 

Aim 4:  All Rotherham people live in healthy, safe and resilient communities

-        Young people consulted in the run up to Rotherham’s 2025 Children’s Capital of Culture identified mental health as a key issue for the young people in Rotherham

-        Rotherham ranked as the 35^th most deprived upper tier local authority in England out of a total of 151 authorities

-        26.6% of reception aged children were overweight or obese in 2019/20 compared to 23.0% nationally and 37.9% of Year 6 children were overweight or obese in 2019/20 compared to 35.2% nationally

-        95% of Rotherham’s BME community’s young people felt left out

 

Case for Creative Health

-        People who took part in the arts were 33% more likely to report good health

-        Young people who regularly accessed parks, green spaces and engaged with nature enjoyed better mental health

-        Students who were physically active tended to have better grades, school attendance, cognitive performance (e.g. memory) and classroom behaviours (e.g. on-task behaviour)

-        Children were smarter, better able to get along with others, healthier and happier when they had regular opportunities for free and unstructured play in the out of doors

 

What is it

-        Children’s Capital of Culture was a title bestowed upon Rotherham by its children and young people

-        In 2025 there would be a year long festival of imagination, creativity and community, devised, developed and delivered in partnership with children and young people from Rotherham aged 0 to 25

-        The festival year would have

      At least 5 major public cultural events including an opening ceremony and a closing ceremony

      Activities taking place across all 25 Wards including targeted work to make sure all CYP had the opportunity to take part

      A schools engagement programme

      Traineeships for young people

      A commitment to keeping 75% of the activities would go beyond 2025 leaving a legacy for the Borough

 

What difference would it make

-        Children and young people feel proud to call Rotherham their home

-        Children and young people feel confident that they could establish a career in Rotherham

-        Children and young people feel that their mental and physical health was improving

-        Rotherham residents – feel a stronger sense of community cohesion and connection with their local community and feel that Rotherham’s reputation was improving regionally and nationally

 

Engagement Programme as at June 2024

Type of Engagement	Numbers since 1st January 2023
Audience	157,698
Active Participants	28,590
Regular Participants	922
School Participants	4,262
Total	191,474

 

Creative Learning – In-School Learning:  Universal Offer

-        Flagship Universal Programme

Children and young people in 30 schools would work in partnership with artists and cultural organisations to create 15 short films inspired by Francis Alys: Children’s Games.  Included CPD for teachers and artists and resulting in a Children and Young Peoples’ Film Festival curated by school children

-        SEND-led Rotherham Creative Curriculum

Taking the imagination and curiosity with which SEND children approached their surroundings to build a storytelling curriculum for both SEND and mainstream schools

-        Partner Programmes

Rotherham Opera in partnership with Royal Opera House and Rotherham Music

Festival of Stories with Grimm &  Co

School Games Celebration Event with School Games Team and Sport and Leisure Services

WoW Rotherham with RMBC Events and Flux Rotherham

 

In-School Learning:  Enhanced Offer

-        Range of enhanced programmes that schools could choose to opt into if they had need, capacity or a specific area of interest

 

Family Learning

-        The influences on the child were as critical to engagement and participation as the desire within children and young people themselves

-        The Family Learning Programme would create its focus on 0-5 year olds and their wider parents, carers, siblings, grandparents, Early Years setting, support services and peer groups

-        Seeking to address current issues in Early Years including speech and language delay, poor health and wellbeing, lack of access to play-based learning

-        Targeted intervention in care homes where families could become fragmented led by Rotherham Museums, Arts and Heritage

-        Spring/Summer 2025 and Autumn/Winter 2025 open access Family learning Programme

 

Creative Health

-        Spring/Summer 2025 and Autumn/Winter 2025 open access Family Learning Programme

-        Supported by Mental Health impact study

-        Co-design a Creative Health and Wellbeing Framework ensuring it was best suited to Rotherham’s young people and their lived experience and rooted in the green spaces they cherish the most

-        Open commissioning rooted in Green Spaces and natural environments

-        Targeted focus on loneliness, isolation and friendships as highlighted by young people as the key concern for them

 

Skills Talent and Inclusive Growth

Young Producers

-        Open to 16-25 year olds who lived, worked or studied in Rotherham

-        Paid traineeships over 6 months or 12 months at Living Wage 3 days per week

-        Hosted by a range of cultural partners including Grimm & Co, Gullivers, RMBC Services

 

Young Artist Development Programmes

-        Open to 13-25 year olds who lived in Rotherham

-        £2,500 grants across a range of art forms

-        Paid performance opportunities

-        Mentored by established industry professionals and CCoC ambassadors

 

Arts Award

-        Nationally accredited qualification equivalent at Level 1 NVQ

-        4 levels of engagement: Discover, Bronze, Silver and Gold

-        Run as school holiday intensive residencies

 

Partnerships and Opportunities

What can CCoC do for you

-        EDI target groups include Care Experienced young people and SEND young people which can support targeted interventions

-        Bespoke and tailored programme delivery e.g. the Arts Award programme was tailored for small group delivery so could be delivered in hospital settings for long term patients

-        Co-design a packaged offer and single point of contact to support Social Prescribing of Creative Health, Physical Activity and Nature Engagement

-        Support the management of long term health conditions in young people e.g. childhood obesity through targeted activities and campaigns focused on getting young people active

-        Provide quantitative and qualitative consultation and impact assessments specifically focused on mental health and wellbeing in children and young people

 

How can you help

-        Evidence and data to support fundraising and impact studies

-        Access to specific target groups for piloting and testing creative interventions

-        Advocacy within your sector

-        Communication and messages with your service users and staff teams

-        Providing access to facilities e.g. spaces to host workshops, classes and exhibitions/performances

-        Help to extend Social Prescribing to include good creative health practice

-        Business sponsorship opportunities

-        Funding for projects/access to joint funding opportunities

 

Discussion ensued on the presentation with the following issues raised/clarified:-

 

•         Caution was expressed around the term “obesity” used with regard to children

•         Involvement with Social Prescribing would be a good step forward for the initiative

•         So far partners had not had a great deal of involvement.  They could help to spread the word and get Children’s Capital of Culture on their agendas for discussion

•         Although there was a 157,698 audience only 20% were active participants.  It was a challenge as Rotherham was 10% below the national average in terms of audience across culture and arts

•         A link into the Family Hubs would be something definitely looked at

•         The Arts Award was a nationally accredited qualification and was run as a week long residential during the school holidays.  It was accessed by the marginalised children who felt isolated and lonely because they may have been excluded from school or were young carers.  It gave them the opportunity to build friendships etc.  The initiative would be interested in any referral systems partners may have

 

Leanne was thanked for her presentation.

 

Resolved:-  That the progress made to date and the areas that required support be noted.