Committee Recommendations

Chris Whiting Band at The Rainbow

Last year’s UK Music report, ‘Destination UK’, was the ‘most comprehensive study ever undertaken on the power of music as a tourist draw’ and the first of its kind to quantify the economic value of ‘music tourism’ to the country’s regions. It also laid down a challenge to public bodies, locally and nationally, to ‘realise the potential of this considerable economic asset’. And the Scrutiny Committee that I chair in Birmingham has responded to that challenge, coming up with a series of recommendations for city council approval – in our scrutiny report ‘Destination Birmingham‘ – that I hope will send out the clear message that we see popular music as being of huge importance to the cultural and economic life of our city.

We felt it important to focus the review on ‘popular music’ – difficult though that is to define – rather than classical music, for a number of reasons. Firstly, there have been several attempts over the last few years in Birmingham to make more of this ‘cultural asset’ – however, much of it has been ad hoc and has lacked the formal support of our city council. In contrast, classical music is widely valued and recognised and is supported and promoted with public funds.

There has also been little done in terms of quantifying the economic value of popular music to Birmingham – unlike classical music and cultural activities in general. However, with the UK Music report showing that major concerts and festivals in the West Midlands result in an annual spend of over £138m and our own research showing that five independent festivals alone in the city bring over £5m into the local economy every year, clearly this is an area worthy of serious attention.

We also wanted to focus on popular music because of its diversity and appeal to such a wide range of people. Birmingham is one of the youngest cities in Europe and although this is a huge generalisation, popular music is often the culture that younger people are most interested in and it is sometimes seen as undervalued. And the success of our bands – whether from the past – such as UB40, Black Sabbath or Duran Duran – the present, or the future – such as The Arcadian Kicks and The Carpels - adds greatly to the international profile of the city. You only have to look at cities like Manchester and Liverpool to see how popular music helps in terms of marketing a city as a culturally exciting place for people to visit and set down roots. This indirect value is hugely important. The success of its local bands in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s, led to Manchester University being one of the most sought after universities in the country, boosting the city’s media and creative industries and generating huge interest in its musical heritage.

We followed three particular lines of enquiry during the course of our review:

Firstly, heritage: One of UK Music’s recommendations in ‘Destination Music’ is that ‘tourism authorities and LEPS should capitalise on the unique musical strength and heritage of each region’. And we know that from our own experience here in Birmingham that musical heritage can be a significant component of the tourism industry. Last year’s Home of Metal exhibition produced by Capsule and held in the city’s main museum generated £1.6m for our local economy and attracted an unprecedented level of media coverage. It was covered in every paper from the Sun to the FT, was broadcast on the BBC and CNN, and the subject of a 30 minute documentary on Sky. Many commentators expressed surprise that we hadn’t shown off this element of our past before, with The Sunday Times reporting: ‘this is Birmingham. They do things indifferently here.’ And ‘Brummies don’t like to shout about what they do’. Yet, clearly, there is much that we could be shouting about. As well as heavy metal, Birmingham is the birthplace of British reggae and bhangra, home to some huge international bands, and a city where significant music events have taken place. Our report, then, comes up with a number of recommendations as to how we can better celebrate the diverse musical heritage of our city.

The second area we looked at was in relation to the current industry: what are Birmingham’s strengths and weaknesses; where are the gaps? At the heart of this issue are the creators and performers of music and whether they are able to flourish here in Birmingham. We know that there is a quantifiable ‘music industry’ in this city, including a range of promoters, venues, and festivals; artists, labels and managers. What we lack, however, are the crucial support networks that have national recognition and support by the industry in comparison to other cities. A local, unsigned band made it very clear to us that this strong support structure is often needed to enable a band to grow and reach the next level. The absence of this support can mean that many bands with aspirations leave the city as the lack of infrastructure and necessary contacts hinder progress. Unlike some other cities, there is no discernible voice advocating for the independent sector in Birmingham – yet co-ordination and the ability to articulate the sector’s needs is vital if we want to help support new bands and retain talent here.

Finally we looked at what our city council could do practically to help. Very few of the people we spoke to asked for direct funding from the council and everybody saw the dangers of us being in the position of ‘talent spotting’ or ‘picking winners’. However, it’s clear that we ought to be doing more to support this sector particularly with regards to setting a strategy and priorities, as well as providing a clear point of contact within the council for those wanting to put on events or gigs, or develop their music business in Birmingham. This role could involve providing support for funding applications, helping establish better links with the media to improve coverage of local events and taking responsibility, with our partners, for providing business advice. Several years ago our council took the decision to install and fund such a point of contact for those to come and film in the city and the key recommendation from our report is that we create a similar role, a ‘Music Birmingham’, for the popular music sector. This would send out the clear message that we recognise the huge value of popular music to our city.

And this isn’t about the city council saying for one minute that it has any particular expertise with regards to the workings of music industry. What the city does have, however, are extensive networks, contacts and clout and given the huge importance of this sector – culturally, economically and as a way to improve perceptions of the city – the council has an important role to play in terms of finding out what the industry considers to its priorities and then being responsive to them. And sometimes of course, this may simply be about us getting out of the way. I hope that other councils across the UK pick up the challenge.

Destination Birmingham Report

Music Week 

NME 

Birmingham Post – Birmingham needs a ‘music tsar’

Birmingham Post – Black Sabbath

Classic Rock – Sabbath Day?

Loudwire – Sabbath Day?

Gibson

Guitar World

Uncut

Created in Birmingham

Incidentally, a credible candidate from the business community, whether affiliated to a political party or standing as an independent, could prove to be a strong contender for the job in Birmingham. If the Chamber’s new stance on this issue results in someone who has worked in business throwing their hat into the ring, then the race to become Birmingham’s first elected mayor could become even more interesting.

As the panel members got up to speak, it became clearer: the launch was about inviting businesses to invest in a fund to help make initiatives like the Curzon Square Museum Quarter actually become reality and, given the involvement of the LEP, about linking cultural development to wider economic growth in the region. And crucially, there does appear to be some extra money on the table from the city council with £5m being earmarked for ‘cultural regeneration’ in the city.

This is to be welcomed, especially at a time when the huge savings that the city council is having to make mean difficult decisions are being made with regards to funding. What concerns me, however, is this: given that there were less than a dozen representatives from the ‘independent sector’ at yesterday’s launch (from a delegate list of 116 people), and much of the ‘mood music’ at the event was around cultural assets like the Symphony Hall, the Hippodrome etc, how do we ensure that this £5m gets to be evenly distributed amongst both big and small organisations?  For example, one of the ideas coming out of the popular music review that my committee is conducting is for there to be a ‘development fund’ for local bands, so they can actually be paid – or ‘topped up’ – a modest amount for performing in small venues. Given the scarcity of cheap (and legal) sites to put up posters and the regulations around leafleting, it’s difficult for bands to sell tickets outside of a loyal circle of family and friends. A fund to help bands promote future gigs and help pay for rehearsal space would go a long way towards providing encouragement as much as anything else. This wouldn’t take a huge amount of money, but supporting musicians at the onset of their careers could be one of the best investments we make given the huge importance that popular music has in improving people’s perceptions of a city and sustaining jobs. Details of the £5m fund will become available next month and I hope that this is where at least part of the substance of yesterday’s event lies and that the allocation of the money will be truly representative of the whole of the cultural offer in Birmingham.

Image from Wikipedia

Sutton Trinity Ward Committee meets at 7.30 p.m. tonight, in the Crush Hall, Sutton Coldfield Town Hall.

Items on the agenda include:

• An update on Sutton Coldfield Library
• Consultation on the cycling/walking route through Sutton Coldfield
• An update on the Business Improvement District proposal for the town centre

trinitywardagenda220911

(Apologies for the formatting)

“20th September 2011

BULLETIN 5 – SUPPORT FOR BIRMINGHAM BUSINESSES AFFECTED BY THE DISTURBANCES

Please note that time is now running out for applications for support via the High street Support Scheme.  Please act quickly.

We can now announce some further assistance that businesses can apply for through the High Street Support Scheme:

Security Improvement Scheme (SIS) Grant

The Security improvement Scheme (SIS) is open to any small medium sized enterprise (SME) business based within the areas that were affected by civil disorder after 6^th August 2011:  City Centre, Aston, Newtown, Handsworth, Lozells, Perry Barr and Winson Green

 The criteria to meet to be classed as an SME are:

• Fewer than 250 employees worldwide
• Turnover below £ 11.2 million per annum

• Must be independent (or franchise)

The SIS grant is specifically to assist towards project costs for new or upgraded:

-               CCTV

-               Shutters

-               Alarm Systems

-               Other relevant security measures

The level of grant funding awarded is 75% of eligible project expenditure up to a maximum of £5,000.  To receive the maximum allowable grant, therefore, project costs should total at least £6,125.

Grant payments are issued as a reimbursement of eligible expenditure by the business and will only be paid on production of relevant evidence.  Therefore all approved grants MUST be spent and claimed by the 28^th October 2011.

Application forms for this scheme can be found on our website via www.birmingham.gov.uk/businessrecovery  and applications must be submitted by 14^th October 2011.

Business Recovery Advice Initiative

Again, this initiative is open to any SME businesses in the areas listed above for the SIS grant.

We are organising 4 drop-in sessions which businesses can attend to gain advice from specialist business advisors on business plans, marketing strategies and access to finance with a view to developing a strategy to recover from the effects of the disturbances.  Businesses can then decide whether they want to benefit from up to 2 days worth of further input from an advisor on a one-to-one basis to fully develop a plan.

The drop-in sessions are as follows:

Monday 3^rd October             Handsworth Community Fire Station                   2pm-7pm

41 Rookery Road, Handsworth, Birmingham,

B21 9QU                   

Tuesday 4^th October            ACRC                                                                                    2pm-7pm

                                                339 Dudley Road, Winson Green,

B18 4HB

Wednesday 5^th October      Venue in Aston to be confirmed*                          2pm-7pm

Thursday 6^th October           Ibis Arcadian Hotel, Ladywell Walk                      2pm-7pm

*once confirmed, we will publish the venue on our web page and through Bulletin 6

We are still accepting applications for the Financial Recovery Fund, which now has a new element to it.

To be eligible for this grant, businesses must carry insurance.  Losses relating to damage & looting which are not covered by insurance (including insurance excess) can be claimed, along with exceptional business costs directly related to the disturbances. 

New element:  where a business is experiencing delays in receiving payment from insurers and is struggling to manage its cash flow, consideration will be given to offering a one-off grant to help the business to continue trading whilst waiting for a settlement.  The business case for this request will need to be set out in the application form and related evidence (e.g. recent bank account showing cash position & overdraft facility).  Those who have already applied for support under this scheme do not need to re-apply, but will need to submit the business case and supporting evidence to apply for this grant.”

I can’t remember a museum exhibition that’s been the subject of so much diverse media coverage.

And it’s firmly cemented our reputation as a city with a rich musical heritage.

One of the best articles was in The Sunday Times. Despairing at our previous failure to shout about the role we played in creating heavy metal the journalist summed it up thus:

‘This is Birmingham. They do things indifferently here’.

There’s a lot of truth in that. We’re far too humble about our history, far too reticent in shouting about what makes this city great. The people behind the Home of Metal exhibition have made significant progress in helping us shake off that indifference.

Sadly in ten days time the exhibition comes to an end. It would be fantastic if it had a permanent home, somewhere in the city centre. We don’t stop being the ‘home of metal’ at the end of September and we shouldn’t stop shouting about it then, either.

The building was closed in April 2010, when asbestos was discovered during the course of a ‘modernisation and refurbishment’ programme and a huge amount of work needs to be done to get it up and running again. The cost of this work is likely to be in region of £1.8m.

At a time when libraries are being closed all over the country, my colleagues and I are determined to get the one in Sutton town centre reopened. Up until its closure last year, Sutton Library was the second busiest in the city and however much other libraries in the constituency are ‘taking up the strain’ it’s vital that we get the one at the centre of the town open again.

And although we’re going to need to ensure that we make more efficient use of the space, with other services likely to be occupying the building, I’m really keen that we have as much of a library facility as possible. It was confirmed to the committee this morning that councillors and ‘service users’ will be consulted once the detailed design is complete and I’m hopeful that the plans will be unveiled at the next Trinity Ward Committee meeting (Thursday 22^nd September, 7.30pm at Sutton Town Hall).

The original money set aside for the ‘modernisation and refurbishment’ programme (£236,000) was clawed back into the central city council pot in 2010, when the building was closed. (see page 11: cabinetsuttonlibrary)

Now that the plans are coming together, I’ve asked for it back.