Agenda item

Report of Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

The Committee considered a briefing note of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) which informed of the activities and achievements of Culture Coventry Trust (CC), including the outcomes of grant funding, monitoring arrangements and future plans.

The briefing note indicated that CC was established in 2013 and was an independent limited company with charitable status, with a Board of five trustee-directors. The Trust managed the Coventry Transport Museum, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Old Grammar School and Lunt Fort, and had responsibility for the management of the city’s collections of art and archives, and for the running of the Tourist Information Centre. The charitable objects of CC were detailed.

In relation to the financial position, the Council was the main funder of the Trust providing annual grant of £2m with the current grant funding agreement running until in March 2021. In addition, CC was currently repaying two loans from the Council, dating from 2017. The Trust’s three-year business plan was approved by its Board in February 2018. This followed a major review of costs and staffing structures and the development of a series of business improvement measures including the introduction of charging at the Coventry Transport Museum which was introduced in July 2019. Investment was being made by CC into facilities to address historic under-investment. The Committee noted that the Sport, Culture and Destination service was currently undertaking a review of all grants which included a focus on the agreement of outcomes that would be achieved by Culture Coventry through grant support from the Council.

Reference was made to governance and it was noted that CC’s trustees were currently engaged in discussion with trustees of CV Life to consider the options for future organisational structure, including assessing the desirability of creating a single trust to manage both sport and culture, establishing a shared services company, or recruiting a dedicated and suitably qualified independent management team for CC.The trustees would share their analysis with the Council over the coming months and officers had requested to be involved in the modelling of any future operation, to ensure it met the Council’s needs in relation to management of the city’s cultural and heritage assets, and the legacy of City of Culture 2021.

Officers in the Culture Service monitored the delivery of the trust against the obligations set out in its grant agreement with the Council which included observing the bi-monthly meetings of trustees. The arrangements enabled officers to manage the risks associated with funding the trust, in the light of historic financial and operational under-performance. The current Council review of all cultural grants was likely to create more robust monitoring arrangements for financial and cultural aspects of the operation.

The briefing note provided details of visitor numbers at the Coventry Transport Museum, Herbert Art Gallery and Museum and the Lunt Roman Fort for the previous three years. There was a downward trend in visitor numbers which was a challenge for the trust. Reference was made to the introduction of admission charges at the Transport Museum in July 2019 which were set out, although they did not apply to GoCV card holders. Since this introduction, the number of visitors attending had fallen in comparison to the same period in the two preceding years. This reduction had been anticipated by CC and the current numbers were in line with the forecasts within the business plan.

Culture Coventry was one year into the current four-year business plan; the first year had been one of experimentation and learning across the various programmes.  Key areas of research and development had been:

i) Digital as a tool to engage, provide access and as art

ii) Co-creation to better reflect the voices of Coventry and provide meaningful interaction with the people of Coventry

iii) National and regional audience development through better PR management and high profile art shows; stronger learning programmes

iv) Better programming of high quality contemporary art in partnership with the local arts ecology and wider national collections. 

The briefing note highlighted recent developments at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry Transport Museum, the Lunt Fort and the Old Grammar School. In addition, Coventry Archives had now become embedded into the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum’s creative programme.

The Committee were informed that in August 2019, the Council received a £8.51m capital grant allocation from Arts Council England to support projects which created production space, expanded and improved cultural and heritage venues ready for UK City of Culture in 2021 and provided a lasting legacy of the title. CC’s project included within the application was to improve the galleries within the HAGM, creating additional gallery space by re-purposing a paint store and improving three adjoining galleries. The investment would improve the flow of visitors around the building and create a “dialogue” between the four gallery spaces. The improvements would enable CC to attract and showcase nationally and internationally significant work and increase the number of national partners working in the gallery.

Members questioned the representatives on a number of issues and responses were provided, matters raised included:

·  Information about the marketing strategy for advertising the facilities managed by the Culture Coventry Trust, both inside and outside of the city and the potential to advertise in City Vision

·  Further information about the implications of the introduction of admission charges at the Transport Museum

·  Whether schools from outside of Coventry undertook educational visits to the Lunt Fort

·  The potential to place leaflets advertising the attractions in local hotels

·  The suggestion that the Old Grammar School should be opened up to allow members of the public to visit the facility and the opportunities to improve the Lunt Fort as a visitor attraction

·  A request for further details about visitor numbers at these attractions

·  A request for representatives from the Trust to attend a future meeting to inform of their work and future plans. 

·  An update on progress with the uptake of the GoCV card

·  Would there be the opportunity to review the admission charges at the Transport Museum. 

RESOLVED that:

(1) The contents of the briefing note be noted.

(2) Representatives from Culture Coventry Trust be invited to attend a future meeting of the Committee to provide a further update on the work of the Trust and their future plans, including details about any funding applications and governance arrangements.

(3) A briefing note be sent to Committee members providing a detailed analysis of the visitor numbers, including a breakdown by type, of the facilities managed by the Trust and information on the numbers of schools from Coventry and outside who undertake educational visits.

(4) The Trust be requested to consider arrangements to open the Old Grammar School to members of the public.

(5) Communications be requested to give further consideration to the promotion of Coventry visitor attractions.