Agenda and draft minutes

1.1   No apologies for absence.

2.1  The meeting started with two children from Morningside Children’s Centre and School – supported by Marie Kerrigan (Children’s Centre Manager) – talking to their Commission about their experiences of the 2019 Hackney Carnival.

2.2  They made the following points:

·  It was the first time the school and children's centre had been involved

·  The carnival had had a very friendly atmosphere, and other community groups had been very welcoming.

·  Participating as a children's centre and school had enabled children to do something they had never done before - either in this carnival or others. 

·  Taru Arts had supported the school’s involvement by holding two workshops to help prepare the children. This had been invaluable - children had been able to learn and work with a number of experienced and high quality artist and musicians. The school sought to have a strong creative offer, but there were always limits to the specialist provision available. Children had thrived on the external support.

·  Both children and parents had been really engaged with the carnival. This was evidenced through the numbers of children attending - 90 - from early on a Sunday morning.It was despite the event coming only one week into the start of the new school year.

• Those involved with the carnival had delivered their procession performance to the rest of the school the day after, which had stoked the interest of other children.

• One of the children liked how the costumes they used on the day had been made from recycled materials. The Children’s Centre Manager added that teaching children about the need for sustainable approaches through the practical and fun activity of costume design, had been very effective.

• The children had been pleased with the certificates they received.

• Participating in the carnival and also the awards evening following it had enabled the school to build links with a number of community organisations. This included St Joseph's Hospice, with pupils having visited there in December to sing carols.

2.3.  The Chair thanked the children and their parents for having presented to the Commission.

2.4  Moving onto the order of business for the meeting, she noted that item 4 considered the logistical aspects of managing the carnival. The running order would have then seen item 5 explore the benefits of carnivals and the experiences of those involved with Hackney Carnival, before item 6 looked separately at how the benefits of the Hackney Carnival could be fully maximised.

2.5  Papers had been provided by Officers for items 4 and 5 and were available in the agenda packs.

2.6  The Chair advised that following discussions with Officers she had agreed to change the order and running of the items. For the logistical review item (4), the paper would be noted.

2.7  Officers would then deliver two presentations - one for item 5 and the other for item 6. Following these presentations, there would then be a single discussion involving all guests, covering items 4 to 6.

3.1 There were no declarations of interest.

4.1  The paper for this item was noted. Questions on this item would be delivered as part of the discussion in item 6.

5.1  Guests in attendance for this item were:

·  Cllr Guy Nicholson, Cabinet Member, Planning, Culture and Inclusive Economy

·  Tim Shields, Chief Executive

·  Polly Cziok, Director, Communications, Culture and Engagement

·  Lucy McMenemy, Cultural Development Manager

·  Leanne Douglas, Service Development Manager (Events)

5.2  Before Officers delivered a presentation, the Cabinet Member for Planning, Culture and Inclusive Economy made the following substantive points:

·  He wished to thank guests who had already fed into the meeting. They had helped illustrate the many successes of Hackney Carnival, despite there also being clear challenges.

·  It was important to note that the challenges had emerged due to these successes, and to the huge growth in interest and engagement with the carnival.

·  There had been a journey in terms of carnivals in Hackney; in the early 2000s two separate carnivals had been held on two separate weekends in September. This had been in reflection of fractious relationships within the sector.

·  The major catalyst for Hackney Carnival as it now existed had been the 2012 Olympics, and thought given by the Council and its partners towards how they could contribute to the Cultural Olympiad. These discussions had led to creation of Hackney Carnival in 2012, which had successfully brought together the sector and the artists and performers within it. This helped lead to a professionalisation of a single main carnival in the borough, which was now drawing attendee numbers of close to 100,000 people, with no sign of interest retracting.

·  The great success of the Carnival was in enabling a high numbers of people from a very wide range of people to want to be involved in a single event; be this as a performer, a designer, an observer or other. However, this also gave rise to a real challenge for the Council and its partners in ensuring that such a large scale, open access event was delivered safely and successfully. This did include challenges around funding what was a very large operation.

·  He welcomed a role for scrutiny in reflecting on the information which would be provided in the meeting – very much including the input of the community groups present. He hoped that through this the Commission would be able to contribute to the future approaches to Hackney Carnival. A key challenge was around maintaining the very special essence of the Hackney Carnival as a truly family event, where people of all ages felt welcome and safe.

5.4  The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member for Planning, Culture and Inclusive Economy. She invited the Director, Communications, Culture and Engagement to deliver her presentation.

5.5  The Director, Communications, Culture and Engagement advised that the Council’s previous Group Director of Neighbourhoods and Housing had played a key leadership role in the management and delivery of the 2019 Hackney Carnival.

5.6  As part of this, she had asked for a social and economic assessment of the carnival to be commissioned. In a context where the carnival brought significant and increasing costs to the Council as the key funder and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.1  Guests in attendance for this item were:

·  Cllr Guy Nicholson, Cabinet Member, Planning, Culture and Inclusive Economy

·  Tim Shields, Chief Executive

·  Polly Cziok, Director, Communications, Culture and Engagement

·  Lucy McMenemy, Cultural Development Manager

·  Leanne Douglas, Service Development Manager (Events)

·  PaxNindi, Chief Executive Global Carnivalz Ltd and Artistic Director, Hackney Carnival

·  Leila Jones, Senior Relationship Manager (London, Combined Arts), Arts Council England

·  Marvia Barrett, Uprising

·  Marie Kerrigan, Children's Centre Manager, Morningside Children’s Centre and School

·  Lucia François, Compassionate Neighbours Project Coordinator, St Joseph’s Hospice

• Rosana Müller, Taru Arts
• Marva Antoine, Tropical Isles
• Sindy Man, Jun Mo Generations

6.2  The item started with the Cultural Development Manager presenting on the context around the Hackney Carnival’s development since 2013 when it came under the management of the her area, and future plans in relation to the carnival and Hackney’s wider Arts and Cultural Strategy. She made the following points:

·  Since 2013, the Council had developed the carnival incrementally In terms of the Council-led developments of Hackney Carnival, the following had been delivered since this time

·  In 2013:

o  Arrangements put in place for procession for the Carnival to start at Ridley Road

o  The commissioning of an event management company to deliver event

·  Between 2014 and 2016:

o  The Commissioning of an Artistic Director for the Carnival.

o  3 and then 4 sound systems, and a range of stalls put in place for after the procession, in Ridley Road.

o  A live stage and children’s area introduced in Gillett Square.

o  Playbus at Town Hall Square

o  A community participation and application process introduced, where resident groups could apply to take part in a procession, bring a sound system, volunteer, or to express other ideas

o  The introduction of a resident and business décor competition along the route, ended after three years due to a lack of take up.

·  In 2017:

o  In recognition Ridley Road was increasingly unviable as a starting point, the start was moved to Haggertson Park. This revised procession added some distance to the route.

o  A new Hackney Carnival Conference for existing and potential carnival stakeholders (community groups, residents and businesses) was found to be effective and useful.

o  It helped lead to an ongoing partnership with Connect Hackney and St Joseph’s Hospice, the commissioning of five carnival groups, and the ongoing representation of these at Hackney Carnival.

o  A partnerships had been established with St Mungos, and a carnival group had been commissioned to engage and involve people experiencing homelessness in activities including the carnival procession.

o  Through a new partnership Access All Areas, residents with learning disabilities were supported to be involved with the Carnival.

o  Support provided to carnival groups in developing consortia bids to Arts Council England, some of which were successful. This was through the Artistic Director providing curation support.

o  Establishment of the annual Carnival Awards Ceremony

·  In 2018:

o  Two new sound systems including QTPOC in Bohemia Place

o  New partnership with Hackney Caribbean Elders  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.1  The minutes of the meeting of 16^th December were agreed as an accurate record.

8.1  The work programme was noted.

9.1  The Chair noted that the Scrutiny Officer had circulated the terms of reference for the Commission’s review around housing associations to Members, in advance of the meeting.

9.2  Members agreed the terms of reference.