Sharing and debate event: Capturing Greatness: Quality and Excellence, The Grand (Clitheroe), 3 August 2011

What value could a regional agency add to your work with children and young people?
Audit, information and advocacy: y Louder, joined -up, powerful advocacy y Responding to numbers and figures for government (and shifting their thinking on how quality should be assessed and measured) Profile raising: y A promotional, recruitment and support network Quality and excellence, CPD and networking: y Supporting professionalism and providing networks that can support each other (either through themes, activities or programmes) y Practitioner networks / support y Create a network of practitioners y Recognise and promote high quality activity y Dissemination of learning regional conferences; publications y Take learning from the ground up and influence the top y Development of best practice y CPD opportunities y Appropriate training y A critical friend Connecting sectors, making new links: y An honest broker y Broker partnerships that inspire, provoke and challenge y Create a discourse between the arts and education sectors which helps them to understand needs and solutions in a language they both un derstand Coherence common practice, language and vision: y A regional strategy y Overview y Encourage a more joined -up approach to delivery and progression routes Children, young people and families: y Help set programme agendas in line with children and young peoples priorities / needs

How would a fantastic bridge organisation operate?

y y y y y y y y

A listening organisation Supportive and respectful Assets- and solutions-focused Trusting Fair, objective, open, accessible and unbiased Imaginative Light-touch; simple but effective Fearless

Themed table discussions: What is our ideal future when it comes to quality and excellence? What skills and resources do we have already? How can we work together to achieve our goal?
What skills and resources do we have already?
y y y y y y y y y y y y

A broad range of artists Increased experience of artists / practitioners in school setting s Inspirational practitioners Arts Award Diverse range of activities Creating young people -led artistic programmes Opportunities to take the lead Opportunities to participate in arts activities Youth progression Creating youth leaders Commitment to quality Collecting feedback on personal experience

Listening to practitioners / participants

How can we work together to achieve our ideal future?: Funders / stakeholders
We must do this... y Have a commitment to learning through delivery y Improve the sectors ability to respond to communit y needs y All parties have an equal involvement in generatin g a project - community first, partner next y Ensure we have well -researched contexts and clear briefs out to the sector y Demand a return on investment y Encourage community investment y Build a set of values y Ensure you have informed responses y Have the collective courage to make decisions y Always understand that the content of your offer is triangulated, involving: participants - practitioners - observers. Make sure that all understand how this looks: what role each party plays in that structure and how to measure the level of success and quali ty within it Wed like to do this... y Have a sector-wide peer review that goes beyond 'relationships' y Have repeat projects where ver we have had success y Have a system to demonstrate your 'trustworthiness' to schools who don't know you y Have a pool of freelancers that you can go to and depend upon y Get help to define what 'TRUST' means y Ask stakeholders for their perceptions of the end product and outcomes

How can we work together to achieve our ideal future?: Children and young people
We must do this... y Define the results - the power of the arts in a broader context y Define what quality is and what the outcomes should be y Advocate for young people and their voice y Connect one place to the next. Bring all these things together and match outcomes y Use the right language - make the offer understandable y Focus on outcomes - make the work more effective for children and young people y Listen to practitioners - what are their needs ? y Invest in practitioners the frontline workforce - invest in their practice y Develop pathways for children and young people y Appreciating the wide range of age and ability of children and young people y Be aware of the kind of provision needed to ensure progression through arts and culture by children and young people

Understand and utili se young people so you can understand 'quality', because young people are truly the only people who can articulate the levels of quality around - they have experienced lots of different levels of this already Ensure young people know what they are getting from a Bridge Organisation. Be visible in that role it is important to avoid confusion over where young people turn to for information and provision Ensure part of your programme is developed through talking to young people, not enforced upon young people - it will only work if young people know they have ownership and are being listened to

How can we work together to achieve our ideal future? : North West arts and cultural organisations
We must do this... y Have a commitment to quality y Commit to taff development and training , ensuring quality in workforce y Have a commitment to bringing out the best in children and young people y Consult and collaborate with children and young people y Not be afraid to fail Wed like to do this... y Consult with other arts and cultural organisations y We could develop consistent and coherent practices of excellence that encourage user engagement and recognition and aid partnership y We can build a nationally recognised fram ework y Develop a 'kitemark' that stakeholders and funders recognise regional ly / nationally as an indication of good practice y We can develop consistency of practice and offer across the region y Have a product that is co-produced - a product that is developed for and by young people y Cultural organisations should at tempt to be represented on school boards and similar - organisations need to have respect for this and protect the time that this important role takes up y As well as co-producing with young people , we should also be attempting to co-produce with the communities that surround our organisations Wouldnt it be great if ...? y We could produce a nationally recognised quality product that makes us eligible for a 'kitemark' y Our work was recognised at senior government level and funded for longer than three years y Longer-term funding levels ensure d sector mobility, job retention and fluidity of opportunities

What should Curious Minds be thinking about or doing as a Bridge Organisation? What challenges are we likely to face and how can we overcome them?
Curious Minds should think about...
y

Making the case winning the argument around measurement to government exercise translation and being bilingual in your communications Open up debate Articulate benefits accessibly Be clear on our promise. Offer a declaration of intent . Be simple, clear, accountable and brave Include museums and galleries in the conversation support their decision to engage with us. Afford this the right time. Be realistic around what can be done in the time we have set milestones and time-based aims. Capitalise on resources that are already there You said... We did... in response Dont compromise Keep young people at the core what is their route in ? how does their voice feed in?

What can we offer as a Bridge Organisation? Build our awareness, identify opportunities, facilitate debates, invite us Disseminate funding opportunities Audit whats out there Be an oracle we talk to you, you give us the editorial As a Bridge Organisation, dont oversubscribe - you can be selective. Is it about getting people to subscribe? Offering different services and signposting You are under real pressure you are the conduit Whats the bold entrance? We want you to react early Reflect what you see regionally Broker relationships Be realistic, have courage Understand the landscape Do well what you can do well - make connections Acrostics and Haiku Our region is rich If we share what we do well We can achieve more The sector it waits For the Bridge to emerge And reconvene us

I dont want more words Just make my job easier Challenge me to reach Young people value Opportunities to grow Quality prevails

V alues-led I nspirational S ignposting I diosyncratic O pen N urturing

P assion A dvocacy Ri gour T enacious N ot Bureaucratic E volving R adical

W elcome E veryone on B oard V aluing O pportunities I nspirational, inspiring, inspire C larity E quality C onnectivity U nderstanding R igorous I n yer face O ptimistic U ncompromising S uccessful M agnificent measuring I mpact integrity N avigate D angerous S uccess

C urious Minds R eaching and E ngaging A nyone T rying to I nnovate creative V entures of E xcellence B uilding R elationships I nspiring D evelopment G rowing E vidence