The Sub Committee considered the 2^nd Quarter Event Fund Awards for 2016/17 presented by Stephen Murray, Head of Arts and Events.

Stephen Murray informed the Sub Committee that the report covered the Event Fund applications for events in the 2^nd Quarter between 1^st July 2016 and 30^th September 2016. The Event Fund is a small grant fund for community arts events which has been operating successfully for a number of years and works on a rolling programme with monthly deadlines to support small scale local events.

Stephen Murray referred to paragraphs 3.1 – 3.5 of the report that identified the following –

·       Annual budget for the Event Fund is £52,500;

·       Maximum grant award is £2,500, however, most awards are in the region of £500 - £1,500;

·       A total of £12,000 was awarded in the Quarter 2;

·       Applications are assessed by 3 officers independently of each other and are initially checked for eligibility;

·       If not eligible then applications are rejected and not assessed;

·       If eligible then applications are scored across 7 sections on the assessment form;

·       A total of 18 applications were received in Quarter 2;

·       A total of 11 applications were awarded funding;

·       A total of 7 applications were declined funding;

·       To date a total of £27,200 has been awarded for quarters 1 and 2 with a remaining balance of £25,300 still to be allocated.

Councillor Amina Ali enquired about the monitoring of events and improving the take up of applications across the Borough.

Stephen Murray informed the Sub Committee that events and applications are closely monitored and awards of £500 or more receive an initial payment of 80% of the grant reflecting the spend profile of events that typically require necessary infrastructure to be purchased in advance of the events. The balance of the 20% of the award is retained until receipt of the completed evaluation form, final budget statement and all supporting documents as specified in the guidelines and criteria. He also stated that the Award Fund is well marketed across the Borough through various media and social platforms including Our East End, Arts & Social Media, buildings that host events and workshops across the Borough. The geographical spread of the applications across the Borough is also monitored and sometimes applications can be denied for those reasons as well where a particular venue may be over-represented in applications.

The Chair, Councillor Mukit commented that he was pleased to see that the Sub Committee recommendation about setting up workshops to support small organisations to be successful in their application is being implemented and it would be good to hear whether this has led to any successful outcomes.

The Sub Committee enquired about the processes in place to monitor the level of integration at events and whether it was appropriate to include technology in the scope for the event funds. 

Stephen Murray informed the Sub Committee that the criteria for the award fund is based upon more creative and artistic events but incorporates a whole spectrum of events including Black History Month, exhibitions, women only events, performances, a mixture of media events etc.

The Committee discussed the Rich Mix centre and were assured to hear that the service gave consideration to ensuring a balance between the numbers of events hosted there and ensuring a fair geographical spread.

The Sub Committee agreed:

1.     the report and supported the recommendations; and

2.     Requested for future reports, the presentation of event participants’ equalities data be included.