What is the Culture Works Collective?
Culture Works Collective is the Cultural Compact for Coventry. A Cultural Compact is a network which brings together people and organisations from different sectors with the vision to make Coventry a better place through arts, culture and creativity.
Coventry is already a great place with a vibrant cultural scene, but in the last few years it has become more difficult for the cultural sector to thrive because of the impacts of Covid, cost of living crisis and diminishing funding. It is therefore really important that we collaborate to find joint solutions to key issues and look at the wider opportunities on how to ensure arts, culture and heritage play a key role in the future progress of Coventry.
What will Culture Works do?
Culture Works will bring together people with knowledge, passion and skills to fulfil the vision of Culture Works, as well as act as representatives for different sectors which all have an impact on the arts and cultural ecology of the city.
Culture Works will have a shared, delegated responsibility for overseeing the delivery of the 2017 – 2027 Coventry Cultural Strategy, informed by the wider Future Works Open Forum.
The Future Works Open Forum will be an annual event bringing together everyone who is interested in the future of arts and culture in Coventry. It will be an opportunity to take stock of progress and have a wider conversation about the needs, opportunities and successes of arts and culture in the city.
Who are the Reps?
The Reps will be the members of the Culture Works Collective. They will be people representing the interests of different stakeholder groups, ranging from residents to private businesses, and of course the cultural sector. There will be four different types of the Reps – with everyone working together.
Eight Cultural Sector Reps
- People from smaller cultural organisations, up to four members in total
- Freelancers from the cultural and creative sectors, up to four members in total
- These members will be selected through the current open application process
Seven Community Sector Reps
- These Reps will represent the residents of Coventry either directly or through the work they do
- We are looking to appoint two residents through the current open application process
- The other Reps will include for example faith and community organisation/network representatives, and they will be selected via a recommendation process
Six Other Sector Reps
- These Reps will be representing the key focus areas of the cultural strategy, including economic development, education and skills, health and wellbeing and environment and social justice.
- They are likely to be organisations or networks working across these areas
- These members will be selected by an application or via specialist recommendation process
Seven Wider Stakeholder Reps
- These are Reps from those organisations that ‘there is only one of’, such as the city’s two Universities, Coventry City Council, the Cathedral as a key physical venue and the three larger National Portfolio Cultural Organisations (Warwick Arts Centre, The Belgrade Theatre and Culture Coventry)
- These appointments will be direct appointments
The Culture Works Collective will work within a Terms of Reference that was devised by the previous iteration of the Cultural Compact, for a period of at least two years to test out how it works, and whether it achieves the aims of open-ness, inclusivity and truly democratic, collective governance.
What are we looking for in a Rep?
For those interested in becoming a Rep, we are looking for people who:
- Have a strong commitment to improving the lives of the city's residents
- Are interested in the role that arts, culture and creativity can play in shaping a better future for the city
- Have the ability to think creatively about how different sectors, industries, neighbourhoods and organisations can work together to unlock new opportunities
- Can make the commitment to attend Culture Works meetings and proactively contribute to the work
- Are committed to equality of opportunity and able to respect the views of others, even when those views are different from theirs
- Can contribute positively to discussions and champion the role of arts and culture by contributing their experience and expertise to achieve workable solutions
- Are able to work collaboratively with other members to achieve agreement on key issues and actions
- Are able to consider the bigger picture beyond their own personal or organisational needs/ambitions, as well as towards wider public benefit
- We will also be looking for people who can bring different experiences or knowledge to the mix
This could include things like:
- Understanding of the arts and cultural sector, which can be from a specific point of view, such as a specific art form (e.g. theatre, dance, music), practice (community arts, arts and health) or type of role (e.g. freelancer, technical role, administrator, producer, business owner)
- Having local knowledge and/or access to a community, stakeholders or wider networks and being able to influence these
- You are passionate about diversity, inclusion and equality in the arts and cultural sector and beyond
- Understanding of the funding environment for your own sector
- Experience or interest in socially engaged practice, co-creation and community work
- Experience in working with audiences, clients or participants with a focus on co-creation, socially engaged arts practice or participatory arts
- Deeper understanding of one or more of the key priorities of the Cultural Strategy including:
- economic development
- education and skills
- environment and social justice
- health and wellbeing
- communities
- Something else that you think could help the Culture Works Collective
The skills and experience you will bring will be unique to you, but it is important that you are interested in the future development of Coventry through arts and culture, as well as willing to learn new things.
What would I need to do if I was a Rep?
The main task for the Reps is to attend four Culture Works meetings per year, as well as the Future Works Open Forum event once a year. There may be additional meetings if Culture Works decides to, for example, have task and finish groups.
The Culture Works meetings will all take place in person and last two hours each. The Future Works Open Forum event will be a half-day event.
In addition, you will have to spend some time reading papers and materials in preparation for the meetings, as well as ad hoc emails linking to the activities of Culture Works. Sometimes you may also be asked to make decisions via email or respond to other requests.
Some members may also be asked to attend events in Coventry or elsewhere to represent Culture Works and the city. These will be agreed in advance.
We can currently provide a £100 bursary per each meeting to include reading time for unwaged and freelance members, as well as Reps from small cultural or community organisations. Any additional compensation would need to be agreed in advance and is subject to funding being available.
In the first instance, the Reps are selected for a period of three years, until the end of the current Cultural Strategy in 2027. There will however be an annual review of activities and membership.
Other things that are good to know
We are particularly keen to ensure that the Reps represent the diversity of Coventry in all of its dimensions. We also want to support young emerging cultural and community leaders and would encourage applications from these groups. Culture Works supports and recognises the importance and benefits of greater diversity, including all protected characteristics and socioeconomic diversity, as well as cognitive and personal strengths.
The administration for Culture Works is mainly provided by the Culture and Creative Economy team at Coventry City Council. This is subject to funding and resources being available.
How will you decide who becomes a Rep?
We will establish a panel which will include members from all the four parts of Culture Works. This panel will then review the applications and invite the strongest candidates for a conversation. We are hoping to have the conversations take place between 20 January – 5 February 2025 in person in Coventry.
The final membership is then decided based on the outcome of the conversation. Everyone invited to attend a conversation will be provided feedback.
If you are selected as a Rep, you will then also be provided a joint induction session to talk about the roles and meet the other Reps.
We are planning to have the first Culture Works meeting to take place in late February 2025.