Making Waves Across the UK & Ireland

June has been a whirlwind month at Creative Lives, with our small but busy team attending events and meetings across the UK and Ireland.

Advocating for this big, beautiful and important sector is a large part of what we do. As the only representative body for the commmunity/amateur arts sector, it's important that we're in the right rooms, at the right tables, and speaking up at the right events, so the voice of our sector is heard.

So here's who we've been speaking to . . .

Max May and Daisy Fancourt Our Chief Executive, Max May met with Ben Walmsley, Dean of Cultural Engagement at the University of Leeds to explore evaluation and more. He also met up with Jack Haynes, Chair of Campaign for the Arts to discuss national advocacy.

Max also attended the Chief Cultural & Leisure Officers Association's online conference, hearing about brilliant place-based creative projects in Barnsley and Rotherham (where we've also led projects) and connecting more broadly across culture, leisure and community development.

Max also met up with our Ambassador, Daisy Fancourt whose book 'Art Cure' continues to shine a bright spotlight on the benefits of engaging with culture and creativity. Daisy has recorded a short video for us, which we'll be sharing soon to announce the publication of our important Creative Lives Monitor report, capturing the current condition of our sector.

Max and our Policy Director, Jess Plant also attended the BBC Partner Symposium, where they championed our partnerships past and present with the BBC (including our Creative Lives on Air project, sharing the wonderful work of creative groups).

Jess also attended the Key Cities All Parliamentary Party Group in London, looking at early insights of the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Governments' flagship Pride in Pace programme, aimed at empowering local communities over a ten-year investment programme.

The group was chaired by Rebecca Long-Bailey MP and included presentations from a range of academics, Local Authorities and MPs, as well as Government officials. It's clear the Pride in Place areas are at very different stages of delivery, and that there are capacity needs in some local areas.

Creative Lives is delighted to be talking at the Pride in Place Network for Neighbourhoods webinar in the autumn, to explore the role creative groups can play in shaping local places, and building pride in communities.

Planning day with Disability Rights UK Our Profile Director, Gareth Coles met with Disability Rights UK to explore future collaborations. We recently partnered with DRUK on a pilot project which resulted in the creation of two toolkits (Engaging deaf and Disabled people: Accessible Toolkit for Creative Groups and Engaging Local Creative Groups: A Toolkit for Disabled People's Organisations) to help improve access to local creative groups for Disabled people.

Along with Fun Palaces, we are now exploring a development of this important work, and Gareth spent a day with partners working on a new funding application.

Gareth also attended Gofod3, the third sector conference for Wales. New Deputy First Minister, Sioned Williams gave a speech about the voluntary sector being essential to the work of Government (the "not-so-secret weapon"), and the importance of communities and local assets.

As Creative Lives represents voluntary arts, culture and heritage on the Third Sector Partnership Council, Gareth then met with the Deputy First Minister to talk about the working group tasked with reviewing the Third Sector Scheme, which he's chairing. It was a very positive conversation and we're looking forward to working with the new Welsh Government.

Dan Brown at the Tending Together event in Dundee Meanwhile in Scotland, our Place Director Dan Brown, and Place Co-ordinator Sophie Fraser attended participatory forum, 'Tending To/gether' in Dundee. The one-day event brought together creative network builders, and those interested in collective ways of working, to spotlight impact, exchange knowledge, and platform the critical role that creative networks play in our cultural ecology and beyond.

They joined creative networks from across Scotland, to advocate for grassroots groups and held a discussion on eligibility in joining networks.

And finally . .

Our Creative Places, Edenderry project in Ireland continues to bring joy to the local community - who embrace everything we do with gusto!

Jenny Bergin, our Project Support Worker, helped arrange a visit from 'Festival in a Van', which took place over a sunny weekend in June. Jenny said "The event was a wonderful success. Everything ran smoothly, and the highlight for me was an 88-year-old lady taking to the stage for the first time, followed closely by two men, one 84 and one 85!"