Riverside Community Development Trust

 

VAUXHALL FESTIVAL 2004 and 2005

Discussion Paper

 

The Director of Lady Margaret Hall Settlement who led the Settlement team running the 2004 Festival asked the Trust to organise a meeting to discuss the 2004 Festival and begin the planning of the 2005 Festival. RCDT’s Board has agreed to convene a meeting to evaluate the 2004 Vauxhall Festival and plan the one for 2005. Dates for this are being discussed with the Settlement Director. Organisations and individuals interested in having a Festival in 2005 will be notified of the date. Meanwhile the Board hopes that this paper will help organisations and individuals to prepare for the meeting.

 

2004 Festival

 

RCDT itself did not have the capacity to undertake the organisation of the 2004 Festival. It needed to concentrate on developing its own future following the end of the Single Regeneration Budget project on 31 March 2004. This involved ensuring that the Riverside IT project at 125 Lambeth Walk could continue, sorting out the loose-ends from the SRB programme Community Chest which the Trust ran, and taking on 20 Newburn St as a building in which to provide community services.

 

The Trust Board welcomed the decision of Lady Margaret Hall Settlement to take on the organisation of the 2004 Festival in order to ensure that a Festival took place. Individual members of the Trust Board were involved in events that formed part of the Festival. The Trust acted as the conduit for £6,000 of funds from Lambeth Council to the Settlement.

 

The following are some of the main conclusions that can be drawn from the 2004 Festival:

 

·           The Settlement’s Festival Team led by its Director Jeffe Jeffers is to be congratulated for putting on a wide-ranging and comprehensive programme at short notice.

·           Attendances at many of the events were low.

·           Lack of money meant that there could not be a big music event on Spring Gdns as in previous years

·           Publicity was poor – due to the lack of time for pre-planning and the apparent non-distribution of programmes by some organisations.

·           The programme brochure was over complicated in its format with print size too small and its orange colour making it difficult for many to read.

·           The idea of the Festival has been kept alive.

·           The danger was that a break of one year without a Festival might have resulted in no Festival in the future.

 

Festival Context

 

The composition of the Kennington and Vauxhall area is in a continual process of change. The population is now a rich mix ethnically and has sections with high and low levels of income. It also has an increasingly younger age profile. This means that future Festivals cannot simply reproduce the formats of the past.

 

Aims of Festival

 

Organisations and individuals keen to see the Festival run in 2005 need to have a clear set of aims for it. Could these be possible aims?

 

·           To cater for the wide range of cultural interests of local people.

·           To provide practical learning opportunities for local people especially children and young people

·           To enable local organisations to show case their work

·           To enable local people with cultural skills to show case their talent

·           To run events in a variety of locations where people live. These might be in estate halls, churches, public houses, restaurants, galleries and community buildings.

·           To provide opportunities for different sections of the community to mix together.

·           To provide opportunities for those of different cultural tastes to experience other types of cultural activity and the inter-connections between them

·           To celebrate the diverse history of the local community, especially of ordinary people who have lived and worked in the area not just the famous

·           To organise events around a number of themes

 

If the Festival is to cater for the wide range of cultural tastes then a community survey of those tastes will be needed.

 

Components and Themes

 

The components for the 2005 Festival could be:

 

·           Music – a mixed range of music inc. classical, jazz, blues, pop, rap etc; the music of the different nationalities that comprise the local population; music hall; performances and practical workshops

·           Art – (painting, sculpture, etc) a mixed range of art inc the history of the arts in the areas such as William Blake, Doulton Pottery; talks, displays and practical workshops

·           Print design – especially given the history of print in the area; talks, displays and practical workshops

·           Dance – old time dancing, line dancing, modern dance; performances and practical workshops

·           Heritage – a variety of talks, walks and displays on local history, especially the history of the ordinary people who have lived in Kennington and Vauxhall over the centuries; black and ethnic minority history of the area

·           Film – film shows; talks on the history of film; emphasis on the link between film and the area

·           Sport – taster sessions; a schools sports event; meet some famous sports people – especially if they live locally

·           Play – play activities which could include children’s games and rhymes from Britain and around the world

·           Poetry – readings

·           Books – book promotions; author talks and signings

·           Comedy – stand up comedy event

·           Talks: talks on political, social and cultural affairs by some of the powerful and influential residents of the area

·           Faith Collaboration: joint activities by faith organisations e.g. debates on the differences between different faiths and what they share in common; a joint festival of worship

 

It would probably help publicity if there was a theme: e.g.

 

·           Lambeth Walk – linking some of the specialist themes to the historic theme of ‘Lambeth Walk’

·           Nurturing Local Talent

 

How long should be Festival be held for?

 

It would be helpful to have a debate about:

 

·           the month it should be held in

·           the time period the Festival should be held over

 

Month

 

·           Should it continue to be held across June and July?

·           Would October be a better month, apart from the fact that it would make outdoor events more difficult to hold?

·           Should it be held in August so that a major element is that it provides constructive activities for children and young people?

·           Should it be held at Easter, again with a major focus of providing constructive activities for children and young people?

·           Should it be held in May when it would be possible to run outdoor activities?

 

Time period

 

·           Is trying to hold a Festival over 3 weeks too ambitious?

·           Would a shorter time period e.g. 2 weeks with fewer events enable more effort to be put into publicity and ways of encouraging people to take part?

·           If it is to be held over a holiday period, then the length will partly be determined by the length of the holiday period.

 

Organising the 2005 Festival

 

Organising the 2005 Festival will require:

 

·           A Festival Organising Committee made up of representatives of the organisations that, and individuals who, wish to play an active part.

·           A lead organisation that will take responsibility for carrying out the decisions of the Organising Committee.

·           Fund-raising

 

Funding

 

To help with the building up of a suitable level of funding for the 2005 Festival commitments will be needed from:

 

·           Lambeth Council

·           Cross River Partnership

·           London Mayor

·           Arts, heritage and sports bodies

·           Local businesses, inc. South Bank Employers’ Group

·           Specialist Government funds

 Conclusion

 

The Trust Board hopes that this discussion paper will be useful to those organisations and individuals interested in ensuring that there is a successful Festival in 2005.

 

Adopted by RCDT Board September 2005