Further to Minute 20 of the meeting held on 10 March 2021, the Director of Economic Growth and Neighbourhood Services submitted a report which informed the Committee of the successes of the Reading, Place of Culture project, sought agreement for the proposed Action Plan and authority for the Assistant Director for Culture, in consultation with the Lead Councillor for Culture, Heritage and Recreation, to incorporate the actions within existing or emerging delivery plans.

The report explained that Reading had been awarded £558,400 through the Great Places Scheme for delivery of outcomes from 2017 to 2021 of the Reading, Place of Culture project (RPoC).  The project had aimed to foster a culture of collaboration across sectors – where caring for, and engaging, people would be achieved in partnership between the public, private and voluntary sectors, and specifically targeted health and mental wellbeing and employment outcomes.  The report set out the outcomes and successes of the five strands: Festivals, Cultural Commissioning Programme, Research, Culture and Business Engagement, and Reach and Engagement.  Key outcomes had included:

·       Developing strategic partnerships;

·       Increasing arts, culture and heritage engagement;

·       Increasing pride and perceptions of Reading’s offer;

·       Strengthening the arts, culture and heritage sector;

·       Creating evidence, tools and models to show the value of culture;

·       The benefits of cross-partner and cross-project working.

An action plan, which set out conclusions and recommended legacy action was included in Section 5 of the report.  The actions would be incorporated into existing and new service plans as appropriate, to ensure that the legacy of the project was embedded into the Council’s work going forward.

Sam Lloyd, Starting Point, attended the meeting and explained how Reading, Place of Culture had helped with the work of the organisation reaching young people facing disadvantage and delivering real world projects.

Resolved:

(1)        That the successes of the Reading, Place of Culture project (Great Places Funding) be noted;

(2)        That the action plan set out in section the report be agreed and the Assistant Director for Culture in consultation with the Lead Councillor for Culture, Heritage and Recreation, be authorised to incorporate the actions within existing or emerging delivery plans.