Arts Taunton Partnerships Policy

(Cross-reference to conflict of interest, donors, artistic merit, grant-giving, donors policies and risk register. Relationships, brokering and partnerships should for the purposes of this policy be taken to be interchangeable)

Guiding principles:

In order to act as a catalyst within the sphere of arts in Taunton Deane and the surrounding areas, and purely in furtherance of its charitable objects as defined in its memorandum and articles of association, ArtsTaunton will partner others.

A partnership approach founded on co-operation and collaboration between all relevant providers must demonstrate benefits for the public of Taunton Deane and the surrounding areas. These may include examples such as: • removal of barriers to progressing delivery of and appreciation of the arts• providing more consistent, co-ordinated and comprehensive public access to the arts• public access to training or education in respect of the arts. (Cross-reference artistic merit policy.)

Evaluation will include analysis of statistics such as the number of organisations or individuals concerned, Taunton Deane residents’ engagement, and case studies.

Key principles of partnership working: • openness, trust and honesty between partners • agreed shared goals and values • regular communication between partners

ArtsTaunton will work to ensure that:

However it is acknowledged that if, after due and full board-level consideration, an individual or organisation is the best person/organisation to achieve our aim, then payment may be made for services.

ArtsTaunton believes that the choice of partners is important. Partnerships are often formed from existing networks or where there is a history of collaborative work between potential partners. Partnerships may include working with the local authority, as they have the interests of Taunton Deane residents at heart and have a history of funding arts organisations and initiatives within Taunton Deane.

Strategic partnerships should identify:

Operational partnerships will commonly focus on more practical aspects and should identify:

Potential barriers to effective partnership working may include:

Examples of partnership working (not limited to the following but provided as examples):

  1. Holding public meetings to ascertain and develop links and synergies within the arts world; inviting others to make presentations about their work in the arts sector (individuals and voluntary sector). Any commercial entity talking about their work given strict instructions that it is information sharing only with emphasis on their input into the arts and with no promotional element of their business. Guidelines will be issued and strict chairing of the meetings will take place.
  2. Surveying existing arts provision and the public’s perceptions and expectations re such, and relaying this information to the local authority and other interested and appropriate parties, thus feeding into an arts strategy for Taunton Deane.
  3. Developing a database to bring together the strands of arts in Taunton Deane which are currently fragmented.
  4. Bringing together entities who traditionally may not consider working together on arts projects for public benefit (eg UKHO and the proposed monument, or Jekka McVicar and the local authority.)
  5. Identifying and encouraging key figures in the arts world, donors, and philanthropists to support the arts in Taunton Deane.

How trustees will handle disputes within a partnership:

Aim

  1. To define clear expectations for the resolution of any difficulties
  2. To provide a mechanism to enable the trustees to respond formally to more serious breaches of the partnership

Principles to be followed if things go wrong:

Actions:

The trustees will raise the issue with the partner organisation that we feel has breached the partnership in order to resolve the issue at the earliest stage. We will ensure copies of correspondence are kept and that timeframes are introduced for response as necessary. If appropriate we will access any formal complaints process of the organisation with whom we are dealing.

  1. Possible warning signs in re partnerships may include the following:
  2. Drop in numbers expressing interest in activities
  3. Decline in attendance at meetings
  4. Dismissive reactions of influential people to partnership
  5. Disappointing responses to surveys etc
  6. Processes becoming unclear
  7. Disputes or disagreements

Summary – questions for ArtsTaunton trustees to ask themselves:

V1 April 2017 author JO’D; agreed at board meeting 4 April 2017.

Policies will be reviewed annually and updated if changes are necessary