Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Exemplar overview
May 2007
MMM exemplar overview
Introduction
At the second MMM conference in February 2005, there was a strong consensus
among the participant body of sector leaders that for the programme to gather
the necessary momentum, there needed to be a focus on real, practical projects
from which to learn and then transfer learnings.
This was the origin of the exemplar project strand – a diverse set of small and
medium-sized arts and cultural organisations (A&COs) embarking on innovative
projects which addressed the challenges of sustainability as outlined by one or
more of MMM’s seven principal issues:
Chosen through contact within the MMM network, the size of the exemplars
recognised how, while much attention is given to the larger institutions, the
majority of the sector is made up of small and medium-sized organisations.
Through a series of focused interventions, MMM was able to work closely with the
exemplars to learn more about the challenges they faced both as individual
organisations and as a group. With five of the seven receiving £20,000 towards
their specific projects, MMM was able to support the exemplars both financially
and with other resources. Full details of each of the exemplar’s stories can be
found in their individual case studies. What follows is an overview of the
organisations involved, the programme of activities undertaken with them and
the key learnings gathered from the exemplar community and also of the MMM
exemplar process itself.
2
MMM exemplar overview
Exemplar organisations
Detailed information about each of the exemplars can be found in their individual
case studies therefore only a brief outline of their projects are presented here:
Lift (www.liftfest.org.uk)
This mature performing arts organisation revitalises its mission and vision in
response to global drivers of change and develops The Lift, an innovative,
dynamic and interactive new way of public engagement.
Watershed (www.watershed.co.uk)
This Bristol-based media centre establishes iShed, a new network services
company to capitalise on its position as a hub between the media, arts, higher
education and technology sectors. iShed will be a Community Interest Company.
3
MMM exemplar overview
Programme of activities
4
MMM exemplar overview
view, ensuring excellence in delivery, being open about success and failure and
committing to robust evaluation. The organisations also agreed to the production
of a case study and their involvement in the general exemplar programme.
Checkpoint meetings. These major meetings provided the opportunity for all
the exemplars to meet and share their experiences and learning. Hosted at
Accenture’s offices in London, these day-long sessions proved to be very
successful in exploring common issues within the group. As the initial meetings
had done with the project’s definition, through the individual exemplar’s having to
articulate their progress, each project was required to perform self-evaluation and
reflection while their projects were advancing and evolving.
MMM advocacy events. The exemplars were invited to all major advocacy
event such as the major seminars held on Intelligent Funding and New and
Alternative Financial Instruments. They were also heavily involved in
dissemination events, exploring MMM issues with the wider sector. These
included the 2006 conferences of the Association of British Orchestras and the
Federation of Scottish Theatres where Manchester Camerata, Watershed and Lift
all made well received presentations.
MMM network access. Through being closely involved with MMM, each
exemplar had, on request, the opportunity to take liaise with the wider MMM
network of Action Group members and delivery partners.
Case studies. To signify the closure of the exemplar’s involvement with MMM, a
short case study of their story during that time was created which encapsulates
both the challenges and the learnings of the process.
Ecology of the arts. It was originally proposed that the exemplar community be
studies as an ecology. However, this piece of work exploring the metaphor of the
5
MMM exemplar overview
ecology is now being developed into a wider piece of MMM work following an
exploratory workshop in Bristol in November 2006.