08/11/2011
Minutes of the meeting of the Board of Culture Company 2013
Held NWRC on Monday 27 June 2011 at 3.00pm
PRESENT
Martin Bradley (MB - Chair), Aideen McGinley (AMcG), Ana Leddy (AL), Anna Cutler (AC), Brett Hannam (BH), Brian Dougherty (BD), Charles Lamberton (CL), Claire McColgan (CMcC), Declan McGonagle (DMcG), Gerard Diver (GD), John Meehan (JM), Maeve McLaughlin (MMcL), Michael Cooper (MC), Roisin McDonough (RMcD).
IN ATTENDANCE
Shona McCarthy (SMcC – CEO), Garbhán Downey (GD – Director of Marketing & Communications,), Wesley Emmett (WE – SIB Recruitment Consultant), Fiona Kane (FK – SIB Marketing & Communications Consultant), Mary McNamee (MMcN – Board Business Manager).
APOLOGIES
Mary Hamilton
Drew Thompson
ACTION
1 MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
The minutes of the meeting of 17 May were adopted and signed by the Chair.
1.1 Matters Arising
-BD expressed concern at lack of Unionist political representation in CC2013 Board meetings to date. Party Leaders to raise with colleagues at next Party Leaders meeting (28/06/2011).
-JM advised that the role of Company Secretary ascribed to Culture Company Director of Operations requires development of a close collaborative working relationship with the City Solicitor and Treasurer. Council holds responsibility in accordance with the UK City of Culture Licence Agreement with DCMS and has accounting responsibility to DFP. The MOU in development between DCC and CC2013 will articulate these lines of responsibility.
-AC queried the level of financial support provided by DCMS. There is no financial support with the title award, however the Department convenes a UK Working Group which provides network support.
-BH is to provide support in development of the Company business plan.
2 CHAIRMAN’S BUSINESS:
2.1 Memoranda & Articles of Association
Draft revised MAA had been circulated for review and comment and directors agreed to adopt. Revisions are to be finalized and a special resolution will be tabled at a future Board meeting.
2.2 Insurance
Quotations for indemnity insurance for Board directors and Company staff are being sourced and a recommendation will be available for decision at next Board meeting.
3 Business Plan/Finance
The Chief Executive gave a presentation highlighting the Bid delivery targets and projected revenue streams and contrasted with the actual funding available and commitments. An extensive discussion ensued culminating in identification of a need for:
1. Clarity on the interface between City of Culture and DCC in regard to sponsorship of the Clipper event. A meeting is to be convened as a matter of urgency.
2. Clarity on the availability of Ilex support and when ‘Permission to Spend’ will be available (via approvals of the business case currently with the sponsor departments). A meeting is to be convened as a matter of urgency.
3. CC2013 requires Letters of Offer from both organisations.
4. Consideration of a self-financing, funds generating appointment.
5. Realism on the fundraising challenge ahead and the implications of that on the company’s approach to the cultural programme, ideas and partnership-based as opposed to open application.
4 Chief Executive Report
4.1 Management & Administration
Highlight Items
Recruitment – interviews have taken place and positions offered for Directors of Marketing & Communications and Operations and for Senior Programmers with the Programmer competition also underway. The Programmers’ selection panel membership is to include Senior Programmer appointees. Recruitment of further supporting roles is now being progressed with the aim of having the core delivery team in place by early September.
Accommodation & Infrastructure – The refurbishment of Building 71 Ebrington has been delayed resulting in continuing temporary accommodation for Company staff in the Ebrington Ballroom. The new move-in date is July 8th.
BT IT infrastructure installation has also experienced delays.
Culture Company will go to tender for a Culture Office/Shopfront space with the intention of retaining a city centre presence.
4.2 Cultural Programme
The CEO tabled a paper seeking and securing Board approval for progression of the Programme Areas of Children’s Music Promise, Celtronic Music Festival, Field Day, Disobey Gravity, Fleadh Ceoil Bid, WOMAD Festival, City Walls Commission, Celtic Media Festival. In the ensuing discussion it was agreed that the programme could only fully be measured against the guiding principles and criteria when the company is in a position to look at the complete picture of the 2013 programme. It was understood that only a small fraction of the proposed programme was being presented at this stage with the intention of making progress on at least some projects. It was agreed that the programming team, under the direction of the CEO should get on with curating the programme and present back the full picture to the Board for scrutiny against our aims and objectives, before full publication stage.
4.3 Physical Infrastructure
- £10m fund is being administered by Ilex on behalf of DSD. 46 of the 116 expressions of interest received have progressed to economic appraisal stage. Ilex aims to support unsuccessful applicants by signposting to other potential funding sources.
-A business case to test the viability of the proposed Demountable Pavilion is currently in preparation.
-MB will represent CC2013 on the Physical Infrastructure Group convened by DCC and will report on this to the Board.
4.4 Corporate Engagement
The corporate sponsorship campaign has 40 current leads with a projected value of £4m.
A Licensing & Merchandising workshop is proposed for July to explore how to maximize revenue generation from the City of Culture brand.
A successful corporate engagement update event was delivered in May with a commitment given to deliver a quarterly update going forward.
Corporate engagement dinners are being scoped for Belfast, Dublin and London with the support of members of the Corporate Leadership Team.
A web portal designed to help local businesses engage with Culture Company 2103 is being developed. This will be hosted on the City of Culture site.
4.5 Marketing & Communications
Garbhán Downey has taken up post as Director of Marketing & Communications. There has been a considerable increase in media coverage since announcements of Company appointments.
The Awen logo has emerged as the most popular logo with the DCMS concentric Cs logo to be used in official documentation. MML queried DCMS’ requirements in regard to use of the ‘UK City of Culture’.
A 4m x 4m Awen sign was erected on the Ebrington site and on the 6 main approach entrances to the City in advance of the Peace Bridge Opening Ceremony on 25th June.
5 AOB
-CL raised development of an Alcohol Policy.
-AMcG/JM sought and received approval to use the CEO report to report to their Board/Council respectively.
-AL expressed concern at the shuttered appearance of the City. Directors were advised of the DSD/CCI/DCC ‘Restore’ project aimed at incentivizing removal of shutters.
-MB recorded congratulations on behalf of CC2013 to all concerned in the very successful weekend’s events – Peace Bridge Opening, launch of Mute Meadow.
Date of next meeting – 8th August 2011 at Ebrington 3:00pm - to be confirmed.
The meeting finished at 17:05.
« Back to news