Agenda item

Members of the public to introduce themselves and their organisations.

Representatives from arts and culture groups across the district briefly introduced themselves and their organisations.

Audio recording - 9 minutes 28 seconds

Representatives from arts and culture groups across the district briefly introduced themselves and their organisations as follows:

·                Sarah Core, Co-ordinator for Digswell Arts Trust. The Trust provides hundreds of hours of arts education and artist studios for emerging artists. They currently have two sites – ‘The Fenners’ in Letchworth and ‘The Forge’ in Welwyn;

·                Keiron Jones, representing Hitchin Folk Club. The club had been running in Hitchin for around 57 years, previously based at the Sun Hotel, but now had a new home at Hitchin Cricket Club where concerts had been held before lockdown;

·                James Willis, Independent Artist, Exhibiting Artist and Leader of Arts Education, Author, and contributor to Hitchin Festival and various other arts groups in the town. Currently working on a big exhibition next year in Hitchin with Carl Laubin the architectural painter;

·                Sascha Gustard-Brown, Supporter Engagement Officer at Hitchin Town Football Club, assisting the club with improving and developing supporter and community engagement;

·                Val Lawson, Artist, representing Herts Visual Arts which had been going for over 30 years. Held virtual events during lockdown, about to re-open exhibitions and open studios. Had seen a drop in membership due to the lack of live events and hoped this would reverse this year;

·                Hilary Robertson, Local Musician, Writer and Teacher, volunteer at Benslow Music – wanting to help to get the arts going again after lockdown;

·                Glyn Doggett, Actor and Producer, representing the Market Theatre in Sun Street, Mostly Comedy (comedy club) which was due to start again in July, Hitchin Festival and The Dell outdoor venue;

·                Alison Gentle, representing Baldock Arts and Heritage Centre. They showcase local artists, support local studios, support festivals in the town and are currently seeking more volunteers;

·                Christina Armstrong, Artist, representing Open Art Box which runs projects for people living with dementia and their carers. They set up an art box delivery service for home workshops during the pandemic. Looking to continue this as well as face-to-face workshops in the Mrs Howard Memorial Hall;

·                Simon Efford, Chairman of Letchworth Garden City Eagles Football Club, which has around 600 players across 45-50 teams, a mix of mens, seniors, ladies, youth, boys and girls, with around 80 volunteers, supporting the local community;

·                Rory Reynolds, Artistic Director of the Queen Mother Theatre which had been open for about 38 years. The theatre has a full programme of plays leading up until December and is involved in a new project linking up with locals schools around theatre technician training;

·                Peter Hewitt from Benslow Music which had been operating for 90 years or so. The organisation was back up and running now after lockdown with short, residential courses for amateur musicians across the UK, and a concert series including the Hitchin Festival; income had ceased during lockdown;

·                Adam Tyler, Writer, Director and Host of Hollowdell Media, an independent film making and podcast production company who had made their first professional short horror movie when lockdown happened at the time of release;

·                Richard Clayton, Chairman of Royston Arts Society which had been going for 43 years and had 90 members. The society usually offered 2 painting sessions a month, around 9 professional art demos per year and a couple of exhibitions. During lockdown they had held three online exhibitions at roystonarts.org.uk; they were slowly opening up with socially distanced events;

·                Carl Filby, Chair of Creative Royston, a not-for-profit organisation run by volunteers, which stages Royston Arts Festival during the last weekend of September each year;

·                Stuart Sapsford, Director of Communities, Culture and Heritage at the Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation. The Foundation is responsible for the Broadway Studio and Galleries, Garden City Collection, International Garden City Exhibition, and the museum at One Garden City in Letchworth, as well as a series of community programmes and activities including cultural learning; currently implementing a new operating model for arts, culture and heritage services and looking at driving a Culture Strategy for Letchworth;

·                Tom Hardy, Hitchin Town Centre Manager, responsible for the Hitchin Business Improvement District (BID), working with businesses delivering events for the Town Centre with a lot happening from June onwards;

·                Rebekah Nicolas, Hitchin Library Manager. Library membership is down due to lockdown and income generation also down. Events are planned for Hitchin Festival and the Summer Reading Challenge, with an artist in residence programme scheduled for the Autumn;

·                Lee Simmons, Local Artist; attending as an observer and to offer up any ideas/thoughts;

·                Anji Archer, Artist and Co-Director of Open Art Box, based in Stevenage and North Herts; also involved in other community and education partnerships and undertaking a doctorate in Fine Art at the University of Hertfordshire;

·                Jim McNally representing Baldock Events Forum. The Forum organised events and also collaborated with and supported other events providers within Baldock.

·                Kava Johnson representing North Herts Diversity and Culture Group, also a Fine Artist with a studio. Many events for Black History Month had been deferred or held online. There were a lot of events planned for the future such as exhibitions and workshops.