Quarter 1 update from Richard Clark, TMC Chief Executive
Well, we are 8½ weeks into a new era – not just for TMC - but for all of the organisations and practitioners that have experienced significant change in their work and funding arrangements in recent months. There's so much to learn about and navigate in the new landscape, I want to use this update to give our partners a flavour of TMC's activities and ambitions in the year ahead.
For TMC, the new financial year sees the beginning of our new work with Arts Council England as the bridge organisation for the East Midlands (more about what this means below). We also continue a wide range of other partnerships and programmes that help pursue our mission. At the heart of these activities lies our core commitment to helping children and young people develop and apply their creativity through participation in cultural activity. Our priority work themes in TMC – of learning, leadership and enterprise – guide the focus and impact of this work and are creating some exciting new opportunities.
Arts Council England's stated aim for the Bridge Organisations is to 'connect young people with great art and culture', an ambition that we really love. To guide this work in the East Midlands, we have just published the State of Our region report. Produced in partnership with FOCUS Consulting, the report explores young lives in our region and how they currently connect with cultural activity (read it here: www.themightycreatives.com/page/Our-State-of-the-Region-Report/50).
A number of priority areas for action are suggested by the report, and we will be talking more about these over the next few weeks to build our programme. We will also publish research from Dubit, who have helped us look more deeply into individual young lives. This work reveals important lessons about young people's social and family lives, their passion for learning and refining their cultural skills, and the importance of ensuring effective routes to information and access across such a large rural, urban and coastal region. You can follow our developing bridge activity on Twitter #EMbridge.
Settling into our new role, a priority for me over the coming months is simply to see and learn from our partners' work in more detail. I am exploring the region's rich cultural provision for young people and families, meeting some organisations for the first time, and revisiting what others are achieving through their work. It's a great pleasure to visit, learn and Tweet (@Richard_TMC) as I travel around the East Midlands, and I look forward to more mind-expanding experiences as I go. We have so much to celebrate and so much potential for the future.
Please click here to see our blog for further updates on our key business areas.
