A Tale of two cities

Cultural investment in local regions

The Fifth Sector is proud to have delivered two projects close to home in the last year; from developing a new cultural consortium model for the Cultural Leaders Group in Manchester to delivering a cultural strategy for the City of Liverpool and a cultural compact for Liverpool City Region.

Manchester

The Cultural Leaders Group was originally established to provide a voice and coordination hub for the cultural sector in Manchester by working with more than 30 cultural organisations from across the city. However, reflecting on the issues raised by the death of George Floyd, it was recognised that its membership was neither sufficiently inclusive nor representative of the diversity of Manchester and its communities, and that its existing structure did not provide a strategic platform for all the city’s cultural voices. 

Our research used some of our tried and tested research tools. We surveyed cultural partners across Manchester through stakeholder interviews, a 'Snowball' survey, and a 'World Café' discussion event, with the aim of giving those who would not ordinarily have had a voice at meetings an opportunity to be seen and heard.

This resulted in recommendations to create a new model of governance for an inclusive and representative body to replace the Cultural Leaders Group with an elected Steering Group and a wider Cultural Forum with a focus on neighbourhood representation. 

These findings are the foundations of the Greater Manchester Cultural Consortium.

“The GM Cultural Consortium seeks to provide development and delivery of an ambitious, overarching strategy for Culture, Arts and Leisure within the region, delivering on a range of Greater Manchester Strategy priorities.”

Liverpool

The Fifth Sector was proud to be selected to shape proposals for a Cultural Compact for the Liverpool City Region, alongside the development of a 10-year cultural strategy for the City of Liverpool 

As a Liverpool-based business we live, breath and celebrate culture in the city. Our initial research confirmed a shared belief and commitment to the creative and visitor economy across the cultural and creative sectors. Covid-19 struck just as we were finalising our work and, as the pandemic took hold, it amplified the struggles and inequalities within our society.

With 25,000 creative workers in the region affected by lockdown, the focus quickly switched to developing plans for recovery. We drew on the voices and experiences of Liverpool’s people to harness a vision for culture, forged in the resilience and sense of community that is such a distinctive part of the city region. 

The recovery plan was able to draw on resource from investments in Liverpool’s music and film sectors for which we had developed the business cases in 2019, disbursing grants and loans to enable artists and businesses to continue to practice and develop new content as part of survival and recovery, providing a springboard for rebuilding and strengthening the city’s cultural sector. 

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