MD2112 Liberty Festival 2017

1.1. Under the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (GLA Act) the Mayor has a statutory duty to promote the economic and social development and improve the environment in London. Events have a profound potential to bring economic and social benefits to London, and major events in particular can raise the city’s profile and present a positive image to the world’s media.

1.2. The core events programme responds to the Mayor’s manifesto pledge to “Continue to back major cultural festivals to celebrate London’s religious and racial diversity, and ensure Pride continue to be a fantastic, community-led showcase of all London’s LGBT+ communities.” These events mean that we are able to celebrate our diversity as a city, and be proud of the enormous range of different communities that call London their home.

1.3. The Liberty Festival is an annual Mayor of London event, which celebrates the contribution of Deaf and disabled people to London’s culture. The event was launched in 2003 in the context of the European Year of Disabled People and is now established as a unique, high quality outdoor festival in London, showcasing the work of Deaf and disabled artists.

1.4. Liberty has a strong focus on access and inclusion and includes the provision of services and facilities to enable the widest possible access for everyone, regardless of disability.

1.5. With the aim to build upon the achievements of 2016 and in particular the continued development of new outdoor performance work by Deaf and disabled artists, an application for Arts Council Grants for the Arts funding has been made for Liberty Festival 2017. The application, for £45,200, will, if successful enable the enhanced creative programming and development of new work for the 2018 festival. We expect to hear back from the Arts Council in May.

1.6. For Liberty 2017, it is further proposed to develop programme content with an arts / cultural focus and to work with LLDC to present a varied accessible sports participation programme – a legacy of London 2012 to link sports and culture for enhanced benefits.

1.7. 2017 is an extraordinary year for Liberty, with London hosting the World Para Athletic Championships (WPAC). Liberty will help deliver the cultural offer on the opening weekend of these Championships, with the GLA and LLDC working closely with London 2017 to share the site effectively and maximise mutual programme and promotion opportunities.

2.1. Events bring economic and social benefits to London, and can raise the city’s profile, promote London as a leading global city encouraging investment and tourism, and present a positive image to the world’s media.

2.2. Through the events we actively promote wider mayoral priorities directly to key community groups or audiences, and to captive audiences. This is evaluated through the attendance at events and market research at the event on recall, and through digital traffic and click through rates on the GLA website.

2.3. The additional benefits of the event are:

• Increased positive global reputation of London.

• Positive profile for London, encouraging economic investment.

• Education and increased awareness of other communities in London encouraging social integration and cohesion.

• Increased skills through volunteering opportunities.

2.4. Whilst difficult to measure, there are a number of additional benefits that we are actively trying to foster through staging events, including:

• Increased sense of community through volunteering opportunities and social interaction at events.

• Encouraging a sense of pride in Londoners for the city they live.

• Enjoyment and satisfaction to support the well-being of Londoners and improving their health and wellbeing and quality of life (particularly where Londoners disposable income is limited and free events offer access to arts and entertainment which they may otherwise not be able to experience.

3.1. The events programme is planned to be inclusive and aimed at all Londoners, culturally and socially, achieved through the programme content, the broad and targeted approach to marketing channels, and access facilities at the event.



3.2. Liberty engages directly with specific Deaf and disabled community stakeholders via an advisory group and engages with wider Deaf and disabled networks via the GLA’s Diversity & Social Policy team and Community Relations team.

3.3. As a high quality outdoor festival the event invites different communities to come together to enjoy the arts and sports on offer, thereby supporting social integration.

Key risks

4.2 Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.2.1 In approving the Liberty Festival, this directly links to:

• Manifesto Commitment – Access to the Arts: Continue to back major cultural festivals to celebrate London’s religious and racial diversity, and ensure Pride continues to be a fantastic, community-led showcase of all London’s LGBT+ communities.

• City for all Londoners: Making London a fairer and more tolerant city open and accessible to all, and one in which we can all live and prosper free from prejudice. Enabling all Londoners to benefit from the city’s fantastic arts and culture.

4.3 Impact assessments and consultation

4.3.1 The impact assessment of Liberty Festival will be through the multi-agency planning process (Licensing Operational Safety Planning Groups), including MPS, TfL, LAS, LFB and other key stakeholders to the specific event. This is an essential part of the Premise Licence process. Key agencies will be consulted as part of this multi-agency process.

4.3.2 The Liberty Festival is organised by the GLA supported by a dedicated Advisory Group with representation from a number of disability organisations is consulted regularly by the GLA on the content, format and direction of the event. Representatives of the group currently include leading disability organisations such as Attitude is Everything, Artsline and Shape.

4.4 Procurement

4.4.1 Liberty Festival delivered by the GLA will be procured via the Events Framework, for event production services. Liberty Festival will be managed by an events officer from within the Events for London team.

5.1 As part of the 2017-18 GLA budget process, an allocation of £200,000 has been earmarked from within the Events for London Programme budget to part fund the 2017 Liberty Festival. In addition to the GLA contribution of £200,000, LLDC will also be contributing a further £200,000 towards marketing and production costs, specifically towards the procurement of the event production company that is to be jointly procured by the GLA and LLDC via the TfL/ GLA Events Framework Agreement.

5.2 The GLA will seek other sources of income via sponsorship and / or grant to enhance the festival. Currently, a grant application has been made to the Arts Council for a grant of £45,200. If successful, the receipt of this grant will be utilised on enhanced programming for the festival as well as development costs for the 2018 festival. Any further receipt of income will be used to enhance the programme and where appropriate reduce the Authority’s contribution to the event. It should be noted that no contractual commitments on programme enhancements will be made until funding sources earmarked to fund the enhancements have been formally confirmed.

6.1 The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the mayor fall within the statutory powers of the GLA to promote and/or to do anything which is facilitative of or conducive or incidental to the promotion of social development in Greater London and in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have set out above how they have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:

(a) pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;

(b) consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and

(c) consult with appropriate bodies.

6.2 In taking the decisions requested of him, the mayor must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

6.3 Officers have indicated that they intend to call off the event production services from the TfL/GLA Events Framework Agreement. To this end, the officers should ensure that they comply with the call off procedure set out in the said framework and that a written call off agreement be entered into between the GLA and the event production company, before the said production company commences to work on the event.

6.4 With the consent of the mayor, the LLDC may provide a revenue grant to the GLA (section 121 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999). The officers are reminded that, in accordance with the said section, no conditions may be imposed upon the GLA’s use of the granted funds other than that the funds not be used for capital expenditure.

6.5 If the GLA’s application to the Arts Council England (the “Arts Council”) for funding for the Liberty Festival be successful, the officers are reminded to ensure that a written funding agreement be put in place between the GLA and the Arts Council, before the GLA incur any expenditure in respect of the Arts Council’s funding. Furthermore, the officers should ensure that they comply with the terms of the said funding agreement in order to avoid the risk of suspension or withdrawal of the funding.