Mayor's Cultural Leadership Board Minutes 26 September 2023

Ambassadors  

• Moira Sinclair OBE, (Chair) Paul Hamlyn Foundation (Apologies) 
• Amanda Parker, (Vice Chair) Independent Creative Industries Representative 
• Sharon Ament, Director, Museum of London   
• Sade Banks, Co-director, The What If Experiment (Apologies) 
• Alice Black, Director ArtULTRA, (Apologies) 
• Cllr Elizabeth Campbell, Royal Borough Kensington & Chelsea, London Councils Lead for Business, Economy & Culture (Apologies) 
• Ajay Chhabra, Director, Nutkhut (Apologies)   
• Bernard Donoghue OBE, Director, Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA)  
• Stuart Hobley, Director, The Linbury Trust (Apologies) 
• Amy Lamé, Night Czar, Mayor of London’s Office (Apologies) 
• John Newbigin OBE, Independent Creative Industries Representative (Apologies) 
• Amaarah Roze, Independent Facilitator, Performer & Producer   
• Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries   
• Dr Jo Twist OBE, Chief Executive, BPI (Apologies) 
• Nigel Twumasi, Director, Mayamada  
• Deborah Williams, Chief Executive, Creative Diversity Network (Apologies) 
• Claire Whitaker CBE, Chief Executive Officer, Southampton Culture Trust   

Other Attendees  

• Policy Officer from GLA Skills Unit 
• Representative from London Legacy Development Corporation 
• Senior Management Team & Policy Officers, GLA Culture and Creative Industries Unit  
• Five Creative Freelancers 

1. The Vice Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting particularly the five freelance creatives who joined to participate in the workshop.  
2. Apologies were noted as above. 
3. As the Board was not quorate the Vice Chair asked members to approve the last meeting's minutes (5 July) via email. These would be circulated after the meeting. 
4. The Vice Chair stated there were two outstanding Actions from the 5 July meeting: 

5. The Vice Chair stated: 
   • The Secretariat is in contact with Fix the Glitch, as they are again running the training. Training options and dates will be shared shortly, and it will likely happen early in the new year. 
   • The Mayor's response to the London Assembly’s ‘Culture off the Beaten Track' report would be circulated to the Board along with the minutes.
6. The Vice Chair outlined the meeting's objectives on the theme of ‘Young People and Creative Skills Training’ and stated these agenda items:  
   • The meeting objective was to gather insights and suggestions from Ambassadors and guests on how the Mayor, GLA and others could address issues faced by people (especially those under 30) after completing 19+ skills training. Many struggle to secure employment following this training, or find it difficult to become established and stay in their chosen field without existing industry connections.
   • Item 1 - policy update on 'Artificial Intelligence in the Creative Industries' and 'Introduction to Climate Crisis' research  
   • Item 2 – Overview of what the Mayor is doing to support Creative Skills Training 
   • Item 3 - Workshop on Creative Skills Training 
7. There were no Conflicts of Interest declarations regarding these outlined items.  

1. The Vice Chair introduced an Officer, who gave a brief update on what happened since they presented to the Board on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Creative Industries in July. This included that they: 
   • presented the research to other Deputy Mayors, and have been approached by other cross-GLA policy teams interested in this area
   • are working with Arts Council England (ACE) London Area to develop various arts organisation events
   • will be presenting on this subject to several external organisations in the coming months, including the British Council. 
2. The Officer stated that the Unit’s Strategy team were also commissioning new research on climate crisis and the creative industries which aims to: 
   • map green-house gas emissions of different cultural sub-sectors across London
   • identify relevant policies and funds that exist for tackling sector emissions
   • the successful bidder will be asked to present their findings to the Board. 

1. The Vice Chair stated that the Board could steer high level, helping shape next training policy and provision skills training iterations - particularly creative bootcamps. They also offered suggestions about how the Mayor (and other organisations) intervening could help address key issues faced by people post-training, particularly: 
   • when trying to gain employment without industry contacts
   • becoming established (and staying) in a chosen field.  
2. A Culture and Creative Industries Unit Officer gave an overview of Mayor programmes being delivered across the Skills and the Culture and Creative Industries Unit. 
3. The Officer outlined challenges with current training provisions in London and across the, UK including there being:  
   • a fractured approach to skills training, and a lot of schemes
   • a preconception that the sector is hard to get into
   • an inhospitable work environment affecting retention, in part due to creative industries being very freelance-heavy. 
4. The Officer also shared some potential opportunities for the Mayor and GLA, like: 
   • developing a strategic approach to wave five of the Creative Bootcamps, addressing some of these issues
   • capitalising on best practice sharing
   • using extended funding for the Creative Skills Academy
   • changing creative apprenticeships. 

1. The workshop questions were:  
   • How do we make best use of the Mayor’s initiatives to address known issues?​  
   • What's your experience of provider understanding around what employers need from the workforce? 
   • How can the Mayor, GLA and/or others, address retention problems after creative skills training?​ 
2. Each table had a guest creative freelancer with recent experience of creative skills training.  
3. The facilitating officer asked each table to summarise their conversation. Key points included:  
   • A need for organisations to skill themselves up/get training to better support young employees just out of creative skills training.
   • Creating regular focus groups with young creatives, to inform provision and improve workplace practices. 
   • The Mayor potentially working with established brands and celebrities to get the word out about good jobs available in the sector. 
   • The GLA doing more around advocating for industry needs, connecting it directly with educators. 
   • The Mayor's website maybe giving clearer information on pathways into and through the sector.
   • The Mayor considering presenting the case to ACE around setting up a new National Portfolio of Artists 
   • Advocating for a creatives Living Wage (for example, like in San Francisco) or a universal income. 
   • Shouting more about the Good Work Standard and Skills Budget, sharing and celebrating organisational best practice. 
4. The Vice Chair thanked everyone for taking in part in the exercise, stating that collated information would be used by Culture and Creative Industries Unit / Skills Unit officers, to shape policy and programme work. 

1. The Vice Chair asked the group if they had any other business to discuss. None was raised.  

2. The Vice Chair reminded the Board that it was the Secretariat’s last meeting with them before going on secondment. The Board thanked them for their work. 

3. The next meeting is scheduled for 13 December 2023 and a venue is to be confirmed.  

4. The Vice Chair Closed the meeting.