Case study: Skills and resource sharing with organisations
This case study is aimed at local authority officers in culture, regeneration and property.
Summary
The Skills Forum was a day of workshops run by the Mayor of London’s Culture and Community Spaces at Risk programme, which brought together 30 of London’s at-risk organisations.
The workshops were a mixture of peer-to-peer learning and subject matter experts, including planning officers, development managers, governance experts and communications professionals. The Skills Forum was an opportunity for organisations to gain new skills, share insights and network. Culture and community spaces in north London often face the same challenges as organisations in south London, but they aren’t aware of each other.
Challenge
Community and cultural organisations in the same city or the same borough often face overlapping issues. Whether these issues concern knowledge around planning or questions around fundraising, there is often scope for organisations to come together, learn from each other, and problem-solve.
Aim
The Mayor’s Culture and Community Spaces at Risk programme wanted to enable organisations that are at risk of losing their space, or have successfully reduced the risk to their space, to share learning, discuss common issues and explore solutions.
Action
The programme team hosted an in-person workshop at City Hall involving 30 cultural and community spaces that had registered for support. The team also invited subject matter experts around planning policy, business planning, governance, fundraising and communications.
Impact
The workshop emphasised the importance of peer-to-peer learning and support for organisations facing similar issues. Rather than meeting organisations individually, this was an in-person opportunity for the GLA to provide first-hand information on overlapping problems facing different groups.
There was an opportunity for those groups attending the Skills Forum to form organic links and relationships with others to support each other outside the workshop.
Next steps for you
This workshop format is a practical way for local authorities to engage with grassroots, diverse-led culture and community organisations and spaces in their locality, especially those that have not yet had any interaction with the local authority.
If you would like to find out more, please email [email protected].
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