DD144 London Design Festival 2021: Programming costs for GPS Projects and Grant Funding to Park Royal Design District

London Design Festival (LDF) is an annual festival which celebrates London as the design capital of the world. The festival is prominent event in the cultural calendar and the Mayor of London is the Principal Support of the festival. In 2021, the festival will take place from 18-26 September 2021.

OPDC - led activities: Great Place Scheme projects

OPDC's Great Place Scheme (GPS) - a three-year arts and culture programme externally funded by the Arts Council England and National Lottery Heritage Fund - is ending September 2021. The programme will culminate in public-facing activities such as exhibitions, book launches, talks and workshops as a way to wrap up and celebrate the individual projects, as well as the programme as a whole.

'Design' and 'Making' are major themes running across all GPS projects, as the programme showcases the rich heritage and culture of Old Oak and Park Royal - much of which relates to industry, manufacturing and iconic British brands. Therefore, there is strong alignment to LDF and a good case for aligning our GPS projects with LDF. We anticipate doing so will bring increased audience footfall, exposure and recognition - and ensure the work delivered over the past three and a half years is celebrated to its full potential.

Grant Funding for Park Royal Design District

For this year's LDF, the first ever "Park Royal Design District" is being set up by a cohort of Park Royal's creative businesses, including Bill Amberg Studio, Queensroleahouse Studios and the Republic of Park Royal. These three well-established businesses have created a new organisation that will set-up, manage and deliver the design district over the next five or more years; and they are seeking funding to ensure it is put on a firm footing. The Design District proposal is supported by London Boroughs of Brent and Ealing, as well as the GLA Culture Team.

Hosting a Design District, which will be launched as part of the LDF festivities, will encourage new audiences to explore the OPDC area, giving it prominence across London, with the opportunity to boost the local economy and support West London businesses through developing professional networks and promoting local industries.

Supporting London's newest Design District will provide increased benefits and exposure to the GPS projects, creating a springboard for legacy projects, as well as meeting key GPS objectives including:

• Community engagement targets
• Volunteering outputs
• Events-targets

The funding will also support smaller, emerging design practices and artist in the area that will benefit from the increased visibility and focus on Park Royal.

It will support OPDC's wider aims of nurturing local relationships, providing a platform to collaborate closely with key local stakeholders - including the three local Boroughs - and build understanding and buy-in about our regeneration aspirations through increased and meaningful engagement.

The proposal and how it will be delivered

OPDC-led activities: GPS projects

The Great Place Scheme's four major artist-led commissions will each participate in LDF (Absolute Beginners, Work Leisure, Make Your (Land) Mark and London's Kitchen). In each case, the lead artist(s) will manage and lead their own events/activity programme in line with their contractual requirements. Oversight and coordination will be by the GPS Programme Manager, working closely with OPDC's Head of Communication and Engagement, to ensure scheduling, communications, health and safety (including Covid-safe measures) and other practical arrangements are aligned with OPDC priorities, policies and requirements.

The majority of activity costs for these major projects are already built into the individual project budgets. We are, however, seeking approval for additional expenditure from within the existing GPS budget to support the collaboration with the LDF. This will support venue hire (as required), equipment and materials (including PPE and other equipment required to facilitate socially distanced, outdoor or online activities) and additional artist fees where increased work is incurred by participation in the LDF.

In addition, OPDC's GPS and Engagement team will deliver community engagement events which align thematically with the festival and the Design District's aims, agreed with LDF and Park Royal Design District organisers. These will include events to showcase and celebrate the wide range of grassroots community projects which have been funded by the GPS Small Grants Scheme, such as exhibitions, film screening and family activities led by grant recipients.

The GPS programme budget will cover the costs of listing each of the four major projects in the LDF programme, as well as one overarching listing for general events. These fees are paid directly to the LDF and are a fixed price applicable to all participants.

All other costs are well below the threshold for needing to undertake a formal procurement process. We will, however, seek three or more quotes, as per OPDC's Contracts & Funding Code, to ensure value for money.

Approximate budget breakdown:

London Design Festival Listing Fees:

• Absolute Beginners - £1,200
• Work Leisure - £1,200
• Make Your Landmark - £1,200
• London's Kitchen - £1,200
• Small Grants Scheme events - £1,200

OPDC event costs:

• Venue Hire - £1,000
• Equipment and Materials - £1,000
• Filming/Photography - £2,000
• Volunteer Expenses - £500
• Refreshments - £500
• Additional artist fees - £2,000
• Printing and publicity - £500
• Couriers/taxis - £500
• Contingency - £1,000

Total: £15,000

Grant Funding for Park Royal Design District

The costs relating to Park Royal Design District for which £25,000 grant funding is sought, include:

• Creating new branding and website for the district
• Design and install of wayfinding across site
• Digital and printed maps
• Extra Lime bikes in the area all week
• Photography and social media content
• Comms, PR, social media support
• District/wider festival coordination and liaison with all participants pre and post-festival
• Launch events, refreshments, venues etc
• Covid-safety measures
• Administration costs for setting up an organisation to sustain the initiative in future years

There is only one Park Royal Design District, therefore there are no alternative recipients of the funding which would be able to deliver the same outcomes for the local community.

These activities will:

• Showcase and celebrate GPS projects through a consolidated programme of wrap-up events - the festival will generate collaboration opportunities with local people and key stakeholders, and boost public interest in the area's character, heritage and proposals for regeneration, as well as benefiting GPS artists from increased engagement and participation in their work
• Meet the GPS target of three mas public engagement events over three years
• Create a positive legacy for GPS - nurturing connections and relationships with the broad network of community and business groups reached through this initiative, as well as providing strong evidence for future funding bids for cultural, community engagement and heritage programmes
• Promote Park Royal's emerging position as a hub of innovative designers, creatives and entrepreneurs, giving OPDC further strategic involvement to steer activity in the area longer term
• Engage and empower communities, building local pride and a sense of ownership over the area's past, present and future, paving the way for ongoing collaboration between OPDC and local people
• Strengthen relationships with key decision makers and community representatives, including local boroughs, politicians and other stakeholders, aligning shared goals and longer-term ambition for the area
• Seed-fund the first iteration of the Park Royal Design District, supporting it to develop a strong identity and network of local partners which will facilitate fundraising and sponsorship in subsequent years. The new Design District is being led by Bill Amberg Studio who successfully managed the Queens Park Design Route in previous years, before moving their workshop to Park Royal. The company has strong ties to LDF and a good network of Design-related press contacts, so they are well placed to ensure the District is well received in its first year.

Strategic fit

The activities outlined meet the objectives for accelerated delivery set out in OPDC's 2020/21 Work Programme, in particular: "Build community capacity through community programming, including co-design and co-development of programmes and volunteering initiatives. Deliver our targets and milestones for the Great Place Scheme."

In addition, it aligns with several Mayoral Priorities:

• Let's Do London - the capital's flagship domestic tourism campaign for 2021
• The Cultural Infrastructure Plan, particularly the goals of: understanding where London's cultural infrastructure is located (putting Park Royal on the map); increasing investment in cultural infrastructure; supporting culture at risk; providing training, networking and guidance for the cultural sector
• The Culture Strategy, particularly: 'Love London - more people experiencing and creating culture on their doorstep' and 'Culture and Good Growth - supporting, saving and sustaining cultural places'
• The Covid-19 Recovery Missions such as Helping Londoners into Good Work, High Streets for All and A New Deal for Young People.

Under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. as a public authority, OPDC must have 'due regard' to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation as well as to the need to advance quality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

At any public event, exhibition or workshop, there is the potential that people with disabilities are excluded due to lack of access or modifications to the venue or activities. To mitigate this and ensure participations is open to all, we will ensure that all venues are wheelchair accessible, that signage, wayfinding and interpretation is legible and meets accessibility requirements and that activities can be modified to meet any specific needs. By requiring tickets to be booked in advance, for example to workshops or guided tours, participations will be able to notify us in advance of any requirements they may have so we can plan for those.

As part of OPDC's commitment to Diversity and Inclusion, we want to ensure all of our public engagement is equitable and inclusive. The funders of the GPS require us to collect (anonymous) data from audience members and project participants which include information on protected characteristics. By analysing these statics for our activities held-to-date, we will be able to pro-actively promote the events outlines above to those groups who are less-well presented in our audiences, and put measures in place to ensure there are no barriers to participation.

Project governance and assurance

The GPS Programme Manager will be the Project Lead, overseeing all activities and programming led by OPDC, working closely with the Head of Design and the Comms and Engagement Team.

As it is such a public-facing project, it is proposed that OPDC's Head of Communications and Engagement and OPDC's Development Director should act jointly as Senior Responsible Officer.

The management of the Park Royal Design District is being led by Bill Amberg Studio who has appointed a freelance project manager to coordinate all activity. The project manager reports to a group of partners/stakeholders, which will include the Great Place Programme Manager.

Should this grant funding be agreed, OPDC will enter into a Grant Agreement with Bill Amberg Studio and adhere to the standard OPDC grant management framework for the duration of the grant funding.

Risks and issues

Other considerations

Stakeholder Consultations and impact assessments

In preparation for this proposal, we have consulted with and secured support for aligning GPS delivery with the LDF form:

• London Borough of Ealing - Arts and Culture Manager
• London Borough of Brent - 2020 Legacy Manager and Cllr Krupesh Hirani, Chair of Metroland Cultures
• GLA Culture Team - Principal Policy Officer with responsibility for the London Design Festival and Senior Communications and Engagement Officer

We have also informed London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham's Arts and Culture Officer.

Communications and engagement

Participating in LDF creates the opportunity to align with the GPS programme with a highly visible capital-wide cultural programme. OPDC's Comms and Engagement team has been involved to date and will continue to support communications. Key to the success of this project will be to identify and priorities a programme of two or three key communications and engagement opportunities to focus on and maximise, relative to the size of the team, with the support of partners including the local borough and the GLA Culture Team. All communication's plans / approaches and public facing material will be signed-off by OPDC's Head of Communication and Engagement.

Safeguarding

All commissioned artist, consultants, grant recipients or other partners working on GPS projects are required to have a thorough and up-to-date Safeguarding policy in place if their work involved interaction or participation with children, young people or vulnerable adults. The GPS Programme Manager will check these are in line with OPDC's Safeguarding Policy.

Data Protection

As part of the funding agreement with GPS funders (Arts Council England and National Lottery Heritage Fund) OPDC is required to collect demographic data from participants to feed into the wider programme evaluation. This data is collected via online and paper forms which are completed voluntarily, and does not include names, addresses or other identifiable information. It is stored securely in line with OPDC Data Protection policy, and only used for the purpose of evaluating the impact of the GPS programme.

Conflicts of interest

No one involved in the preparation or clearance of this Form, it its substantive proposal, has any conflict of interest.

Expenditure of up to £40,000 will be funded from the 2021/22 Great Place Scheme budget. Comprising £25,000 of grant expenditure towards the start-up costs and delivery of the 2021 Park Royal Design District and £15,000 towards the programming of events and activities.

Further expenditure is subject to the Corporation's decision-making process.