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Institutional Context
Summary
Guildhall School of Music & Drama is a vibrant community of young musicians, actors and production artists. Ranked as one of the top ten performing arts institutions in the world, Guildhall delivers world-leading training in performing and production arts, in partnership with industry leaders and artists. We are the UK’s leading provider of specialist music training at under-18 level with nearly 2,500 students in our Guildhall Young Artist programmes, and a pioneering partnership with Barbican including a joint Creative Learning offer. The School is also a founding partner for the City of London’s Culture Mile, an ambitious cultural regeneration initiative, making it the only conservatoire in the UK with a leading role in the development of a placemaking project.
Institutional context
Founded in 1880, the Guildhall School’s historic roots go deep, but the way that we teach and learn has always tested conventions. We value innovation and experimentation, and encourage our staff and students to explore the big questions that affect artists and the industry today. Above all, we believe in the power of performing arts to transform people’s lives, and to radically enrich the world around us.
Our institution is one of the few major European conservatoires to combine music, drama and production arts. Working across disciplines allows us to break down boundaries and nurture invention.
Collaboration is central to what we do. Our partnerships – between departments and with external organisations – create outstanding opportunities for our staff and students. Our professional partners include the Barbican Centre, the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Opera House and the Academy of Ancient Music.
The School is a member of Conservatoires UK, the European Association of Conservatoires and the Federation of Drama Schools. We also formed a creative alliance with our neighbours the Barbican Centre and the London Symphony Orchestra to create the world’s leading centre for performance, training and education.
We challenge our students to work to professional standards in a world-class context, drawing on the insight and skills of internationally-renowned artists and practitioners, such as directors, designers, conductors, coaches and tutors.
We have some of the best facilities for training in performance arts and production anywhere in the world. The completion of our Milton Court site added a world-class concert hall, two theatres, studios and large rehearsal rooms to our facilities at Silk Street, within the Barbican complex.
Active engagement with diverse communities keeps us constantly alive to the unique potential of performing arts to provide pathways to self-expression and positive social change. Our Creative Learning programme trains young artists to work in communities across East London and beyond to offer inspiring arts experiences for everyone. We also run a vibrant programme of youth and adult learning, harnessing creativity and the desire to learn among children and young people, business leaders and professionals. This includes regional and national partnerships, and developing creative infrastructure beyond London through our Young Artists programmes.
Guildhall is part of Culture Mile, a new home for contemporary culture in the ancient heart of London’s working capital, running from Farringdon through to Moorgate. The City of London Corporation together with the Barbican, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London Symphony Orchestra and the Museum of London, are bringing the area to life with imaginative collaborations and exciting events.
Our latest Institutional strategy outlines a vision for the organisation to be bold in its civic role within our locale, industry and broader society. This includes our experimental programme offer, which mixes leading artists and industry with a world-class training offer and professional performance opportunities; as well as our enterprise and professional training programmes, enabling diverse industries outside of the cultural sector to develop skills through the prism of artistic practice and education.
For further information, please send queries to Jo.chard@gsmd.ac.uk
Local Growth and Regeneration
Summary of approach
The Guildhall School is one of five core partners involved in an ambitious cultural and learning place-making project called Culture Mile, led by the City of London Corporate (COLC). The partnership combines the expertise and offers of the School and three other world-leading cultural organisations, including Barbican, Museum of London, and London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). The project aims to combine culture and commerce through the development of the Culture Mile area as a vibrant and welcoming cultural, creative & learning destination for all. The approach combines improvements to the built environment with strategic culture-led projects which bolster the local economy. These are, broadly,
engaging audiences (residents, workers, and visitors)
building local community connections
building fusion skills and employability
Aspect 1: Strategy
The School is one of the five founding partners of Culture Mile, an ambitious initiative to create a vibrant creative, cultural and learning centre in the north-west corner of the City, between Farringdon and Moorgate. The geographical area has been defined by the City of London as a key area for investment due to the world-class cultural and learning organisations that exist in the area, and the opportunity to harness this cluster for social change and economic growth. The initiative was borne of a recognition that, despite the strength of the organisations individually, the area was not a ‘destination’, and that there was genuine opportunity to revolutionise the visitor experience and a sense of place for the local residential and working communities. This impetus was also driven by the impending arrival of two Crossrail stations, bringing £1.5m additional commuters access to the city.
As a core partner for the City’s major cultural place-making initiative, our strategic approach is developed collaboratively and in alignment with the City’s priorities for local growth and regeneration in the area. The School sets out its commitment to Culture Mile as Objective 2 in its 5 Year Strategic Plan (Strategic Plan, Objective 2). Culture Mile is a major strategic initiative of the City of London Corporation (COLC), and forms part of its Corporate Plan for 2018-23, and it’s Culture Strategy for 2018-22.
The School implemented staffing resource, structures and support mechanisms to support its aims around local growth and regeneration. These include:
Dedicated staff for Culture Mile partnerships, local growth strategies, and cultural programming;
Hosting the Culture Mile Partnerships workstream whose focus is to create a network of local businesses, corporations, and cultural and creative sector organisations to ensure the project is meeting local needs;
Appointing School representatives on Culture Mile working groups relevant to local growth;
A business incubation unit designed to support local performing arts and cultural sector businesses in the form of our development programme, Creative Entrepreneurs;
Funding, training and support for staff and students to develop Culture Mile activities and projects.
The School has other strategic initiatives that relate to local growth and regeneration, particularly around infrastructure and access to creative education with local authorities in regional areas outside of London. While relevant and of strategic importance, we have chosen to focus on our immediate locale for Local Growth and Regeneration as it represents a unique and well-defined example of a civically engaged partnership initiative led by local government. We have instead chosen discuss our regional work in more detail in our Public and Community Engagement narrative.
Relevant links:
Guildhall School Institutional five-year strategy (2018-22)
City of London’s Cultural StrategyCulture Mile Network
City Corporation’s Corporate Plan for 2018-23
Aspect 2: Activity
1. Creative Enterprise and Innovation
The partnership commissioned research from BOP and Publica to assess Culture Mile’s potential to become a global hub for commerce, culture and innovation. The report found that the area has the potential to add over £4 billion per annum to the output of the City of London, generating up to 50,000 new jobs, and highlights the importance that creative enterprise plays in placemaking,. The study involved many local stakeholders, including businesses, in order to evaluate local needs.
Key recommendations included the need to create a strong sense of place and securing the distinctive business ecology of the area. It also suggested setting up methods to support talent attraction and social mobility, “promoting Culture Mile as a ‘sandbox’ for creative innovation and support networking events to promote collaboration and knowledge exchange”. Finally BOP outlined the need for an increase in skills training, building upon existing learning initiatives (Culture Mile Learning ‘Fusion Skills’ programmes and City of London Family of Schools),to promote employment opportunities in new ‘fusion’ occupations.
2. Cultural Place-making and Programming
COLC is working to improve the environment and public realm across Culture Mile through a programme that delivers better way-finding, signage, green spaces, lighting, public information and artistic programming.
The Culture Mile Look and Feel Strategy outlines this in detail. Through providing infrastructure for projects, it aims to extend cultural content outside and in public spaces. This approach animates the streets, increases footfall and connections between institutions and transport hubs. The strategy seeks to engage local communities (including workforce), in order to create a shared sense of place and foster collaboration.
The School has contributed to the realisation of this strategy through creative interventions which bring spaces and locales to life and encourage visitors, including large-scale multi-partner festivals such as Play the Mile, Smithfield Street Party and Sound Unbound.
Business engagement has been led by the Culture Mile Partnerships team based in the School. We have an extensive network of cross-industry businesses (including legal, consultancy, hospitality, retail property management) which is committed to playing a critical role in realising the aims of Culture Mile.
Smithfield Street Parties (2018 and 2019)
This annual weekend festival, produced by the founding partners including the Guildhall School, celebrates the Smithfield area ahead of the Museum of London’s planned move.
The festival involves local stakeholders and businesses, community groups, market traders and residents, and takes over a number of streets with cultural activities and performances
This activity is a realisation of our strategic approach around public realm changes and capital projects for Culture Mile. Involving stakeholders in cultural projects and area transformation ensures their views are valued, and that local needs remain a part of local development plans.
Sound Unbound (18-19 May 2019)
Sound Unbound was a free classical music festival led by Barbican and produced by the founding partners, featuring unexpected music in unexpected places. In 2019 it took place in the Barbican and, for the first time, across an array of venues in Culture Mile.
The project saw 9,000 people attend over 160 events and activities across 27 stages, including 13 new neighbouring venue partners. The project helped us build relationships which enabled future projects like Culture Mile Nights, and allowed us to animate the area with innovative and experimental programming which spilled out onto the streets.
Culture Mile Nights (21-23 November 2019)
This was the first mini-festival of after-dark events exploring the night-time economy of Smithfield.. The festival featured seven local Smithfield venues and included candlelit tours, concerts, tours, and talks.
One of the main aims of Culture Mile Nights is to create strong relationships with local venues to ensure mutual benefit from festivals and events. The School contributed artistically, and also led the partnership engagement and development with local venues..
3. Capital Project Development
Three major new developments have been initiated as key milestones in Culture Mile’s future growth. These capital projects are key to the area’s cultural regeneration and strategic aims to transform the area, and support local businesses and creative enterprise.
Beech Street Transformation
Beech Street, at the centre of Culture Mile, is currently an unloved underpass and forms a key east-west link in the City of London, with approximately 10,000 vehicles and over 8,000 pedestrians a day passing through.
Beech Street is a dull, highly polluted and unpleasant environment. The Culture Mile project and the Queen Elizabeth line have given impetus to regenerating the tunnel and the Barbican’s adjacent Exhibition Halls.
The Schools sits on a working group championing Beech Street improvements, including greening, wayfinding, lighting, programmable spaces for cultural activity, and lowering emissions.
Centre for Music
The vision for the Centre for Music is to develop a world-class venue for performance and education across all musical genres, harnessing the collective power of the Barbican, London Symphony Orchestra and Guildhall School to inspire a new generation with a love of music.
The Centre will be the base for the Guildhall School of Music & Drama’s new Institute for Social Impact, which launched this year, and will seek to understand and communicate the ways in which performing artists achieve positive impact in society.
Relevant links:
Culture Mile Creative Enterprise and Innovation Research
Beech Street and first zero emissions zone
Culture Mile Look and Feel StrategyCentre for Music
Aspect 3: Results
1. BOP Consultancy Outcomes
Research informs the partnership’s decision-making processes, and future strategy. BOP’s research established an evidence base for the development of creative enterprise in the locale. It has facilitated change in local government policy, to ensure creative industries are a central part of COLC’s business agenda. The report:
Proposed the model for a new, more sustainable Culture Mile, broadening the project’s vision to include economic impact and providing a strong value proposition by making clear the relationship between a creative area and corporate talent attraction.
Informed the basis of the Lord Mayor's work this year, providing the cross over point between his themes of trade, innovation and culture. He has set up a new Culture Mile Taskforce, exploring creativity and innovation in the Culture Mile.
enabled policy shifts to encourage the growth of creative enterprises, under the new Local Plan.
Established the importance of the Culture Mile Network, a diverse group of 47 local businesses and organisations that are playing a critical role in realising the ambitions of the district.
2. Cultural Placemaking and Programming
2019-2020 figures:
44,000 visitors, including 9,000 at Smithfield Street Party 2019 and 1,000 at Culture Mile Nights. Almost 10,000 audience members were local workers.
Programming was responsible for an estimated secondary spend of £686,650 spent in local businesses.
259 people attended programming specifically designed for small business owners and local workers.
Culture Mile staff shared our work across 40 international trade fairs, networks, ministerial engagements, sector leadership events and conferences.
3. Capital Projects
Beech St Outcomes
Opened dialogue between the core partners and City planners, which has enabled the project to form part of the City Transport Strategy and future planning.
Beech Street became London’s first zero emissions street as a direct result of Culture Mile and the working group created to transform the area.
Anticipated next phase of the project will be to finalise the retail and cultural tenants in the tunnel.
Centre for Music
The project has strengthened our partnerships with Barbican and London Symphony Orchestra through clarifying our joint vision for the long-term role of music and music institutions in society.
The proposal for the Centre has helped consolidate our strategic vision for cultural regeneration in the area, particularly around supporting creative businesses and SMEs in the longer term, as space for these has been included in planning.
Relevant links:
Culture Mile Annual report 2019-2020Culture Mile, Creativity as a Commercial Superpower
City of London’s Transport Strategy
For further information, please send queries to Jo.chard@gsmd.ac.uk
Public & Community Engagement
Summary of approach
The Guildhall School has multiple strands of public and community engagement. We aim to lead positive change in our industry, society and beyond. Our work includes a pioneering under-18s offer and a unique alliance with the Barbican including our joint Creative Learning offer, allowing us to experiment with new models for creative and cultural learning. We also have innovative professional development programmes, including training, short courses and an incubation unit. Public and community engagement are key areas of our strategic plan, which aims to develop a conservatoire that uses its unique position to create positive change in society, and the cultural and creative industries.
Aspect 1: Strategy
As a performing arts institution, we are geared towards public/community engagement. Four of our five strategic objectives address this area; ensuring our programmes enable artists to be purposeful and engaged citizens, developing our provision for lifelong learning, and leading positive change in our industry and society through KE, professional services and public engagement. The first two years of our Institutional Strategy (18-19) aimed to establish our work, and the next three (20-23) will look at development and growth.
We share a unique alliance with the Barbican, including a joint Creative Learning division. We are also founding partners in cultural placemaking initiative, Culture Mile. Public and community engagement are key drivers for both.
Staffing and Governance
The Director of Innovation & Engagement (Guildhall-Barbican) is the institutional lead for public/community engagement and oversees Innovation, Creative Learning, under-18s provision, and the Barbican-Guildhall creative alliance. This post reports to Guildhall School and Barbican governing boards and sits on both executive teams.
The School’s Head of Innovation reports against this area to senior management, and to the Institutional Strategy group which tracks progress against the strategic plan. The Creative Partnerships and Programme Manager has a core remit for this form of knowledge exchange within their job description.
Strategic partner programmes have additional governance at project level, with clear reporting lines into each partner organisation.
Community
Industry or specific community need is identified through research and direct discussion with target sectors and partners. For example, our under-18s provision is based on a 2-year insight exercise, where 350+ inputs were collected nationally and students were assessed and benchmarked annually. We’ve based Centre locations on the Government Opportunity Area programme.
Our public services /activities range across;
Lifelong Learning (under18s to adult)
Professional Development (industry specific or open to all industries)
Specialist services (clinical and live events)
Artistic programming, engaged practice and co-creation
Services are promoted via a variety of online and print campaigns and social media. Many also connect to communities via bridging organisations or community centres, schools or healthcare settings. We undertake careful research into audience need before launching/developing programmes.
Public engagement and commissioning
The School prides itself on its commissioning credentials, creating artistic output and exchange that in turn generates income for the institution. We have a number of programme areas whose work is developed for public audiences and commissioned by partners, these include Guildhall Live Events, Creative Partnerships and Programming, Electronic Music, Performance and Creative Enterprise, Opera Makers, and many more. For example, 17 new artistic commissions involving 127 Guildhall School artists were showcased at Culture Mile events in 2018/19 to audiences that totalled over 44,000.
Relevant links:
Guildhall School of Music & Drama strategyGuildhall School Annual Report 2018/19
Aspect 2: Support
Funding
The School offers several internal funding streams:
For staff
Curriculum development funding, with projects often connecting to industry
Seed-funding for projects, products or services that engage external partners, and/or demonstrate social impact
For staff, students or alumni
Project funding for Culture Mile artistic programming. Projects usually work with or for targeted communities, and applicants are offered support and training for engaging with these groups.
Curriculum based training
All students are trained to be socially engaged citizens, but particular courses such as BA PACE, and Music Therapy MA specifically train artists to work in social settings.
During 2019/20 nine senior ensembles performed and taught in Guildhall Young Musician centres and host schools, engaging nearly 2,000 pupils across the country.
Institutional recognition
The School’s annual report celebrates alumni and staff achievements in social settings. We also share learnings from successful socially engaged projects via industry events. The School has run five Reflective Conservatoire conferences; 2018’s event focused on ‘Artists as Citizens’. Other conferences include: Arts in Health (2018); Phantom on Film (2019); Finding a Voice (2019); Music and Technology (2019).
Partnerships and networks
We offer staff the benefit of engaging with peers, including;
The Culture Capital Exchange, a network for KE between HE, business and the creative sectors across London;
Creative Industries Federation;
ELIA and ICON, networks which stimulate KE and reflective practices in arts HE;
What Next?, a network of arts to shape the future of the industry, with the aim of creating a more equitable society.
Partnerships to Music Education hubs and local authorities across the country, via seven under18s music centres.
Public response
Each public programme strand has dedicated customer-service support to respond to public enquiry.
Relevant links:
Social media profiles – Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Institute for Social Impact in the Performing Arts
Aspect 3: Activity
Lifelong Learning
Supporting young artists to find their voice, and ensuring access to lifelong learning are key activities in our Strategic Plan (Objectives 3, 4).
Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning
This joint division for Barbican and the School is designed to transform 21st century learning by engaging people of all ages and backgrounds with world-class art. The team delivers more than 40 programmes and events alongside over 100 partners to over 50,000 participants (2019/20 figures). It has a vast public reach, with partners in health, education and local authorities. Engagement takes place through free projects, festivals and events, plus tailored collaborations with targeted communities.
Under-18s engagement
Guildhall School is the UK’s leading provider of specialist arts training at under-18 level, with nearly 1,400 Saturday students in Junior Guildhall and the Centre for Young Musicians (CYM) satellites at London, Norwich, Peterborough, Saffron Walden and Taunton.
In 2018 we launched Music Education Islington (MEI), the first UK Music hub led by a conservatoire. MEI is a partnership of Islington Council and Guildhall School, with Music in Secondary Schools Trust and leading arts organisations and funders, and the Islington Community of Schools. Its core aim is to ensure schools allow all young people, whatever their background, to learn and thrive and to equip them with the skills necessary to enjoy a good quality of life. MEI receives core funding from Arts Council England.
Professional Development
Our Strategic Plan outlines our commitment to support social change through professional development programmes and services (objective 4).
Guildhall Coaching Associates
We offer our professional coaching service to business, health, education and social justice sectors. Our programme trains teachers and mentors, teams and leaders to achieve their potential. Training is accredited with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). One of our partner organisations is CLINKS, training artists who work in prisons. We are members of British Council’s DICE Network, addressing international economic and social exclusion.
Performing Arts Skills Exchange (PASE)
The School partnered on a 3-year collaborative UK/China backstage training exchange programme in Shanghai with the Royal Opera House, National Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, Sadler’s Wells, the China National Centre for Performing Arts and the National Theatre of China. It was supported by Arts Council England, the British Council, the Chinese Ministry of Culture and the China National Arts Fund.
Creative Industry Support
Creative Entrepreneurs, our creative enterprise start-up scheme has incubated almost 60 performing arts businesses since its launch. Training focuses on sustainable and innovative business models, with most businesses having a social purpose.
Creative Careers supports those working or aspiring to work in the creative sector. The programme features free events, live sessions, and networking opportunities.
Specialist services
Music Therapy
Our Music Therapy MA provides students with clinical experience in external placements, with partnerships in schools and healthcare settings. Trainee therapists work alongside our qualified practitioners with a range of service users. Benefits of music therapy are wide-ranging, including emotional wellbeing, confidence, connection to others, and physical, sensory and cognitive skills development.
Guildhall Live Events (GLE)
GLE is a business unit within the School which creates immersive and interactive digital experiences. It provides critical ‘on job’ experience for students, and employs graduates. Responding to briefs or working in partnership, activities include installations, festivals, and exhibitions. Programming engages communities, supports place-making and creates discussion and exchange. Annual audience figures for 2018 exceeded 200,000, including Museum of London exhibition Beasts of London. 2019 included Lift Off, an Artichoke commissioned project, which worked with 50 FE students and was seen by audience of 260,000.
Relevant links:
Guildhall-Barbican Creative Learning
Developing Inclusive and Creative Economies (DICE)Music Education Islington
Guildhall School Partnerships Report
Aspect 4: Results and learning
Projects set KPI criteria at the beginning of the project or annual cycle. Those within the Strategic Plan will have measures in the associated Project Matrix, and quantitative targets in the School’s business plan.
Early-stage large-scale activity (e.g. MEI) is assessed against project initialisation metrics, including, governance, strategy, stakeholder management, audience communications, and benchmarking activity.
Delivery-stage projects are monitored against performance metrics agreed with internal leads and partners. For instance;
Professional Development programmes: year-on-year growth of participants or sectors, increased satisfaction levels, specific reported outcomes in e.g. leadership;
Services in health: reported improvement of emotional self-expression, social interaction, emotional regulation and confidence;
Community place-based projects: evidence of community connections, participant confidence, aspiration and skills, sign-posting, career development.
With longitudinal programmes (e.g. business incubation), we monitor past participants to assess ongoing impact, and support course evolution (feedback focus groups, interviews, achievements post-course).
We track partner and participant project assessment (surveys, interviews, focus groups), which informs decision-making for future activity.
Large-scale projects receive additional funding (e.g. Creative Learning receives Arts Council funding) which require specific reporting on performance and key learning.
Key outcomes include:
50,000 people engaged in 2019 across Creative Learning community projects, festivals and events.
Creative Learning won the 2019 SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) Achievement Award at the National Creative Learning Awards for work with The Garden School in Hackney.
44 out of 65 (68%) Schools have signed up for MEI. 38 primaries, five secondary schools and one special secondary school.
City of Norwich School was winner of Pearson’s Silver Award for “Impact Through Partnership” for opportunities delivered to students through its relationship with Guildhall School
20 entrepreneurs received business incubation support 2017-2019. All are still active and thriving, many with a social focus.
Over 300 professional development courses/workshop bookings in FY2019/20.
498 participants attended Coaching & Mentoring programmes in 2017-2020. Major partnerships established across government (Islington, British Council), social justice (CLINKS),
GLE projects reach over 200,000 audiences per year. GLE has developed ongoing relationships with commissioning partners including Blackpool Illuminations, Tower Bridge, Waddesdon Manor.
Music Therapy community health setting partners reported positive impact on participants. We are now scoping the appropriate operating model for a formal Guildhall clinical outreach unit.
In 2019 Guildhall received funding of £984,000 from the AHRC to lead an international three-year investigation into the social impact of the performing arts.
Related links:
Coaching & Mentoring testimonials
Creative Entrepreneurs alumni case studies
Aspect 5: Acting on results
Acting on outcomes
The Strategic Plan has an associated group which meets monthly and reviews performance of the key projects in each objective, ensuring accountability. Project outcomes are reviewed at SMT meetings or Barbican-Guildhall joint directorate meetings, where decisions are made on next steps. Relevant results are shared with partner organisations in order to ensure joined up planning, for instance creative business support evaluation informed a review on the changing needs of the creative workforce, leading to evolved plans for 2020 with COLC partners.
Communicating outcomes
Staff meetings are forums for facilitated discussion on strategic projects. We also have internal newsletters and intranet pages which are used to celebrate project successes and report on activity.
The School’s Board of Governors receives annual reports on major projects.
We communicate projects publically via annual reports, social media profiles, newsletters, and via our own and partner websites. We also make video and online content to talk about our work for a broader audience. Example here, where the Creative Director for GLE talks about the making of Lift Off. Staff also present project outcomes at conferences and events. Flagship programmes, such as Creative Learning publish public reports against activity.
Continual improvement
We are in the process of developing a new strategy with a focus on civic engagement, which will have more robust measures relevant to community and public engagement. This is being developed with the Barbican as a shared strategic priority in the next 12 months.
We are also researching best practice evaluation and impact as part of the Institute for Social Impact in the Performing Arts. The aim is for the Institute to become more embedded in the teaching and artistic practices of the School so that evaluation, impact and learning forms a central aspect in the development of current and future strategic projects.
Related links:
Creative Learning 10 year review
For further information, please send queries to Jo.chard@gsmd.ac.uk