COMMUNITY CULTURAL ENTERPRISES

Disrupting the Status Quo

Currently, for the most part community cultural enterprises operate at arms length from Council as incorporated associations sometimes with Council in-kind support and grant money. Notably, the Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery (QVMAG) operates as a Local Govt Cost Centre with supplementary State Govt funding to support research. 

Motre generally such 'enterprises' might be in receipt of grants, alongside business, private, institutional and community support. By-and-large these 'entities' exist to meet community cultural aspirations and needs and operate on a not-for-profit basis.

In Launceston examples of such enterprising entities are:

• The QVMAG ... totally funded by The City of Launceston and the State Govt.and operates as a Council Cost Centre;
• The Design Centre ... receives in-kind support from philantopy anD State & Federal Govt funding 
• Theatre North...operates with Council support, Govt, grant. private sponsorship and earned income; and 
• Festivale operates with Council support and earned income. 

While the status quo is seemingly satisfying community expectations, that can only be so IF the Launceston City Council is being open and transparent about its ACTUAL fiscal position relative to cultural funding and other social demands. 

That to one side it can only be so IF council's strategic 'purposefulness' is being realised in the eyes of its constituency. Arguably none of this is entirely the case currently.

This being so, the case for meaningful change becomes increasingly compelling as each strategic failure reveals itself and typically after a long period of deliberation in camera with constituents bearing significant costs and the loss of opportunities.

Currently, the Launcestonian exemplar of strategic failure must be Council's purchase of the Burchalls building in for $8Million. On the available evidence this strategic failure can be attributed to the lack of 'purposefulness' at the time of purchase.

Achieving Change: 4 Steps

Step 1 

Take expeditious actions and unambiguous steps towards differentiating between governance – policy determination and the purposeful what and why that shapes the institution – and management – the ‘how’ and the ‘means’ by which policy will be delivered.

.

Step 2 

Towards that end in the short term devolve ‘ownership’ of the 'cultural property' collections to either: 

• The custody and legal ownership of the State Government; OR

• A 'Trust' constituted for the purpose of holding 'the property/assets' in its stewardship;

given that in lore they belong to a multifaceted community of ownership and interest rather than any specific section of a community  or bureaucratic entity. 

Furthermore, such collections are an important element of Tasmania's & Australia's cultural property. The purpose in taking this step is on one hand symbolic in that it would defuse assertions in one step that real change and accountable governance can happen beyond 'politics' and that a 'stand alone cultural operation'  is actually an option albeit one that is highly unlikely to be on a politicised agenda. 

Moreover, it would protect 'community cultural investment' in the collection and keep it available to research and researchers' operations in any future manifestation of the entity as a 'musingplace cum research facility' with not only regional significance but also national & international standing. 

 

Step 3 

Consistent with the above, the current 'Default Trustees' in consultation with the State Govt. as owners of the community's collections, appoint a Commissioner or Commissioners to take on the role of the institution’s Governor/s and over 2 (3?) years charged with the tasks of: 

3/1. Putting place a transition budget with an enterprise focus that is: 

•  Based on the entity's operational budgets for the past 2 years; 

•  Structured to differentiate between base administration and benchmarked enterprise oriented programming; and 

•  Increasingly dependent upon underwritten collaborative Guarantee Against Loss project funding – research & other. 

3/2. Transitioning the institution from a Local Govt Cost Centre to a Regional Cultural Trust with a stand alone board of governors/trustees appointed for their relevant domain knowledge and expertise.

3/3. Transitioning the institution/operation from a Local Govt. Cost Centre to stand alone Community Cultural Enterprise with: 

•  A 5 year Strategic Plan; 

• A short term Enterprise Plan; plus 

• Put in place the appropriate management structure to service the institution/operation.

3/4. Establishing a collaborative/cooperative regional governance model focused upon the Tamar/Esk Region in the broadest context and that proactively interfaces rhizomicaly with other Tasmanian musingplaces and cultural entities/organisations/institutions; 

3/5. Lay the foundation for the entity as a standalone ongoing '21st C community institution' networked with regional, national and international musingplaces plus regional collectors and research organisations and that uses peer review processes to ensure rigour in program decision making. 

Step 4 

Given that 'Local Govt' is the current Default Trustees and the cultural property's and assets' 'owners in law' , it needs to initiate a ‘facilitated community conference/assembly’, supported by Internet participation and contributions, tasked to: 

• Purposefully engage with the cultural property's and assets' Community of Ownership & Interest in a strategy to widen the institution's memberships and affiliations; 

• Purposefully engage the  Community of Ownership & Interest in the evolution of a Regional Community Cultural Enterprise; 

• Explore the options and opportunities open to the 'cultural entity' as a 21st C institution with Tasmanian, national & international; standing; 

• Identify the weaknesses and threats inherent in various potential future operational models; 

• Explore the potential dimension/s of the 'cultural entity'  as a 21st C musingplace cum research entity networked with regional, national and international institutions, musingplaces, organisations, community networks etc.