Kirklees: Making it Live! - Music Development Brief for Kirklees

Kirklees: Making it Live! A music development brief to promote a world class music offer in the district.

Led by a partnership group involves Cleckheaton Folk Festival, Hoot Music, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Marsden Jazz Festival, Musica Kirklees, Opera North (Kirklees Concert Season), Vinyl Tap, the University of Huddersfield Students’ Union, CeReNeM (Centre for Research in New Music) and the Music Department University of Huddersfield, The Parish and Kirklees Council (Creative Economy).

Background and context:
Kirklees is a district of world class music that stands proud on its rich and diverse musical heritage. Music is the beat of our heart, it is the sound of our communities, and it is the pulse of our towns and villages.

Kirklees is a place where everyone can hear world class music through our festivals and programming; children and young people have access to world class musical experiences and education; and where the next generation of musicians and music professionals can build and sustain a high quality career, with the very best industry advice, career opportunities and performance route-ways to build and grow audiences and profile.

Local Authority Context:
Kirklees Council recognises the value of music in having a role to play in placemaking and in achieving Quality Places, as outlined in the Kirklees Economic Strategy. There is a strong tradition of music making in the district which the Council wishes to build upon in order to promote the area and bring communities together.

In developing our approach to culture, the Council identified music as a priority in meeting the outcomes in the 2016 Cabinet approved report, Culture Kirklees.

The Culture Kirklees document highlights a world class music offer as a key factor in achieving our outcome of “A strong sense of place established through our creative assets”.

Research aims and objectives:
As part of the development of music in the district, the Council invited a number of key organisations whose core function and purpose is music to come together to work with the Council to understand what we could do together as a sector. The early conversations initially explored the impact of the shift in the financial support to music and what we could do to work together to engender more resilient and sustainable business practices.
However, while collectively the Music Development Group (working title) reflects a range of interests, audiences, and organisations of various sizes within the region, we understand that we represent only a small segment of the Kirklees music ecology.

Therefore, we would like to commission a music/cultural development specialist to undertake a number of areas of activity:

1. To describe what a ‘world class music’ offer looks like in Kirklees
2. To undertake engagement activity with Kirklees’ diverse musical communities in order to create a shared vision statement that reflects the district as a whole
3. To define the real and perceived barriers to achieving a ‘world class music’ offer, including limitations in facilities and infrastructure, and to propose potential solutions
4. To identify aspirations and opportunities for a ‘world class music’ offer and to identify potential for added value
5. To assess other place-based cultural agency models, scoping out strengths and opportunities that could be applied or adopted in Kirklees
6. To develop mechanisms and structures for the music sector in Kirklees to:
• deliver on future ambitions and plans;
• champion and advocate for music;
• develop strategies to engage with all voices in the music community

The music/cultural development specialist will achieve these objectives through facilitating the partners to develop their thinking alongside delivering a robust and wide-ranging engagement strategy that ensures sector and community involvement and inclusion. This is very important to all partners in thinking about the future of music in the district.

The music/cultural development specialist will pay special attention to:
• The rich diversity of the musical heritage of the district and its communities
• The innovation and ambition of those delivering nationally and internationally recognised music festivals and programmes in the district
• The opportunities available and the opportunities needed for the grassroots scene/emerging artists to develop and progress.

Deadline: 9am, Tuesday 10 July 2018
Interview date: Wednesday 25 July 2018

READ THE BRIEF HERE: http://bit.ly/KirkleesMakingItLive