Consultancy: CLIP Review

Background

Liverpool City Council’s ‘Culture Liverpool Investment Programme’ (CLIP) was initially set out priorities for investment in the cultural sector for the period 2014 – 2017 (2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17). It was extended to cover 2017/18 but is due to reduce significantly in the near future.
CLIPs purpose, is to articulate a clear agenda and focus for cultural investment in the city and to provide a structure for grant proposals from the cultural organisations of Liverpool. The programme provides a fair and transparent process for the grant funding of Liverpool’s cultural organisations which enables the Council to demonstrate value for money and prudent allocation of resources.
CLIP funds 36 cultural organisations, including Liverpool Biennial, Bluecoat, the Liverpool Philharmonic, FACT, Everyman & Playhouse Theatres, Unity, Africa Oye, Brouhaha and Collective Encounters. The programme is very effective, and work with the Audience Agency has evidences a turnover of £27million, 4.9 million attendees, 700 jobs, an estimated GVA of £47m as well as significant reported social impacts across the city. Many, but not all, of the organisations are jointly funded by Arts Council England, through their NPO and GFA programmes. Liverpool is benefitting enormously from the cultural offer with significantly increasing numbers of visitors and record numbers of hotel rooms filled. This contributes to a £2.72bn economic impact in the city alone (£4.1bn in Liverpool City Region).

The Challenge

The current CLIP budget stands at £2.9 million. The overall culture budget is due to be reduced by £1million in 2019/20. The future of grant funding beyond this point remains uncertain. A number of organisation are already adjusting to new financial circumstances, and joint initiatives designed to protect/grow the cultural sector are at early stages of development through the COOL and LARC cultural networks. However, many of the organisations do not have significant reserves and are poorly positioned to accept any further reductions in public subsidy.
Culture Liverpool therefore wishes to appoint independent expertise to review CLIP programme and other cultural spend and to suggest readily implementable initiatives that will protect the cultural offer of the city. It is anticipated that the successful appointees will undertake a comprehensive consultation as part of the process of developing the work, and ensure that equality and diversity are embedded throughout.

Indicative Timeline
• Submissions by 4 Sep 2017
• Appointment by w/c 4 Sep 2017
• Work completed by 31 October 2017.