Networking Groups, Strategic Partnerships and Forums

Here's where you'll find useful information on the various networking groups, strategic partnerships and forums already in existence across Reading's arts, culture and heritage sector. It should help you find guidance, new organisations to work with or open up new opportunities for your organisation.

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Reading Art & Heritage Forum

RAHF is a Reading Borough Council run forum that invites the Town's artistic community to share thoughts, ideas and events with the community and the council.

The Forum is currently chaired by Cllr Sarah Hacker who works in partnership with Cllr Karen Rowland - Lead Cllr for Culture.

A Facebook group was set up by Mark Antony Albertyne - Director of History Portal, in order to promote the forum and encourage new members to join and attend from the wider community in Reading.

Cultural Education Partnership

The Cultural Education Partnership (CEP) was set up in 2015 to allow every child and young person in Reading to have the opportunity to aspire, achieve and participate in high quality arts and culture, and to develop a collaborative, sustainable infrastructure to maintain such engagement.

The CEP is a partnership group made up of local cultural organisations whose primary aim is to create cultural programmes that engage children and young people. Since inception the CEP has:

Engaged 265,532 young people and children in cultural activity
Delivered 1,444 arts awards
Engaged 95% of Reading based schools
Registered 17 schools for Artsmark
Set up a schools connect programme of which 10 schools are a member
Raised an additional £97,700 of funding towards cultural programmes in Reading

This group is open to all cultural organisations to take part if delivering cultural programmes for children and young people.

The current CEP strategy and minutes from the January 2022 meeting can be downloaded now.

The CEP is currently recruiting for a new Steering Group, including the election of a new Vice Chair

Find out more and apply

If you would like to get involved please email zsuzsi.lindsay@reading.gov.uk.

Reading Independent Festivals’ Forum

The Reading Festivals Forum is a member-driven network with a mission to highlight, promote and improve the arts and cultural festivals of Reading through coordination, cooperation and mutual celebration, and to advocate for the arts within the wider festivals sector.

Membership of The Reading Festivals Forum shall be open to individuals, community groups, voluntary organisations and business representatives that are working towards, either as paid workers or volunteers, the production of Festivals within the Greater area of Reading for the benefit of the public or specifically targeting audiences from Reading.

A ‘Festival’ is defined as ‘A day or period of organised activities and entertainment indoors or outdoors to celebrate an occasion or time of year with an organised event (or series of events) to entertain and provide fun!’

Objectives:

The Reading Festivals Forum’s objectives are, for the benefit of Festivals and their beneficiaries within Reading:

Sharing knowledge, supporting professional development and training
Supporting the case for and promoting cultural activity within the wider Festivals sector
Sharing resources (promotion, volunteers, small equipment etc.)
Strategic coordination of the annual Festivals calendar

If you would like to take part in this forum join their Facebook group

Reading Theatre Forum

Reading Theatre Forum brings together the various drama and performance groups in the Reading area to share ideas and resources.

Ageing Well Partnership

Reading Borough Council, Reading UK CIC and Reading University are jointly leading on the delivery of ‘Reading, Place of Culture’ in order to put culture at the heart of planning for the future of the town. This programme aims to enhance Reading’s cultural offer, help drive economic growth and improve quality of life for people in Reading. This 3 year ‘Great Place Scheme’ is funded by a new and innovative collaboration between the Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England and Historic England, and Reading is one of only 16 places in England selected to participate. The aim is to make Reading a better place to live, work and visit, with a culture of collaboration across sectors, where caring for and engaging people is achieved in partnership between the public, private and voluntary sector.

The Ageing Well Partnership forms part of the delivery of ‘Reading, Place of Culture’, with a focus on elderly residents, although the intention is that it will be sustainable beyond the initial funding period. Its prime purpose is to enable strategic oversight of opportunities and gaps in cultural engagement for older residents in Reading. By networking and sharing opportunities, the Partnership can ensure that activities are widely circulated and made accessible for older residents. Using the partners’ inside knowledge of different areas and demographics, the Partnership can also identify gaps and make priorities for initial Pilot cultural commissions that are representative of Reading’s diverse incomes and ethnicities, and utilising allocated funding. While the cultural commissioning Pilots will be the initial focus of the Partnership, its long-term goal is to identify further opportunities for collaborative work in Reading, in order to consistently improve the wellbeing of elderly residents.

The goals and aims of the funders of the ‘Great Place Scheme’ play an integral role in the core values of the Ageing Well Partnership, for both the period of the funding and its long-term role. The following goals in particular will influence the ongoing actions of the group:

Aiming for “Excellence in arts and culture, [and] experiences that represent the height of ambition, talent and skill”.
Aiming to “Engage people everywhere”, reaching under-engaged communities and strategically investing funds.
Incorporating “Diversity and skills”, taking inspiration from a wide range of cultures and practises.

The key priorities of the Partnership, therefore, are to:

Network and build connections with partners.
Regularly share knowledge of events and activities, and work in collaboration to overcome attendance/participation barriers.
Ensure cultural activities/events are filtered to frontline staff so that every interaction with an older person is used as an opportunity to encourage cultural engagement and thereby improved mental and/or physical wellbeing.
Identify gaps in opportunities and decide on areas of focus for the Ageing Well Pilots, which incorporate the values of the ‘Great Place Scheme’ funders.
Ensure the Ageing Well Pilots are sustainable.
Identify opportunities and funding streams that might provide additional cultural commissioning opportunities now and into the future.

To achieve these aims, the Partnership will meet quarterly and ensure the membership is inclusive of the various organisations working to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of Reading’s older population. The Partnership may also establish sub-groups to focus on particular areas of concern as and when the need arises.

If you would like to be part of this group please email zsuzsi.lindsay@reading.gov.uk.