Weeknotes 13

Bit delayed here, despite it being more 'behind the scenes activity' compared to the high profile events of the week before.

Highlights

1. The big highlight this week were the two leadership courses run by Helen Hull and featuring Lauren Lucas as guest speaker. The first session was part of our training for senior leaders in culture, helping them to think strategically, network with other senior people, and share best practice. The second session was for new and emerging library leaders, which is a new area for us. We have been aware for a while that reducing budgets have led to a reduced number of intermediary or middle-management roles, making it more difficult for even the most talented individuals to make the jump to senior roles, and particularly in picking up the political awareness skills that the senior roles require. I'm delighted this course is helping to support that new cadre of future leaders. As Ayub Khan MBE , President of Libraries Connected, said "the last couple of days [at the LGA/ACE] session on emerging future leaders, filled me with optimism and joy." With thanks to Arts Council England for funding, speaking, and making this possible.
2. The other highlight was my own chance to network with senior leaders in culture and leisure at the CLOA Executive on the Wednesday. As always, it is a cram packed agenda and I'm always amazed at the breadth and scale of issues that everyone is covering. Of particular interest to people will be the discussion on subjects for future webinars. If you've missed these, including the excellent one recently on navigating the planning system, then do check them out.

Positive progress

• Cllr Barry Lewis spoke on BBC Front Row (31:45) about the pressures councils are facing and how this is influencing budget decisions on cultural spend. This is part of a fair amount of media attention as councils make announcements about their budget setting for the year ahead. Our work with partners means that the majority of this coverage has recognised the several financial challenges facing councils.
• I met Anke Monestel and Janet Uttley of VisitBritain, along with Robert Campbell who is taking a tourism lead for CLOA. This is part of our regular catch up on all things related to the visitor economy, including accreditation, registration of short-term lets, and the ongoing roll out of the Local Visitor Economy Partnerships.

Thing you might like to know

• We've announced some more speakers for our culture, tourism and sport conference on 5 March in South Shields. Make sure you've booked your place!
• Our letter to the Chancellor ahead of the Spring Budget 2024 has now been published, and you'll see that we've positioned culture and leisure as an opportunity to boost life chances while protecting the public purse, and delivering on economic growth.

I hope you have a great week ahead of you.