Business Plan

2015 - 18

Deveron Arts I The Studio I Brander Building I The Square I Huntly I AB54 8BR I 01466 794494

CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

BACKGROUNDHistory and Recent Developments1. Community2. Hospitality3. Criticality

VISION, STRATEGIC AIMS AND OBJECTIVESVision statementAimObjectivesSWOT AnalysisArtistic Programme 2015-18Staff, Leadership and SkillsProgramme Plan and Targets

FINANCE, FUNDING AND BUDGETValue for MoneyBudget 2015-18FundingOwn IncomeFinancial Controls and Audit

APPENDICES

Huntly branding, A96

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Deveron Arts is a catalyst for contemporary arts based in the community of Huntly in the

North East of Scotland, aiming to develop a transferable model for arts development in the

rural/remote context through collaborative arts practice.

Deveron Arts’ the town is the venue strategy nurtures arts production and presentation taking

place in existing spaces (rather than any specified buildings) as well as – now - the natural

surrounding and commits to working with local people while ensuring that highest artistic

standards and excellence are maintained.

To achieve this, we apply a stringent 50/50 approach, where the community and working

locally have equal weighting with global vision and artistic criticality. This 50/50 approach

forms a thread which runs through all aspects of Deveron Arts’ artistic and organisational

operations.

The organisation’s creative vision recognises the need to produce high quality work and

positive models of experimentation both within the area and further afield and through

promotion nationally and internationally. A rigorous artistic selection and the production of

high quality work, a commitment to engage with local people, and the development of diverse

partnerships and international contacts are the mechanisms of Deveron Arts’ work. Deveron

Arts does this work mainly through dedicated artist in residence programmes focusing on

collaborative art production and experimentation.

Community, Criticality and Hospitality are the spine of the artistic vision of Deveron Arts, both

as part of the welcoming character of the place as well as an active part of the methodology.

The crosscutting inter-generational themes Identity building, Environment, Heritage and

Socio-Economics are maintained in the future work of the organisation. These are

investigated through the notions of Hospitality / Hostipitality as experienced through the three

elements of a journey: travelling, hosting and understanding.

A new component now embedded into the town is the venue methodology is the

engagement of the Cultural Health Visitor. Tested out with great success both in terms of

numbers and depth during 2013/14, this is a new model of linking artistic endeavours with a

wide range of individuals and groups in the community.

Another recent Deveron Arts innovation is the Walking Institute, which we set up in 2013

thanks to the Creative Place award. Walking – as a tool for engagement - serves not only in

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a practical sense in relation to health, environmental and rural economic development

concerns, but also as an opportunity to connect people with art as well as other relevant

fields of knowledge, experiences and working strategies. Essentially, after 18 years of

operation Deveron Arts has ‘grown up’ and we are now taking our model for a walk out of

town, to other places in the North East of Scotland and further afield. The Walking Institute

provides the methodological next stage of the 2015-18 programme, allowing us to test

whether the town is the venue leitmotive can be applied geographically to other towns and

places, and conceptually to the human heritage of the landscape.

This means, after almost two decades of working with Huntly as the main venue, Deveron

Arts is expanding its terrain always keeping its 50/50 approach in mind: in/out, here/far,

artist/community, local/global. Walking offers a new methodology to infiltrate and activate

other localities; to use our way of working as a reference point and increase the engagement

with and adaptability of people for their place.

Huntly however, appears always as a starting point and at some point en route, both

physically as well as conceptually. We will always keep in mind how we will give something

back to this place; everything we do can and must have a repercussion in the community and

place where everything started and where we are now.

This extended way of working is complemented by a set of actions, tools and strategies,

which help to develop a permanent organic growth of the organisation with the social space it

is part of. The Cultural Health Approach and Cultural Audit, the Shadow Curator, the Intern

Programmes, the Friday Lunches, the Town Collection, the Farmers’ Market, our homely

office, the Slow Marathon, the discussions, festivals and seminars we organise, the

publications we make, all of them are means to gather and disseminate the town is the

venue here, there and elsewhere for the benefit of the artists from near and far, the

communities we engage with, and our small team. Also for Scotland, a nation that punches

well above its weight in producing ground breaking socially engaged and collaborative arts

on the international arena. These methodologies and their relationship with the place are the

means to keep Deveron Arts alive, sharp and kicking.

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Huntly, inside / outside

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Aberdeenshire WaysIn 2013, Aberdeenshire Council commissioned Deveron Arts to find out what people in the area think about their place, with a view to feed into a new branding strategy for the Shire. Following the great Aberdeenshire philosopher Patrick Geddes’ footsteps we involved the Caravan Gallery/UK and Jacques Coetzer/ South Africa to travel the area’s 15 towns by caravan, foot and bike to unearth the identity of the place through a local/global approach.

BACKGROUND

History and Recent Developments

Deveron Arts is a contemporary arts organisation based in Huntly, a market town in the North

East of Scotland with a population of 4,500. We have worked here with the history, context

and identity of the town since 1995.

Deveron Arts defines its uniqueness through the town is the venue programme and its

deliberate positioning of itself as being rooted in a place while remaining actively global.

Taking Aberdeenshire born community planner/philosopher Patrick Geddes mantrum ‘think

global - act local’ as a starting point, we strive to be both a local

as well as an international arts organisation.

Unlike other residency centres in Scotland and further afield

Deveron Arts has to date concentrated solely and deliberately

on the locality (i.e. Huntly), which provides the context, thematic

inspiration and collaboration.

While Huntly is still our base, playing and testing ground, in

future we aim to roll our programme out:

1. geographically to test our model in other places in North

East Scotland, and beyond

2. conceptually through applying our methodology to the

human heritage of the landscape

The 2015-18 programme will build on this approach through a curatorial strategy that

combines community, hospitality and criticality - informed through artist led social

engagement and walking.

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Walking the Hielan’ Way, 2013

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1. Community

the town is the venue

Deveron Arts has no building - instead the town is the venue - acting as studio, gallery and

stage for artists of all disciplines invited from around the world to live and work here. For this

we use found spaces throughout the town and its surrounding areas: supermarkets,

churches, garages, and bothies, to name just a few.

Engaging with local people and the community through

topics of both local and global concern, Deveron Arts works

through a 50/50 approach. This brings together artistic and

social relationships in a global network that extends

throughout and beyond the geographic boundaries of

Huntly.

Deveron Arts places local issues within the context of global

perspectives, and inversely, situates national and

international topics within the locality. We focus on

collaborative, socially engaged practices, bridging

disciplines and sectors and exploring the relationship

between artists and community. Our 50/50 approach frames

our work through the relationships between local/global,

community/artist, hospitality/criticality, inside/outside,

contemporary/heritage ...

Each artist in residence offers an engaged and process-

based project, working with topical issues that affect both

this location and the wider world, through a range of social,

economic, environmental and political perspectives. The

projects address specific groups of the community yet also

resonate beyond Huntly and surrounding area.

We have worked through this methodology in Huntly since

1995 with more than 80 artists from over 20 countries.

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Our Venues In town…Somerfield SupermarketThe Gordon SchoolsGordon Primary SchoolDrumblade SchoolBattlehill LodgeCuldrain HouseDouglas Forrest ArchitectsBusiness CentreLearning CentreGartly Tin HutHuntly CastleCooper ParkLinden CentreMaryfield HouseStrathbogie ChurchEx-Servicemens ClubDeans Shortbread FactoryTESCOHuntly FCHuntly Sports TrustMarket Muir PavillionStewarts HallBrander MuseumBrander LibraryMarshall GarageRose and Thistle PubCrown BarEpiscopalian Christ ChurchHuntly HotelSt Margaret Catholic ChurchBattlehill QuarryMany private houses …

Out of Town …Portsoy old Railway stationCoynnachie GuesthouseRSA EdinburghBanff Coast FestivalBlackwater LodgeSummerhall EdinburghMAC Niteroi ….

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Cultural Health

Since 2013 we have been testing the idea of Cultural

Health through the engagement of a Cultural Health

Visitor.

Cultural Health, as we define it, is the condition of a

person or a community’s cultural orientation, and their

capacity, or willingness, to explore new ideas and

behaviours.

The Cultural Health Worker strives

to nurture cultural health by working with the immediate

social complexities of the local community, engaging

individuals and groups in cultural activities that can influence their situation and

hopefully empower them. At Deveron Arts we see cultural health sitting alongside physical,

mental and social health and contributing to the general wellbeing of a person, as well as that

of a community.

The role of the Cultural Health Visitor (CHV) is to explore cultural health conceptually as a

means of identifying and nurturing the way in which people interact with commonly perceived

cultural activity, existing and potential, related to the arts and other manifestations of

academic, philosophical or creative interest. It is the CHV’s job to encourage engagement

with new experiences and the adoption of new and different social behaviours and habits.

The CHV’s methodologies are modelled on tried and tested approaches of community health

practitioners, including the NHS Health Visitor, Family Nurse and School Nurse. These

approaches include:

Cultural Health promotion – outreach to local community groups and schools,

facilitating lectures, workshops and one-off expertise sessions.

Early interventions – providing baby clinics and supporting new parents as the first few

years of a person’s life can influence the child’s attitudes and behaviour.

Prescribing for preventive care – connecting with the local health centre in order to

increase the public’s access to cultural activity and sociability.

From cradle to grave – working with all ages but creating opportunities for them to

come together over mutual interests.

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Nurturing Cultural HealthTo tie in with Deveron Arts’ Oaks and Amity project, Catrin Jeans started a recruitment office, in a WW 1 aesthetic to get 142 people, as a means of connecting people with the artist/pacifist/environmentalist Joseph Beuys oak planting (mother oaks come from Kassel-Documenta 11) organised by French artist Caroline Wendling. This will take place on 13 November 2014 to commemorate the 142 men who didn’t come back and those who opposed the war as pacifists.

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Nurturing Cultural HealthScientist and Mechanic Alexander MacKay went out as a missionary to Uganda where he set up a workshop and became known among the local population as a wizard (lubare) for all his technical traits. Tying in with the Lubare and the Boat project, Catrin is setting up a Fixing Café which brings together – often older – people, who have now often seen as magical skills in repairing things (like electrical goods, furniture, clothes), with other people in exchange for coffee, cakes and chat in a communal pop-up café set up. The initiative will also help promote our environmental policy and our general interest in a healthy community.

The CHV’s role is to build strong relations with individuals and the community in order to

listen, support, and advise. The aims of the Cultural Health Visitor are to look at the broader

picture and explore what are the Cultural Health needs of the community and individuals.

The CHV works within the Deveron Arts programme to help facilitate tangible outcomes and

to provide continuity for Deveron Arts after their artists have finished their residencies by

developing projects further and by integrating them into the town.

The artist Catrin Jeans is piloting this role over a period

of 18 months. The project will culminate in the

production of guidelines on how the CHV can function in

and beyond Huntly.

Our audience and participation in Huntly, since the start

of this post in July 2014 has not only taken a sharp rise

in numbers, it has also engaged entirely new

participants in our events, in particular people from hard

to reach groups, such as young mothers, older people,

church-goers, commuters and people with mental health

issues. Catrin has set up a Cultural Health Visitor blog to

document her activity.

Catrin Jeans receives mentoring from Pam Johnston an

Aberdeenshire NHS Health Visitor.

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Catrin Jeans, Oaks and Amity Recruitment, April 2014

Wellbeing and Creative Learning

This is what the town is the venue is about. While ensuring – through the 50/50 approach –

that artistic excellence is maintained, our Outreach and Education activities are embedded in

the individual projects through its curatorial approach and the work of the Cultural Health

Visitor. Working with groups of interest, this allows us to work across the community

regardless of age, social background or ability. For this we work with many partners in the

community. We have excellent relationships with the local schools who participate in our

interdisciplinary projects regularly, we fit with the strategies for town regeneration of the

Huntly and District Development Trust and we work with the many local cultural groups, as

evidenced through the Huntly Cultural Fund (which funded 37 local groups and artists from

the Creative Place Award to undertake creative activities), set up through the Creative Place

award in 2013. Through the Cultural Health Visitor we also work regularly with other groups

from the social and health sector – our final aim being the introduction of cultural health on

prescription from the local health and social services.

We now want to build on the success of Huntly’s ‘room to roam’ branding and the creative

place award and spread our wings to other areas. This will prove the transferability of the

town is the venue as a methodology in other places. Some of this can already be evidenced

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Hospitality / HostipitalityAs we all know, our common nettles are hostile, covered in hollow stinging hairs, injecting a mixture of ‘stinging’ chemicals into anyone that comes into contact with them. The Rhynie Woman collective take delight in serving their guests foraged ingredients; things that have perhaps been overlooked, unwelcome on most plates – such as the nettle. A stranger, a foreigner on the table, here given the opportunity to become a guest ingredient, to be hospitable once baked into a cream cake, but does that stinging potential ever truly disappear?

(e.g. Aberdeenshire Ways project; Timespan, Helmsdale winning the Creative Place Award

in 2014 – for which we have written the strategy). We hope to do this with the help of an

audience development officer that incorporates walking, outdoors and the environment as

well as health as a way of reaching new and different people.

2. Hospitality

Deveron Arts since its inception, as a residency place, has

by its very nature engaged in a great deal of hospitality,

offered to/by both invited (guest) artists/visitors who come

here to work and live, and the local community – ourselves

becoming both guest and host through this process.

Although already a part of the way in which we have chosen

to operate, it was in 2013 that we made the explicit choice to

investigate further the complex and ambiguous nature of

hospitality and the challenge it presents for us as an arts

organisation. Developing from our previous work, we want to

investigate the notion of hospitality further, particularly

hospitality as an ethical problem in the arts; using the

structure of our previous model, made up of three essential

elements that constitute a journey:

Travel – Walking / Slow Transport

Hosting – Food, Eating and Accommodation

Understanding – Language, Conversation and Learning

We will continue to explore the programme clusters of identity building, socio-economic

issues, heritage and environment through the involvement of artists and professionals from

other disciplines.

To investigate hospitality as ethics further we turn to Derrida's term 'hostipitality' which helps

us to reveal the complex relationship between enmity and generosity at play in acts of

hospitality. Derrida noting, “the close etymological proximity between hospitality and hostility,

both of which are derived from the word foreigner (hostis)”, alerts us to the delicate con-

fusion - between stranger/guest, economic/non-economic relationships,

location/displacement, homesickness/wanderlust - held in suspension when host/guest are

engaged together through hospitality. This conceptualisation of hospitality, or hostipitality,

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acts as fertile ground for us to actively investigate the power relationship between ourselves,

our community and our guests.

The problem of hospitality is historic, being among one of the most fundamental concerns of

both religion and philosophy, it has played an essential role in defining the very basis of

social relationships. Hospitality remains an issue today, both politically and philosophically;

over the last twenty years we have seen, through commercial globalisation and an increase

in tourism and long distance travel, economic hospitality – 'the hospitality business' – grow

rapidly. This alongside the recent movements in population within Europe and from other

continents into Europe, i.e. economic immigration, refugees and asylum seekers -

contributing to the growing anxiety and xenophobia felt both in the UK and Europe towards

strangers, or, 'foreigners' – has seen traditional notions of hospitality thrown into question.

We believe this makes investigating the ethics and implications of hospitality all the more

critical for us as a hosting arts organisation.

Walking

Since the project 21 Days in the Cairngorms with Hamish Fulton (2010), Deveron Arts has

increasingly engaged with walking as a method to engage people in its projects. Walking has

been identified as a great way to experience and understand a place, how people relate to it,

and to each other; and how it links to the notion of hospitality as a virtue of place in political

and environmental terms. Thanks to the Creative Place award 2013 this has now led to the

development of the Walking Institute (WI) programme, a programme that celebrates ‘the

human pace for and with people from all walks of life’.

Building on Huntly’s Room to Roam brand, we have in the past year undertaken a number of

walking related projects with artists, which have allowed us to access entirely new audiences

for a longer period of time. The Slow Marathon for example – now in its third year running

with different artists – was booked out in under two weeks, despite having a cost attached,

with only 30% of the participants having attended Deveron Arts activities before.

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Hielan’ Way Deveron Arts has invited walking artist Simone Kenyon, renowned fiddler Paul Anderson, local artist Gill Russel and poet/artist Alec Finlay to respond over a longer period (2013/14) to the Hielan' Way, a network of ancient lifelines that run through the NorthEast of Scotland. Local historian Ron Brander is contributing with further research on the area and its ancient human heritage.All this culminates into comprehensive investi-gation and celebration of a very remote and depopulated place, the Cabrach, often descry-bed as the largest WW1 memorial in the world. Outcomes will be presented and published at our Hielan’ Way conference in Nov 2014. Speakers in-clude, mountaineer Doug Scott and artist Richard Long.

Walking is widely recognised as an opportunity to address mental and physical health, it has

a positive relation to the environment, and brings communities together. By working with

artists and other specialists (e.g. anthropologists, foresters, botanists …) it allows people to

see their surrounding through a new and different lens. Hence we want to – through artist led

initiatives – engage both potential and seasoned walkers; including those that find walking

difficult or even impossible (more on this in our WI vision document).

The Walking Institute programme's key aims are:

Activities & Path-Making: to identify and develop walking

activities and new paths & trails which connect to the

broadening networks and dialogues across the globe.

Research & Mapping: to research and map the concepts,

philosophies and notions surrounding walking and linking them

to the walking & art discourse.

To do this, we will address opportunities in relation to health,

environment and rural development in Huntly and further afield

through walking art and related disciplines, for example geography,

architecture and history. The cross cutting themes of Politics &

Ethics, Community & Place and Seasons & Time will inform the

programme and selection of artists.

For the coming three years, walking and other forms of slow travel

will also serve as the exploration process for new contexts, outside of

the town, bringing dynamics and critical inputs to the local and

remote. The Walking Institute is not a separate entity, but is ‘nested’

within Deveron Arts, as an integral part of both programme and

methodology in Huntly and beyond.

The engagement of an audience development specialist that helps

us in accessing people outside of Huntly, will add significantly to the success of this new

development.

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Our artistsPrevious artists we worked with range from Norma Hunter, Anne Murray and Jake Williams from Huntly AB54 area to Stuart McAdam, Kenny Hunter, Jacqueline Donachie, David Sherry, Roderick Buchanan and Dalziel + Scullion from Scotland; to Jacques Coetzer and Senzeni Marasela from South Africa and Thierrey Geoffrey/COLONEL from France, Hamish Fulton/UK, Roman Signer from Switzerland, Maider López from Spain and Celia-Yunior from Cuba, Mihret Kebede from Ethiopia, Sanaa Gatja from Uganda and photographer Baudouin Mouanda from Congo. Planned are: Rhynie Woman from Huntly, Pester & Rossi from Scotland, Tim Knowles/ UK, Anthony Schrag/ Scotland, Wochenklausur/ Austria, Ania Bas from Poland, Mariam Koné from Mali, Hassan Hajjij from Morocco, and more….

Simone Kenyon, In the footsteps of Nan Shepherd, Hielan’ Way programme, 2013

The Artists

Artists engaged with Deveron Arts often,

though not always, work in the field of

collaborative art. Alternatively they are artists

who wish to develop a collaborative project.

Many of the artists we have worked with in the

past come from a visual arts background, but

we also work with craft artists, writers,

performance artists and other creative

professionals such as chefs. Every year we

have one musician complementing the

thematic programme.

The artists come – often with their families and

partners - from our own place and from all over

the world; the balanced mix ranges from

emerging to established, local to internationally renowned artists. The vital dimension of

conversation and interaction between artists, and the various echelons of the public, is

central to these aims. Particular effort is made in identifying the right artists for a chosen

theme, through studio visits both at home and abroad, inviting artists to see the place before

they join us.

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Sanaa Gateja, The Lubare and the Boat, 2014 Simon Preston, the Town is the Menu, 2012

Each residency is centred around a particular issue or interest of the locality. Hence an

interest in the chosen theme must be evidenced by the appointed artist. Once identified,

artists are invited to develop and negotiate proposals that respond to the identified theme

and the above criteria. The selection should cover broadly the following points:

Distinctive Project: in collaboration with the artist we identify and develop a focus

and/or relationship of the project unique to life in Huntly or other chosen place; outlining why the work can only exist within the context of the exchange with that

community; and what the artist brings to the thematic.

Collaboration and Public Involvement: the visibility and accessibility of the artist in the

community is vital and community involvement is essential. The artist is requested to

show how he/she will develop a relationship and dialogue with the community or a

particular part of the community. The artist should also demonstrate how he/she will

take inspiration from this place, and how they will fit into the community.

Promoting Excellence and discourse: artistic track record and excellence is vital in the

selection. The proposal should outline how it fits into current artistic discourse, and how

the artist would use the opportunity to develop his/her work professionally.

3. Criticality

All the above curatorial elements – the town is the venue, cultural health,

hospitality/hostipitality, walking - are underpinned by a range of Deveron Arts’ approaches to

criticality:

Research and Model Development - Deveron Arts is taking an interest in research relating

to the development of new concepts of the role of contemporary art in rural locations and

their socio-economic impact. This is done through a number of means:

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Previous Shadow CuratorsNuno Sacramento, Francois Matarasso, Katy Nicoll, Tessa Jackson/INIVA, Dave Beech/Chelsea School of Art, Mary Jane Jacob/Chicago School of Art, Sarah Worden/National Museums of Scotland, David Harding, Jonathan Baxter, Pauline Burman/Thami Mnyele Foundation, Christine Eyene/ University of Central Lancashire.

publication of articles on the town is the venue and the Walking Institute models

participation in artistic dialogue through conferences, seminars, etc.

a socially engaged art library and a walking specialist library

development of critical discourse events (seminars, symposia, conferences on socially

engaged art, on walking, and on the topics we engage with)

in-house discussions between the team, local experts and our board of advisors

Shadow Curator - is a critical methodology that strives to strengthen the mission of Deveron

Arts and its curatorial practice. Since 2007 we have attached Shadow Curators to our

projects.

In parliament, the opposition party appoints an MP to ‘shadow’ each of the members of the

Cabinet, to keep the Government in ‘check’ through a process of thorough and continuous

questioning. Like the Shadow MP, though in a less antagonistic way, the Shadow Curator

offers a critical enquiry into Deveron Arts’ curatorial model. This form of peer review and self-

reflection maps the curatorial process through querying and critiquing the assumptions of the

organisation and its projects.

The collaboration between the invited Shadow Curator and the Director/team is an

opportunity to interrogate the artists' projects and their connections. Deveron Arts engages

Shadow Curators from across the world; they attach

themselves to individual projects and not only bring a

critical element as described above, but also a network of

contacts. They often become ambassadors for the

organisation back in their country and on their travels

across the globe.

Deveron Arts also engages Shadow Curator interns,

young aspiring curators who receive the opportunity to

critique through this unique methodology.

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FernwehIn early 2013 Deveron Arts organised Fernweh in collaboration with curator Mary Jane Jacob from School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA, a train travelling-curator project that aimed to investigate notions of travel and hospitality within community and socially engaged art. Its objectives were to consider the notions of art in community (rural/urban) through a hosting, visiting and travelling programme in collaboration with a series of communities and institutions across Scotland. This format was reproduced later in November 2013 in Brazil in collaboration with MAC Niterói.

Documentation and Archive - High quality

documentation is a vital aspect of the work of Deveron

Arts. This normally focuses on professionally designed

printed materials, but also filmic and photographic

documentation and keeping press files. Detailed archives

are kept for all projects in specially designed archive

boxes. These feature an archive template with a project

description, and all files and items that relate to the

project. A comprehensive archive of all projects, events,

strategies and other aspects that relate to the work of

Deveron Arts is also kept on our website: www.deveron-

arts.com and www.walking-institute.com. Images are kept

on our flickr account, with a selection on Facebook.

Videos are kept on a vimeo account. All such accounts link with our website.

Exchange and Dialogue – Deveron Arts places a lot of importance on exchange and

dialogue between local and international people; between art professionals and community;

between artists and specialists in other disciplines. Each project includes a discursive event,

which may range from a key note speaker event followed by a discussion, to an artist’s talk in

the community. In addition we have an annual conference as outlined in our events plan.

Increasingly we are invited to talk about the town is the venue and the Walking Institute on

inter/national platforms.

Curators Traveling Symposium, Fernweh, 2013.

Monitoring and Evaluation – we have a multi-facetted approach to evaluating our projects

using a participant observation methodology derived from social anthropology. This results in

an extensive project report outlining achievements and problems encountered; including:

artists’ and participants’ comments, archive of printed materials, press file, photo/film

documentation and any other materials available, as well as all artists delivering a written

report. As part of the evaluation process we are keen to monitor our work against our key

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goals of developing the town is the venue programme and are dedicated to applying new

evaluation techniques that avoid forms and questionnaires (which we perceive as obtrusive).

In the past this has included informal activities such as tea parties, picnics and writing

sessions. Projects are evaluated according to set qualitative criteria (as set out by François

Matarasso at the conference ‘On the Edge’, Duff House): inclusive, rather than exclusive to

the community: making it work in a rural/remote area; making it work without a dedicated

venue, gallery or arts centre; maintaining artistic vision and quality albeit within the above

‘constraints’.

VISION, STRATEGIC AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

Vision StatementDeveron Arts / the town is the venue: a place for community, hospitality and criticality

Aim

The core aim of Deveron Arts is to develop the town is the venue model as an internationally

recognised, transferable model for contemporary collaborative arts development in the

rural/remote context.

Objectives

1. To evolve a programme of artists residencies with a focus on collaborative arts

2. To engage and encourage participation of people in contemporary art projects in their

community

3. To provide professional development opportunities for artists/arts professionals

4. To facilitate and form local/global relationships by forging links with international artists

and art partners

5. To achieve excellence in all areas of artistic and organisational development

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Slow Marathon, 2014

SWOT AnalysisSTRENGTH WEAKNESSESArtistic Quality

- Unique curatorial model of the town is the venue with reputation for high quality

- 50/50 approach: over 15 years’ experience- Hospitality / Hostipitality: an opportunity to explore

community and criticality though the notion of a journey

- Walking Institute: a unique new initiative, nested within Deveron Arts

- Experienced and skilled work force- Active range of Board members, including artists,

community members and professionals.- Professional support from Creative Scotland- Strong Scottish and international network of peers

Community + Participation- Huntly's compact size, facilities, demography and

location on strategic road and rail links- Central position in the region, making it a natural

hub for rolling out our model- Creative Place award and Claudia Zeiske awarded

citizen of the year; accolades offered confidence and evidence of strong community support

- Focus on interest groups cutting across socio-economic and generational divides

- Strong commitment to the outdoors, local ecology and environment

- Expertise with community network rated by artists- Support from local/regional newspapers (Huntly

Express and Press + Journal)- Good working relationship with local schools- Power of ‘word of mouth’ within rural environment

Artistic Quality- The curatorial elements - Walking Insitute and

CHV - are still in a testing phase and might be confusing to the audience

Marketing- The name given at the start of the organisation is

seen as old-fashioned within the arts world, and is not conducive for marketing as a contemporary product.

- Various curatorial models (town is the venue; Walking Institute; hospitality) confusing for the audiences

- Deveron Arts is less experienced with non-art audiences outside Huntly; in particular the outdoor and environment sectors.

Funding- Funding from Aberdeenshire Council always

precarious- Constant need for fundraising for matching

funding is taxing for small staff base- The need to be opportunistic about chasing

project funding could result in it dictating the shape of the programme

Location- Remote location is expensive to travel to- Remote location makes it difficult to recruit new

skilled staff if needed- Remote location makes diverse board

membership expensiveStaffing/Expertise

- Lack of skill in marketing and audience

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- Good local press coverage- projects under the Walking Institute banner have

increased numbers; 70%+ of new participantsNetworking

- Strong links with Scottish Art Network and Art Colleges

- Strong international links with galleries and profession- Increasing national press coverage

Finances- Core funding enabled secure planning and gives

confidence to partners, funders and artists- Professional support from Creative Scotland- Annual funding / premises in kind from Aberdeenshire

Council- Strong track record in attracting project funding from

public and private sources- Successful in attracting in kind support from local

business- Low overhead costs, as there is no building to run and

maintainInfrastructure

- Good accommodation for artists living / studio space- Centrally based well equipped, cost free office space

International Working- Director speaks 8 languages and has excellent

international contacts- Scotland spearheading work in socially engaged art is

an opportunity for profiling the countryLocation

- Rural location gives a transferable model to similar communities in Scotland and beyond - testing and demonstrating innovative contemporary art models outside the city centres, and without a gallery

- intriguing and attractive to visiting artists and professionals

Professional Development- good training programmes for aspiring curators in place

development for walking / outdoor programmes

OPPORTUNITIES THREATSFunding

- The potential for an increase in support on a multi-year basis through new thematic funds –1. Hospitality: travel, hosting, understanding2. Walking Institute: environment + ecology, health +

wellbeing, tourism + rural development- Creative Scotland projects forming programmes

funding secured till March 2015; AC funding indicated from April 2015

- Initial matching funding secured for programme funding beyond 2015

- Fundraising strategy in placeNetwork

- Director has a good network of international contacts, which could be exploited for partnerships

- Good working relationship with Creative Scotland and Aberdeenshire Council, as well as HDDT locally

- Walking Institute opens new network opportunities both locally, nationally and internationally

Staffing- Good team structure; succession Plan in place- Well trained project manager that can take over if

required- Cultural Health Visitor, a successful new approach to

community participation- Artistic, community and environmental values in daily

Funding- Deveron Arts needs to continue to secure

funding for both local and further afield programming should it have a chance to succeed

- Deveron Arts needs to make more effort to attract sales and other own income

Location / Community- Huntly residents have a relatively low income

and are therefore potentially less inclined to attend arts events.

- Huntly community has a perceived lack of sensibility towards issues affecting the world due to its relative remoteness

- The public has a lack of understanding of socially engaged art practice (wonders ‘what does it have to do with art?’)

- Locally based arts audiences are used to travelling to population centres for cultural activity, they may overlook local activities because of this

- It is very costly and time intensive to engage in effective networking due to remote location

Government- Budget cuts in cultural funding- Visa regulations for foreign artists are costly and

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team lifePositioning

- Current general interest in socially engaged programmes and renewed interest in public art

- No comparable organisations in Scotland or even the UK and internationally

- town is the venue and Walking Institute fit with Aberdeenshire Arts, Economic Development and Town Planning Strategies

- According to The Aberdeenshire Audience Atlas, around 3000 people who live in Huntly and surrounding area may be interested in attending culturally led events

- Estimated 20000 people in Aberdeenshire who could benefit from a rolling out of our models

- Huntly’s position on main transport routesCommunity

- Potential to contribute to the wider economic development of the Huntly area by changing external perceptions of the town

- Creative lace award and Huntly Cultural Fund Huntly & District Development Trust a good provide good opportunities for partnership working

- Tourism strategy for Huntly in place- Promotion of area as a destination

International collaboration- Clear vision of the value of local/global links- Good international contacts- Opportunity to put Scotland on the map of cultural

innovation for socially engaged art

at times prohibitiveManagement

- Current effective staffing structure might be difficult to fund in future

Audiences- New vital markets among walkers, outdoor

enthusiasts and environment sector cannot be tapped due to lack of audience development expertise outside Huntly

Artistic Programme 2015-18

Activity

Deveron Arts’ artistic programme focuses around the following overlapping areas of activity:

1. residencies with artists interested in collaborative practice that respond to our

hospitality related themes

2. engagement of the community through thematic projects employing conversation and

dialogue across socio-economic boundaries

3. fostering critical engagement, inter-disciplinary working and international connections

4. organising a lively events programme integral to the residency programme

5. evolving a Town Collection, hosted in all kind of shops, schools, churches and other

venues across the town and beyond

6. linking with academic research

We have described the outline programme below, but feel it is vital to always leave room for

the unexpected, to allow opportunities for the experimental nature of work.

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Following the pilot phase in 2013/14 we want to continue with the full-time Cultural Health

Visitor position to complement our work in the community. This is fulfilled by an artist with a

distinct, socially engaged practice assisting in community communication and education;

similar to the tried and tested traditional NHS Health Visitor but looking after people’s cultural

health. In the long-term future we want to work on this with a partner of University of

Aberdeen through the Knowledge Transfer fund (see section finance).

Residency Projects

Based on the above described curatorial strategy, Deveron Arts proposes to implement a

strategic 3-year programme 2015-18 of 4 thematic artist led residency programmes per year,

which encompass each:

professional artist residencies; averaging at 3 months

invitation of a specialist in the field of investigation (e.g. food or walking expert, forester

or anthropologist)

collaboration with local artists (both visual and others like musicians, writers,

performers, chefs, craftsmen and artisans) where appropriate to assist and compliment

the project

invitation of a Shadow Curator/producer, normally working from a distant position

a Shadow Curator Intern which encompasses 2 projects per annum

an Intern, normally a young recent graduate either in art or a related discipline

an education programme focusing on local schools and life-long learning in the

community; often including an academic partner

a programme of events focusing on each residency theme and project; each project will

have at least one artists talk, 4 school workshops, a specialist talk, final presentation,

and discursive event

a walking related element that encourages physical participation, mapping and/or

navigation

a contribution to the evolving Town Collection built up from traces of DA’s work with

individual works by former artists in residence (paintings, photographs, murals, plaques

etc) are on display in pubs, shops, schools, garages, offices and other spaces

Residency Themes and Artists

The programme will be structured annually through the following 3 elements:

1. Year-long programmes over the three year funding/planning period; each year

encompassing four artists residencies and a number of other specialist commissions. The

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suggested topics based on themes identified with the community and informed by the

curatorial strategy outlined above for the 2015-18 period are:

Year 1: Pilgrimage and other journeys of moral, spiritual and cultural significance; journeys

made to achieve something more than geographical relocation; The tourist trail; Landuse and

Landusebills

Sub-Topic ArtistInverse tourism: how to make a place known for something of significance?

Wochenklausur/Austria, tbc

Shadow Curator: Nina Möntmann

The Tourist Trail: Leisure markets today Exploration Aides: Tim Knowles/UK

Shadow Curator: Barbara Steveni

Art Pilgrimage: The Grand Tour today: referencing 19th Century travel to acquire the necessary cultural polish, also the bringing back of artefacts. Pilgrimage ethics: e.g reference to ancient writing

Anthony Schrag/Scotland

Shadow Curator: David Stevenson

Access and land use in a new Scotland Stile Awards: Andrea Geile/Scotland

Shadow Curator: Duncan Bremner, tbc

For Year 2 and 3 we propose the following suggested themes:

Year 2: Neolithic sites and their spiritual, environmental and economic magnitude:

Comprehending the earth’s power; Networking and time travelling; UNESCO registration;

Communal spaces/local museum. Artists we are talking to: Tim Knowles/UK (together with a

digital cartographer); Angelo Bellobono/Italy; Richard Long/UK; Pester & Rossi/Scotland;

Atull Bhalla/India

Year 3: Work-Walk-Wellbeing: Walking at the Work place: Digital Health; Commuting and

Work environment aesthetics. Artists we are talking to: Ania Bas (in collaboration with

London Business School); Hassan Hajjaj/Morocco; Rhynie Woman/Huntly; David Bade/NL.

We are also aiming to work on a collaboration with Aberdeen University/Anthropology

Department (Prof Tim Ingold); facilitated trough AHRC funding to have one long-term PhD

artist fellow working with us over the 3 year period.

2. Traditional / World Music: The programme will be

accompanied by an annual music residency that brings together

Deveron Arts / the town is the venueBusiness Plan 2015-18

CeilidhcatuIn 2012 we hosted Brazilian musician Allysson Velez; who joined with renowned Scottish fiddler Paul Anderson and six local musicians in the area forming a band that linked ceilidh rhythms with

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musicians from across the globe with the wealth of folk traditions in Scotland. New sounds

crossing oceans, eschew politics and embracing the global village can be forged through

such links that will also in particular connect with our rich local folk traditions in the North

East of Scotland – in particular known for its unique bothy ballads.

Artists we are talking to are:

Year 1: Aidan O’Rourke/Scotland: Landuse from Neolithic times till today.

Year 2/3: Mariam Koné, whom we are linking with Celtic Connections festival and Festival du

Niger; Hannah Tuullikki/Scotland/Finland; Omar Afif, a Gnawa musician and dancer from

Morocco who now lives with his family in Aberdeenshire.

Allysson Velez/local musicians, Ceilidhcatu, 2012

3. Events and Critical Discourse: A lively events and education programme will

accompany each project. This includes more community events facilitated through the

Cultural Health Visitor, as well as the critical discourses outlined below. The content of those

events will be informed by our hospitality programme, bringing together the various aspects

of travel/food and communication. They will be balanced by an element of hostipitality,

always bringing an edge to the niceness.

Annually we will walk the Slow Marathon, now a very popular event that rediscovers the

landscape surrounding Huntly casting a new light on it (Year 1: Stuart McAdam through his

Lines Lost project). During the course of the 3 year period we want to test the Slow Marathon

idea outside Scotland in a very different environment (e.g. a big city, or a politically

challenging environment – like Palestine, South Africa).

Annually we will also have at least one major presentation abroad. In year 1 this will be at the

Museum of Uganda with artists Sanaa Gateja and Xenson presenting the Lubare and the

Boat project developed in Huntly in 2014; in collaboration with the Ugandan Arts Trust.

Deveron Arts / the town is the venueBusiness Plan 2015-18

CeilidhcatuIn 2012 we hosted Brazilian musician Allysson Velez; who joined with renowned Scottish fiddler Paul Anderson and six local musicians in the area forming a band that linked ceilidh rhythms with

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In 2016/17 we will again take part in the Skills Biennale, a collaboration between the arts

organisations of the North East including Scottish Sculpture Workshop, Woodend Barn,

Sound Festival and Grays School of Art.

4. Hosting Critical Dialogue: The programme will be complemented by the following annual

discursive events in Huntly and surrounding. These will be clustered as follows:

a. Annual event surrounding socially engaged practice with the following suggested themes:

Year 1: What is Cultural Health?: In collaboration with NHS Grampian (1-Day symposium in collaboration with Roelf Dijkhuizen, CEO NHS Grampian)

Year 2: 20 Years of Socially engaged practice in Britain – celebrating 20 years of the town is the venue at Deveron Arts: with curator Jason Bowman (subject to funding)

Year 3: Praktika 2: critiquing socially engaged practice with David Harding (2-day workshop,10 years after Praktika1 in 2007)

b. Every year will also see one project related seminar/symposium relating to the above

long-term themes: Pilgrimage; Neolithic sites/Landuse; Work-Walk-Wellbeing. These will

link with our hospitality in art discourses, informed by one of the projects in relation to the

three journey making subthemes: travel/hosting/understanding

c. In addition every individual project will also see one discursive event (e.g. a key note

speaker, a panel discussion).

d. Each year will also see one discursive event at a Scottish Central Belt platform; e.g.

Glasgow International; Edinburgh Arts Festival. Year 1: Andrea Geile/Stile Awards.

e. In 2016 Deveron Arts will be 20 years old. Since we started we have had over 80 artists

working with us. We would like to celebrate this anniversary with a bang by bringing

many, or even all, of the artists back that have worked with us since 1996. This event will

be organised in a symposium style event, document the history of Deveron Arts and what

it has brought to both community and artists practice; this will be done in the context of 20

years of socially engaged art in Britain, bringing key note speakers to the event (e.g. Art

Angel, Collective Gallery, Grizedale Art; Situations). However, this project needs a lot of

funding, we may have to shelve or reduce this ambition for the time being.

All such events will be documented through web and printed materials; the larger events will

be made accessible through live streaming.

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Curator Luiz Vergara, Fernweh, 2013

Place and Quality of Life

This Creative Scotland ambition is our mandate, and core to our success - evidenced by

winning the Creative Place awards in 2012 and 2013. It is further evidenced by the selection

of the Director and her team as the Huntly Citizen of the Year in 2013. All of our strategies

look to develop this goal; specifically addressing it through the town is the venue, the

Walking Institute and the Cultural Health Visitor.

Since our inception we have been working closely with the town and its many groups and

organisations. It was important for us to begin with a cultural audit, something which is now

revised annually. Our track record in mounting projects of environmental, heritage, socio-

economic and identity building relevance has led to the commission of the town branding, for

which we worked with South African artist Jacques Coetzer and many community groups.

This led to Huntly’s now guiding principle – in geographic and spiritual terms - Room to

Roam, taken from a poem of Huntly’s Victorian writer George MacDonald. A perfect starting

point for DA’s new strategy that includes walking as a methodology to bring in more people

to participate with our projects in Huntly and other places we want to role the town is the

venue methodology out to.

We strive to fit with the strategies for town regeneration of the Huntly and District

Development Trust (HDDT: town center regeneration, sports and outdoor hub, improving

image of the town) and we work with the many local cultural and non-cultural groups.

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Alec FinlayIn 2013 we engaged Alec Finlay, an artist deeply interested in nature, for the Hielan’ Way project. Due to his long-term illness he has little ability to walk the remote Cabrach area. We teamed Alec up with Alexander (Twig) Champion, a young aspiring walking artist, who walked on Alec’s behalf and to his instruction. Alec produced The Golden Mountain, a book of poetry based on what Twig brought home, written for people that can now only walk in their imagination.

Huntly is and remains our place. In future we want to work further with HDDT to improve

Huntly’s image for people to visit and come and live here. A tourism strategy to which we

contributed has been put in place.

Equalities and Diversity

Deveron Arts has a strong commitment to Equality and Diversity for artists, staff and our

communities.

We work with artists from all ages and backgrounds. To accommodate artists with families

we provide adequate housing, we arrange schooling for the children and try to facilitate –

where possible - opportunities for partners.

Our premises are now fully accessible for wheel chair users. This has recently enabled us to

take on an intern with multiple health issues. The work of

the Cultural Health Visitor pioneers access through

cultural health irrespective of peoples’ ability, age or

social background – crossing all social boundaries and

fostering a healthy community.

Also our new interest in walking as a tool and as a

methodology for people from all walks of life has given

ample consideration to people who have problems with

walking or who maybe cannot walk at all. We have

engaged artists with such issues and have developed

facilities for people who would like to walk but cannot. We also run projects for people who

have reduced ability.

Our great interest in working internationally is reflected in our commitment to ethnic diversity.

Huntly itself is still largely a ‘white-Scottish’ place; bringing people from other backgrounds to

the place does not only benefit their integration, but also our community’s accolade as a

creative place with ‘room to roam’ in the widest sense.

Further details are available in the Appendices: Equality & Access Policy; Child and

Vulnerable Adult protection policy; Health and Safety Policy. An Equality plan will be written

in accordance with Creative Scotland guidance in the course of this business plan.

Digital Media

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The use of digital media is vital to the work of Deveron Arts. Working in a rural area we

understand the importance of digital media in providing an alternative platform for our work,

both broadening our audience and making our work more accessible. Recognizing the

importance of new digital tools, we strive to look for new and innovative ways to deliver our

work to a wider audience.

Networking: Digital media has a central role in recruiting and communicating with artists and

other professionals from across the globe through Skype. Skype is also used for conducting

interviews with artists; and for getting interviewed by the increasing number of researchers

interested in the town is the venue.

Celia – Yunior talk to Prof. Robin Dunbar, University of Oxford, on Skype, Faceloop, 2013

Deveron Arts recognised a need to explore further opportunities for artistically exploiting

digital means for the forthcoming programme - in particular in relation to mapping. We have

done a lot of ground breaking work in relation to this with our www.walking-institute.com

website, which is nested within the www.deveron-arts.com website. We have also started

working with BING software to make human heritage of the landscape information accessible

to the public. During the coming period we want to further advance this work by bringing

together a digital cartographer with an artist.

We are also – and this may be the antithesis of working with digital mediums – interested in

the notion of digital health in our and other communities as well as our own office. For us

digital health refers to balancing time spent using technology, in a virtual world, against real

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life experience. The Cultural Health Officer is tasked to work on this in the forthcoming

period.

In future we will increase efforts in capturing data of our web and social networking traffic.

Environment and Ecology

Living and promoting a holistic life is important to us. As such we have launched a number of

lifestyle and environmental related projects, such as Slow Down (addressing traffic issues),

Red Herring (looking into counting the carbon footprint of our food chain) and the now annual

Slow Marathon.

We also integrated environmental policies in our office and daily working lives. As such we

grow some of our food for our Friday lunches in our garden and compost our food leftovers.

Artists and staff are all given a second hand bicycle; we use only unbleached, recycled paper

and in the office we print on both sides of the paper. We buy ecologically approved cleaning

materials and fair trade goods such as coffee and tea and are an active member of the local

Fair Trade town set up. Where possible we travel by train and our office is largely furnished

with second hand furniture from Huntly's charity shops or

otherwise made by local tradesmen.

Stephanie Bourne, Red Herring discussion in Greenhouse, 2010

Our artists have a contractual obligation to consider the

reduction and disposal of any waste that might result

from their artworks. Deveron Arts operates a stringent

environmental strategy, which beside operational

aspects outlines how environmental concerns can

influence artistic decisions. See Appendix:

Environmental Policy.

Both the natural and physical heritage of a place are important factors that inform the

thematic choice, artist selection and creative projects of Deveron Arts and its use of the town

is the venue. This important part of our work and how the methodology can relate to the

human heritage of the landscape is further reflected in detail upon in the Walking Institute

Vision paper.

Deveron Arts / the town is the venueBusiness Plan 2015-18

Wandering WasteArtist Gayle Chong Kwan - as part of the North East Scotland Skills Biennale - is currently developing a project with us exploring the role of archetypes, ideals and waste in food growing, production and consumption in Huntly.She will work with Dean’s of Huntly Shortbread and growing communities in Huntly to collect recipes and processes, which use waste ingredients and to explore how waste can be reduced in domestic, artisanal and factory food production. In collaboration with Stills gallery Edinburgh.

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MberekoNancy Mteki won in 2012 the Deveron Arts residency award at DAKAR Biennale. Her project Mbereko created photographs based on the theme of ‘Materialism in Childhood’ in Huntly. The work was shown a year later at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, where she also set up a mother and toddler group, a completely new way of getting together in Harare and elsewhere - through socially engaged arts in a gallery.

Mihret Kebede / Norma HunterIn 2012 Ethiopian Artist Mihret Kebede undertook her residency in Huntly, where she worked with locally based artist Norma Hunter on the project Slow Marathon which took place in Huntly and Addis simultaneously. In 2013 Norma was invited to Addis Abeba to attend the international workshop Wax and Gold at Netsa Art Village.

International working

Deveron Arts considers pluralism to be vital and is

committed to international exchange and dialogue,

providing a home for international contemporary arts. It

is a forum for current developments and discourse that

develops artistic productions with artists from both

Scotland and around the world, with a special focus on

non-European cultures and societies. Visual arts, music,

literature, performing arts and digital media are all linked

through our interdisciplinary programme that brings

together artistic, social and poetic relationships throughout and beyond the town of Huntly.

To achieve this, about half of the annually invited artists should be international to balance

the 50/50 approach. In turn we endeavour to show work created in Huntly on international

platforms and contribute to international conferences, seminars, etc. through international

partnerships.

International working for Deveron Arts does not merely mean bringing international artists in,

or sending local artists out, but creates strong partnerships among artists, between artists

and community and between community members – bringing the local onto a global level

and vice versa.

We see this also as an opportunity for Scotland to promote itself as spearheading socially

engaged arts in an increasingly complex world, reflecting societal and global processes from

an international perspective.

As the organisation’s confidence and ambitions for the future and its positioning within the

Scottish, wider UK, and international arts scene have

grown, the methodology used here has begun to

disseminate to other arts organisations in the North of

Scotland and further afield. This can be evidenced for

example in Citric Art, an embryonic organisation

currently being set up by former DA intern Ioannis

Tsagkarakis in his home town of Crete. While our

unique approach has gained a reputation among the

international artists community, with a strong history of

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Our InternsDeveron has had since 2007 almost 30 interns from Scotland and 6 other countries. Anna Vermehren worked with

us after her internship for 3 years, she is now the Director of Timespan in Helmsdale which won a Creative Place award in 2014

Ashley Branston is now a

applications from artists who wish to come and work here, Deveron Arts needs to expand

further on how to communicate its work and model effectively to the international arts circuit

as a transferable possibility.

With this international strategy in mind we want to assist in Scotland’s ambition to ‘export’

cultural innovation. Through our residencies the international artists that have lived here for a

while can become ambassadors for our country and it’s culture.

Nancy Mteki, Mbereko, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, 2014

Staff, Leadership and Skills

Deveron Arts believes in a happy, diverse, skilled and connected team.

The key workers currently are:

Claudia Zeiske studied Economics and Anthropology and is a founding member of Deveron

Arts, who has been running the organisation as Director since 2004. Since moving to

Scotland, she has worked for a variety of arts organisation, including Duff House/National

Galleries of Scotland, Peacock visual arts, SSW, Royal Scottish Academy. She also set up

the acclaimed artist in residence programme at Glenfiddich Distillery. Claudia is a dedicated

internationalist with a great passion for working with artists as well as the outdoors.

Kate Sargent, a trained mathematician has a life-long passion for the arts and the outdoors.

Kate joined Deveron Arts in 2012, after working for 10 years in the IT department of an

international Bank; from here she brought a lot of vital transferable skills to her Project

Manager position.

The core team is complemented by:

Catrin Jeans, who came to Deveron Arts first in 2007 as an intern after graduating at

Duncan of Jordanstone School of Art. She joined

the team in 2013 to pilot the Cultural Health Visitor

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Our InternsDeveron has had since 2007 almost 30 interns from Scotland and 6 other countries. Anna Vermehren worked with

us after her internship for 3 years, she is now the Director of Timespan in Helmsdale which won a Creative Place award in 2014

Ashley Branston is now a

idea in Huntly. Cat has a great passion for all things sporty and an endless enthusiasm

for people from all ages and walks of life.

Interns: Deveron Arts runs two internship programmes for recent graduates who are

aspiring towards a career in socially engaged practice:

- 4 annual Project Internships for Young artists/ graduates @ £50 per week +

accommodation

- 2 Shadow Curator Internships for aspiring young curators who wish to take up a

career in socially engaged art; through the SC methodology they get the opportunity

to critique the Director/team @ £10000 per annum pro rata + accommodation

During the period 2015-18 Deveron Arts also aspires to engage Shadow Curators to

accompany the programme. Shadow Curators are experts in the field of socially

engaged art, and act similar to a mentor, but with a critical hat on.

Further, Deveron Arts engages other freelance workers and volunteers as and when

required. This includes assistance with IT and web-management, PR and curatorial

support, cleaning.

Deveron Arts also aims to engage a part-time marketing/audience development

specialist to address opportunities in developing new audiences beyond Huntly.

A good and inspiring working atmosphere is important to us. This includes giving the

workplace a feeling of ‘home’; regular training in both artistic and managerial aspects of our

work and career planning. To assure this, the team takes part in weekly meetings and in bi-

annual reviews at which a training plan is established. At least once a year the whole team

goes jointly to a boot planning camp to an off site location (Cairngorms, Wigtown, Knock).

Our belief in diversity and internationalism is reflected in our always fluctuating team. We

have had workers, interns and volunteers from many different backgrounds, nationalities,

abilities and also professionally; always making sure that there is a balanced mix between

male/female, local/international and art/other profession and skills present at Deveron Arts.

This philosophy of a diverse, healthy and friendly work place we believe provides a fertile

ground for ideas to seed, spruce and flourish for the benefit of the arts and the artists as well

as the community we work with.

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Farewell for artist Sanaa Gateja, June 2014

Staff/Pay Structure

Position Name Weekly hours Gross Salary

Director Claudia Zeiske 40 hours £39,655

Project Manager Kate Sargent 40 hours £23,340

Cultural Health Visitor Catrin Jeans 40 hours £20,000

Marketing and Long-term ambition 16 hours £26,000

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Audience Development Officer

The Director and Project Manager positions are on a salaried basis; renewed annually,

funding permitting. A government recommended pension scheme is currently provided. A

regular appraisal process, reflecting pay scales is applied.

The Cultural Health Visitor is currently on a self-employed basis, however we aim to make

this a permanent employed position.

Deveron Arts aims to have adequate salaries in place reflecting the skills and experience of

the workers. As such a pay rise of 10% has been granted last year to the Director, to bring

her more in line with comparative jobs in the field. A pay rise of 5% is planned for the Project

Manager after 2 years of service; this will be repeated after 3 years of service.

A succession plan for the Director post is in place (See appendices).

Board of Management

The Deveron Arts Board meets quarterly and represents a broad cross-section of expertise

relevant to the organisation: artistic, community and management. A board development plan

is in place (See appendices). There are quarterly management meetings at which a

Director’s report is presented with updates on artistic, financial and organisational progress.

An annual general meeting is held every year in October. There are two board sub-

committees, which focus on:

1. programme planning, including audience development and marketing

2. financial planning and staffing

The sub-committees meet as and when required. Board Members as of June 2014:

Name Profession Expertise/Skills

Mary Bourne, Chairperson Artist Visual Arts

Janice Sharp, Secretary Forestry Commission, MA Fine Art Visual Arts/Community/Craft

Mike Whittall, Treasurer Independent VAT consultant Accountancy/Music

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Iain Irving MA Subject Leader, Gray’s School of Art Visual Arts/Academia

Louise Scullion Artist Visual Arts/Central Belt Network

Stephen Brown Forestry Officer/Piper Environment/Trad. music/Community

Sophie Hope Independent Curator Visual Arts, Curating, London Network

Kevin McIntosh TeacherSecondary education/Photography

Christine Sell Teacher, Gordon Primary School Community/Photography

Rachel Walker Artist/Project ManagerYoung arts professional/Glasgow Network

Jason WilliamsonAssistant Curator Aberdeen Art Gallery

Visual arts

Calum Mitchell (Observer) Pupil, The Gordon Schools Young People’s Representation

Artistic Quality

The artistic quality is ensured through:

The experience of the Director and team/board of Deveron Arts in curating high profile

socially engaged arts projects with some of the best artists in the field.

The quality of the artists, based on their previous work and critical reception; their

potential to work, or adopt a method of working, which is socially engaged to some

extent; as well as providing a well balanced mix between local, national and

international artists, male and female artists, young and established artists (50/50).

The Shadow Curator involvement which brings in professionals of the highest calibre

through a critiquing assignment; Shadow Curators also connect us to a wider network

of international contacts and organisations.

The Specialist Advisors in social engagement adding ad hoc expertise to the projects:

Jacqueline Donachie, François Matarasso, Jim Brook, Nuno Sacramento, Monika

Vykoukal.

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The Advisory board of the Walking Institute (meets bi-annually): Prof Tim

Ingold/University of Aberdeen, Prof Deirdre Heddon/University of Glasgow, Michael

Höpfner/University of Vienna, Ron Brander/Chairman Huntly Ramblers, Jason

Williamson/Outdoor enthusiast/Aberdeen Art Gallery.

Training

To enable the implementation of the equality policy and to ensure excellence in the

management of the organisation, Deveron Arts endeavours to train its staff and board on a

regular basis in both administrative as well as creative issues. These include taking part in

training courses, as well as participating in relevant seminars and conferences on local,

national and international platforms. A full day board training day hosted by Francois

Matarasson took place in 2014.

Marketing and Audience Development

Key audience development and marketing objectives are:

1. development of local participation: increase in active participation by a diverse range of

people in artists’ projects in Huntly and beyond

2. development of national international profiling and networking: to promote the town is

the venue and the Walking Institute as transferable models

3. development of audiences and sales for events and products

Appendix: Marketing Plan (which also includes a communication and a networking plan).

Deveron Arts has a strong record of audience development within its home of Huntly.

However, we recognise a gap in expertise around marketing and audience development now

that we are trying to reach people in other places than Huntly. Opportunities to reach

audiences that relate to the Walking Institute’s cross cutting themes - tourism, environment

and health and engage them through arts – are yet to be tapped. We have done some

groundwork, e.g. Huntly has achieved Walkers Welcome status, however we need expertise

to reach the fast growing outdoor market in Scotland. To do this, we want to engage a part-

time Marketing and Audience Development expert who helps us implement such a strategy

in the future.

The post will enable us to access a wide range of new audiences:

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geographically from the other places that we are working with in the North East of

Scotland and beyond

different interest groups, in particular outdoor enthusiasts (e.g. ramblers, hillwalking

clubs), and the environment

This will be done through developing press relationships, new data bases, activating

facebook links, among others. For more information see also the Job Description in the

Appendices.

Audience and Participation StatisticsOur visitor figures are on a sharp rise since the previous budget year.

2012/13 2013/14 April – June 2014

2903 3665 2181

We believe these figures have increased due to the implementation of the Cultural Health

Visitor position, as well as the opportunities to work further afield than the town of Huntly.

In future we aim to increase such figures by 30+% annually; 100% by the end of the period.

Detailed figures can be taken from our Events Statistics.

Programme Plan and Targets

The following targets have been identified for this 3-Year Plan.

TARGETS FROM 2015

TO EVOLVE A PROGRAMME OF ARTISTS RESIDENCIES WITH A FOCUS ON COLLABORATIVE ARTS

5 x Lead artist residencies per annum

Engage a balanced mix of established and emerging Scottish and international artists for (on average) 3 months as lead artist in residence to work collaboratively with groups and individuals in the locality.

One of those will be from a traditional/world music background.4 x Shadow Curators/Producers per annum

Engage guest curators to contribute to the development of the artists’ projects and the town is the venue model through the Shadow Curator methodology.4 x Thematic Experts per annum

Engage experts and specialists from a range of fields (anthropology, cooking, outdoor expertise, foresters, etc) to contribute to the thematic development of the artists’ projects

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TARGETS FROM 2015

5 x Local artist collaboration per annum

Engage one local artist per project to facilitate and foster local/global links and dialogue.

1 x University collaboration per annum

During the course of the planning period we want to develop at least one doctorate research link with the University of Aberdeen Anthropology Department.5 x Documentation per annum

Ensure development of a publication/CD/DVD for each project; as well as digital and library archive.TO ENGAGE AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF PEOPLE IN CONTEMPORARY ART PROJECTS IN THEIR COMMUNITY

3 x Annual Programme

Identify, develop and implement sub-themes through participant observation and community dialogue; identify artists through local/global networks: Pilgrimage; Neo-lithic Sites/Landuse and bills; Work-Walk-Wellbeing.1 x Cultural Health Visitor

Engage artist with established collaborative practice to work with groups and individuals in the locality through the Cultural Health Visitor methodology described in the plan.1 x Slow Marathon Festival per annum

Organise a 2 day walking/talking event in April; day 1 new 26 mls walking route to Huntly; day 2 discussion event in relation to current theme.1 x Seminars (Hostology) per annum

To have at least one thematic discussions per year bringing local people together with artists, art professionals and professionals of the selected theme / in relation to hospitality in art.

2016: To celebrate 20 years of international residencies at Deveron Arts in Huntly in relation to 20 years of socially engaged art in Britain.1 x Symposium per annum

To have one larger annual symposium in relation to collaborative methodology.1 x Symposium in Central Belt per annum

Event at Edinburgh Art Festival, Glasgow International or similar platform.4 x Discursive events per annum

Each sub-theme will see a key note speaker, a panel discussion or other discursive event.5 x Committees and Groups

To represent Deveron Arts on at least 5 local committees and groups (e.g. HDDT, HADTAG, School Council, Sport Clubs) per annum.

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TARGETS FROM 2015

Year Round Events Programme

To develop a lively year-round events programme in conjunction with the identified themes; to include e.g. artists talks, film screenings, artists talks, artist dinners, tea parties, installations and many more creative opportunities; 5 artists x 3 events minimum per annum.Participation and Audience

6000/8000/1000+ individuals in year 1-3 will either collaborate in or attend events or engage in some other manner with the residing artists. These contacts will be of a participatory nature rather than passively attending events. We hope through the audience development post to increase our audiences outside of Huntly by at least 100 % over the coming three years.Networking and Information

The Artists, Director, Cultural Health Visitor and other staff will give:

talks to local groups such as The Rotary Club, Round Table, and the Woman’s Rural Institute groups (5x)

talks to special interest groups i.e. the ramblers, horticultural society connected with themes (5x)

talks at the Gordon Schools art department (5x) and other departments (3x) events at the Gordon Primary School (5x) contribute to events in the local calendar with innovative artistic programmes (e.g. Hairst,

Halloween festival, NEOS, Sound festival, Christmas event) (5x) contribute to the monthly farmers market with a stall (12x) attend the careers convention alongside other professionals at The Gordon Schools (every

second year) engage with the Huntly Cultural Fund winners (Creative Place 2013) through training

opportunities (2x) Contribute to the Skills Biennale 2016/17 in collaboration with NE Scotland arts

organisations.

TO PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARTISTS/ARTS PROFESSIONALS

5 x residencies for artists per annum

3 months opportunities for artists to develop their social engagement practice, 50% of those with an interest to include walking in their practice; at least one of those a musician from traditional/world music background.2 x Shadow Curator internships per annum

Provide structured internships for young aspiring curators wishing to specialise in socially engaged / collaborative practice giving a unique opportunity for critiquing.4 x Internships per annum

Provide internships for young art graduates interested in collaborative art and arts event management.TO FACILITATE AND FORM LOCAL/GLOBAL RELATIONSHIPS BY FORGING LINKS WITH INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS AND ART PARTNERS

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TARGETS FROM 2015

Events

1 x or more event per annum with international partners abroad to ‘export’ cultural innovation in collaborative/socially engaged art;

1 x Slow Marathon abroad in a different and politically challenging environment during the course of the three year period.Networking

1 x attendance at international arts events as outlined in the international networking plan; 1 x speaking at international events; 1 x significant new international contacts should be made which allow Deveron Arts work to be seen on international platforms.Partnerships

1 x or more sourcing artists through international partnerships; developing joint events and projects.TO ACHIEVE EXCELLENCE IN ALL AREAS OF ARTISTIC AND ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Programme/Funding

Put 3 years of programme and revenue funding in place; meet the targets of the fundraising and marketing plans.Staff/Funding

Ensure core funding for staff to allow for permanent full-time contracts and pension contributions with industry standard wages and conditions; ensure training plans for all staff in place and being carried out (managerial and artistic); ensure adequate payment structures for artists.Audience Development

Engage a p/t marketing/audience development officer to assist in increasing our above targets for audience development.Housing

Ensure adequate housing and working facilities for artists and guests.Office

Ensure professional working environment, facilities and procedures.Networking

2 x or more participation in other regional and Scottish arts committees as outlined in the Networking plan.Presentation

2 x or more talks about the DA methodologies and projects at Scottish and UK art colleges or conferences and other national/international platforms.

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TARGETS FROM 2015

Town Collection

To continue to develop the town collection moving into places beyond Huntly; discover new and innovative thinking on the curation of the Town Collection through the Shadow Curator Intern.

Initiate critical writing press coverage on this unique collection (x 2) as a new way of displaying art for communities.Media Coverage

Regular media coverage: 24 x in Huntly Express; 5 x Press and Journal; 5 x Scotland wide, 5 x other UK / international wide media per annum.

Increase media coverage by 50% through including Outdoor / Environmental / Health outlets; with the help of Marketing/Audience Development Officer.

Increase critical writing coverage by 20%.Environment

Continue to develop environmental policy.Digital Working

Continue to seek innovative ways to improve our digital profile and adopt new technologies where appropriate; maintain and curate digital archive on the www.deveron-arts.com website.Forward Planning

Put in place strategic artistic and management plans for years covering 2018 – 2021; put in place budgeting and planning for fundraising for 2018 – 2021.

Deveron Arts Friday lunch with Priya Ravish Mehra/India, 2011

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FINANCE, FUNDING AND BUDGET

Value for Money

The town is the venue is a low-cost effective model for delivering arts and talent development

of the highest standard to a wide range of people. The lack of a building (arts centre or

gallery) saves a lot of costs (staffing as well as heating, lighting, repairs etc) while allowing us

to be flexible in terms of programming to respond to artistic innovation and community needs.

Budget 2015-18

Apart from the engagement of a Marketing and Audience Development Strategist and our

20th Birthday Celebration, our budget remains similar to previous years, taking in account pay

rises and inflation.

DEVERON ARTS

Programme Budget (rounded to nearest 1000)

2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 TOTAL

Expenditure DA 2015-2018Artistic and Creative Programme £163,800 £167,076 £170,418 £501,294Administration £84,304 £87,061 £88,954 £260,319Building costs £10,000 £10,200 £10,404 £30,604Marketing and Communications £2,000 £2,040 £2,080 £6,120Total Costs £260,104 £266,377 £271,856 £798,337

Notes to budget:

We have increased the fees for the artist residencies from 2014 by 10% to reflect better recommendations of the Scottish Artist Union. After undertaking some research we feel we are competing well in the sector with this fee structure.

The Project Manager salary is subject to an appraisal due in March 2015. Year two is higher than the other two years, due to the 20th anniversary celebrations; for which

we estimate half of the total 80 artists being able to attend; we estimated an income from Clashindarroch windfarm trust for this cost item.

The Cultural Health Visitor budget is high due to the collaboration with the University of Aberdeen and KTP.

See appendices for detailed budget.

Funding

Deveron Arts has a strong track record in achieving funding for its projects from public and

private funding. The development of the Walking Institute and the Cultural Health programme

opens new funding channels from environmental, health and economic development sources

as well from academic affiliations.

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Deveron Arts has good links with Aberdeenshire Council. We receive an indicative amount of

£7000 annual grant for our core operations; in 2013/14 we received a major commission of

£62000 for the Aberdeenshire Ways project. Following discussions with council officers we

hope to receive further support from the Place Making Initative/Be part of the Picture

programme (in 2014 this was £5000 – we are hopeful for a larger amount towards our 2015-

18 programme).

At the time of writing this report the following indication on other fundraising can be given:

We hold a three year grant from HLF for our hospitality programme:

travel/hosting/understanding till 2017. Given that we had support consistently from HLF

since 2007, we have good hopes to continue this relationship from 2017 onwards.

We held discussions with the Director of Economic Development Department of

Aberdeenshire Council who is channelling the Leader EU rural development funds:

they see a positive chance for us to apply, in particular, as we could be working with

the neighbouring LAGs Moray and Cairngorm – for which they are channelling 10% of

their 3 year funding 2015-18. Application comes on stream in autumn 2014.

We had discussions with the Knowledge Transfer Fund, to provide links and matching

funding for a three year programme of the Cultural Health Visitor linking them to a

research at University of Aberdeen. This project aims to build towards a self-funded

Cultural Health Visitor position, earning fees from agencies like NHS. The total budget

if we go ahead is £67000 for the Cultural Health Visitor programme per annum

(Associate gross salary £27000 including on costs; Academic Supervisor £11000;

University support £23000; Budget for travel and materials £6000). We have to find

£22000 towards this budget. Considering the current workload within the budget

constraints, we are considering this for future implementation.

We are also currently talking to University of Aberdeen, Anthropology Department (Prof

Tim Ingold) about a joint artist phd funded through AHRC. This would be for one of the

3 year thematic residency projects outlined in the artistic plan.

The Clashindarroch Windfarm fund is coming on board in 2016, hence a bigger

proportion of trust funding from then onwards can be calculated.

We had discussions with Dr Roelf Dijkhuizen and Pam Gowans to discuss

Aberdeenshire Council/NHS Grampian CHANGE funding.

We have had annual funding from the Forestry Commission Scotland of around £5000.

A three year funding application to support the programme has been lodged with SNH;

we have gone through the first stage round.

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Further we had regular local in kind and financial support from: Dean’s Shortbread,

Whisky Direct, Forestry Commission Grampian, Marr Area Partnership, Knock Distillery

- institutions who both have co-funded and collaborated with DA.

A Fundraising Strategy can be found in Appendices.

Own Income

In the past two years we have managed to increase our own income by ca 50%. This was

mainly due to an increase in talks given by the director, which fetches between £200 and

£400 per session. We have also increased our ticket sales, mainly through the Walking

Institute events, which are always sold out.

Further we have now put all our publications on Amazon; sales beginning to increase.

We hope through the involvement of the Marketing and Audience Development Strategist to

increase this important part of our work further.

Reserve

Deveron Arts has established a reserve – which it will try to keep up over the coming years,

to allow for 6 months running costs, in case funds dry up, or unforeseen costs occur.

Financial Controls and Audit

The cashflow and accounts are kept on a daily basis by Kate Sargent, who has a degree in

mathematics and has over 10 years banking experience. Claudia Zeiske who has a degree

in Business Administration is overseeing the accounts on a weekly basis.

The team reports four times a year to the Deveron Arts board of Directors. This includes a

cashflow report and state of funding and current financial assets, which are first scrutinized

by the Treasurer (Mike Whittal, a chartered accountant) before presentation at the meeting.

At year end we engage Jane Dempster, a chartered certified accountant and registered

auditor to prepare our annual accounts for the AGM in October and for submission to OSCR.

www.jdaccountancy.co.uk.

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APPENDICES Note: appendices available on request

Planning Appendices

Vision Document

Marketing Strategy

Positioning Document

Outline Programme 2015-18

Budget

Fundraising Strategy

Policy and procedure Appendices (available at www.deveron-arts.com/ about/documents/from/contact/)

Equality and Access Policy

Absence and Sickness procedure

Grievance, disciplinary and dismissal procedure

Child and Vulnerable Adult Protection Policy

Disclosure handling policy

Photography Policy

Health and Safety Policy

Environmental Policy

Office Policy

Staff and Board Appendices

Artists Contract (template)

Job Descriptions: Director, Project Manager, Cultural Health Visitor, Audience

Development Officer

Constitution

Board Development Policy

Succession Policy

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Staff Review Document

Audience Number Statistics

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