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Last Night Has Given me Something to Think About

Last Night Has Given me Something to Think About

By Derrick Armstrong

We’ve been working with Rommi Smith for the past several months, supporting her with raising investment for her multi – tiered performance piece focused on the lives of historical blues and jazz women and subsequently working with Rommi and her team to evaluate the project.The piece has been performed in New York and most recently at Leeds Art Gallery where Rommi was accompanied by brilliant musicians, Kenny Higgins and Dave Evans and directed by Jason Hird.

For us, it’s been a pleasure to work with a talented team unpicking critical success factors, impactful moments and identifying learning that can be taken forward.

 

By Derrick Armstrong

We worked with Dawn and Derrick over a year on Square Peg – a complex evaluation project – and their interest, enthusiasm and insight were invaluable to us getting the most learning out of the process.

Kenn Taylor, Creative Director, Artlink Hull

Leeds West Indian Carnival trustee recruitment

Leeds West Indian Carnival trustee recruitment

By Derrick Armstrong

 

Leeds West Indian Carnival

Do you want to play a part in leading one of the North’s favourite outdoor events?

Please note that the recruitment process is managed and administered by Armstrong Cameron on behalf of the Board of Trustees of Leeds West Indian Carnival. Selection decisions will be made by the Board of Trustees.

 

Leeds West Indian Carnival is a charity responsible for delivering Europe’s oldest authentic Caribbean carnival. Established in 1967, the charity is seeking to recruit three new Board members.

Held annually on the last Monday in August every year, Leeds West Indian Carnival presents and showcases the best of Caribbean carnival culture.The Carnival is governed by a Board of Trustees which oversees every aspect of its operations and strategy. Delivery of the annual carnival and other activities is supported by volunteers and freelance specialists.

The Carnival is currently recipient of an annual grant from Leeds City Council and over the past several years has fundraised significant investment from Arts Council England, Leeds BID and Heritage Lottery Fund as well as attracting commercial sponsorship for its annual activities.

We are seeking talented and committed individuals who share our passion for Caribbean Carnival arts and heritage. Specifically, we are interested in recruiting people with one or more of the following skills:

Finance, safeguarding, health and safety and risk assessment, legal, marketing and communication

If you’d like to join us, please follow this link to a very short Expression of Interest form and one of our trustees will get back to you for an informal chat about how to apply: https://form.jotformeu.com/82904307414352

Closing date for completed applications is Friday 16 November at 1700.

Sameness and difference

Sameness and difference

By Derrick Armstrong

We spent an unseasonally warm day in London on Wednesday with Stella Kanu – Exec Producer at Ovalhouse – and her colleagues. We’d been asked to deliver a training session on unconscious bias as part of a comprehensive development programme for staff at the theatre.

It was a pleasure to spend time with an interesting group of colleagues, working through how an understanding of unconscious bias can be used as one of the ways to tackle unfairness and inequalities in the workplace. Interesting, too, to think about its limitations and how it fits into the panoply of approaches to equality and diversity that have come in and out of favour over the years.

We are of the view that unconscious bias has its place in helping us to understand and conceptualise inequalities; there have been many such terms over the years. What matters and what can bring about real and lasting change is action driven by conviction.

We closed the session with this quote from the consistent and colourful social commentator, James Baldwin:

I’m not interested in anybody’s guilt. Guilt is a luxury that we can no longer afford. I know you didn’t do it, and I didn’t do it either, but I’m responsible for it because I am a man and a citizen of this country and you are responsible for it,  for the very same reason.

Thanks to Stella and her colleagues for a stimulating afternoon and excellent food.

Yorkshire Sound Women Network launch

Yorkshire Sound Women Network launch

By Derrick Armstrong

We’ve been pleased to support the organisational development of Yorkshire Sound Women Network over the past few months and spent an enjoyable evening at DINA in Sheffield last Friday, celebrating the launch of the Network as a CIC. Board members, supported by Heidi Johnson – the Network’s Development Manager – have done a great job of securing additional funds to enable the Network’s valuable work to continue and expand and we wish them all the best for the future. For more details and to get involved, visit the Network’s newly revamped website at www.yorkshiresoundwomen.com

By Derrick Armstrong
Armstrong Cameron bring with them a massive amount of expertise in the area of organisational development; they have a wide range of tools and resources at their disposal which can help focus your thinking and prioritise your goals. They also inherently understand audience development and can help not only with evaluating current audiences but also with creating new ones. On top of that Dawn and Derrick are lovely people; they come highly recommended!
Katherine Axel – Project Manager, Yorkshire Sound Women Network R&D Project
West Yorkshire Queer Stories

West Yorkshire Queer Stories

By Derrick Armstrong

We’ve just been appointed by Yorkshire MESMAC to evaluate its HLF funded Queer Stories project which aims to collect and share the stories of LGBTIQ+ people from across West Yorkshire.

We spent the morning working with the delivery team thinking about what to measure, how and why. We were struck by the energy, thoughtfulness and compassion of the team and by their commitment to including as diverse a range of voices as possible. They’ve also got  the best logo we’ve seen for a heritage project.

 

To learn more and to get involved, visit wyqs.co.uk

Slay in Your Lane

Slay in Your Lane

By Derrick Armstrong

Here at Armstrong Cameron, we’re very much committed to elevating the discourse surrounding minoritised arts and communities. So it was a great way to spend a very warm Sunday afternoon watching Dawn chair a panel at Bradford Literature Festival with Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinene, co – authors of Slay in your Lane.

The book’s now on sale and it was also Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4.

Networked Narrative Evaluation Report

Networked Narrative Evaluation Report

By Derrick Armstrong

It was a privilege to work with inspirational producer, Debbie Chan, and the rest of the team at FACT on the evaluation of its ambitious Networked Narrative project. Unusually, I was engaged over the full duration of the strategic touring programme – almost four years. This meant that together we were really able to look at and think about impacts, both expected and unexpected. It was great also to gain the insights of artists, Mark Titchner and Hwa Young Jung who were commissioned by young people to make work for the public realm.

I think we all learned a great deal that we’ll take into future work. FACT has placed the full evaluation report on its website. There’s a lot of it so it’s probably best tackled in chunks!

You can find it here: https://www.fact.co.uk/media/86190632/networkednarrative_evaluationreport_dec2017_dcameron_covera_lowres.pdf