MLA South East Internet - Regional Bodies

amh is a team of specialists in the field of arts marketing, research and project management. amh offers a wide range of services, as well as friendly advice and support for arts work. amh provides four principle services: market intelligence, evaluation, audience development and research. MLA South East funded a two-year Marketing Development Manager post which undertook a marketing needs assessment for museums, libraries and archives in the South East. A project with five museums - Museums Data Gathering Pilot - explored how amh’s Arts Index South East (AISE), a sustained programme of data collection from venues in five of the region’s major towns, can be applied to museums. The project aimed to facilitate the building of a visitor database that would deliver customer information on visitors, their origin and frequency of visits and which could be presented as ACORN profiles; a mailing list to facilitate effective customer communications and integration with existing AISE data to enable better understanding of the degree of arts attendees and museum visitor cross-over. Read more about our work with amh.

Arts Council England is the national development agency for the arts in England, distributing public money from Government and the National Lottery. It believes that the arts have the power to transform lives and communities, and to create opportunities for people throughout the country. Its vision is to promote the arts at the heart of national life, reflecting England’s rich and diverse cultural identity and for people throughout England to experience arts activities of the highest quality. Arts Council England, South East and MLA South East are two of the regional cultural agencies where there is regular interaction between the Chief Executives. MLA South East is also involved with the Arts Council England's Reader Development Forum.

Culture South East (previously the South East England Cultural Consortium) was established in 2000 as one of eight Regional Cultural Consortia under the auspices of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The Consortia - one for each English region outside London - are charged to champion cultural and creative interests; to forge links and create a common vision. Helen Jackson, MLA South East's Chief Executive, (as an individual) sits on the Board of Culture South East. MLA South East also sits on the Local Authority Task Group and the Research Task Group. In addition, Culture South East forms part of the wider Culture Team at SEEDA.

English Heritage ensures that the historic environment of England is properly maintained and cared for. By employing some of the country's very best architects, archaeologists and historians, English Heritage aims to help people understand and appreciate why the historic buildings and landscapes around them matter. English Heritage manages the Historic Environment Forum (HEF). MLA South East participates in the HEF. English Heritage South East are co-members of the Culture South East Board. We are currently collaborating on a project to look at the attitudes to museums, libraries and archives and the heritage environment along with the Black Environment Network which is core funded by English Heritage.

Screen South's mission is to promote talent, support the studios, locations and regional facilities and find ways of presenting exciting film to new audiences. MLA South East has attracted £15,000 of funding from SEEDA to conduct a partnership study, with the support of Screen South, to assess the commercial potential of audiovisual collections in the region. The first phase of this work has included the production of a report and a toolkit to help those with audiovisual collections in the South East generate income by meeting the needs of potential commercial partners. The next stage of the project involves progressing a series of 5 commercial case studies between commercial providers and collections in the South East including a partnership between BBC Motion Gallery and the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu.

The South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), as the Regional Development Agency for the South East, is responsible for the sustainable economic development and regeneration of the South East of England - the driving force of the UK's economy. SEEDA aims to create a prosperous, dynamic and inspirational region by helping businesses compete more effectively, training a highly skilled workforce, supporting and enabling communities, while safeguarding natural resources and cherishing the South East’s rich cultural heritage. MLA South East works with SEEDA's Head of Cultural Policy in the Sustainable Prosperity Directorate as well as with people in SEEDA's Learning & Skills, Social Inclusion and Area teams.

SEERA was set up in January 1999, having been designated by the Government as the regional chamber for the South East. Its role is to be the representative voice of the region. It provides regional accountability for the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), and has a lead role in areas such as transport and sustainable development and has strategic planning responsibilities for the region. Helen Jackson is the named alternate for Marilyn Scott as Member of the Regional Assembly, representing Culture South East. Helen also participates in the Regional Assembly Policy Advisory Group.

The South East Research Framework project for the historic environment is an opportunity for all those who care about the region's heritage to take stock and plan how limited resources should be used. MLA South East's Local Government & Improvement Manager is a member of the Steering Group.

The South East Hub, funded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), under the Renaissance in the Regions programme, is a partnership between four museums:

The Hub Partners are working together to become beacons of excellence and to provide leadership in museum modernisation and best practice for the museums and galleries community in the South East. MLA South East forms part of the South East Hub Management Team and the Hub's steering group for the Education programme. Recent collaborative projects have included a skills sharing programme for museums and a database of schools' use of museums.

Tourism South East aims to optimise the economic and social benefits from tourism in the region by sustaining, improving and developing the performance of the travel, tourism and leisure industry by working in effective partnership with public and private sector stakeholders. Tourism South East (along with MLA South East) is also one of the funding partners for the Thames Gateway Cultural Regeneration post. The Steering Group for the post meets monthly.

Regional Bodies

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