Needs Assessment. Preparatory document. Coaching visit Loulé April Context Your analysis of needs Possible action plan...

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1 Needs Assessment Coaching visit Loulé April 2017 Preparatory document Table of Contents Context... 2 Your analysis of needs... 9 Possible action plan Guiding questions

2 Context Demographic context: What is the city s population, and how has it changed over the past 10 years? What challenges is the population in your city facing? Economic and social context: How does the economic situation look in your city? What are the prospects for the coming years? Loulé council is close to the North Atlantic Ocean and covers an area the size of 763,12 km². It has excellent accessibilities such as Faro International Airport and highway A2 providing the Municipality of Loulé with a modern road network. The climate is mild throughout the year making the region of the Algarve, in which Loulé is situated, one of the most attractive touristic regions in Europe. The Municipality of Loulé, including the cities of Loulé and Quarteira, is the largest and most populous municipality in the region of Algarve. It has about inhabitants and the population is increasing. Loulé and the region of Algarve in general have a long cultural tradition in which the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Visigoths and Moors, have all influenced the region and left their marks that are still visible in today s Loulé. It can be seen in the cultural heritage and architecture of Loulé, for example, in the complex of Islamic public baths that was discovered recently in 2014 in the historic centre of Loulé. It is said to be the most unique one on the Iberian Peninsula. The narrow steers in the historic city center are still keept from the medieval ages and the Christian Reconquista. Loulé transformed from a village into a town in the middle ages and flourished during the time of the Portuguese discoveries. This growth stopped in the 18th century after Loulé was hit by an earthquake. Today Loulé is flourishing again as the Algarve has been discovered as a touristic region. The Municipality of Loulé has approximately inhabitants, of which are inhabitants of the city of Loulé. Due to the well-developed infrastructural networks in the region as well as the city s numerous social and cultural networks, Loulé is currently considered as one of Algarve s main urban centres. In the past the historic centre of the city of Loulé used to be a vibrant area full of commerce, social exchange and local craftsmanship. But over the past years, this area has witnessed a demographic deceleration and now faces the challenges of an aging population. The attractiveness of surrounding cities as well as the difficulty on reaching the new standards of quality of life has caused that many people choose to leave the inner city. Tourism lies at the basis of the in the Municipality of Loulé economy in Loulé as it is the city s main source of revenue and ensures the creation and retaining of jobs. Most of the employment opportunities in the Municipality of Loulé are service jobs related to tourism and range from professions in hotels and restaurants to those in real estate, commerce and travel agencies. The city economy is based in administrative services, both local and national, and financial and proximity commerce due to the market and schools attractiveness. The tourism sector also branches out in the construction sector resulting in building projects for residential tourism and holiday resorts. Moreover, the commerce and service sector also profit 2

3 from the development of tourism in the area. The importance of the city is, in certain way, declining. There is some lack in retail offer, and this sector is facing a new challenge due to the overcoming of another big retail shopping, with more than 200 shops, near the IKEA shop, about 7 km of the city. National or local legislation and policy: Has your city been affected by changes in the legislation in recent years regarding culture, creative industries or social inclusion? Which ones had most impact? Culture on the local political agenda: What are the current and long term cultural priorities in your city/region? Culture is considered as one of the strategic axes of local development, for example the strong emphasis on support for cultural associations, the strong and diversified programming of cultural facilities - museums, galleries, libraries and cinema-theatre; In support of the edition of CDs and books; In support of research and dissemination of Heritage from the paleontological to the immaterial. The priorities of Culture are established through an official strategy which is summarized as follows: Heritage: constitution of urban rehabilitation areas allowing the establishment of small ICCs (short); Rehabilitation of emblematic heritage buildings in the city with its refunctionalization (giving new uses) - castle house to museum; House contiguous to the castle for creative residences; Solar da Música Nova for the Loulé Conservatory of Music and Philharmonic Band Artists by Minerva (short term); Gama Lobos Palace to install Creative Space in Craft and Arts (ECOA) (short term); Expansion of the Municipal Archives (medium); Excavation and musealisation of the Islamic Baths (medium); Enlargement of the Municipal Museum of Loulé (medium). Publication: to promote the publication of studies on the history of the territory, allowing the development of research as well as the fulfilment of the social function passing to the enjoyment (short and continuous); Example are the publications of the Municipal Museum and the Municipal Archive. Support to Associations: in addition to financial support, the Municipality of Loulé intends to contribute to the qualification of the associative and cultural fabric of the municipality of Loulé, in this sense within the scope of the strategy began to promote the formation dedicated to the associations, as well as the creation and programming Networking and the joining of artists from outside with artist from within (short and continued). CCIs: to become the creative capital of the south of the Tagus (long term) with the fixation of creators and the revitalization of some traditional arts and knowledges. Loulé Criativo (short, medium and long): creation of a cultural movement around the arts 3

4 and crafts and design that focuses on the valorisation and innovation of the creative process, on training, on production and marketing, capable of generating dynamics Regional level, and then expand them to other geographies. This project aims to stimulate, from Loulé, an entrepreneurial ecosystem that creates value from creative and innovative design processes incorporating the arts and crafts to commercialize objects for the home and activation. Differentiating initiatives: A) Exposition L.T.M.I. (Short term) - "Loulé: Territories, Memories and Identities" to be held at the National Archaeological Museum, at the Jerónimos Monastery (National Monument) in Belém - Lisbon. It is a great exhibition that will gather for the first time in the same space archaeological goods from Prehistory to the Middle Ages, from all over the county. Considering that the National Archaeological Museum is one of the main "visiting rooms" of Lisbon, and consequently the country, will attract a high number of visitors, this exhibition is an invitation to discover the county territory. B) Som Riscado Festival - The Loulé City Council, through the Cine-Teatro Louletano, launched a new festival concept in Loulé, crossing music and image. It is a festival that intends to foment crossings and creative dialogues between the new Portuguese music of experimental (minimal, psychedelic, electronic) and the universe (s) of the image and the visual arts (drawing, painting, photography, cinema, graffiti, Digital art / animated image, design and others), bringing together, in the presented formats, visual / plastic artists and other creatives of the Municipality of Loulé and the region (between emerging and recognized) with musical projects already signed in the national panorama. C) Inscription of the Worship to Our Lady of Mercy of Loulé in the national inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The culture is an important issue in ours Mayor s agenda. We have an historic city centre and the Municipality has some policies regarding the rehabilitation of this area, namely the rehabilitation of public buildings to cultural use (ECOA, Music Conservatory), and CCI. What priority is given to culture on your local political agenda? How are culture and the creative industries positioned within economic, social and education policies or within the general city/region development strategy? From the economic point of view, the Loulé Criativo project combines culture, ICC's identity, entrepreneurship, creators and entrepreneurs is an example of the strong commitment of the city of Loulé in culture as a strong axis of development of the territory. The Loulé Criativo initiatives has some different and complementary areas, namely: creative tourism, who promotes a new type of tourism experiences, with a immersion on local culture, creative residencies, to promote the co-creation between handicraftsman and designers, and exchanges between artisans, and the training. From the social point of view, culture has the triple function of social and territorial inclusion 4

5 / cohesion, construction of participatory citizenship and questioning / collective construction of the polis and its identity. Culture has been the key factor in the development of several projects, initiated in 2015, we highlight two: Bairr'Art and Dar Cor to the city. - Bairr'Art is a shared and integrated governance project aimed at social inclusion and change through ART, for its unique power to bring people together, building bridges between communities that do not usually cross. The priority of the action is centred on young people, their families and elderly residents in Social Housing in the parishes of São Clemente and Quarteira, whose neighbourhoods are in the periphery, which fosters geographic isolation. - The "Give Colour to the City" project, in a pedagogical way, seeks to encourage a positive attitude towards the urban and social space, which is of all citizens, promoting graffiti and street art, respecting the heritage and landscape values, of material and Immaterial, as opposed to illegal acts of vandalism that attack the spaces of the city and do not conceptualize the creativity and art of those who practice them These projects, begun in 2015, have half a dozen interventions, reaching more than two hundred people and dozens of street art artists. From the educational point of view, educational and cultural mediation services, which work for all kinds of audiences, develop a regular activity in cultural facilities, museums, libraries, galleries and film-theatre. There are specific programs for adults, seniors, families, children and schools throughout the year, reaching more than 30,000 people. In addition, the program Vacations for all, aimed at students in the first cycle (6-10 years) gives special attention to activities in culture. Administration: How is the city organised at municipal level? Please describe the administrative organisation of the city, and it affects culture. Do not hesitate to add organigrams or maps to illustrate. The Municipal Council of Loulé is the executive body of the municipality and its mission is to define and implement policies that promote the development of the county in different areas, according to the legal competences. The Mayor works together the municipal council, a supervisory body of municipal activities and a forum for debate. The Municipality of Loulé has about 1,500 employees, divided in five departments, in areas like education, culture, administrative, sport, waste and water supply. The structure of the local authority is a vertical one, with the administration of the mayor and four vereadores (elected). Local cultural landscape: how is the local cultural landscape shaped in your city? What are its strengths, who are the stakeholders involved? What kind of initiatives/institutions the city council supports? What kind of events for the pattern of the city s cultural life? Are there cultural companies, programme, and activities in the city? In the district? Please give the 5

6 coaching team some detailed information on the local cultural ecosystem (mapping of key actors and institutions). Since 2004, the Municipality of Loulé organises Festival Med, a world music festival in the historic city centre, with the complementary areas of gastronomy and crafts from Mediterranean area. This festival happens every year in the end of June. Carnival of Loulé is an old event in the city, since Loulé has some equipment like an art gallery and the Cine-Teatro, who has an annual cultural program, with music, theatre and cinema, and is a part of a regional network with other theatres, to promote an integrated cultural programme. Steering work on culture: How does your city organise its work on culture and cultural policies? Have you a department or unit specifically to promote cultural activities? Is the culture department collaborating with other departments or units on specific topic or issues? What part do elected city leaders play in it? How are local partners e.g. third sector /NGOs/private companies, involved in the city s culture work? The promotion of cultural activities is integrated in a Division of Culture, Libraries and Archives that deals with the programming and cultural dynamization of the county. Its action is developed in close relation with other divisions of the municipality (for example: Education, Transport, Environment, Tourism). For instance, the Loulé Criativo initiative is dealt by culture and tourism areas. The area of culture belongs to the Mayor, although directly or indirectly the other councillors also participate. There is a strong component of partnerships and networks between the Municipality and cultural associations, private entities and, also, the University of the Algarve. City s strategic approach: Has the city an overall strategy or plan for culture and cultural policies? Are there any other existing strategy papers that you would find relevant to mention? Do you already have an evaluation plan for these strategy papers? If so, how are you monitoring the results? At the moment, the strategic plan is under construction by the local authority. However, we have an Action Plan for Urban Regeneration in Historic Centre of Loulé, who intends to rehabilitate Loulé s centre to promote the quality of life of residents, attract new residents, and fix other activities like creative industries to promote employment. The Municipality of Loulé is also implementing another project - Loulé Criativo (Creative 6

7 Loulé) that was launched in 2014 to try and address the problem about the decline of traditional crafts, low attractiveness of local commerce, decline of city centre. This project aims to promote the local traditions, cultural heritage and handicrafts of Loulé and has several axes: promote creative tourism activities, training in traditional arts as a tool for selfemployment, handicraft and design, creative residencies and incubators for start-ups related with creative industries, increase the attractiveness of Loulé centre and promote the installation of new entrepreneurs in creative industries. These two projects are basilar since 2015 we are already working on local network with artists, entrepreneurs, and involving the community. The Municipality is working on a cultural and creative district, that includes: municipal museum, contemporary art gallery, Islamic bath (the most antique in the Iberian Peninsula) and artistic residences located in the historical centre. This cultural and creative district has the main goal to settle creative people and to be the centre that attracts visitors. Geographical maps of the city, its districts/neighbourhoods etc. df An organisational chart of the city administration 7

8 An organisational chart of the culture department organisation The departments who are working in this items are EPELCT and DCBA 8

9 Analysis of needs Please briefly describe your coaching need/s: in which area of work do you think you need the most help? How are these needs related to previous work or to specific current or future challenges? - How can we work to promote creative entrepreneurs and boost creativity in the city? - How to develop a creative and cultural city? City s current practice: Please describe briefly the city s approach to work on this need. What has been done so far regarding your identified needs and challenges? How was this practice adopted? Was it chosen as a preferred model, or did it just develop over time? Is the authority satisfied with it and if not, what are its key weaknesses or problems? Do you know whether it reaches all the people who should be involved? If not, why not? The Municipality of Loulé developed a Strategic Plan Loulé 2020, which encompasses Culture and a Municipal Cultural Plan. We also have developed an Action Plan for Urban Regeneration 2020 and includes cultural issues. The Loulé Criativo initiative has been developing in different areas, like creative tourism and the ECOA, creative space for arts and crafts, and the implementation of Loulé Design Lab. The basis of this initiative is the local identity. The Loulé Design Lab is being implementing at this moment in an old building in the city centre. The aim is to create conditions and spaces for designers, for incubation, pop up spaces, spaces for design makers. We are doing contacts also with universities to create partnerships and networks. City structures: What are the arrangements for leading work on this specific area of thematic work? How does this thematic work link up with the city s other services? Loulé Criativo works together with tourism and culture. Inside the Municipality, there are several internal departments working in this, like the Rehabilitation Department, the Culture, the Local Economy and Tourism area, and some external advisors. Local political climate: what is the impact of local public debate on this thematic work? Is there political pressure on city leaders? Are you supported by local politicians on this topic? Are you supported by other city services? The local political are committed in defining and working in a cultural agenda and developing the city to attract more inhabitants and entrepreneurs, artists and events who can attract people. 9

10 Financial resources: How far is the work on your needs affected by budget limits, or by uncertainty about funding? Do you happen to have other resource issues e.g. finding qualified staff? The Municipality of Loulé has some financial resources and is also using UE funds to promote the rehabilitation of some buildings that willl have cultural uses, like the Conservatório de Loulé (Music Conservatory), the ECOA, who will be the space for creativity for arts and crafts. However, it s more dificult to finance cultural projects, or artists. Stakeholder engagement: Have you tried to strengthen your work by getting outside actors (such as civil society organisations/ngos, private companies/employers, trade unions, faith groups, youth groups, volunteers, etc.) involved? Have you noticed any problems in getting their engagement? Which groups are hardest to involve? The Municipality works with associations and other local groups to promote the cultural programme. It has been working also with a network of stakeholders to promote creative tourism in the city and in Loulé territory. However, we think to promote the regarding of CCI industries, we have to work and involve more players, like creative entrepreneurs, artists and others. 10

11 Possible action plan Expectations: What do you expect from coaching? In what way do you see this coaching supporting your needs for change (in terms of methodology, policy, governance, specific groups, geographical areas etc.)? Aim: What are the key goals you aim for in the framework of this coaching? Which practical steps or actions do you think will help your city/region to reach these goals? The Municipality of Loulé aiming some challenges to promote and boost creativity in the city center, in order to develop the city and became more attractive city. We are developing the installation of Loulé Design Lab who will promote spaces for incubation of designers and handicraftsmen, to work with the territory. We want some outside look to help us to define a better action plan, to give some new methodologies of other cities. We want some ideas and tips on how to promote an effectively plan for develop Loulé Criativo. We expect some mentoring to produce a better master plan about we would like to be in 2030 in terms of culture. 11

12 Guiding questions Quite a few projects on CCIs are ongoing (design lab, Loulé Criativo, urban regeneration, several festivals ). Culture and creative industries seem very high on the agenda and well-integrated in the city strategy and policies. A distinctive feature here is also the importance of tourism in the local economy. Is seasonality of tourism a huge challenge? How do you articulate your policy for culture and creative industries with the predominance of tourism in the economy? I d assume this impacts audiences (Loulé inhabitants and tourists) and the overall demand for CCIs in Loulé. From a quick look at the map, it seems Loulé is the main hub of a relatively low-density area. How well does the connection with this broader ecosystem works to the benefit of creatives? For example, in relation to creative entrepreneurship, where do the entrepreneurs actually come from? Do you have strong links with universities and/or the broader region on this? Is talent retention an issue or is the city a regional hub for creative entrepreneurs? Partnerships with key stakeholders seem to be well-developed have you already sourced their key needs and expectations as part of the process to develop the 2030 master plan? How is Loulé Criativo govern? What is its management structure? How does Loulé Criativo project relates to the Strategic Plan 2020 and the 2030 one? Is there a separate plan for Loulé Criativo with e.g. SQ on CCI in Loulé, specific objectives/goals of the project, partners, budget, etc.? What is the role of the economy department in this project? Could we get a view on the global city budget of Loulé and of the budgets dedicated to culture, tourism and economy? Why is it more difficult to finance cultural projects or artists, as it is said in the answer about financial resources above? 12