Vivacity Peterborough: reflections on a legacy

This autumn, Shelagh Smith steps down as Vivacity’s Chairman, having been with the charity from its inception in 2010. Charged with growing the leisure and culture scene, Vivacity has seen some challenges in its formative years, but even in the face of recession and austerity has helped to put Peterborough on the national and international map, making it a more vibrant place to live and work. Here, she looks back over the last six years and talks about her experiences as a force behind the successful local charity

To begin at the beginning… What led to you becoming involved with Vivacity?

I’ve spent over 20 years working as a lawyer, but I’ve always been involved in theatre and visual arts. When I first came to Peterborough in 1989 my first impressions were: ‘Wow, this is a forwardlooking, exciting city!’ It really stoked my artistic interests. So, I teamed up with the curator of the art gallery and we put together an exhibition of contemporary landscape art from the UK and the USSR, which was nominated for a number of awards. We also developed a relationship with Glyndebourne Opera Company, and in 1995 put on a community opera involving 600 people, including around 40 local music groups. Looking back, those events really were seminal. At that time there wasn’t really any one organisation within the city that could act as a focus for these kinds of events, but the City Council started looking at ways of outsourcing a whole portfolio of work and venues to an independent body, which led directly to Vivacity.

Why was it important that it was an independent body?

For me, it was recognition of the need to free up the core creative offer in the city. Creativity requires an ability to be fleet of foot, to take risks and to enable change. Vivacity has been able to do this and continues to get better at it. It also has very clear objectives to deliver high quality services in its field of operation: the performing and visual arts, libraries, heritage, sport and healthy living; to deliver those services to more people whilst generating more income in order to do even more of it in the city of Peterborough.

Does Vivacity give good value for money?

Over the last six years Vivacity in partnership with the Council has delivered a massive saving to the Peterborough taxpayer. As a charity, through being efficient and creative, we can deliver more by re-investing in services of a better quality and to thousands more people than accessed those services before.

Is there a Vivacity success story that stands out for you?

The biggest success is the way in which we work and the ‘can do’ attitude of staff throughout Vivacity. Having a combination of sport and culture is the key to our success. I love the way staff from one part of Vivacity are quick to volunteer to help out another sector when there is a big project happening. It’s the people who make an experience great.

In your six years as Chairman is there a project that has resonated with you on a personal level?

Lots of them throughout the organisation – whether it is young offenders working on poetry with our archive team, supporting athletes during the 2012 Olympic year, bringing live screenings to the Key theatre, a medieval joust to Cathedral Square or having the Natural History Museum working with us on the Real World Science project for teenagers in this region. It’s so broad – everything from being part of the Peterborough Literacy Campaign through our work in libraries to using our gyms across the city to promote healthy living, to welcoming and working with Metal in the city, to conserving a fleet of Bronze Age boats at Flag Fen. My passions have always been around the performing arts and visual arts, so I have loved the developments we made with the Arts Festival and the spectacle of Close Act that brought gigantic dinosaurs, angels of darkness and light right into the centre of the city as part of welcoming the Olympic torch; the changes we made to the programming at the Key Theatre bringing so many diverse audiences into the theatre, open every day of the week. And, we are now using the City Gallery in a way that engages more with people as well as creating some great exhibitions.

Exciting times are afoot with the recent discoveries of ‘Britain’s Pompeii’, the Bronze Age settlement at Must Farm, what do you think the implications are for Peterborough?

This is a game changer for Peterborough. Heritage really is Peterborough’s defining characteristic and the Bronze Age finds are the city’s unique selling point. As a result of these amazing finds we will be able, to show and tell the story of how Bronze Age man lived, what he ate, what he wore, how he traded. Our plans to develop Flag Fen to share this story with the public as well as provide an educational research centre will make Peterborough a national heritage destination; unique in the UK, special in Europe and of interest worldwide. This also feeds directly into our Vivacity for Schools service, which is kind of a one-stop shop for teachers co-ordinated across all Vivacity teams, and ties in to the curriculum. This is designed to help teachers, allowing them to know exactly what will be delivered in terms of quality and content. It also feeds into CPDs so helps teachers’ professional development.

Vivacity has almost as many volunteers as paid staff, in your role as Chairman what has given you the greatest sense of satisfaction?

Seeing people grow and develop. Giving people the opportunity to share in the cultural and sporting assets of this city. Allowing them to feel a sense of ownership in the huge number of experiences we are able to give people every day. Belonging to a community of people in shared activity is life enhancing, builds confidence and encourages an understanding of others. That is how societies are built and acquire a distinctive identity. I am very pleased to be a part of this collective endeavor.

What does the future hold for Vivacity?

Vivacity is in great shape and has a strong, experienced and skilled board of trustees to steer it into the future. There is a great foundation on which to build. The staff and volunteers are the backbone of the organisation and so long as the focus remains on what we actually do, how we to it and we go on broadening the customer base, then the future will be bright.

Kevin Tighe, Vivacity CEO comments on Shelagh’s time at Vivacity
“I remember the first time I met Shelagh, I was impressed with her commitment to the arts and in particular ‘things that inspire people’. Over the years that commitment has shown itself time and time again. She has a rare talent for both seeing the strategic picture and having an eye for detail, these abilities and her phenomenal work rate made her the perfect first chairman for a new charity. On day one we had no name and no cheque book.

Six years later Vivacity is well known across the City and has a £10 million turnover. I have no doubt that Shelagh was absolutely key to these and many other successes. I believe myself lucky to have met Shelagh and to have had the opportunity to work with her; I and the City of Peterborough will reap the legacy of her hard work for years to come.”

www.vivacity-peterborough.com