First Quarter Checklist

Knowing where to start when you first become a Voluntary Arts Ambassador can be a little daunting. Here is a handy checklist to get you started.

These can all be done at your own pace, but our hope would be that the following will have been achieved within the first three months of you becoming a VAA.

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Begin to research local voluntary and amateur arts groups (with the help of Carol and others) and enter their contact details onto a master contact list. Please mention any future contact you have in mind.	x
Claim any expenses you may have from the VAA induction.	x
Start your VAA Diary and update it at least once a month.	x
Sign up for Running Your Group Level 1 (which also signs you up for the VAScotland enewsletter). Please use your VAA email address for this. Have a look at the resources on offer so you can spread the word to any interested parties you meet. You will be given free access to Level 2 in the very near future.	x
Access your VAA email account. We will use this to contact you, and you should give this email address to any contacts you make. If you have any difficulties using your VAA email, please contact Jason Brown, VAScotland Administrator on admin@vascotland.org.uk Note: we would advise that you do not use your personal email for VAA communication, to avoid confusing the boundaries between VAA work and your personal life!	x
Have a ‘key meeting’, or at least arrange one, with Carol, your local TSI contact, other VAAs in your area, and any other key contacts (local authority/ arts trust etc) to agree a work plan.	x
Get a clear idea of the work plan mentioned above, and record any agreed actions. If anything is unclear after the meeting, please contact Carol asap to clarify what we have agreed to do.	x
Find some suitable places and put up your ‘Meet Your VAA’ posters.	x
Set up or take on an admin role for your local Voluntary Arts Ambassador Facebook page (note that Carol is co-admin). Join the (closed) VAA Facebook page.	x
Through your VAA Facebook page, ‘like’ all other relevant VAAs, the VAScotland, VAScotland Arts Ambassadors, Voluntary Arts Week, Epic Awards pages, your local TSI’s page and any relevant arts team/council pages.	x
Begin researching other relevant Facebook pages to ‘like’. Especially local voluntary arts groups in your area. You should have at least ten by the end of your first three months.	x
Share at least 10 Facebook posts from other pages that would be of interest to your local contacts. These should definitely include Voluntary Arts Week posts.	x
Sign up for the Voluntary Arts Week and Epic Awards updates on their respective websites.	x

Monthly Checklist

After your initial three months as a VAA, we would like you to carry out the following activities on a monthly basis. This is not an exhaustive list, and if there are other areas you would like to explore, please talk to Carol about them.

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Hand out 10+ VAScotland and Running Your Group postcards (with your VAA email address sticker on) to relevant contacts.	x
Add any new contacts you have made to your mailing list.	x
Complete a mini-report of each meeting/contact conversation/link you have established and email it to Carol.
Share any arts groups’ details with your key contacts (TSI, LA/Arts Trust, VAScotland). NB These should be details in the public domain, not private ones.	x
Review the local TSI newsletter, council listings, events magazines etc. to spot relevant events you could attend. NB Please check these out with Carol for travel expenses before booking anything.	x
Gather up receipts, tickets etc for any VAA business this month, complete an expenses claim form and post it to Carol.
Promote imminent events and opportunities - especially Voluntary Arts Week, Epic Awards and relevant parts of the VAScotland enewsletter - to your contacts.	x
Update the VAA Facebook page for your area, share relevant postings, ‘like’ new pages and comment where appropriate.	x
Email, hand out (or provide by other means) items of interest to contacts on your list. This could be new VA Briefings, news items, weblinks, opportunities etc.	x
Check in with ‘key contacts’ (TSI, LA/Arts Trust etc) to keep each other informed of what’s happening.
Have a date set for your next meeting with each of these key contacts to review your latest VAA activity and keep your work plan on track.
Have a phone or face-to-face meeting with Carol for the same purpose.
Check the latest Community Planning Partnership news. Arrange to attend the most relevant meeting, as agreed with key contacts and Carol. Prepare key points to feed in at meeting(s).
Update any information you have gathered on, and for, your contacts. Feed back groups’ achievements/problems to Community Planning and VAScotland. Pass on opportunities to the groups themselves.
Encourage groups with upcoming events to provide details and promote via your VAA Facebook page, the Voluntary Arts Scotland website/enews etc.	x

Greetings,

First of all let me welcome you to what will become my monthly blog, of local voluntary arts updates, relevant information and primarily a low down of what I have achieved in the coming months as Falkirk's only Voluntary Arts Ambassador. Before we begin, you can find out some information about myself and what projects I am currently involved in on the Welcome section of this blog, feel free to take a look.

There are many Voluntary Arts Ambassadors based throughout Scotland but unlike most areas I have been in my voluntary position for around two years,  in that time I have met with many people from local authorities, the CVS, politicians and local governing organisations but most importantly I have become friends with a lot of artists in Falkirk. Artists in Falkirk? Yup, if you look you will find an array of talented amateur art groups operating throughout the Falkirk District, Too lazy to look? You don't have to, I've done it for you, there is an extensive list of local arts and crafts groups that you can join or simply admire on this blog. More groups added to the database regularly. 

Voluntary Arts' Voluntary Arts Ambassador initiative is an exciting project to be involved in that has allowed local groups to flourish, if you know anyone who participates within the arts and would like to find out more, please share this blog with them, who knows what could happen.

In this first update, I shall attempt to remember back to my original induction, describing what it was like and then fast forwarding to June 2013 where I have reached some of the goals set, I'm always adding more. 

So lets get blogging, the headings below were suggested as a potential format, I'll stick with it at the moment, so happy reading.

Experience at Induction

I recall enjoying my two day stint at Carronvale House, probably because I had to travel two minutes to get there unlucky for some who traveled many miles to get to Larbert, the VAA for Falkirk was off to a good start. It's no longer a two day affair though and there wasn't any quizzes

George Clinton

or wine! Learning what 's expected of a VAA was both exciting and daunting as I was sure no art groups existed in my area, but determined as ever I wanted to find them or create them, with the help of Voluntary Arts Scotland this could be made possible. It was a full on two days crammed with information on what's a voluntary arts group to how do I get on the community planning panel, the prospect of meeting scary heads of departments and members of parliament (not George Clinton and Co, the real parliament) and what do the arts have to offer them? Two years later on I am fully armed with a huge ever growing list of art groups and knowledge of why they are so important to a community like Falkirk, which I will share over the coming months and have became friends with members of local authorities so nothing is a scary as it seemed back then. I knew that the arts were extremely important and were vitally in need of supporting but I thought I was the only practicing artist in Falkirk, I thought I was being selfish wanting an arts scene but now there are many of us and I'm eager to make it happen, trust me. 

Initial groundwork

The first few months of being Falkirk's new VAA were slow, I couldn't find any groups, I couldn't find anyone who was atleast interested in the arts - my first breakthrough came when I put my issues with social networking to the side, (don't worry I won't share them here) I set up a Voluntary Arts Ambassador Falkirk page, you can like it here, adding who I thought were local art groups, I also added the major art institutions, thinking they ought to hear about what I'm getting up to (creative scotland liked my page!) I liked who they liked and then liked their likes, it was a lot of liking at the time, I established my page through posting up the bits and pieces of Falkirk art activity, good job no one else was because I started to get noticed. Following up my online contacts in person I created links with groups, who them spoke of other groups, always writing them down, always wanting to help them grow. Meeting with local authorities and similar organisations prove to be counter intuitive, they were only keen to support their own activities, I learnt that they work on many of their own projects, this does includes some work with voluntary arts groups such as Sing Forth Choir but the VAA is the only role which concentrates totally on this sector.

What's going well 

The rise in awareness of art groups, it is now easier to find art groups and have conversations with the key people running these groups as I have constructed a reputation that the voluntary arts ambassador can actually help. I am now being asked for help instead of How can I help? This has been due to creating opportunities in which the groups can develop their activities or showcase their talent by providing them with an exhibition space entirely free of charge. Another opportunity available that I have created is a quarterly arts 'zine, [Untitled]

[Untitled] issue 2

the original voluntary arts publication, aimed at promoting the work of groups through a portable and accessible vehicle, this can be found in many retailers on Falkirk High Street. More recently I have continued on the good work of the Voluntary Arts Week event created by Voluntary Arts Scotland, which launched last year in Falkirk, with huge success, the aim is to make this arts festival a more permanent fixture in the area. 

Even better if

All the groups got an online presence - more seriously - The area of the VAA role that I need to step up is to attend more meetings with local authority figures and take my place on the community planning panel - I have made inquiries through the CVS on how to do so, currently waiting on a reply to discover what stage I should enter at. Although I have previously met with the community trust and the local MSP, it would be beneficial to keep in regular contact about what's going on in Falkirk, even if it's just to make them aware that groups do exist. All previous meetings have been successful so hopefully I can expand on these. 

What I hope to go on to do

My main aim is - Falkirk art groups get the recognition that they deserve and their voice to be heard, something that currently is not happening unless it is through a very small network within the groups themselves. I hope to use my role as VAA to bridge the gap between groups and community trusts, newspapers and other organisations, to explore the potential that there is in Falkirk's art s and crafts people, it's certainly worth printing about. This can be achieved by meeting the right people, through attending meetings, visiting groups and generally making contacts within different industries. 

Anything I'd like more help with

I'd like more help with setting up meetings and promoting 'major' events such as the annual voluntary arts week event in Falkirk - I am busy promoting and interacting directly with the groups I forget about the more academic side of the role, meeting people at the business end of things. The role doesn't require to much of me, I am happy to attend the meetings but it's easier to meet the actual art groups. I believe hearing from an organisation such as Voluntary Arts and not just a volunteer, helps people or groups agree to take part in events or take the opportunities seriously if they have backing.

What I get out of being a VAA

Being a VAA has allowed me to discover a whole world of art that exists tucked away without any help in Falkirk, it has allowed me to with pride set people right when they say there isn't any art in the area.

I also have to now fill out monthly check lists, I shall be publishing these on this blog also so you can all see why it's beneficial to get in contact with me. If you wish to get in contact with myself them please enter your details at the contact section of this blog, found here.

Until then,

Craig