National portfolio funding Assessment against criteria

Resonance fm
1. Meeting our goals and priorities (Strong) Since it was established in 2002 Resonance fm (Resonance) has established itself as an arts centre of the airwaves; the UKs only arts-based radio station. It has won critical acclaim for its programming and in 2010 had over 1.6 million unique listeners, surpassing some BBC radio channels. Through an approach which integrates artistic practice, distribution and audience engagement, Resonance is redefining understanding of the creative uses of radio and digital platforms. Resonances Ofcom community radio licence was renewed for a further 5 years in July 2010. Resonance currently delivers against all 5 goals and has the potential to further increase delivery. Application; Annual Assessment; Annual Submission; Resonance advocacy document Goal 1: Resonances 24/7 schedule includes new music, sound art, programmes about the arts & programmes that are in themselves art; much of Resonances programming is topical & responds to contemporary issues. Resonance scored Met Strong or Outstanding for artistic quality in the last 4 Annual Assessments. Resonance broadcast 72 live programmes a week in 2010 & plans to increase this to 91 hours in 2011-15. Contributors span a wide range of disciplines & expertise, from pre-teen television critics to leading artists & cultural figures. Resonance is exemplary in the opportunities it provides for artists & programmers to take risks & experiment, learning new editorial & technical skills in the process. Resonance realised 4,755 commissions in 2009/10 & plans to increase this to 5460 by 2014/15. Programmes have been praised by critics in major publications (e.g. TimeOut & The Observer), the radio industry, & the art world. A peer review panel made up of notable radio artists is being developed. Resonance won the Radio Academys Nations & Regions Award for London in 2009 & 2010. Resonance collaborates with a wide range of arts organisations including: galleries from Tate Modern to Beaconsfield; Frieze-Foundation; cultural organisations such as Cultural Co-Operation & British Council; music venues The Vortex & Cafe Oto; festivals such as Pestival; The Wire & Dazed & Confused magazines; & small scale promoters. Resonance is exemplary in its integrated approach to artistic-led diversity & has plans to develop this area further. Resonance provides opportunities for diverse audiences to be directly involved in creating & programming content, alongside profiling diverse art forms & viewpoints through pioneering programming. In 2009/10 30% of Resonances programming was BME

focused, 10% disability focused, Resonance also programmes content which is gender & age specific. Application; Annual Assessments; Annual Submission 2009/10; Advocacy document; Short Business Plan Goal 2: Resonance is a unique distribution platform for excellent art & is pioneering approaches to digital distribution. Resonance have over 1,620,000 individual on-line listeners in 2009/10, its central London reach estimated by Ofcom is 300,000. The average listening time was 22 minutes. This represents high value for ACE investment, well above the average subsidy per head for visual arts in London & surpasses some BBC broadcast channels. Resonance has UK & international reach. Through its programming and partnerships Resonance has proved itself to be exemplary in reaching & engaging new & hard to reach audiences; its listeners span a broad demographic. Resonance broadcasts in over 30 languages & aims to increase this further in 2012/13. Resonances 2009 audience survey showed it is popular with people on lower & middle incomes. 6.7% of listeners identify themselves as having a disability. Resonances website was in the UK Top 10 Visual Arts RFOs in a recent ACE report. Resonances is piloting new ways of making its archive available online through the development of open source software & plans to develop this further in 2011/15. Resonance also experiments with cross-platform interactive content as part of increasing access to art, a recent Flickerman broadcast received positive a review in The Guardian. Resonance offers high levels of audience engagement. It facilitates audiences to become active creators of broadcast content, & curates targeted community & educational programming. Resonance plans to increase its profile & audiences further through the appointment of a marketing manager. Resonance recognises the need to develop robust analysis of its listeners & plans to conduct listener surveys annually. MTM dig snapshot rprt 09; Annual Ass; Ann Sub 09/10; Archiving Strat; 09 Aud Survey; Advocacy doc Goals 3 & 4: Resonance collaborates with a wide range of organisations on a range & scale that surpasses many other arts organisations. In the process Resonance brings new audiences to the organisations it collaborates with, e.g. 90% of audience for Frieze talks in 2009/10 was through Resonance. Collaborators include: leading & grassroots galleries; cultural organisations & foundations; music venues; national & niche festivals; cutting edge cultural magazines; schools & educational organisations; HEIs; community organisations; amongst others. It has the potential to play a more strategic role for the arts sector during 2012/15. The development & implementation of a revised programming

policy a framework for collaborations and partnerships in 2011-15 will go some way in addressing this. Resonance also has the potential to play an increasingly pivotal national role in the development and implementation of cutting edge technology. Through a partnership with Sourcefabric Resonance is pioneering new open source software enabling it to design bespoke broadcast features. This work will be released to benefit up to 181 stations in the UK, 70% of which feature arts content. Resonances business model enables equitable routes into the arts workforce & promotes the sharing of knowledge & skills. A strong commitment to social equality is central to Resonances ethos. Resonance promotes an open invitation for submissions and is reliant on its volunteer programme makers to develop many of its programmes. This extensive pool of contributors share their knowledge & expertise with listeners whilst gaining artistic, editorial, technical & social skills themselves. Resonances volunteers have gone on to work with the BBC and Production companies such as Somethin Else. Short business plan; Application; Annual Assessments Goal 5: Resonance is committed to empowering young people through radio training & skills sharing; whilst its activities are not directly delivering against ACE priorities they do represent a strong offer. Resonance encourages young people to create their own programmes, both one-offs and series. GO! For Children of All Ages broadcast a range of content by primary school children in 32 languages, a weekly Sick Notes programme will be made by 14-15 year olds from Brit School in 2011. Resonance aims for 50% of its content to be specifically aimed at the under 16s by the end of 2012. In 2011/12 Resonance plans to devote a total of 4140 man hours to youth-focused training delivered in collaboration with organisations such as the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Mark Leonard Trust & Trust for London. Resonance aims to mentor 20 work placements and regularly hosts visits from primary school parties & HE groups. Resonance has recently developed a partnership with Ravensbourne College, this involves the utilisation of broadcast facilities at Ravensbourne and will result in broadcast programmes. During 2012/15 Resonance will build on existing partnerships with schools, HEIs & education services, these include: Trident Trust; Inspire! Hackney Work Experience Programme; Tower Hamlets Education Business partnership; Snowfields Adolescent Unit; LCC; London Met; SOAS; the Slade & Wimbledon Art School; & various schools. Application; Annual Assessment 2009/10 2. Governance, leadership and management (Good)

During 2009/10 Resonances Board underwent significant development and successfully renewed its Ofcom licence for 5 years to 2015. Resonance is now well placed to stabilise its business model and ensure future growth. Resonance formally elected a new Board of Directors and in addition brought together an Advisory Panel of experts comprising of leading figures from civic, business, legal and cultural worlds, to assist both Board and executive. The Board adopted new Memorandum and Articles. A new Chair of the Board was appointed. The Board is proactive, engaged and enthusiastic about guiding Resonance through a period of development so that the organisation can reach its full potential. The Board is looking to identify skills gaps and where existing expertise can be exploited. The Board reviews and plays an active role in developing key Resonance documents such as the recently produced Advocacy document and Business Plan which includes a clear set of targets for 2011/15. Risks have been identified and analysed. Ed Baxter is a committed leader who has won praise for his work. Ed was shortlisted for Station Programmer of the Year in the Sony Radio Academy Awards and included on The Independent on Sundays annual Happy List. Resonance has a team of four paid staff supported by over 200 regular volunteers. Resonance currently manages its complex organisational set up (numerous volunteers, individual programme makers, engineers) and achieves an impressive output with limited resources. However, the team is overstretched and the intention to appoint a Marketing Manager would help alleviate this as well as potentially lever additional external funding. The proposed uplift would help Resonance achieve its aims for 2015 including developing a fully functioning radio production company which will craft features, documentaries and radiophonic programmes for Resonances own use and its broadcast facilities. Annual Assessments; Annual Submission; Short Business Plan; Advocacy document 3. Financial sustainability (Good) Resonance has also made progress with improving and financial management processes. Management accounts & budgeting are clear, reporting is timely. Resonance finished 2009/10 with a surplus which has enabled it to build up its reserves, which currently stand at under 3 months operating costs. Resonance aims to increase its reserves to 25% of operating costs by the end of 2013/14. Resonance reduced its dependency on the Arts Council subsidy in 2009/10. Taking into account in-kind support (valued at 521,000 using Ofcom guidelines) the ACE subsidy for Resonance is low at 13%, without in-kind support it is 52%. With the proposed uplift ACE subsidy will remain at about 50% through to 2014/15.

Resonance is working with its Board and Advisors to plan the diversification of Resonances income streams up to 2015. The following priorities have been set: benchmark and explore syndication of content; partnerships with new trusts & foundations; costing Resonances reach & offer in order to test new kinds of commercial partnership; & on-air advertising (in light of removal of Ofcom cap on Community Radio advertising revenue). Given the skill-set of the Board and its level of engagement Resonance now has the potential to meet these targets. Annual Assessment 2009/10; Short Business Plan; Application; Budgets