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Arnolfini - est 1961
Arnolfini - est 1961

1. Purpose

This page sets out Arnolfini’s guidelines to programming exhibitions, events and engagement activities. It is a public document to provide staff, partners, artists and audiences with a clear understanding of how we work and the processes to follow, particularly in relation to protecting individual right of free of speech alongside understanding where legal charitable limitations apply.

Arnolfini is an international arts centre in Bristol. It has delivered programmes of cultural activity for over sixty years across a wide range of disciplines and artforms. The cultural programme that takes place at Arnolfini is generated in four ways:

  • Cultural programming initiated by the Arnolfini staff team.
  • Cultural programming that is hosted by Arnolfini but initiated by external producers, festivals and other arts and community organisations.
  • Cultural activity that is delivered by UWE Bristol as part of their teaching, research and public programmes.
  • Activities and events in the Café Bar. Arnolfini’s Café Bar is managed by Bristol Beer Factory, an independent business.

2. General Programme Principles

Our Vision:

Arnolfini will be a place where arts and audiences come together, inviting conversation, creativity and collaboration, in a space that feels open to all.

Our History:

Arnolfini was founded in 1961 and has a long track record of generating multi-disciplinary arts programmes for a wide variety of audiences in Bristol and the South West. We work with local and international artists, creatives and organisations to offer a distinctive set of experiences, both day and night, across all our spaces, contributing to the cultural and community life of the region, and supporting the international cultural profile of the city and the region. 

We provide open, accessible and inclusive opportunities to create, communicate, and challenge our understanding of art and culture. We form collaborative partnerships with the aim of widening audience engagement and responding to the changing needs of our community. We are committed to inclusivity and progressive social change through the full range of our activities and partnerships across artistic, education, community and commercial relationships.

Our values:

Respectful: We aim to be inclusive across the organisation, operating with a policy of dignity, honesty and respect which applies to our staff, artists, and partners.  

Adaptive:  We are committed to looking, listening, and learning; maintaining the ability to respond to our changing times; while respect for the environment informs our commitment to sustainable working practices. 

Creative: Artists are the foundation of everything we do. We champion the internationally recognised and the locally relevant: fostering and developing talent at every level. We believe that everyone should have space to create and are committed to inspiring creativity. 

Wellbeing: We care about our audiences, collaborators and our community, placing wellbeing at the heart of our approach, from programming to placemaking. We want to create spaces which inspire and promote wellbeing.

Collaborative:  We believe in the power and creativity of working with others in partnership (artists, creatives, other organisations and audiences) to create synergies that amplify the impact of art and foster a spirit of shared creativity which best reflect our local communities and wider networks. 

Belonging:  We strive to create an environment where everyone feels a sense of belonging. Arnolfini is an inclusive space that welcomes diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences, fostering a sense of unity and shared appreciation for the arts.

Freedom of Expression:

Arnolfini believes that freedom of expression and intellectual freedom are vital and must be fully reflected in our policies and practices.  The European Convention on Human Rights outlines: ‘free speech may be subject to formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society’.  While there is freedom to challenge or debate the law, moral or other issues, this does not give permission to break the law, including by:

  • Incitement to violence or to breach the peace
  • Use of threatening language or behaviour (including the display of writing, signs or other visible representations) intended to provoke racial or religious hatred or hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender, or to encourage or draw people into terrorism.

Arnolfini is mindful of our responsibilities to ensure that our premises are not being used for unlawful purposes, including those which may negate the enjoyment of that freedom for others.  Staff have a responsibility to consider these issues in the course of their decision-making, in line with the law and our other policies such as Equal Opportunities and Safeguarding.

Supporting Arnolfini’s Charitable Purpose:

As a Charity, Arnolfini is legally obliged to ensure our activities (both those we initiate and those we partner with) are undertaken in pursuit of our charitable objectives, as outlined in our Articles of Association agreed with the Charity Commission:

Arnolfini’s Charitable Purpose

The object of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation is the advancement of education in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and in particular in the city of Bristol, by encouraging the practice and disseminating knowledge of the contemporary arts in general but with particular regards to painting, sculpture, print making and other like pursuits.

In addition, charitable law requires Arnolfini’s programming decisions to be consistent with the Charities Commission guidance on political campaigning; we must ensure our programme does not constitute political bias or appear to members of the public that it may constitute political bias.

In deciding whether or not to proceed with an activity, we will seek to ensure that reasonable steps are taken to:

  • Assess the activity and discuss its implications across the organisation.
  • Research and take advice from outside the organisation.
  • Ensure Trustees are aware of and support decisions.
  • Record why we are pursuing a course of action, logging any decisions.

If Arnolfini doesn’t feel it has had enough time to assess these points appropriately it has the right to cancel the event. We will always work with partners and colleagues to achieve the best outcome, recognising that we are a small staff team with limited capacity working in busy and challenging environment.

3. Programme Principles

Arnolfini’s Programme Principles apply across all areas of our programme, informing work that is initiated internally by our staff team, cultural programming that is hosted by Arnolfini but initiated by external producers, festivals and other arts and community organisations and events programmed by Bristol Beer Factory in Arnolfini Café Bar.

Our Programme Principles recognise and support the importance of artists and their powerful voices in a complex world. Arnolfini believes that freedom of expression and intellectual freedom are vital and must be fully reflected in our programming and practices. 

We want Arnolfini’s programme to be porous, flexible and developed through continual, open and constructive conversation and dialogue with our audiences. We want to be a space that listens and responds. We want the environments we create, the activity we deliver and the way in which we interpret, share and communicate this with our audiences to be inclusive and accessible. We want to break down walls between art forms, welcoming opportunities to test existing boundaries and create new forms; to become a centre for all arts. 

Our programme is underpinned by the organisational values which enable us to publicly open dialogue with our artists, community and audiences about the work we programme and guide our decision-making process.

We welcome proposals and opportunities to work with others that address the values below:

Collaborative and Creative
How can we create together and who are we creating with? Artists are the foundation of everything we do. We celebrate both the internationally recognised and the locally relevant, and those that sit in-between. We are committed to creating our programme alongside artists, creatives and partners that reflect this reach. Our programme is committed to creating opportunities for developing talent and championing everyday creativity.

Belonging
Who do our audience see? Our programme recognises and reflects the many and diverse communities that make-up our audiences, reflecting both our local and the global communities.

Wellbeing
Wellbeing is at the heart of our programme and we are committed to making a contribution to both individual and community wellbeing, creating opportunities for artists, partners and audiences to integrate this within our programme.

Adaptive and Respectful
We are committed to sustainable practice and advocacy across our programme and creating physical and virtual spaces, exhibitions, events and activities that explore and champion environments that respond to and respect our audiences changing needs.

4. Programme Processes

(how we create and develop our programme)
Programme ideas are generated across the Programme Team which comprises of Executive Director, Exhibitions Team, Engagement Team and Events Team, and through external proposals agreed by the Programme Team.

The Programme Team share outline programme plans with the Board on an annual basis as part of the ACE planning round and bring information on changes and new initiatives to the Board more regularly as needed.  

The Senior Leadership Team meet on a regular basis and have a quarterly meeting that focusses purely on programming.

The Senior Leadership Team includes Executive Director, Deputy Director, Head of Exhibitions, Head of Engagement, Head of Events, Head of Operations, Head of Marketing and Communications, Finance Manager and Bookshop Manager.

4.1 Cultural programming initiated by the Arnolfini staff team:

  • We hold Programme meetings regularly to discuss, plan and make decisions about the current and upcoming programme. These meetings are attended by:  Executive Director, Exhibitions Team, Engagement Team and Events Team and monthly by Marketing and Communications Team and Finance Manager. We alternate our focus between exhibitions, engagement and events planning and any other business.
  • Agendas are circulated in advance with relevant documents and action notes are made, saved and circulated after each meeting.
  • New exhibition proposals (internal and external) are discussed in line with our programme vision, mission and values/strands.
  • New engagement and event partnerships and project proposals (internal and external) are shared and discussed as a team before decisions are agreed, in line with our programme vision and values/strands.
  • If content / partnership disagreements / any other issues require escalation they are discussed at our Senior Leadership Meetings and if necessary, raised with the Board by a member of the Senior Leadership Team.
  • See Decision Making Responsibilities for additional information in Section 7.

4.2 Cultural programming that is hosted by Arnolfini but initiated by external producers, festivals and other arts and community organisations:

External programmes are discussed and agreed in the same format at Programme Team meetings. Agreement to proceed with external programmes is based on acceptance of our contract terms and conditions in relation to liabilities and insurances.

Arnolfini does not host events for fossil fuel companies, or those involved in military research/activity or the promotion/sales of tobacco. We do not host public events for political parties. All events bookings are subject to our venue management and communications restrictions. Third party events that are inconsistent or in conflict with Arnolfini’s values and policies will not be confirmed as bookings.

We ask external parties to let us know the content of their programme when booking or give us advanced notice of their speakers. We will not confirm bookings where the event, or the organiser of the event, represents values that may be in conflict with Arnolfini’s own General Principles (see Section 2). We ask all collaborators, hires and third-party events to ensure any Chairs and MCs used in their events are familiar with these guidelines.

Should programmes change, we require organisers to notify us of the new programme and reserve the right to terminate the event at immediate notice, should conflicts arise from these changes or additional impact to venue and staff safety be noted and agreed by the Senior Leadership Team and Board. We expect our partners to consider every aspect of their event from an inclusion and accessibility point of view and for all our programmes to be fully accessible.

4.3 Cultural activity that is delivered by UWE Bristol as part of their teaching, research and public programmes:

This programme area operates entirely under the policies and delivery mechanisms of UWE Bristol and therefore falls outside of this policy document. The following UWE Bristol policies are relevant:

Freedom of Speech Policy and Code of Practice
https://www.uwe.ac.uk/-/media/uwe/documents/about/policies/freedom-of-speech-policy-and-code-of-practice.pdf
Equality, diversity and inclusivity (EDI) policies and guidance – Equality, diversity and inclusivity | UWE Bristol

https://www.uwe.ac.uk/about/values-vision-strategy/strategy-2030

See Decision Making Responsibilities for additional information in Section 7.

4.4 Activities and events in Arnolfini Café Bar:

Arnolfini’s Café Bar is currently managed under licence by Bristol Beer Factory, an independent business. The Café Bar hosts and runs its own events programme in the building and external Café Bar areas in support of its commercial and business drivers. These events include music, exhibitions, performances, food events and community activities.

These events fall under the same considerations as Programme Area 4.2 and form part of the regular dialogue, review and monitoring of the licence agreement. Bristol Beer Factory is required to present their events programme to Arnolfini every quarter to be discussed and approved at a Senior Leadership Team meeting. Any events that fall outside of this planning process need to be discussed and approved by three members of the Senior Leadership Team.

See Decision Making Responsibilities for additional information in Section 7.

5. Programme Monitoring and Evaluation

Exhibitions:

  • All exhibitions are monitored and evaluated via a combination of internal planning, assessment and development meetings between appropriate members of the Programme Team throughout the lifetime of an activity.
  • All exhibitions are discussed with our key community partners in advance of opening dates to ensure opportunities to co-develop interpretation, additional engagement programming and feedback on any content concerns.
  • Exhibition summary reports are collated at the end of every exhibition and circulated to board, artist, partners as appropriate. This includes audience numbers and data, social media and online content and feedback, all associated activity across the wider programme and photographic documentation.
  • All exhibition proposals as assessed using the assessment criteria in section 6.
  • We also actively seek feedback from our Visitor Services team, collated via our Head of Operations, as well as via online platforms.
  • As an Arts Council England (ACE) non-profit organisation (NPO) we collate specific audience data. This includes quantitative and qualitative data via Arts Council’s Illuminate programme which we assess as part of our quarterly reporting process to ACE.

Engagement:

  • Regular meetings held between Head of Engagement, Programme Assistant and key community partners who are often facilitating jointly programmed activities on a weekly/monthly basis.
  • Head of Engagement/Programme Assistant meet with facilitators after programmed activities to discuss what worked well and if there are any issues that need to be addressed.
  • Exhibition and Engagement hold meetings with key community partners usually 2-3 months before an exhibition to discuss content, interpretation, communications etc.
  • Contribute to exhibition summary reports collated at end of show and circulated to community partners etc and acts as a springboard for internal discussions.
  • Evaluation questionnaires are collated and assessed on weekly basis before inputting into Illuminate.
  • All engagement activities as assessed using the assessment criteria in section 6.
  • Specific ACE Impact Success Measures are collated via Illuminate and assessed as part of quarterly reporting process.

Live and Events:

Our live programme is a mix of events that we produce ourselves, events that we host with other organisations (e.g. as part of city-wide festivals) and events that are independently delivered as part of a commercial arrangement or hire.

  • All events are monitored and evaluated via a combination of internal and external planning and development meetings between appropriate members of staff, throughout the lifetime of an activity.
  • All proposed events as assessed using the assessment criteria in section 6.
  • Quarterly activity reports are submitted to the board.
  • Specific ACE Impact Success Measures are collated via Illuminate and assessed as part of quarterly reporting process.

6. Assessment Criteria

The following stages outline a clear set of assessments for Programmers and Senior Leadership Team to make a decision when programming an exhibition, event or workshop.

No booking should be confirmed until a decision has been made under this procedure that the event can go ahead.

Step 1: First Assessment

The Programmer (the person responsible for the event, exhibition or engagement activity) must undertake a self-assessment to determine whether further scrutiny and support from the Senior Leadership Team is required.

If the Programmer reasonably decides that there are no issues, the event can go ahead.

It is anticipated that the vast majority of exhibitions, events and engagement activity organised will fall into this category.

If a programmer identifies that further scrutiny is required, the artist, performer or facilitator can be provisionally booked, subject to further assessment. If this involves a third-party hire, the Hirer will be advised accordingly of the process.

Step 2: Second Assessment

If further scrutiny is required i.e. if the self-assessment questions raise potential issues then the Programmer should refer the decision for consideration by the Senior Leadership Team.

The Programmer must give as much reasonable notice to allow the Senior Leadership Team sufficient time to consider how to mitigate any concerns.

If less than one month’s notice is given, a response cannot be guaranteed and the event may not be permitted to go ahead and any third-party Hirer should be informed of this.

The Senior Leadership Team will consider the self-assessments passed to them by the Programmer, either verbally or by email.

Their assessment may involve giving consideration to the following:

  1. Sector input – seek advice from relevant colleagues/peers. For example: if this is a performing art piece, they may wish to speak with other arts organisations either in the city or who have programmed the work. If the concern relates to a conference subject matter, it may be more appropriate to seek advice from respected representative/s from Bristol’s Voluntary/Community Sector i.e. Voscur.
  2. Further guidance – seek additional advice/guidance i.e. using the reference documents contained at the end of this policy
  3. Team input – seek advice from the Senior Leadership Team and/or consult with the Board. In the interests of staff morale and consensus building, they may also wish to gauge the views of the wider staff team, in order to ensure good internal communications in relation to a particular event subject or content.

The Senior Leadership Team may approve the exhibition, event or engagement activity if the case is straight-forward and they assess the risks to be low or they may give conditional approval, subject to further assessment.

Step 3: Third Assessment

In cases of significant concern i.e. if the Senior Leadership Team is concerned that the issues raised present significant risks in relation to the hosting of the exhibition, event or engagement activity, the assessment findings will be referred to the Board.

The Board’s overarching aim will be to allow exhibitions, events or engagement activities to go ahead in line with Arnolfini’s firm commitment to Freedom of Expression and within the law and within the law and Arnolfini’s wider policies.

Their assessment may involve giving consideration to the following:

  1. Mitigating steps – consider whether any reasonable and practical mitigation steps could be taken, in order to make it possible for the exhibition, event or engagement activity to take place. For example: if the topic or content of an event may be particularly sensitive to a community or group, could a supporting speaker be invited to present both sides of a topic? If the event is a third-party hire, the Hirer will bear the responsibility of any costs incurred in taking mitigating action.
  2. Board consent – they may wish to seek input from the Chair(s) of Trustees or another board representative. Where there is significant concern i.e. reputational risk, they may seek to first gain full board approval, prior to the event taking place, either via email or at board meeting.
  3. Third party input – it may be necessary for the Senior Leadership Team or Board to consult and/or inform other third parties of the planned event, including but not restricted to: Police, Bristol City Council, South West Prevent Regional Lead.

Where an activity is not approved:

If there is a decision not to proceed with an event or activity, this decision will be communicated with all relevant parties in writing, prior to an event taking place. This will be communicated by the Board and Director and this decision is final.

Questions for consideration by the Programmer at self-assessment

1. Are there any concerns about unlawful content or content that might encourage terrorism or violent extremism? i.e.

If the Programmer’s concern relates to this point and, through further assessment, it is determined that an event or activity may feature unlawful content or content that might encourage terrorism or violent extremism, then the course of action will be to decline the event/activity (see Where an activity is not approved, above).

2. Could there be a public order issue?

Concern about public order issues does not automatically block such an event taking place, but it is important to seek advice. i.e.

  • Is the subject of their talk/event and/or the organisation they represent likely to mobilise significant opposition such that there might be a risk to safety to Arnolfini’s staff, members of the public or members of the community?
  • Is there any evidence that this has been the case on other occasions?
  • Does the speaker, or the organisation they represent have a controversial profile in the media?
  • Is the event likely to attract a heightened media interest?
  • Is the event likely to attract unusual interest or unusually large numbers?

At the end of the self-assessment process the Programmer should be able to answer Yes or No to these questions.

3. Is there any other risk concern to the organisation or our stakeholders?

For example, the Programmer may assess that the subject matter/organisation might create a risk to the organisation such as:

  • Reputational risk.
  • Risk of alienating one or more of our target audience groups or collaborators.
  • Other public safety issue (i.e. not just public order issue).
  • Internal morale i.e. staff, loss of faith in ethos of charity.

This may be determined by factors such as the following:

  • PR and media/how the event/organisation has been received/reviewed on previous occasions.
  • Complaint/s or concerns raised by members of the public.
  • Information (or lack of) provided by the organisation, suggesting to the Event Organiser that the risks of the event may not have been fully considered/mitigated.
  • Staff discussion, concern and/or reluctance to take on the event.

Steps for Mitigation

If an activity relates to either points 2 or 3, then the first course of action before disapproval will be determine what actions could be taken (either by Arnolfini or by the organisation running the event) to mitigate against the above risk factors.

The purpose of mitigation is to uphold Arnolfini’s overarching aim to allow events to go ahead in line with our firm commitment to Freedom of Expression within the law and Arnolfini’s wider policies.

The following conditions may be suggested by Arnolfini to an organisation running an event in order to allow an event/activity to take place and mitigate risk:

  • Changing the date / time.
  • Ticketing and/or restricting numbers, or limiting admission by named guest list only.
  • Checking identification of those attending.
  • Provision of stewards/security presence.
  • Attendance by a senior member of staff.
  • Copy of any event content (script, lyrics, speech) to be reviewed/approved in advance.
  • Chairing by an experienced and neutral chair.
  • Opportunity to debate or challenge a view that is being promoted (i.e. speaker able to present a counter-point).
  • Building alliances across the sector and having champions/advocates on board.
  • Ensure team fully briefed on course of action being taken and why.
  • Pre-event press release/statement/news item.

7. Decision Making Responsibilities

Arnolfini has established clear lines of responsibility for decision making for this policy illustrated in the accompanying diagram. An individual staff member facing a decision or query around an internal or external programme issue should consult with the senior manager responsible for specific areas of the business.

Complex decisions are referred to Arnolfini’s Senior Leadership Team for consideration. Ultimately, Arnolfini’s Board is responsible for maintaining an ethical approach and unclear or high-risk decisions will be referred to the Board by the Senior Leadership Team.

Decision Making Process

Birds eye photo of Arnolfini building and surrounding harbourside.

Examples of good practice can also be found on Trinity’s and Watershed’s websites.