Has anyone noticed the new television ad from MasterCard?  It promotes an idea called the Big Lunch, which is to take place on Sunday 19 July 2009 and will be a national event.  For one afternoon, everyone will be encouraged to decorate their street, prepare a meal, go outside and interact with their neighbors.

It’s somewhat interesting that a credit card company is turning away from the classic sponsorship deals – sports/music to a more social responsibility theme.  With the credit industry under scrutiny following the recession, Master-card is hoping that advertising this partnership will help position the company as one that understands “what matters to people” in any economic environment.

In an interview Rita Broe, Head of Marketing, UK & Ireland, MasterCard, said: ‘We are being told by consumers that communities matter to them, now more than ever, and we’re hoping that the event and campaign will encourage people to think about re-connecting with their communities, in a simple yet powerful way’.

It is difficult to see a credit card company in this caring and sharing light.  And there is not a long-term commitment to this partnership; I imagine they are going to see if it’s popular first.  However, it does examine the impact of the recession and is starting to profile the opportunities that exist for place based work because of a potential change in values.  Perhaps finally the importance of place and an emphasis on the importance of investing in communities is going to be accepted.

The organisation behind the Big Lunch (http://www.thebiglunch.com/) is the Eden Project, the same people that run the Eden center.  On their website they give some context to the idea behind Big Lunch: ‘In April of last year, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation conducted a survey of 3,500 people. Their biggest single concern, across the social spectrum, was that communities are weak and people are increasingly isolated from their neighbors.  We know from studies around the world that there is almost a mathematical correlation between people’s sense of security and happiness and the number of neighbors they actively know. Now, amidst the worst recession for decades, and in the face of almost overwhelming environmental problems, we need to focus on community.’

Hello, I’ve been invited to be a guest blogger and my connection to the project is through my work -  I’m involved in a national programme – Living Places – whose ambition is to support creative places.

Living Places is a partnership of the 5 cultural agencies (Museums, Libraries and Archives, Arts Council England, English Heritage, Sport England and CABE) with 2 government departments DCMS (Department of Culture, Media and Sport) and DCLG (Department of Communities and Local Government) and this is the first time that these organisations have come together formally to work on supporting the role of culture in communities.

In a sentence, the programme focuses on joint working   between the partners to support the development of quality culture and sport infrastructure across the country.

The main focus for Living Places is to advocate for change within the Planning System to ensure that all places benefit from adequate cultural facilities.  While sport and heritage have certain powers in the planning system, there is no statutory role for all cultural activity. This means that when decisions are made about the plans for how your place/community will develop during the next 10- 20 years – the focus mainly rests on infrastructure that will provide: good transport, affordable housing, healthcare etc and there is not such a focus on what the cultural infrastructure will look like – how many galleries, libraries, museums, artist studios, rehearsal space etc.. are needed.

What would your ideal place look like to you?  And what kind of cultural spaces do you think are important?  It’s a minefield coming up with a definitive answer of what a place looks like and this is in part because each place/community is different and quite rightly they have their own ideas of what they would like to see built.

Living Places has launched a culture & sport planning toolkit to help local authorities and the cultural sector advocate for quality cultural infrastructure for all places (www.living-places.org.uk ).  A focus of the toolkit is the importance of consultation with the community to make sure a place reflects what they want.  But the success of every consultation rests on people getting involved.  Do you know what the plans are for your community? And do you have access to the right kind of creative spaces?