Apologies for absence were received from Miriam Kikis, Robin Hanley, Geoff Whitton, Lorraine Finch, Julia Devonshire, Kate Argyle, Charlotte Paddock and Darren Barker.

There were no declarations of interest. 

It was reported that the Borough's Arts Strategy had been adopted by the Council and that Rob Gregroy would be helping to set up a Cultural Board.

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 September 2016 were confirmed. 

(i) Central tourist/booking office 

It was reported that Jonathan Newman had a wooden hut which he was using for Letters to Santa over the Christmas period and had offered this for the group to use but they felt that this would not be appropriate and that a permanent building would be more suitable. 

(ii) Branding Working Group 

It was reported that Kate Watts would be taking this forward.

(iii) Walk of Fame 

It was suggested that this issue be put on hold until after the Great Yarmouth Air Show and then a bid be submitted.

(iv) Measuring Attendees 

The Chairman stated that it was important to be able to measure attendance at venues across the Borough.  It was agreed that Councillor Williamson would speak to Charlotte and Rob Gregory about time to be given to the group.  Paul Davis reported that the Minster had agreed to install an attendance counter and the partnership were informed of the Tourism "Dashboard" which gives attendance figures.

The minutes of the meeting held on 11 October 2016 were accepted, however it was noted that the Out There Festival 2016 attendance figures were not down on the previous year but were about the same.

Councillor Williamson reported that the Preservation Trust had looked at the Interactive Map which was available at gymap.co.uk or culturalheritage.co.uk and asked for any comments on this.

It was reported that approximately 100 people attended the conference and that Darren Barker and Charlotte had been asked to prepare a report on the conference and send out a press release.

It was reported that grants of between £0.5m to £1.5m were available. It was reported that Andrew Smith was writing the bid which would be co-ordinated with Lowestoft which needs to be submitted by 12th January 2017.  It was agreed that meetings needed to be held with Andrew Smith to discuss all the expressions of interest that he was co-ordinating.

The partnership discussed the 2017 conference and coastal entertainment, looking at museums and theatres and how to promote and attract these.   It was suggested that if the Great Places bid was successful this could also be an item for discussion.  A member of the partnership suggested that the conference should have more interaction with attendees.  It was agreed that a group would be formed to look at the content of the conference and would consist of Darren Barker, Rob Gregory, Seachange Arts and possibly Peter Jay. The conference would start at St George's on a Friday and Time and Tide would also put on an event. 

The Chair gave a short history of "What's Next?" and that recently Liam Murphy had arranged a meeting called Artopoly in which local cultural and heritage events and places were incorporated into a board game.  

This item was deferred to the January 2017 meeting when the partnership would be looking at the consultation document.

(i) Civic Society 

The Chair suggested that Great Yarmouth might benefit from having a Civic Society.  There was general agreement with this and he agreed to put some thoughts on paper for the next meeting. 

It was agreed that the next meeting would be held on Monday 6 March 2017 at 2pm in the Council Chamber.