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Sponsorship and Advertising |
| UNISON is often called upon
to sponsor events, projects or organisations. UNISON Scotland has agreed
a set of policy guidelines (below) it uses
to assess requests and commends them to branches to help them with any sponsorship
requests. These guidelines may also assist organisations looking for sponsorship,
although it must be noted that sponsorship budgets are limited. |
UNISON
ScotlandSponsorship Policy Guidelines1.
Sponsorship means the provision of financial support to an organisation, project
or event from which benefit to UNISON will be derived through linked publicity. 2.
The linked publicity must give UNISON significant opportunities to explain the
union's policies or to promote a good image of the union or of trade unions as
a whole. 3. Applications should be channelled through the Regional Communicatlons
Officer and dealt with by the Communications and Campaigns Committee. 4.
The Committee, advised by the Regional Communications Officer, will select projects
for sponsorship so as to vary the types of sponsorship between the arts, sport
and other activities, and, by monitoring them, build up experience and a clearer
picture of the most suitable forms of sponsorship for UNISON. 5. In principle,
UNISON will seek to be sole or principal sponsor of any project. 8. Priority
will be given to the following two categories in selecting projects:
(a) those that extend access to disadvantaged or generally neglected minority
groups (b) those that might not happen without the sponsorship, but which
are worth encouraging for social or general political reasons. 7.
UNISON will not sponsor any service or activity that should by definition be paid
for from public funds alone. 8. UNISON will not sponsor any organisation
or project whose policies or contents are inconsistent with UNISON's policies. 9.
When sponsorship is agreed, the benefits to be derived from it must be clearly
stated in the agreement with the organisation being sponsored. 10. A sum
will be provided for sponsorship in the Scottish Communications Estimates. 11.
Branches will be encouraged to make some provision for sponsorships, as far as
that is practical, in their communications planning and budgetting and to observe
these policy guidelines in making sponsorship contracts. 
7:84
Theatre Company7:84 Theatre Company was born
in Scotland in 1973, in the turbulence of left politics. John
McGrath, a successful stage and television writer, created the company as a new
form of drama, aiming at producing entertainment which approached people who would
not normally think of the theatre as a 'good night out'. Breaking
the mould of traditional theatre based companies, 7:84 started new community-based
tours, playing in community centres, halls and small theatres throughout Scotland,
and addressing major political issues in a revolutionary way. Their
first (and still the most famous) production in 1973 was the Cheviot, the Stag,
and the Black, Black Oil, synthesising popular entertainment with a political
critique of capitalist treatment of the Scottish Highlands and its people. Over
the next 12 years McGrath's pen created plays that dealt with most of the contemporary
issues - with the exception of the unsuccessful devolution referendum of 1979.
In 1978, the market had grown so much that
Wildcat, a company based on the musicians in 7:84 was born. The
election of the Thatcher Government in 1979 brought plenty more topics but an
increasingly hostile atmosphere and this, coupled with a large deficit and administrative
problem lead to the withdrawal of the company's Arts Council revenue funding in
1988. Changes in the board and in the management
of the company also brought a new direction - in favour of new writing and a more
personal approach to the political issues of the day. Iain Reekie, appointed Artistic
Director in 1991, began to create the 'new' 7:84 - whilst maintaining its political
allegiances and its aim to provide theatre for the people. UNISON's
connection with 7:84 has been continuous since 1983 when NALGO commissioned a
street theatre production 'On the Pig's Back'. Since
then there have been regular sponsorship of 7:84 productions that are particularly
appropriate, culminating in the successful show Caledonia Dreaming in 1997 - an
early contribution to the campaign for a YES: YES vote in the devolution referendum. Chris
Bartter, UNISON's Communications Officer has been a member of the 7:84 Board since
1988 and is now Chairperson. He is proud of 7:84's achievements. “The
creation of the more personal approach to politics was a necessary change for
the company after 15 years of Thatcherite attacks on our society.” He
said, “And the tremendous work that the Company does working with community
groups through our Outreach Director John Heraghty, is an example to all who want
to develop arts at a community level. “I
am particularly pleased that the company has not lost its cutting edge and the
latest production 'Dissent' will cause an uncomfortable squirming in a few politicians. A
dynamic political theatre company is as vital now as it was 30 years ago. 7:84
is ideally placed to assist in building a new politics in Scotland.” | 
Scotland's
public service union 
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