Culture Politick

Fashion

Nine days after the death of his adored mother, Alexander McQueen’s body was found yesterday morning, following his apparent suicide. The news comes just before London fashion week, and less than three weeks before the designer, who was creative director of the Gucci group; had won designer of the year four times; and who managed the rare feat of remaining avant garde alongside finding widespread commercial success, was due to present his latest eponymous collection at Paris fashion week.

Alexandra Shulman, editor of British Vogue, has called him a ‘modern-day genius’:

‘McQueen influenced a whole generation of designers. His brilliant imagination knew no bounds as he conjured up collection after collection of extraordinary designs. At one level he was a master of the fantastic, creating astounding fashions shows that mixed design, technology and performance and on another he was a modern-day genius whose gothic aesthetic was adopted by women the world over.’

Jane Rapley, head of Central St Martins college, who was dean of the fashion and textile school when McQueen studied there in the early 1990s, called his death ‘devastating for British fashion.’:

‘He will cast an enormous shadow over British fashion week. [There is] just so much regret for the collections that might have been.’ More in the Guardian HERE; Independent HERE; Times HERE; and Telegraph HERE.

Copyright

The stationery firm Paperchase has been forced to deny it plaigerised a British artist’s work, and remains under pressure to withdraw products, after the artist’s complaints went viral on Twitter yesterday. The company had ignored her claims, she said. But yesterday alone thousands of Twitter users picked up on the story and within hours it was one of the top trending topicsboth in the UK and globally. This in response to the artist’s pleas for other to bombard the company with email:

‘If you are any bit angry or frustrated with huge ancient vampires sucking the creative juice of indie artists, a simple email sent to them here might save me from having to raise $40,000 for court expenses!’

Paperchase said it had bought the design from a reputable outside agency in good faith, and was trying to get to the bottom of the issue, adding that it was ‘deeply concerned’ about the allegations. More in the Guardian HERE; Independent HERE;  andTelegraph HERE

In what critics are calling ‘musicblogocide 2010’, Google has deleted at least six popular music blogs – which post MP3s of what they are discussing – that it claims violated copyright law. These sites, hosted by Google’s Blogger and Blogspot services, received notices only after their sites – and years of archives – were wiped from the internet. Although such sites once operated on the internet’s fringes, almost exclusively posting songs without permission, since the success of acts such as Lily Allen and Vampire Weekend, many blogs are now wined, dined and even paid (via advertising) by record labels; entire PR firms are now dedicated to courting amateur critics. More in the Guardian HERE and Telegraph HERE.

Public Service Broadcasting

Senior members of the Church of England’s general synod yesterday headed off an attack on the BBC, among other broadcasters, for their alleged failure to produce enough religious television programmes. A motion calling on the BBC and Ofcom to explain why British television’s ‘once exemplary’ religious coverage had become ‘marginalised’ has been replaced by a more anodyne amendment for the church to ‘express its deep concern about the overall reduction in religious broadcasting across British television in recent years.’

The original attack on broadcasters was led by synod member Nigel Holmes, a former producer with BBC Radio Cumbria, who launched a similar debate 10 years ago. He has maintained:

‘Over the past 20 years the total output of the general programme channels on BBC television has doubled, yet the hours of religious broadcasting on television are fewer and generally scheduled at less accessible times… ’

On the other hand Christina Rees, a representative from the St Albans diocese, said:

‘As far as I am concerned, the BBC fulfils its remit better than anyone else … we can’t expect the BBC to do the churches’ job. We cannot tell them what to believe.’ More in the Guardian HERE and Independent HERE.

• Some 3.8 million people (up 300,000 in the last three years) pay the National Trust’s annual membership fees of between £35.63 for a single adult to £61.50 for a family
• Last year, National Trust properties were visited just under 15m times (18% more often than in the previous year)
• 55,000 people volunteer in the 600,000 acres of countryside; 700 miles of coastline; and 350-plus ­historic houses and gardens that it ­presides over for, in the words of its founder ­Octavia Hill, ‘the everlasting delight of the people’.

However none of this has sheltered the Trust from criticism for being any number of exclusive; elitist; samey; paternalistic; look-but-don’t-touch; corporate; bureaucratic; over-centralised; too little imagination; too top-down…

But could the ‘Walk into any National Trust property in the country… and you could be in any National Trust property in the country’ critique have met its match in Seaton Delaval, the testbed for a radical new strategy called ‘Going Local’? (As covered in today’s Guardian, which thinks ‘the National Trust is finding its mojo’ HERE and HERE).

Going Local is based on the idea of re-establishing the involvement of local communities in the great houses and parks in their midst. Nearly one-third of the £3m needed to rescue Seaton Delaval Hall in Northumberland, one of England’s finest stately homes, was raised locally. So – the thought became – why shouldn’t a former miner write in the guidebook about the coal on which much of the Delaval’s wealth was founded?

According to the National Trust’s strategy document, the Going Local programme will require nothing short of ‘a cultural revolution for the trust’. This is what it believes is necessary if it is to shake off the perception that ‘we are some sort of exclusive club for connoisseurs’.

So a cultural revolution of localism and engagement is planned for Seaton Delaval Hall, but will it work and will it last? It doesn’t seem unreasonable to hope so as around the country, there are already other properties and projects showing the way:

• In Gibside, the 600-acre former estate of the Bowes-Lyon family just outside Gateshead, the walled garden has been turned into a sort of mini social services: four local schools have growing plots there, as do patients from the secure ward of a local NHS hospital, and Norcare, a charity supporting the socially and economically excluded. A clipping from the local ‘Evening Chronical’ newspaper entitled ‘Allot of help’ can be read in PDF HERE. There’s a booming farmers market and the derelict stables have been turned into a residential centre for schools and youth groups and workspace for the ­local arts and crafts community.
• In the south-west, an area warden for south Devon looks after 12 miles of coast and 3,000 acres of land, and said yes when a local association in Wembury asked if it could have some for allotments. ‘They didn’t expect it,’ he says. ‘A few years ago we were definitely seen as aloof. We did a policing job. Community ­engagement was something you tried to bolt on, as an afterthought. Now it’s the starting point.’

The perennial battle inside the trust has always been that between conservation and access, preservation and enjoyment. But the Trust is arguing it really needn’t be. Director General, Fiona Jones says:

‘… paradoxically, the recession has given us confidence. People voted with their feet. It’s proved to us there’s an almost visceral human need for beauty, for places to escape to, to reconnect, to enrich our lives… There are, obviously, things that need protecting… But we have been a little too “Look, but don’t touch”. We’re not out to trash the collections, obviously not. What we’re saying is: “You may not be able to touch this. But look what you can touch!” In the end, if we’re to truly fulfil our original, radical purpose, we have to reach out in this way – to local residents, to people who feel the National Trust isn’t for them. We have to make contact with people in a new way.’

The Southbank Centre – in partnership with ‘the world’s local bank’, HSBC – has announced Festival Brazil, which is set to be one of the centre’s most elaborate programmes to date. The summer festival will run site-wide and straight through from June to September 2010. Events will showcase Brazillian culture and art via both internationally renowned Brazilian names – such as pioneer of world music and one-time Brazillian minister for culture Gilberto Gil – and the talents of London-based Brazillians; and through the mediums of literature; art; music; theatre; dance; food; cocktails…

You can watch a great video report care of BBC London HERE, and read the Guardian’s coverage of the ‘summer-long explosion of light, colour and samba beats’ HERE.

Jude Kelly, Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre, has said:

‘… Brazil is one of the most exciting countries on earth. Our aim is to find what is at the heart of Brazilian culture today… and what is behind the quiet revolution of the last 20 years. We share HSBC’s commitment to cultural exchange and furthering knowledge of different cultures… At a time when London and Rio de Janeiro are both Olympic cities, it’s also an opportunity to share ideas and plans.’

The Southbank Centre’s Festival Brazil page is HERE.

Stephen Green, Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings plc, said:

‘This year the focus [of the bank's 'Cultural Exchange'] is Brazil, which has proven its economic resilience in the face of the worldwide financial crisis and will be the subject of intense, global interest as the host for both the 2014 Football World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

‘At the centre of our programme of international events and partnerships will be HSBC’s sponsorship of Festival Brazil at Southbank Centre, a four month celebration of the vibrancy and excitement of modern Brazil. Cultural Exchange… reflects our belief that by understanding a country’s culture, stronger international business relationships can be built.’

You can read more about Cultural Exchange HERE.

Our plan to deliver nationwide superfast broadband to the majority of homes by 2017 has been covered in the FT HERE. Our objective is to make the UK the first major European country to achieve this aim, securing our place as a European and global hub for the creative industries. You can see our plan of action on the ShadowDCMS website HERE.

A central part of our strategy has been to end BT’s local loop monopoly by allowing other operators to use their ducts and poles, thereby encouraging competition from the superfast broadband market. We are now happy to report that we have managed to see this aim realised from Opposition; BT is now preparing to open its ducts to rival broadband providers.

Jeremy has welcomed the BTs announcement and maintains the changes we’ve been asking for:

‘… I am absolutely sure, [will] increase the competitive intensity in the market between the major players, and that will stimulate much more investment… If you talk to the other players in the market there is a willingness to invest substantial sums of money.’

Our plan is to oversee the delivery of a superfast broadband network to the majority of the population through market based solutions. By changing the regulatory environment we believe private sector investment will deliver such a network to more than the government’s estimate of two thirds of the population.

While our 2017 target applies to most homes, our commitment is to universal access. If, after two years, it becomes clear that the private market will still leave some parts of the population unserved we will establish a Digital Fund, administered by Digital UK, to support locally driven projects in these areas.

This approach will ensure that Government intervention does not prejudge what the market will deliver and ensure the taxpayer is not facing an unnecessary burden. But it will also ensure we have the digital infrastructure we need to help our creative industries lead the economy towards growth and make sure that every community can benefit from superfast broadband.

Jeremy has said:

‘If Britain’s digital and creative industries are to become world beaters they must have a proper communications infrastructure. We are currently one of the slowest countries in the developed world for broadband. With the Conservatives we’ll become one of the fastest. High speeds will be available not just in our cities but across the rural areas that have been left behind for too long.’

The Sunday Times this week published HERE a piece on the world’s best museum websites, which are really fantastic things, allowing you high-definition access to the world’s treasures from your desktop, including the vast amounts the museums proper simply don’t have the space to exhibit. Here’s the top ten:

1 louvre.fr

2 hermitagemuseum.org

3 www.vam.ac.uk

4 rijksmuseum.nl

5 www.mhs.ox.ac.uk

6 www.culture24.org.uk

7 Si.edu

8 nationalarchives.gov.uk

9 museumstuff.com

10 sciencemuseum.org.uk

Product Placement

Ben Bradshaw confirmed yesterday – in a written ministerial statement, readable HERE – that the government will allow product placement. He pointed out that, apart from Denmark, the UK was the only European Union member state that had yet to allow television product placement or express a firm intention to do so:

‘Not to do so would jeopardise the competitiveness of UK programme-makers as against the rest of the EU, and this is something which we cannot afford to do.’

ITV has responded:

‘While we do not necessarily agree with the restrictions placed on certain categories [see coverage of restrictions HERE], it is a step in the right direction as it will deliver additional revenue for investment in original content in the UK’

See more in the Guardian HERE; Independent HERE; Telegraph HERE and FT HERE.

Salaries and expenses at the BBC (and an expensive cab at the Arts Council)

The BBC yesterday revealed that £54m in the last financial year was paid to a group of ‘top talent’ presenters, such as Jonathan Ross and Jeremy Paxman, who earn £150,000 or more annually. The highest paid stars’ earnings from the BBC accounted for 1.55% of the £3.49bn licence fee income during in year to 31 March 2009.

The BBC continues to refuse to reveal how much individual talent is paid and yesterday also declined to reveal how many individuals earned £150,000 or more in its last financial year. However, a report compiled by consultants Oliver & Ohlbaum for the BBC Trust in 2008 revealed that around 40 stars earned more than £1m a year (see more HERE). That suggests that the £54m wage bill for top earners is shared by fewer than 100 individuals. In a Guardian interview on Monday, HERE, Sir Michael Lyons, the BBC Trust chairman, warned that future pay deals for talent and executives would be tougher:

‘We are simply not going to see what the public regard as excessive salaries, so [the BBC] must be harder in negotiations and much more willing to walk away’ See more in the Guardian HERE; Independent HERE and HERE; Times HERE; Telegraph HERE.

As part of its move for greater transparency the BBC also yesterday published second quarterly details of expenses for the corporation’s 107 most senior executives, covering July to September 2009. Details of this group’s gifts and hospitality register were also published for the first time, for the six months to the end of September. The BBC Radio 3 controller, Roger Wright, spent more than £3,000 on taxis, on which more in the Guardian HERE; Times HERE; and Telegraph HERE.

BBC execs aren’t alone; Dame Liz Forgan, chair of Arts Council England, is also in the news for claiming £431 for one taxi journey. More HERE.

Fashion

It was announced yesterday that the British Fashion Council is joining forces with Bafta are to ‘create and ­develop links between ­London’s fashion and film industries’. This is ground-breaking stuff. The stage is now set to make next week – when London ­fashion week and th Baftas ­coincide – the most glamorous week in the capital’s history. ­After the huge ­success of September’s 25th ­anniversary London fashion week, the upward trajectory seems set to continue. As noted in today’s Guardian HERE, the partnership is a match made in heaven – The ‘British Oscars’ takes place bang in the middle of the week when British fashion designers are showcasing their new collection on the catwalks. On the one hand, you have actresses on the look-out for the perfect dress with which to rule that red carpet; on the other, you have designers desperate for the world to see their frocks shown off to their best advantage. Brilliant!

In other news, Burberry’s Fashion Week show – at The Chelsea College of Art, on the afternoon of February 23^rd – is to go 3D. The show will be streamed simultaneously to invitation-only, custom screening sites, designed by Bailey, and fully-equipped with 3D goggles, in New York, Paris, Dubai, Tokyo and Los Angeles. Burberry’s chief creative officer, Christopher Bailey said:

‘3D technology will bring our global audience into the London show space, allowing them to see the colours and fabrics, to hear the music and to be a part of that moment when it all finally comes together.’

Burberry is teaming up with Sky to fully utilise its 3D technology for the innovative project, which will include pre-show entertainment hosted from behind the scenes, backstage footage and red carpet arrivals. Read more HERE.

Macmillan Publishers seem to be quite successfully capitalising on the bitter rivalry between America’s technology giants, Apple and Amazon, to strike a blow for old media by forcing through price increases on digital versions of its books.

Macmillan is one of five publishers – along with Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette – to have signed up with Apple to make ebooks available through its online iBookstore.

Last month, Amazon removed Macmillan books from its US website (as covered in the Guardian HERE and FT HERE) in protest at the publisher’s demand that they match the $12.99 and $14.99 pricings suggested by Apple. Protestations by the publishing industry then forced Amazon into a U-turn hours later (more in the Telegraph HERE and HERE and in the FT HERE). Amazon told readers:

‘We want you to know that ultimately… we will have to accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you, even at prices we believe to be needlessly high for ebooks’.

Is the use of the term ‘monopoly’ accidental, or a flagging up to regulators potential price-fixing between publishers and Apple, and/ or a gearing-up for a legal battle? More in the Guardian HERE and Independent HERE.

Hachette Book Group Chairman and CEO David Young justifies his position that the majority of ebooks should cost at least $10 as follows:

‘It allows Hachette to make pricing decisions that are rational and reflect the value of our authors’ works… In the long run this will enable Hachette to continue to invest in and nurture authors’ careers — from major blockbusters to new voices. Without this investment in our authors, the diversity of books available to consumers will contract, as will the diversity of retailers, and our literary culture will suffer.’ More HERE.

The question of whether ebook prices should be significantly lower than printed formats (in proportion to the significantly lower production costs) marks a fundamental point of division between Amazon and publishers and is of course comparable to ‘digitization wars’ to be found in music, television, film and news – issues of market competition; consumer value; and reach up against ensuring that the creative industry survives, on which more HERE.

This comes at a moment when the e-book is poised to become a truly mainstream format, or maybe otherwise remain something taken in only to the lair of tech geekdom; pricing might factor in inspiring people to make the initial embrace of the new offering. But, then again, as Rupert Murdoch said last week (in the Guardian HERE; Times HERE; and FT HERE), e-readers would be left ‘unloved and unsold… empty vessels’ in the absence of quality creative content – ‘Content is not just king, it is the emperor of all things digital…’.

Of course the fundamental stumbling block in the debate is the fact that it’s yet to be established what is the correct value for content in the digital world. There’s an interesting article in The New Yorker about writers’ strikes. It says, in economists’ terms, people go on strike [Amazon removes Macmillan books, for our purposes] as a result of ‘asymmetric information’; when one side knows more than the other about the real economics of the situation [say, in the value of creative output]. You can read more HERE.

The British Library, in partnership with Amazon, is making 19th century fiction available for free through the Kindle ebook reader, in order to ‘open up a new global readership for forgotten literary gems’. People who want their own copies can also have them despatched direct through Amazon’s print-on-demand service. Dame Lynne Brindley is Chief Executive of the British Library and has said:

‘For the British Library, reimagining our relationships with both private and public sector partners dramatically extends our ability to connect with users… Sharing and adapting the best ideas and expertise, both ours and theirs, to open doors that might have been closed for lack of funding.’

And it’s not just Amazon with whom the library has been working:

• Microsoft has worked with them to digitisate of 65,000 out-of-copyright books, on which more HERE.

• Their partnership with Cengage Gale and higher education funding body JISC made possible a major programme of digitising the library’s historic newspaper collections. Online users can already view more than 2m pages of 19th century newspapers HERE.

Dame Lynne Brindley has written a piece on using innovative business models to release the ‘knowledge locked up in the library’s physical collections’ for The Sunday Times HERE.

We are happy to report that BT is now preparing to open its ducts to rival broadband providers. Jeremy has responded:

‘We welcome BT’s announcement that they are preparing to open their underground ducts to other broadband providers. This is something the Conservative Party has been calling for for over a year and is a central part of our plans to roll out high speed broadband across the country.’

Our congratulations to the English National Opera, whose sell-out production of Peter Grimes won the recent South Bank Show Award for Opera. This award is a tribute to David Alden’s visionary direction, the superb conducting of their Music Director, Edward Gardner, and spellbinding performances by the cast and ENO’s orchestra and chorus. This is the third year running that ENO has won this award.

The Laurence Olivier Award nominations have just been announced and can now be seen in full HERE. Our congratulations to the Royal Court whose shows have dominated this year’s nominations.

The Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award shortlist has also been announced as follows:

• Beningbrough Hall and Gardens, York
• Great North Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne
• Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry
• Highland Folk Museum, Newtownmore
• The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
• St Nicholas Priory, Exeter

The ultimate winner of the award will be decided by families, who are to judge the respective museums against the Kids in Museums Manifesto, which can be read HERE.

Kids in Museums is a national charity supporting and driving change in Britain’s museums to make them more family friendly; emphasising welcoming families to museums that have not had the opportunity to visit before. Find out more HERE.