Arts Council England announces final Sustain awards

March 23rd, 2010 - 
1 Comment
Tags:
, , , ,

Arts Council England has made an eighth and final round of awards from its Sustain fund for organisations under pressure as a result of the recession, particularly with regard to a decline in sponsorship and private giving. Sustain helped ensure that artistic excellence was maintained during challenging times.

The awards announced today are worth around £5.9 million over two years and will help a further 13 arts organisations. Almost £47 million has now been invested through Sustain. The programme received 192 applications and has made 146 awards. Two final applications are still being processed and any awards made as a result will be notified on the Arts Council’s web site.

The successful applicants in this final round are combined arts, dance, music, theatre and visual arts in London, the East, South West and Yorkshire. The awards are:

• Young Vic Theatre Company, London – £1,210,000
• English National Ballet, London – £879,248
• Opera North Ltd, Leeds – £800,000
• Northern Ballet Theatre, Leeds – £735,000
• The Brewhouse Theatre & Arts Centre, Taunton – £487,500
• Serpentine Gallery, London – £472,000
• Arnolfini, Bristol – £367,500
• Theatre Royal Stratford East – £290,000
• Bedford Creative Arts – £175,000
• Theatre Royal, Wakefield – £158,000
• Plymouth Arts Centre – £140,000
• Picture This, Bristol – £100,000
• Spacex Ltd, Exeter – £75,000

Alan Davey, Chief Executive of Arts Council England said:

‘Sustain was a unique and timely intervention. The fund has succeeded in helping 146 arts organisations to not only survive a major economic downturn, but to continue to take artistic risks and produce the sort of excellent work that audiences want to see.

’Now we must look ahead. Our experience with the Sustain programme has identified a need for the kind of support that builds resilience in the long term. We are looking in particular at addressing the needs of smaller organisations and will be announcing a specific scheme shortly.

’We must ensure that all our funded organisations, large and small, are fit to play a major role in this country’s long term cultural and economic future.’

Further details of all the Sustain awards made and declined are published on the Arts Council England web site HERE. For more information on Arts Council England’s action on the recession, including Sustain, see HERE.

Posted in:
Daily Blog

Midlands Art Centre to unveil £15m Transformation

March 10th, 2010 - 
No Comments
Tags:
, , ,

It has been announced that the Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), the pioneering Birmingham arts centre, will open its doors to the public on Bank Holiday Saturday 1 May 2010, following a two year £15 million expansion and refurbishment programme.

Set in the 8.6 acre Cannon Hill Park in Birmingham, MAC was the brainchild of local philanthropist John English, the theatre writer and director, and his wife Alicia (Mollie) Randle. It was one of the first of a wave of arts centre developments in the 1960s, which sought to bring the arts out of conventional museums and theatres and into the heart of local communities.

Since its original conception as a centre for children and young people, MAC has grown to reach out to all ages and backgrounds in the community and is widely regarded as the most successful arts centre in the country, with more than half a million visitors a year drawn from across the whole of the West Midlands. It has played a creative role in the early stage of the careers of such artists as Mike Leigh, Tony Robinson, Adrian Lester, Imelda Staunton and Lesley Josephs. It is also home to SAMPAD; the national agency for South Asian Arts.

The original complex of buildings has now been dramatically transformed for a new generation. The developments include:

  • A major new gallery for the display of contemporary art – the largest in the West Midlands;
  • Refurbished theatre and cinema spaces;
  • Rehearsal studios;
  • Studio spaces for developing new work open to both professional and aspiring artists;
  • Expansive foyers and café spaces, designed to be flooded with daylight;
  • A newly landscaped terraced garden area with space for open air performances and relaxation;
  • Artists have been involved in every stage of the process culminating in a series of commissions for elements of the building itself including wall and floor decorations, carpet and sculptures.

Dorothy Wilson, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of MAC, has worked for the organisation for twenty years, inspiring and leading the community and championing the arts as a force for transforming lives. She said:

‘Our audiences are what make MAC unique in Birmingham and an inspiration to everyone who believes in the value of a cultural life. We are proud and excited that, just as Birmingham has reached the shortlist to become UK City of Culture, we are able to open our doors to our community again. We are truly grateful to our major investment partners, Birmingham City Council and Arts Council England for their unstinting support and to the many individuals, companies, Trusts and Foundations who have supported our Capital Appeal.’

Midlands Art Centre

Posted in:
Daily Blog

Tate Modern Tenth Anniversary Celebrations

March 10th, 2010 - 
No Comments
Tags:
,

Tate Modern is ten on 12 May 2010 and has announced that to celebrate it will stage a major free arts festival, No Soul For Sale – A Festival of Independents, in the Turbine Hall from 14-16 May.

Tate Modern has been a catalyst both for the transformation of public attitudes to the visual arts in the UK and for the regeneration of north Southwark. It has become synonymous with groundbreaking artist projects, such as the celebrated Unilever Series, innovative Collection displays, a critically acclaimed exhibition programme and a highly renowned film and live performance programme.

  • Over 45 million visitors have passed through the gallery’s doors since it first opened to the public ten years ago.
  • Tate Modern is the world’s most visited gallery of modern art and is one of the UK’s top three free tourist attractions.
  • Tate Modern has presented 52 exhibitions, staged over 135 performances, held around 400 film screenings, mounted ten Unilever Commissions and hosted one million school visits.
  • Almost 3.5 million people have taken part in the gallery’s learning programme.
  • Tate Modern contributes over £100 million in economic benefits to London annually.

For the tenth anniversary, Tate Modern will build on the participatory spirit of previous projects that celebrate the iconic Turbine Hall space, which is part gallery, part covered street, by inviting No Soul For Sale, the brainchild of artist Maurizio Cattelan and curators Cecilia Alemani and Massimiliano Gioni, to bring its anarchic, tongue-in-cheek sensibility to the Turbine Hall.

  • On Tate Modern’s birthday there will be a special morning procession from Borough Market to the gallery of 300 local children, a band and cakes which are inspired by the building. Visitors will be invited to enjoy a slice of the birthday cakes on the day.
  • Tate is also asking the public for their memories of Tate Modern over the last ten years. These will be used in a film that will tell the public’s story about the gallery. These stories, pictures and film clips will be gathered via Tate’s online blog, the Tate Modern Flickr Group, Facebook, Twitter and on YouTube.

It just gets better…

Tate is transforming Tate Modern with a major building project to increase the gallery and learning spaces. This is essential development of the gallery which is visited each year by around 5 million people in a building that was designed for 2 million. Tate also needs more varied spaces to show the ever-growing Collection. There will be 60% more display space in the new Tate Modern.

Tate Modern

Posted in:
Daily Blog

News Summary: 3rd March 2010

March 3rd, 2010 - 
No Comments
Tags:
, , , ,

Broadcasting

Opposition to the closure of BBC 6 Music continues in The Guardian HERE, HERE and here HERE, with more general analysis HERE, HERE and HERE; in The Independent HERE and HERE, with unions’ continuing vows to resist cuts HERE. The Times ponders the likelihood of a licence fee cut or freeze HERE and HERE, with further analysis HERE; in The Telegraph HERE and FT HERE.

Our congratulations to ITV, who have reported a pre-tax profit of £25m for 2009 (in contrast with its posting a loss of £2.7bn in 2008 HERE). ITV had a strong close to the year, outperforming the total TV ad market, which fell 11%. It says it expects TV ad revenues to be up 18% year on year in March and up 15% to 20% in April. TV ad revenues are expected to increase 7% overall in the first quarter. Chairman, Archie Norman, announced that Adam Crozier will start on 26th April, adding that under his leadership:

‘ITV will set out on the journey to become a very different business over the next five years… ITV’s challenge is to reduce its dependence on a free-to-air model threatened by digital media and besieged by legacy regulation.’ More in The Guardian HERE; Independent HERE; Times HERE; Telegraph HERE and FT HERE.

Art

Infighting and sabotage at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, which has just received an emergency Arts Council Sustain fund bailout of £1.2m, Mark Sladen, its director of exhibitions, has announced he would consider a new role in the organisation only if its director, Ekow Eshun, resigned. He said ‘I would not be able to carry out the duties of the position unless Ekow resigned’ such that, having been told that Ekow has no intention of doing so, ‘I will be serving out my remaining notice, and leaving in late April.’

A vote of no confidence in Eshun has also been taken by staff members. But at a later union meeting, it was decided the vote should not be counted or its results disseminated. A member of staff said:

‘The results of the vote were suppressed, and whatever the official line on this, this is manipulation. Ekow Eshun made it clear that to reveal the results of the vote would be an act of sabotage, that the ICA would suffer from such information being out there.’ More in The Guardian HERE.

Posted in:
Daily News Summary

Weekend News Summary 27th-28th February 2010

March 1st, 2010 - 
1 Comment
Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Education

An influential group of leading academics and cultural figures has issued a stark warning that they fear for the future of the arts and humanities in British universities. A letter to the Observer (see HERE) signed by the directors of major arts institutions and a number of university vice-chancellors, claims that funding cuts and a decision to focus on the sciences have left subjects such as philosophy, literature, history, languages and art facing “worrying times”. Without urgent action the country’s intellectual heritage is in danger of being diminished, they conclude, and, with reference to Labour’s decision to run tertiary education from the Business department:

“There is more to citizenship than business and skills… People’s complexity comes from their language, identities, histories, faiths and cultures.” More in The Observer HERE and HERE.

Broadcasting

BBC chiefs effectively wrote off £150m of licence-payers’ money spent on an online education service, BBC Jam, after it was axed, and officials decided efforts to recoup the cash by selling off the material “wasn’t worth the candle” reports The Independent on Sunday HERE.

It has also emerged that leaked proposals by Mark Thompson to axe the digital radio station 6Music have set the BBC’s director-general on a collision course with the BBC Trust. Two weeks ago, the trust published a report into 6Music which concluded the music station was “well liked by its listeners” and its audience had “grown faster than any other BBC digital radio-only service”. It emerged last week that Thompson’s proposals, to be published next month, recommend closing the station down. Other proposals include shutting the Asian Network, slashing the website’s staff by 25 per cent, selling off magazines such as Radio Times and Top Gear and capping sports rights at 8 per cent of budget, or £300m. The news that 6Music is in danger has met with vocal opposition, despite an audience of fewer than 700,000, according to the latest Rajar figures. More in The Observer HERE, HERE and HERE; Independent on Sunday HERE and HERE; FT HERE.

This Wednesday’s full-year results presentation from ITV will be the platform for Archie Norman (Adam Crozier’s start date is yet to be confirmed) to present his plan for the broadcaster’s future – including a roadmap away from the Michael Grade era. The results will be far from woeful; analysts predict pre-tax profits doubling from £34.7m to around £67m-£88m. Numis Securities has forecast a pre-tax profit of around £75m based on the belief that advertising recovered dramatically in the last few months of 2009. The Sunday Times HERE; Telegraph HERE.

Funding

A host of internationally flavoured arts events in London in the coming months are being supported by companies that intend to use cultural links to support their business interests in emerging markets. HSBC, which promotes itself as the bank that best appreciates the world’s diversity, is emphasising that message by sponsoring this summer’s Brazil festival on the South Bank, about which we’ve blogged HERE. Marah Winn-Moon, HSBC’s head of cultural sponsorship, said:

“It is a great opportunity to bring clients in with a cultural hook, and then to start talking to them about doing business in those countries too”.

Overseas companies are also exploiting London’s vibrant arts scene to promote their business in an international context. Nigeria’s Guaranty Trust became the first African corporation to support art in Britain when it sponsored Tate Britain’s current exhibition of paintings by Chris Ofili, a painter of Nigerian heritage. The bank also sponsors the next installation at Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth, the British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare’s “Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle”, a reproduction of HMS Victory bedecked with sails decorated with African patterns. The work will be unveiled on May 24. Segun Agbaje, the bank’s deputy chief executive officer, said that arts sponsorship was an opportunity:

“… to give people another perspective on Africa, to talk about its heritage instead of droughts all the time”. More in The FT HERE.

Theatre

Sir David Hare, an associate director of the National Theatre, has said theatre lags behind other creative art forms, such as the novel, when it came to women and equality of expression. Theatres should realise that women’s writing for the theatre had reached a “tipping point”, he says:

“I don’t think the repertory of most theatres at the moment is reflecting what seems to be happening in terms of the most interesting new theatre…We would hope to see management of theatres reflecting where we think the creativity in playwriting is coming from… There’s no doubt that the structure of the theatre is plainly male… The rough and tumble of the theatre is like politics to a degree – it’s a macho business.” More in The Telegraph HERE.

Art

Some of the world’s most important paintings may be lost to the nation because there are no funds available to keep them here following the purchase of two works by Titian for £100m. The latest artwork poised to join the exodus of masterpieces is St John the Evangelist by the Italian Old Master Domenichino. Despite being in the UK for the past 100 years, the painting is likely to leave the country. Professor David Ekserdijian, of the Government’s Reviewing Committee has said:

“It is the best work by the artist remaining in private hands and its departure from the UK would be lamentable.”

Works to be lost from the country include:

Raphael’s Head of a Muse The “exquisite” drawing from 1510 – a preparation for a commission by Pope Julius II – looks likely to be on its way to America after being bought for a record £29.2m, even though “every possible effort should be made to raise enough money to keep it in the country”.

Turner’s Pope’s Villa at Twickenham One of Turner’s most important works is already in America after an export ban last year failed to find any institutions willing or able to pay the £5.4m the 1808 painting was worth.

Domenichino’s St John the Evangelist It will be “lamentable” if this £9.2m work from 1621-29 left the country after more than 100 years, according to the Reviewing Committee. Lamentable, but likely.

Works saved include:

Titian’s Diana and Actaeon A six-month campaign persuaded the public, the Scottish government and the Heritage Lottery Fund to part with £50m to buy the Old Master’s work from the Duke of Sutherland last year. Fundraising is due to start shortly to raise the same sum for the companion painting, Diana and Callisto, by 2012. Both were created between 1556 and 1559.

Turner’s Blue Rigi One of the finest watercolours by one of Britain’s greatest painters, an 1842 view of a Swiss mountain, was saved in 2007 after the Tate raised £4.95m. More in The Independent on Sunday HERE.

Banksy‘s undoubted knack for exploiting the feverish interest his anonymity provokes has certainly created a lot of hype around the documentary Exit. The point is, says Andrew Johnson in The Independent on Sunday HERE, it isn’t really about him. It’s more about the creation of another street artist, Mr Brainwash, and an exposé of the art market and “suckers” with too much money who want to be part of the latest thing.

Tech

In August 2009, it was hard to move around Beijing without seeing an advert for Google. China was awash with the logo of a company whose motto is “Don’t Be Evil”, and the scale of the investment was a palpable endorsement of China’s vital importance to the economics of any global company. Skip forward to January this year, and an official blogpost announced summarily that the censored results that China demanded from Google were no longer compatible with the company’s philosophy. Off the record, employees said the company would pull out of China imminently.

So did the search giant really decide to eschew profits in favour of a defence of free speech? Or did it realise it would never be the biggest search engine in China and simply cut its losses? The question that matters is simple: what does Google stand for? More in The Telegraph HERE. And the FT asks, having acquired power over those it freed, is Google now a monopoly HERE and how ethically is its power used HERE.

In the week when three Google execs have been convicted and awarded six-month suspended sentences for allowing a clip of an autistic boy being bullied to play on Google Video (see more HERE), The Observer asks HERE, When anyone can have their say, what use is the stuff that comes out the other end? What can be done with it, and who is going to be in charge of quality control when things go wrong? And Microsoft has attacked ‘aggressive’ Google, as covered in The Sunday Telegraph HERE.

Opera

The people of Thurrock are being promised a piece of Covent Garden, complete with the sparkling glamour of its greatest operatic divas and prima ballerinas. On Tuesday, the Royal Opera House will officially take over the centre of an empty 14-acre site near the Thames in Essex. Tony Hall, Royal Opera’s chief executive has said:

“I love the fact Covent Garden is going to do something in a place that is half an hour away from London by train, but could be miles and miles away in every other way… It is a place that is relatively deprived, for the south-east, and that has a history of manufacturing that makes it the right place for us.” More in The Observer HERE.

Design
The Independent on Sunday has picked up two top honours in the prestigious Best of News Design awards. Organised by the Society for News Design, the professional organisation for the world’s graphic designers who work in the industry, the awards recognise the best from around the world in newspaper production. More in The Independent on Sunday HERE.

Posted in:
Daily News Summary

News Summary: 26th February 2010

February 26th, 2010 - 
No Comments
Tags:
, , , , , , , ,

Media

The Home Office-commissioned Sexualisation of Young People Review we mentioned yesterday HERE is today making headlines for the recommendation that music videos featuring “sexually provocative” images or lyrics should be banned until after the 9pm watershed. The report says:

“Music channels and videos across all genres have been found to sexualise and objectify women. Women are often shown in provocative and revealing clothing and are depicted as being in a state of sexual readiness. Males, on the other hand, are shown as hyper-masculine and sexually dominant.”

Other key recommendations of the report include:

  • Launching an online “one-stop-shop” to allow the public to voice their concerns regarding irresponsible marketing which sexualises children;
  • Encouraging the government to support the Advertising Standards Agency to take steps to extend existing regulatory standards to include commercial websites;
  • Ensuring games consoles are sold with parental controls already switched on. Purchasers can then choose to unlock the console if they wish to allow access to adult and online content.

You can read the full report in PDF HERE and coverage in The Guardian HERE and HERE; Independent HERE, HERE and HERE; Times HERE; and Telegraph HERE.

The latest report on the BBC strategic review – to be published next month – is that the Mark Thompson, the Director General, is to admit that the corporation has become too large and must shrink to give its commercial rivals room to operate. It is thought he will announce the closure of the digital radio stations 6 Music and Asian Network and introduce a cap on spending on broadcast rights for sports events of 8.5 per cent of the licence fee, or about £300 million. He will also pledge to close BBC Switch and Blast!, leaving the lucrative teenage market to ITV and Channel 4. But BBC Three, which is aimed at 16 to 35-year-olds will not be touched. More in The Guardian HERE; Times HERE, HERE and HERE; and Telegraph HERE.

Cinema

We’ve been covering the Alice in Wonderland/ Odeon boycott story for a while now; most recently HERE, but today it appears it is to be no more; Britain’s biggest cinema chain, a week before the film is released and, having chastised Disney for threatening the “existence of cinemas”, has decided it will show after all.

The battle over Alice in Wonderland was always a high-stakes game; the film is expected to be one of the highlights of the cinematic year, and the 3-D element makes it likely to remain open for longer and attract higher ticket prices. Neither the studio nor Odeon would comment on the concessions made, but an Odeon spokesman said they had reached an “enduring agreement … encompassing all the different aspects of both companies’ commercial relationship”. More in The Guardian HERE; Independent HERE; and Times HERE.

Art

An art exhibition portraying Jesus as the gay son of a prostitute has been closed after the organisers at Granada University in Spain admitted that furious protests from churchgoers meant that they could no longer guarantee the safety of its creator, Fernando Bayona. More in The Times HERE.

Posted in:
Daily News Summary

News Summary: 23rd February 2010

February 23rd, 2010 - 
No Comments
Tags:
, , , , , , ,

Art

Tate Britain’s important retrospective of Henry Moore’s work, opens today to reveal, say curators, his demons; that this is a man much darker, edgier and more complex than has been realised hitherto. It also reveals an unexpected twist to Moore’s career pattern; he is unusual in that even when his best work was behind him, in every subsequent decade he continued to make individual pieces of sculpture as original and powerful as any he had done; The “five-to-10 good years” phenomenon, appears not quite to apply, as noted in The Telegraph HERE. More in The Guardian HERE; Independent HERE; and Times HERE.

Literature

Michael Morpurgo, the former children’s laureate, is spearheading a writing award for children that launches today. The award is a reincarnation of the much-loved WH Smith’s Young Writers’ competition, which more than a million children entered until it was discontinued 20 years ago. Previous winners included the biographer Hermione Lee, the playwright Neil Bartlett and the actresses Helena Bonham Carter and Kate Beckinsale, who won twice, for poetry and a short story.

Morpurgo said that the new award was aimed at children whose parents “do not go to literary festivals” and offers them a creative antidote to the culture of testing prevalent in schools:

“I know this sounds just like any other campaign, but it’s not… It’s about saying that children matter on a national scale. They make art and poetry just like anybody else does.” More in The Times HERE.

Advertising

In response to Ofcom’s ruling that the Curry’s sponsorship of The Simpsons on Sky1 breached broadcasting regulations, Sky has said it had sought Ofcom’s informal guidance on the campaign and was of the view that “Ofcom had confirmed the credits were compliant”. Ofcom has rejected Sky’s response, issuing a note to broadcasters reminding them that:

“Ofcom does not accept Sky’s view that, in advance of transmission, Ofcom had ‘confirmed that the credits were compliant’… Ofcom is a post-transmission regulator and has always made clear to its licensees that it does not offer pre-transmission clearance or compliance approval… Ofcom does not and cannot clear material prior to broadcast… Any [pre-broadcast] advice is given on the strict understanding that it will not affect Ofcom’s discretion to judge cases and complaints after transmission and will not affect the exercise of Ofcom’s regulatory responsibilities. More in The Guardian HERE.

Theatre

High praise indeed for the British theatre from the theatre editor of Time Out New York who writes of how the excitement over the transfer to Broadway from the West End of Enron, is mitigated by the shame that no one stateside had thought of it first. He argues “American artistic directors are shockingly unimaginative.” More in the Guardian HERE.

Librarians

As Marilyn Johnson explains in This Book is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All HERE, a new generation of young, hip and occasionally tattooed librarians, calling themselves “guybrarians”, “cybrarians” and “information specialists”, and to be found blogging at sites like The Free Range Librarian HERE and The Lipstick Librarian HERE. Who else is going to help us formulate the questions Google doesn’t understand, or show non-English speakers how to apply for jobs online, or sympathize with your need to research the ancient origins of cockfighting? There’s a great Salon article HERE, finding answers to questions such as Aren’t libraries and librarians obsolete in the age of Google?/ What does a librarian look like today?/ and, perhaps most interestingly of all; is the library the last place, other than your home, where information comes free of charge and you don’t have to be ‘on guard’ against the big sell?

Journalism

The Pulitzer committee have decided that the National Enquirer will be eligible to be considered for their investigative reporting and national news reporting awards. The magazine’s executive editor, Barry Levine, who just a few days previously had been telling Pulitzer committee-members that they needed “to get their heads out of the sand”, is jubilant:

“That persistence, that old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting that we exhibited on [the John Edwards affair] story, at the end of the day, is what the Pulitzer committee recognised”

Washington politics blogger, Emily Miller led a grassroots campaign to lobby the Pulitzer committee and says:

“The National Enquirer is a supermarket tabloid, but the time has come for the media elite to admit that it has an excellent investigative reporting team, which broke the biggest political scandal of 2009.”

The Guardian notes that some serious caveats are in order HERE; and a Guardian journalist tells of how the Statesman:

“… shaped my journalistic ambitions. It teaches one to be cynical (yup), sarcastic (tick), and to believe that anyone who is a celebrity is definitely an idiot and probably full-on doolally” HERE.

Posted in:
Daily News Summary

News Summary: 16th February 2010

February 16th, 2010 - 
1 Comment
Tags:
, , , , , ,

Radio

The BBC Trust has concluded its nine month in-depth study of Radio 2, whose terms of service licence state that it must appeal to audiences over the age of 35. BBC Trustee David Liddiment, who led the review, said:

“We’re aware of concerns about Radio 2 targeting a younger audience. The current average audience age of 50 is well within the station’s target audience, but the Trust is clear that this must not fall any further, and we would like to see Radio 2 work on its appeal to over 65 year-olds.”

Commercial radio companies have complained that the BBC has been unfairly crowding out its competitors by allowing Radio 2 to focus on a younger audience, pointing to research that shows the number of 15 to 34-year-olds tuning into the station has increased by 62 per cent since 1999, while listeners over the age of 65 have fallen. The switch in breakfast show line-up from a 71 year old Terry, to a 43 year old Chris has offered little reassurance that the trend is about to reverse.

Andrew Harrison, chief executive of RadioCentre, which represents commercial stations, has said:

“We welcome the fact that the BBC Trust is calling for a greater contribution from Radio 2 to the delivery of the BBC’s public purposes, especially in peak times… Over the last decade, Radio 2 has shifted its programming policies – nobody has intervened and this has been disastrous for commercial radio’s heartland audience and for the plurality and diversity of the UK’s fragile radio ecology.”

More in The Guardian HERE and HERE; Independent  HERE; Times HERE; and Telegraph HERE. You can read the BBC Trust’s full review HERE.

Tech

Useful analysis of Google Buzz vs Facebook in The Times today HERE, where it’s argued:

‘It’s not that Mr Zuckerberg is still only 25 and naively arrogant that annoys Google, nor that his company has enticed swaths of senior Google talent. It’s that Facebook’s fast-growing dominance of the “social” internet threatens its rival’s entire business model. If it can sell advertisers access not just to what you’re thinking, but to where you are, who you’re with and what you plan to do, Facebook’s revenues from individually targeted “behavioural” advertising could increase exponentially. And it knows it.’

Background to the Google vs Facebook story can be found HERE; HERE; HERE and HERE.

 Art

The first British exhibition of paintings by the Oscar-winning Welsh actor Sir Anthony Hopkins opens in London today. The 50 landscape and abstract paintings by actor, who has exhibited throughout the US, will be displayed at Gallery 27 in Mayfair, central London, until Saturday before moving to The Dome in Edinburgh for four days on 2 March. Hopkins began painting in 2002, paints every day in his Malibu studio and “takes his art very seriously”, according to exhibition promoter Jonathan Poole, who will play host at this evening’s launch as Sir Anthony is away filming. Five limited-edition prints will be available for purchase. More in the Guardian HERE; and Independent HERE.

Architecture

A plan to mark the entry points to Brick Lane with giant arches in the shape of hijabs has been condemned as offensive to Muslim women and a waste of £1.85m of public funds. Locals have said they risk ghettoising a community that considers itself tolerant and diverse. Tracey Emin, who lives just off Brick Lane, is one of a number of residents in the east London area who claim that Tower Hamlets council risks inflaming racial tension by trying to force the “hijab gates” – as they have become known – through without proper consultation. The Spitalfields Trust, which helped to save many of the historic Huguenot silk weavers’ houses that abut Brick Lane, has urged the council to abandon its “misconceived” idea. The council has extended the deadline for complaints to 22 February. More in the Guardian HERE.

Posted in:
Daily News Summary

Weekly email: 21/01/2010

January 21st, 2010 - 
1 Comment
Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Here is this week’s news:
Tory Stuff
Media
Jeremy is speaking at the Oxford Media Convention as we email! Coverage of what he’s saying HERE and full transcript HERE.
In an interview this week with New Media Age, Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt acknowledged the vital role that the digital media industry plays in the UK economy, and promised a light-touch regulatory approach. HERE
Ed spoke at the Nations and Regions Media conference in Salford Quays on Tuesday. He confirmed our intention to scrap the IFNC pilots should be win the election more HERE and HERE
Arts Policy
Charlotte Higgins has written a helpful and by and large quite nice overview of the themes from Jeremy’s speech to the RSA / ACE State of the Arts conference last week, HERE Lyn Gardner discussed our philanthropy proposals in the Granuiad HERE. The Arts Council have pointed out to us that it was a joint conference, not just the RSA’s. Apologies, credit where it’s due, etc.
Material from the conference is available HERE.
Creative Industries
Digital Economy Bill
The Digital Economy Bill had its third (HERE) and fourth (HERE) days in Committee in the Lords, they have reached Clause 10.
Interesting correspondence this week in the letters page of the Granuiad on clause 17, led by a letter from the Creative Coalition HEREwith a response HERE
Two new pieces of research from both the BPI and Creative Coalition suggest that ISPs are exaggerating the financial hardship they will have to bear under measures proposed by the Digital Economy Bill. More in links via Facebook in some clever way HERE
and HERE.
ITV CRR Decision
The Competition Commission has given its final recommendations on CRR for consultation. The main recommendations are unchanged from its provisional findings and reject ITV’s proposals for more flexibility over its advertising charges. ITV have commented that ‘This decision confirms the urgent need for a thorough and comprehensive review of the cumulative impact of regulation of the independent broadcasting sector.’
We agree (with ITV), more HERE and HERE.
This morning the court of appeal has ordered BSkyB to sell down its stake in ITV from 17.9% to less than 7.5%HERE.
BBC
Maybe it is rocket science: The BBC have announced that throughout 2010 they will be ‘bringing together a range of TV and radio science programmes, online initiatives, regional road shows and learning campaigns to inspire engagement  with  science across the nation more HERE.
Meanwhile CCHQ wants Tory activists to help ‘beat BBC bias’ more HERE.
The BBC Trust has announced it is to conduct a performance review of the BBC’s on-demand offerings, including the iPlayer, simulcast TV and podcast downloads. This is launched today with an eight week public consultation, more HERE.
Video Games
The Video Standards Council has announced a number of high-level staff changes ahead of the implementation of the government’s new video games ratings regime outlined in the Digital Economy Bill more HERE.
The prestigious Ivor Novello Awards are to recognise music from videogames for the first time this year following the introduction of a special game score category, more HERE. Meanwhile, Hugo Chavez clearly is the new Keith Vaz, suggesting that the PlayStation leads children down the capitalist ‘road to hell’, which is of course just one of the reasons we like them more HERE.
Joining us on Chavez’s proverbial road to hell, is the Parliamentary website Parliament.uk which has recently launched a video game where you get to be an MP for Week, as part of their work with schools to support young people’s understanding of Parliament and democracy. Play it for yourself HERE
There’s an interesting post on video games HERE summarising recent political developments relevant to the sector.
Film
2009 production and box office figures from the UKFC show that the industry is weathering the recession well, with record inward investment, record box office, and UK indie films at their most popular in cinemas for a decade. On the downside there has been small drop in independent UK production and spend, and there are ongoing challenges in raising credit for film projects, especially through bank loans. More details in the full reports HERE.
CC Skills
Congratulations to Tom Berwick. He has been appointed as the new Chief Executive of Enterprise UK by Chairman and Dragon (of the Den) Peter Jones CBE. Tom leaves his current post as Chief Executive of Creative & Cultural Skills at the end of March more HERE
Broadband
We have release figures which show that the Government’s proposed broadband tax will hit 3.2 million people who do not have an internet connection and have no interest in having one, more HERE.
News speeds and prices for superfast broadband from BT more for its superfast broadband service HERE.
Awards Season Round Up
A slightly controversial night for Ricky Gervais in an otherwise quiet night for the Brits at the Golden Globes HERE. Congratulations to the BAFTA nominees, especially An Education, neck and neck with Avatar with eight nominations a piece, full list HERE. Further congratulations to the Brits nominees HERE, and nominees and winners at the National Television Awards, HERE where Jedward stole the show, HERE.
Arts and Heritage
Arts Council
Arts Council England have launched Achieving great art for everyone – a consultation on future priorities for the arts.   The results of the consultation will inform a ten-year strategic framework and the Arts Council’s future investment decisions, so get contributing, moreHERE
Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad
It’s been going since 2008 apparently. Did you know that? More HERE.
Heritage
The Historic Houses Association have launched their policy proposals for 2010 onward, titled ‘Inspirational Places – the value of Britain’s historic houses’ more HERE.
Libraries
Good news as interim results from an independent review of Northumberland’s library service show that the closure of six libraries in the county can be put on hold while further talks are held   with communities, with the aim of developing new ways of working. More HERE. Shows what can happen when the MLA gets in on the ground floor.
In Parliament
Prime Minister’s Questions
Excitement this week, as a question was posed to Gordon about rural broadband HERE.
Oral Questions
Oral questions took place on Monday covering everything from the 2018 World Cup bid to product placement HERE
10 Minute Rule Bill
Tom Watson introduced a 10 Minute Rule Bill on Digital Archiving, and got into trouble with the Deputy Speaker for grandstanding on the Digital Economy Bill HERE.
House of Commons
Video recordings bill received royal assent in the Commons today HERE.
Parliamentary Questions
34 external consultants working at the DCMS HERE
Still no indication from the DCMS of how many jobs the Government’s flagship Future Jobs Fund has created HERE
1400 responses to the Government’s consultation on product placement HERE
Over £500 million on free television licenses HERE
The criteria set out for community radio stations to receive a licence HERE
Government spending through the Community Radio Fund HERE
Implementation of the Legal Deposit Libraries Act HERE
Lords
The Video Recordings Bill made its way through the Lords HERE
EDMs
EDM 642 – National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts Big Green Challenge Awards HERE
EDM 617 – Access to Government services via the internet HERE
On the blog
Ed’s chief of staff Helen and Fun Inc author Tom Chatfield discuss whether the high barriers to entry explain why video games aren’t taken seriously by the wider cultural world, and Tom suggests where to start, HERE . An online network for independent filmmakers has a discussion about internships, unpaid / low paid work, and the minimum wage, something which is a live issue across the cultural and creative industries HERE
And Finally
Something to cheer Obama up following this week’s loss of Ted Kennedy’s seat to Republican Scott Brown: Obama the musical has opened in Germany. More HERE
Where we’ve been and who we’ve seen
Arts Council, Ofcom, Digital Radio surgery, Nations and Regions Media conference, Arts and Humanities Research Council, GLA, Wallace Collection, Westminster eForum on video games, Edelman, Mediawatch, digital entrepreneurs at Bootlaw, Moctezuma at the British Museum, Northampton School for Girls (specialist music school), Northampton Music Service Oxford Media Convention, Modern Art Oxford.
Ed Vaizey
Shadow Arts Minister
Jeremy Hunt
Shadow Culture Secretary
Posted in:
Weekly Email

Weekly email: 14/01/10

January 18th, 2010 - 
Comments Off
Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Here is this week’s news:
Tory Stuff
Jeremy made a major speech on the arts at the RSA’s conference on arts policy, the largest conference of its kind held in recent years. He was doing his impressive speaking-without-notes trick so no transcript to link to, but he talked about our plans to: restore lottery funds to the four original good causes, bear down on quango administration costs; philanthropy including simplifying Gift Aid and lifetime giving, and incentives to build up endowments and a better culture of asking for contributions. There’s good overview from Charlotte Higgins in the Guardian, HERE, although unfortunately there is a typo in the headline, which should say ‘Arts bureaucracy cuts proposed by Conservatives.’ Feedback on what he said and other goings on from the conference on Twitter, HERE.
Creative Industries
Digital Economy Bill
Realising that there is no way it will pass in its current form, the Government has climbed down on Clause 17 (which allows the Government to extend copyright with minimal consultation) more HERE and latest discussion from the Lords HERE. The debate rages on with Bono’s 10 ideas to make the next 10 years more interesting, including criticism of internet piracy HERE causes a storm of debate HERE and HERE
Video Games
Ed spoke at an event on video games at the RSA last night with Tom Chatfield, a critic and commentator on video games, with an excellent book out this week, Fun Inc. Why Video Games Are the First Serious Business of the 21st Century, more HERE and HERE.
Channel 4
Congratulations to C4, which has been awarded the broadcast rights for the 2012 Paralympics. It will broadcast 150 hours of coverage after winning what LOCOG described as a ‘highly competitive tender process’.  C4 tell us they feel this is a great fit with their remit commitment to cultural diversity and that ‘we’ll be throwing everything at our coverage to make it as innovative and exciting as it can be and attract the largest possible audiences.’ More HERE
Local Media
Ed spoke in yet another debate on the Local Media in Parliament this week HERE. Eight consortia have been successful in the first phase of the selection process for Independently Funded News Consortia (IFNC) pilots HERE. We oppose IFNCs as a backward step, and instead have put forward proposals for local television HERE
Broadcasting
Independent think tank Policy Exchange has published a report on the future of broadcasting HERE. The report argues that public service broadcasting needs to be radically overhauled if it is to survive in the new digital age. It calls for the BBC to place quality before ratings, and stop spending huge resources on sports rights, programmes for 16 to 35 year olds and popular entertainment, which other channels would deliver anyway. Instead of crowding out commercial schemes, the BBC management should spend up to 5% of total licence fee income on co-funding PSB programmes on other channels.
Music
Contribute to this discussion on our LinkedIn group: It’s a traditional New Year ritual for trade associations to portray their industries in the best possible light, but how is the entertainment business really doing? HERE Incidentally, any one can start a discussion on our Linked In group, so feel free.
Arts and Heritage
Arts Council
What did the Arts Council ever do to Tom Watson MP, we wonder, as he tables yet more parliamentary questions about them following the 50  -  yes 50  -  he tabled last week, and the 50-plus before Christmas, the latest from yesterday HERE the day before HERE 6th January HERE 5th January HERE
Could it be the answer to an earlier question, as reported HERE that has really got him going? 
The Arts Council has given an extra £1.2 million to the ICA, more HERE
Cultural Olympiad
DCMS advisor on Culture and former director of the Manchester International Festival Ruth Mackenzie has been appointed as the director of the Cultural Olympiad. At the same time several artistic associates have also been announced: Alex Poots, current artistic director of MIF, Martin Duncan who was joint artistic director with Mackenzie at Chichester Festival, Sir Brian McMaster, former director of the Edinburgh  International  Festival and Craig Hassall, managing director of English National Ballet  and former head of the Cultural Olympiad for the Australian Olympics more HERE.  And they all report to Tony Hall.  Sounds like a recipe for clear decision-making, then.
Philanthropy
Arts and Business report that the total figure for private sector investment in culture for 2008/09 fell from its record high in 07/08 to £654.9 million in the UK decreasing by 7% (above inflation). Investment from all three private sector sources declined from the previous year: Business investment fell by 6% to £157 million and accounts for 24% of the overall contribution from the private sector. In 08/09, investment from individuals dropped to £363 million, a 7% decrease that ends the trend of fast-paced growth that began to accelerate in 05/06. Individual giving now accounts for 55% of the total private investment received in the sector. The amount of support from Trusts & Foundations also fell from £141 million to £135 million a 7% decrease now accounting for 21% of the total private investment in the cultural sector. More HERE. Ed commented ‘These figures are disappointing and reflect the effects of the economic recession.  This is a wake-up call that we need to get our economy back on track, in order to return to the levels of private giving we enjoyed in the 1990s and 2000s.  Economic recovery is as crucial for the arts as it is for all parts of our economy’.
Heritage
The Public Accounts Committee report into Promoting Participation with the Historic Environment was published this week. Committee chair Edward Leigh MP said:
“The Department for Culture, Media and Sport gave English Heritage unrealistic targets to increase the number of visits to historic sites by people from three specific underrepresented groups. With no clear evidence of how the target levels might be achieved, English Heritage opted instead to focus on increasing its income from visitor attractions, at the expense of activities to increase participation’Full report HERE. We think this is yet another example of how Labour’s box-ticking is a misconceived approach to heritage and the arts.
The Art Fund has launched its campaign to raise £3.3 million to save the Staffordshire Hoard HERE. We wish them every success and of course will make a donation.
Libraries
Rather than staying at home and building snowmen this winter, Bloomsbury have conceived Bloomsbury Library Online to support public libraries and literacy in an innovative, experimental and socially inclusive way using existing computers and devices within the local library, internet-enabled mobile phones, or remotely from home or elsewhere with a library card. Currently offering seventy books, from forty-eight authors to 2.4 million readers through UK public libraries, we think this is great news, more HERE
West Sussex County Council also has plans to deliver 21st century library services more HERE.
Predictions for the new decade include: ‘a very strong independent sector, the growth of the e-book market and a continued fight for library campaigners are some of the predictions for next year made by figures from the retail, library and digital sides of the trade.’ according to The Bookseller, more HERE.
Archives
The National Archives Education Department has set up a Twitter feed that lets people get a unique perspective on the opening months of the Second World War. Starting from 1 January, summaries and links to Cabinet papers relating to that date in 1940 are posted – the result is a day by day view of the Second World War from the War Cabinet’s point of view, using real documents You can follow the tweets and follow the links to read the original documents capturing the decisions of the men who determined the fate of the nationHERE. For non-tweeters, you can find Cabinet Papers 1915-1978 online HERE.
Natalie Ceeney is stepping down from her post as CEO at The National Archives. Oliver Morley will be Interim CEO, the Ministry of Justice will be handling the new appointment, more HERE. We wish Natalie well for the future, she has been an outstanding leader.
Museums
The findings of an NMDC project looking at how national and regional museums work together was launched this week, more HERE.The NMDC has also published Museums’ Deliver demonstrating the wide-ranging social and economic importance of museums in the UK. Full report HERE.
Kids in Museums have launched their manifesto today, highlighting the need for flexible family tickets HERE.
In America, is it time to start selling some works to balance the books in museums and galleries? More HERE and the piece caused such a storm there is a response HERE.
City of Culture
Birmingham will bid to be the UK’s first city of culture more HERE.
NCA
The National Campaign for the Arts have a lovely new website HERE.
Opera and Ballet
The Royal Opera House is the first big arts institution to join the tickets for troops scheme, more HERE. Dance, as someone in a cheese shop once said, is ‘staggeringly popular in the manor squire’ more HERE.
New Year’s Honours - Errors and Omissions
Thank you for pointing out the following omissions from our New Year’s Honours List – a knighthood for the brilliant architect David Chipperfield, CBEs for the outstanding Natalie Ceeney, soon to be ex head of the National Archives, the great  singer Sarah Connolly, the awesome architect George Ferguson, and an OBE for the superb Julia Fawcett at the Lowry. Also the Director of Heart n Soul is Mark Williams (not Christopher Williams, a songwriter who works with them who received an OBE). Slapped wrists all round
In Parliament
Parliamentary Questions
More questions from Tom Watson on the Arts Council HERE
DCMS spending on travel costs for Ministers and Officials HERE
EDMs
EDM 583 – Technology Company Censorship HERE
Digital Economy Bill
The Bill is in the committee stage in the Lords – Hansard can be read HERE
Where we’ve been and who we’ve seen
PayPoint, the London Film Museum, VAGA, NMDC, Orange, Anthony Browne, RSA, V&A, Kids in Museums, NCA, Ideas Tap, The State of the Arts Conference, the Olympic site, BBC News Festival, OC&C Media Conference.
Ed Vaizey
Shadow Arts Minister
Jeremy Hunt
Shadow Culture Secretary
Posted in:
Weekly Email
« Older Entries