Ed has been setting out our plans on Book Brunch and information and news site for the book industy. He discussed the urgent need to bring copyright law up-to-date, and our plans for libraries, more HERE. Sadly there were no similar contributions from Labour or the Lib Dems despite ‘repeated requests’.
Weekly email: 1st April 2010
April 12th, 2010 -
We’d like to wish all our readers a very Happy Easter.
Today is April Fool’s day.
Tory Stuff
Ed spoke at the LGA Culture Tourism and Sport conference in Gateshead yesterday. Read his speech, and about the conference more widely, on their blog, including ACE chief executive Alan Davey who has been making the case for maintaining funding at local government level, HERE
Creative Industries
Ofcom – busy, busy, busy!
Ofcom – Pay TV
Ofcom has published the conclusion of its investigation into the pay TV market and concludes that: Sky must offer Sky Sports 1 and 2 to other retailers at a wholesale price set by Ofcom; give conditional approval to Sky and Arqiva’s request to offer pay TV services on digital terrestrial TV (Picnic), dependent on a wholesale deal; it will refer concerns regarding the sale and distribution of film rights to the Competition Commission; and that Sky must offer wholesale HD versions of Sky Sports 1 and 2. More HERE and analysis on Media Guardian HERE .
BT does not think that Ofcom has gone far enough, saying : ‘Despite being a step in the right direction, it is disappointing that Ofcom seem to have compromised. This is because their remedy does not apply to all Sky Sports Channels, there’s also no price for HD channels, they’ve set a price bundle of Sky Sports 1 and 2 at a higher rate than they suggested and they’ve left out the issue of premium movies.’
Sky have confirmed that they will appeal.
Ofcom – broadband
Ofcom has said that ISPs must do a better job of telling customers about broadband speeds, or face stiffer regulation, Full research HERE more HERE
Ofcom – media literacy
Ofcom’s report into media children’s media literacy suggests that a quarter of UK internet users aged eight to 12 have profiles on Facebook, Bebo or MySpace last year, despite the lowest minimum age set on any of the sites is 13, and band news for the music industry, finding that 44% of children between 12 and 15 thought downloading shared copies of films and music for free should not be illegal, more HERE Read the full report HERE
Ofcom – termination rates
Ofcom has published plans to reduce mobile termination rates (MTRs) – the charges operators made to connect calls to each others’ networks – to benefit UK consumers.
They will be consulting on these proposals until 23 June, more HERE
Ofcom – CRR
Ofcom has published the submission it made to the Competition Commission on CRR. It states that “Ofcom does not believe that retaining the undertakings in their current form is appropriate” HERE
Broadband
US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman, Julius Genachowski submitted a new “100 Squared” Nation Broadband Plan to Congress, full plan HERE, he raised the bar to an unprecedented height by proposing that that a 100 million U.S. homes should have affordable access to actual download speeds of at least 100M bps (bits per second) Internet, and upload speeds of at least 50 Mbps by 2020, more HERE
Virgin are using innovative methods to get broadband to rural areas, more HERE
Press Complaints Commission
Following the extension of the PCC’s remit to blogs , Rod Liddle’s Spectator blog is the first to have a complaint upheld, more HERE
Video Games
Skillset have pointed out, rightly, that while the promise of tax breaks are an important step for the sector, the need to tackle the skills gap is as, if not more, important. More HERE.
Channel 4
The Culture Media and Sport Select Committee has published a report on Channel 4, more: HERE
It calls for increased over-sight of the channel if its PSB remit is extended to include other platforms including E4, More4, Film4 and online services. More in the Times,
Channel 4 is to double its budget for arts funding, under a new arts board chaired by its director of television and content Kevin Lygo. Tabitha Jackson has been appointed as commissioning editor art, more HERE
Advertising
Professor Tanya Byron published her progress review on child internet safety at Number 10 on Monday. Read it in its full 60-page glory HERE. The report commends the ad industry for the work done so far, especially the industry agreement to CAP’s remit extension – HERE.
UK internet advertising expenditure has grown 4.2% to £3.5bn in 2009, and IAB/PWC figures reveal that ad spend mushroomed by 2,200% during the last decade. Search has surpassed £2bn, while online video ads have enjoyed spectacular growth. The Internet Advertising Bureau’s Guy Phillipson appeared on BBC R5 and you can listen to him HERE.
Radio
The Lords Communication Committee has published its report into digital switchover of television and radio this week, a summary is on our blog HERE more on the radio aspects of the report HERE download the full report HERE
Film
The UK Film Council has published its three year plan and launches its new £15m Film Fund, following three months consulting on proposals across the film sector. More HERE
EM Media announces nine new digital media projects with the support of the East Midlands Development Agency, more HERE
Camelot
The National Lottery operator’s shareholders have agreed to sell their shares to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan for £389 million, more HERE . Just think, it could have been you. Then again, if you used to teach in Ontario, it is you.
Fashion
Last week, twenty emerging London design talents flew to New York to show their work at the Soho Grand at the invitation of Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue, more, and an analysis of the increasing profile of fashion in the political world, HERE
The British Fashion Council have launched their first ever ‘Pop-Up’ store to celebrate new British design talent at Bicester Village yesterday, featuring clothes from Erdem, Mark Fast, PPQ, Todd Lynn, House of Holland, Osman and Hannah Marshall, more HERE
Meanwhile Skillset’s remit is expanding to cover fashion and textiles creating one of the biggest Sector Skills Councils, more HERE
Arts and Heritage
Libraries
Following the Libraries Review, which promises to make an ‘affirmative order preventing libraries from charging for ebooks lending of any sort, including remotely’, the Booksellers Association has written to Margaret Hodge warning that the commercial book business risks being undermined by the free loading of ebooks by libraries in a letter sent to culture minister Margaret Hodge, more HERE The Booksellers Association have been joined in their protest by the Society of Authors and the Writers Guild, who have also written to La Hodge on the matter, more HERE
Visual Art
As part of its tenth anniversary celebrations, Tate Modern will host a festival of independent arts, No Soul For Sale, hosting over 60 of the world’s most innovative independent art spaces, not-for-profit organizations and artists’ collectives to take over the turbine hall, more HERE
Meanwhile Tate has appointed former Guardian and Observer marketing director Marc Sands to be director of audiences and media, congratulations to him, more HERE
Heritage
Ben Bradshaw has announced £250,000 funding for Bletchley Park Museum funding an urgent repair programme within the conservation area, more HERE
The Historic Houses Association have a lovely new website, HERE
The Heritage Lottery Fund has announced a £25m increase in its annual budget for new awards to heritage projects across the UK following a rise in National Lottery ticket sales, more HERE . They’ll get even more if we win the election.
Dance
The Dance sector has a national campaign running to get as many Parliamentary candidates as possible interested in and connected to dance, more HERE
Music
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic’s In Harmony music project is the subject of a specially commissioned 30-minute film to be broadcast on BBC One North West on Easter Monday, 5th April, at 3.40pm , more HERE
Cultural Learning Alliance
The Cultural Learning Alliance brings together the cultural sector including museums, film, libraries, heritage, dance, literature, new media arts, theatre, visual arts and music with the education and youth sector to promote the vision of a stronger cultural entitlement. More HERE It sounds great to us, and there’s a lovely film of David Cameron on their website.
Museums
Congratulations to the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry, which won the 2010 Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award today! More HERE
The NMDC’s monthly newsletter is out now, read it HERE
Writing
Congratulations to British writer Rosemary Sutcliff has been awarded the major US 2010 Phoenix Award, for The Shining Company more HERE
Culture Blogs
Lord ‘jostle like a dragon’ Tebbit has his own culture blog, more HERE
Election Fever
Rumour has it the election might be called shortly. We hope that this email will continue during the campaign, although we can’t quite confirm that as yet, so watch this space. Email-wise, during the campaign Ed will be on HERE. Helen will be delighted to receive your suggested Weekly contributions on HERE.
In Parliament
Parliamentary Questions
Pricey hospitality at the DCMS HERE
Payments to the Newspaper Licensing Agency HERE
Almost 23000 people employed at the BBC HERE
Public opinions of the BBC HERE
EDMs
1228 Hospital Radio Awards HERE
1223 Digital Economy Bill HERE
1215 Licensing of Live Music HERE
1206 National Anthem and the BBC HERE
Where we’ve been and who we’ve seen
Game Based Learning Conference, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner at Working Title, AOP, Getty Images, BAPLA, Video Games Hustings, City Screen, LGA Annual Culture Tourism and Sport conference, Newcastle City Library, Great North Museum: Hancock, Telegraph digital team, Ofcom, UK Music reception, Big Society Seminar.
Ed Vaizey
Shadow Arts Minister
Jeremy Hunt
Shadow Culture Secretary
Weekly email 25th March 2010
April 12th, 2010 -
Here is this week’s news:
Budget Special
Despite their disingenuous hints that the arts budget might be ring-fenced, the Budget has revealed Labour’s plans to cut the culture budget substantially. Ben Bradshaw has announced £60 million of cuts – sorry, efficiency savings – across the DCMS. The overall budget is frozen for a year – so effectively cut again – and the capital budget has been reduced by £300 million. More HERE
The Budget also announced a number of other measures:
A tax credit for the video games industry. We have long argued for some form of fiscal support for the industry, so we welcome the announcement. We note, in a completely unchurlish way of course, that Labour ruled this out in December, and this announcement will not be passed before the general election. TIGA, the trade body for the industry, has welcomed Labour’s move but surprisingly not acknowledged our long campaign to get Labour to take the video games industry seriously HERE
A tax rise for every family in the country that still uses a landline. The phone tax has been confirmed and will cost the British public an extra £175 million per annum – including a £70 million levy on British business – and could drive 200,000 people off the internet. We have promised to scrap the phone tax, deregulate the market in order to stimulate investment and have ruled out adding extra charges to consumers to pay for superfast broadband rollout. Jeremy has pointed out that Gordon Brown’s phone tax will push 200,000 homes off the internet, more HERE
In contrast, we propose to fund rural broadband from the digital switchover element in the licence fee.
A Gift Aid forum has been set up and will recommend possible reforms in the autumn. We have already said we will reform Gift Aid, so that’s another idea nicked from us.
Streamlining DCMS bodies. Labour have said they will reduce advisory bodies by half; merge the Film Council and the British Film Institute; and merge the National Lottery Commission with the Gambling Commission.
Jeremy has blogged on the budget HERE
Creative Industries
Regional News
The Government is pressing on with IFNCs, today announcing preferred bidders in the three areas, HERE in an attempt to force them through whatever happens in the election, which is ridiculous as Jeremy points out HERE. Unfortunate, too, that the chair of the selection panel responsible for choosing the bidders has encouraged the bidders to plan for life without public funds on the day of their selection, more HERE
Film and television
The Government have responded to the House of Lords Select Committee report on the British Film and Television industries, full response HERE . Recommendations in the response include increasing the net rate of film tax relief for productions under £5m to 30 percent, and to make salaries of personnel employed on a production eligible for tax relief whether they are working in the UK or on location abroad, so long as the personnel are paid and taxed in the UK.
Film London an Screen South are merging, more HERE
Skillset
Skillset has published a report which suggests there is an “oversupply” in many general creative media roles, but serious skills shortages in areas like digital technology and multiplatform capability, broadcast engineering, business and commercial know-how, visual effects and craft-orientated jobs, more HERE.
Skillset has also announced a new Advanced Apprenticeship in Creative and Digital Media, funded by the London Development Agency to help London’s diverse communities enter the industry, with a view to supporting the range of media activities needed for the London 2012 games. We think this is a great idea, more HERE
And, in a very busy week for Skillset, they have also published guidelines for creative industry employers offering work placement schemes, more HERE
Television
Congratulations to Freesat who have reached the 1 million sales mark well ahead of target more HERE
Architecture
Jean Nouvel will design the 2010 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion. As a Pritzker Prize winner and recipient of the RIBA Royal Gold Medal, Jean Nouvel has won worldwide acclaim with magnificent structures including the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris and the extension of the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, more HERE
Advertising
The Government is now the biggest advertiser in the UK, after spending £208m in 2009, according a league table published by Marketing, HERE. The COI increased its spending by 13% year on year, to outspend Procter & Gamble by nearly £53m. The figures also show that advertising spend by the top 100 advertisers fell by £854m, a 10% reduction on year on year. Hard-pressed sectors like financial services and car making recorded the biggest falls in ad spend.
Product Placement
The Government placed legislation on product placement before Parliament last week. The legislation will enact the changes that Ben Bradshaw announced on 9th February. Read the legislation HERE , explanatory memorandum HERE and Ben Bradshaw’s statement HERE.
The regulations include a requirement for broadcasters to flag up product placement to viewers in any programme which is made or commissioned by the broadcaster, while product placement will be signaled at the beginning and end of the programme and after any ad breaks it may contain.
Ofcom will now amend the Broadcasting Code to bring the changes into effect, but before they can do that, they are required to hold a public consultation. Ofcom anticipates that its consultation will be issued in June and will conclude at the end of the summer, with the revised Broadcasting Code being published in the autumn.
Design
The first national survey of the UK design industry since 2005, released today by the Design Council, shows UK design industry has grown since 2005, despite the recession. There are 232,000 designers, 29% more than in 2005 and earnings have increased by £3.4bn. The combined budget of in-house teams and fee income of freelances and consultancies is £15bn. Collectively in-house design team budgets are down 34% since 2005, but the number of in-house design teams in the UK has increased by 10% to 6,500 suggesting that employers are holding on to creative employees despite downward pressure on budgets. More HERE.
Multi tasking Help for Heroes/ legal music buying corner!
With the election approaching here’s your chance to obtain a unique souvenir of parliament, and to help a very good cause at the same time. MP4′s first full album ‘Cross Party’, issued by Revolver Records and produced by Robin Millar (producer of Sade’s platinum classic album Diamond Life) is now available to buy, with any profits going to Help for Heroes. Here’s how you can obtain your copy and help in other ways, HEREl.
Arts and Heritage
Culture
The great and the good of the cultural world got together today to launch the Culture for Capital Manifesto today at the British Museum. More HERE and HERE, and the publication can be found here, HERE.
Philanthropy
Arts and Business have launched a ‘ Private Sector Policy for the Arts’ this week, which has some very interesting ideas. A&B Chief Executive Colin Tweedy said ‘artistic successes of the last decade have been driven by the deeply interdependent nature of the arts economy. The healthy levels of public funding secured quality for the sector, allowing arts organisations to attract increasing visitor numbers (and earned income), which in turn has encouraged further private investment (sponsorship and philanthropy) thus enabling further growth and consolidation. This three-legged tripod mixed economy model is under threat. This policy is designed to reboot and rewire it’ more HERE
Arts Council
ACE has announced its final round of Sustain funding, in another list that overwhelming favours large, well known arts organisations from the Young Vic to English National Ballet. More HERE
Heritage
A sudden flurry of government activity on the heritage front, with the publication of their vision statement HERE and a new Planning Policy Statement (PPS – now number 5, replacing 15 and 16 – keep up at the back!) HERE.
The general view from the sector is that it is a big improvement, see English Heritage’s response, HERE and Heritage Alliance’s response, HERE.
The aspiration for joined up thinking across government is a good one, although the document is a very thin on how this will actually be achieved. There is also very little mention of plans to bring back the much vaunted, long postponed Heritage protection bill – with one reference down there on page 20/21 (depending on which version you have). So once again an all mouth and no trousers policy announcement from the Government, while we, in contrast, have committed to a heritage and museums bill in the first Parliament after the election.
The Historic Houses Association has responded HERE, calling on the government to make firm commitments to action.
Heritage Crafts
The Heritage Crafts Association has launched this week, to support and promote heritage crafts as a fundamental part of our living heritage. More HERE and a good article in the Guardian, HERE
Staffordshire Hoard
The Hoard has been saved for the nation following the pledge of £1,285,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund this week. Congratulations all round, more, and you can still donate to the ongoing conservation and research work into the hoard HERE
Libraries
The Government’s much delayed, much criticised libraries review has finally been published . Again, most of the ideas are nicked from us. More HERE
Quite a lot of people are rude about it HERE while the Unison response HERE called on the government to go further, and set out clear guidelines on exactly what service local authorities are obliged to provide, which is exactly what we have suggested in our own proposals for a libraries charter.
The Society of Chief Librarians has launched their libraries manifesto this week, more HERE
Skills
Funding has been confirmed for a £13 million skills academy within the Royal Opera House Production Park in Thurrock more HERE although this would seem to suggest that Gordon Brown announced it a few weeks ago, and DCLG have only just confirmed the money, which is either very disorganised, or a bit worrying.
Missions Models Money
Has published a paper on a collaborative project between Opera North and the University of Leeds to develop DARE, a business model that uses resources differently, ‘helping to equip Opera North with the capacity to continuously innovate and grow artistically in an environment of huge opportunity and a climate of economic uncertainty.’ More HERE
Olympics
While the big news on the Olympics front this week was the launch of the official ticketing website, more HERE the cultural Olympiad announced their Film Nation: Shorts project which will give young film-makers the chance to get their work showcased at the Games, more HERE
BoJo’s Cultural Jobs corner
His Borisness is recruiting for cultural strategy and music education strategy roles, more HERE and HERE.
New Culture Forum
Martin Amis will be in conversation with NCF director Peter Whittle at the Royal Society of Arts on 7th April, discussing feminism and the sexual revolution, the themes raised in his latest book. More HERE
In Parliament
Parliamentary Questions
UK World Heritage Sites and grants from the HLF HERE
Promotion of the Government’s free theatre initiative HERE
14,000 have registered for the National Theatre entry pass HERE
No requirement for local authorities to provide performance data on museums and libraries to the MLA HERE
The Government deny there will be a cut to the NHMF budget this year HERE
Where we’ve been and who we’ve seen
Tom Bloxham, Radio Production in the North conference, Julian Lloyd Webber, Nominet, Beringea, South East Arts round table, Open House architecture debate, Anya Hindmarch’s pub, Bush Theatre.
Ed Vaizey
Shadow Arts Minister
Jeremy Hunt
Shadow Culture Secretary
Society of Chief Librarians’ Manifesto
March 23rd, 2010 -
The SCL Manifesto was published yesterday and Fiona Williams, SCL President said:
‘Thirty-four million people a year visit public libraries in the UK. We want to make sure that the Government understands and acts on the priorities of local libraries… As the people delivering the service, we are continuously looking for better ways to deliver a library service to the public, and we want to ensure that investment in libraries continues’.
The Manifesto outlines SCL’s work and vision for libraries in these key areas:
- Reading and Literacy
- Digital Inclusion and Fluency
- Learning and Skills
- Business and Innovation
- Community Anchors
You can read the manifesto in full HERE.
The Reading Agency’s response to the Library Modernisation Review
March 23rd, 2010 -
Miranda McKearney, Director of The Reading Agency, said:
‘Unless it’s clear what the public are entitled to they can’t campaign for better local libraries. We think the Library Review’s concept of a “core national offer” to the consumer is great, and is something we’ve been pushing for. Free internet access as part of it is critical.
‘It’s also a big step forward that the core offer includes reading groups and activities. The best libraries now offer a much more participative reading service with real social impact, and public demand for this is growing. The future will belong to libraries that can create communities of readers, including on-line’.
‘The Reading Agency has some new campaigns about to start – to spread reading through volunteering, reading groups and health partnerships – which will provide concrete support for libraries in delivering this objective.’
On structural issues, Miranda said:
‘Structurally the Review is in danger of missing some tricks. At national government level library policy and finance is still split across two different departments.’
On the proposal to create a new strategic body for libraries, she added:
‘Beefing up libraries’ national development capacity is important. But it would be criminal if the proposed new body wasted vital funds reinventing the wheel.
‘We hope those setting up the body will build on new efficient ways of working established by The Reading Agency. Our shared reading programmes help libraries work together to give the public better value. And our partnerships with publishers, broadcasters and others are levering in new investment while improving what’s on offer to the public locally.
The results from this work are illustrated by The Reading Agency’s growth figures for 2009 which show the public’s demand for new reading services:
- 725,000 children now taking part in the Summer Reading Challenge (up from 690,000 in 2008)
- 24% growth in number of Chatterbooks children’s reading groups (now up to 566)
- 39% increase in average attendance at author events in libraries
- 32 publishers now involved in the Reading Partners consortium setting out to revolutionise the library/publisher relationship (from 5 in 2004)
- 27% increase in uptake for adult literacy initiative, the Six Book Challenge
Ed’s with Tim Coates on the lack of substance in the Library Modernisation Review
March 23rd, 2010 -
Library campaigner Tim Coates has joined Ed in criticising the newly-published Library Modernisation Review. Both have criticised the review for a lack of substance. Tim said:
‘Like every one of 30 national reports that have preceeded it in the past decade, it is vague, unspecific and full of waffle… It says nothing that hasn’t been said 100 times or is not totally obvious. We needed a timetable and specific actions whereby the enormous funding the service receives was reallocated to clear priorities.’
On the subject of the new strategic body, Tim continued: ‘If we just create a new body without understanding the painful lessons of why all the old bodies failed to improve libraries, then we will go nowhere.’
Ed said library users would be ‘sorely disappointed’ by the work, commenting:
‘The library review has been delayed for more than two years. Now it has come out, it says very little. What good ideas it has have been copied from our announcements, which we made last year, namely a national library card and a strategic agency for libraries, as well as clearer guidance on what constitutes a good library service… The tragedy is if they had bothered to think hard about what libraries need, they could have had all this up and running by now.’
You can read more feedback at TheBookseller HERE.
Government policy statement on libraries
March 22nd, 2010 -
Culture minister Margaret Hodge today published The Modernisation Review of Public Libraries: a Policy Statement. We are extremely pleased to find that the Government has bowed to Conservative pressure to keep libraries a statutory responsibility. Last month Ed rallied against the Government’s decision to consider lifting the statutory requirement, declaring it ‘outrageous and offensive’ (read more HERE). Today’s report holds that the statutory responsibility on library authorities to provide a ‘comprehensive and efficient’ service will indeed remain.
The paper includes proposals to:
- Recommend all local authorities have a ‘national core offer’ for the public, comprising membership from birth, free access to the internet, a right to order any book to borrow (even those out of print), free access to e-books as the market grows, opening hours to suit users, and an opportunity to be a member of all libraries in England;
- Create a ‘local offer’ as well, which could include commitments on bookstock, events programmes, activities and other services like CD and DVD lending;
- Offer best practice guidance to local authorities on consulting their communities about the library service, putting local people at the centre of the service;
- Make all libraries ‘digitally inclusive’ with easier – and free – access to the internet for users, along with advice on how people can get the most from online access;
- Consider establishing a new, strategic body for libraries to provide leadership and development for the sector, and with the formal power to advise the Secretary of State. This body would also run an accreditation programme, awarding a ‘Book Mark’ for the best services, which could be linked to funding opportunities; and
- Look at a radical approach to new partnerships across existing local authority boundaries, possibly linking with other public functions like post offices and private sector services such as coffee shops.
You can read the review in full HERE.
Museums, Libaries and Archives Council Chair Sir Andrew Motion, responded:
‘Today’s review reinforces the vision of a service providing free access to a wide range of books, information and knowledge, within welcoming buildings in convenient locations… Libraries, as providers of free internet access, add to their core role as a lender of books and stay true to the founding principle of universal access and entitlement.’
Responding to the proposal in the Review for a national Library Development Agency role that would bring together functions performed by MLA and other bodies (the Advisory Council on Libraries and the Registrar of Public Lending Right), Sir Andrew said:
‘Responsibility for library services rests with local councils, but the service needs clarity over its strategic direction and the public is entitled to know that their right to books, knowledge and information in a digital era is universally assured and developed across the country.’
The MLA’s newly published prospectus, Sharper Investment for Changing Times, with practical suggestions and case studies of good practice, sets out how library, archive and museum services can be developed to meet public need in an era of reduced public spending. The MLA said the evolution of an effective Library Development Agency function would need to fully account for:
- The need to add value to local government and to only do nationally those functions that can’t be done cost effectively locally
- The need to avoid policing or placing new burdens on councils, but instead to add value and help them to drive up standards
- The need for all concerned to work closely together: local people and communities, local government, library staff, schools, colleges, universities and other cultural organisations.
- The need to consider a range of governance and funding structures that can represents relevant interest groups – users, staff and local authorities – without creating costly bureaucratic overheads
- The need to find innovative ways to reduce public spending
- The particular financial difficulties faced by local government
News Summary: 9th March 2010
March 9th, 2010 -
Libaries
‘The battle of Britain’s libraries’ is considered in The Guardian HERE, to include a look at the new £193m ‘super-library’ Library of Birmingham. Thanks to Dutch architects Mecanoo, the library will be a highly transparent glass building wrapped in delicate metal filigree, housing within its 33,500 sq m a few million books. It is a key component in the city’s bid to be the UK’s City of Culture in 2013 and should help fulfil the city council’s aim of putting Birmingham in the top 25 world cities by 2020, as ranked by the Mercer Quality of Living survey (it currently comes joint 56th, with Glasgow).
Film
Congratulations to Sandy Powelll who, as pointed out by The Guardian HERE, triumphed in the Best Costume Design category to now have won more Oscars than Marlon Brando, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro – all of whom have just two to her three. The other British winner was Rob Beckett, who won his first Oscar for sound editing on The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow’s underdog victor. The low budget film scooped six awards including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director – making Bigelow the first woman to take directing honours in Oscar’s 82 year history. But does this represent a victory for women and a compelling or focussed view of what’s happening in cinema universally, or do the Academy Awards merely give us a vivid, muddled snapshot of the American mood? Discussion in The Guardian HERE, whilst The Times argues it represents ‘a big bang that changed Hollywood forever’ HERE.
Music
The world’s most influential classical music critic, Alex Ross, will deliver the annual Royal Philharmonic Society lecture to the assembled cognoscenti at the Wigmore Hall in London, entitled Inventing and Reinventing the Classical Concert, as he turns his gaze to the concert experience. The time has come, Ross says, to rethink the way that Brahms, Beethoven and Bruckner are presented.
Plenty of rethinking has already gone on in the UK; The Southbank Centre encourages cross-genre events, recently supporting Anna Meredith’s new concerto for beatboxer and orchestra; The Barbican puts orchestral scores to films — on Monday night a screening of Mikio Naruse’s 1933 silent film Nightly Dreams had a soundtrack by Nitin Sawhney; And the Roundhouse’s Reverb series in January, which introduced classical music to a pop venue, played to packed houses. Today’s Times asks what is the best way to reinvent the concert HERE.
Meanwhile, The Guardian looks at the effect of the No Applause Rule on the classical concert experience, arguing that the etiquette and the music sometimes work at cross-purposes. Clapping in the ‘wrong’ place comes from intuitively following instructions in the score, which explains why newcomers exhibit anxiety on the subject; it even appears that fear of incorrect applause can inhibit people from attending concerts altogether. You can read more on the question ‘If the underlying message of the protocol is, in essence: “Curb your enthusiasm. Don’t get too excited.” Should we be surprised that people aren’t as excited about classical music as they used to be? In The Guardian HERE.
Weekend News Summary: 6th/7th March 2010
March 8th, 2010 -
BBC
Sir Bob Geldof and the Band Aid trust are to report the BBC to Ofcom over a World Service report that millions of pounds raised for famine victims in Ethiopia in 1985 were actually spent on weapons. A group of Britain’s most respected agencies – including Oxfam, the Red Cross, Unicef, Christian Aid and Save the Children – are joining Band Aid in writing an official complaint to the chairman of the BBC Trust, Sir Michael Lyons. Geldoff, who raised $144m for Africa in the Live Aid concert in 1985, has accused the BBC of ‘wilfully naive reporting’:
‘This is a Ross/Brand moment in BBC standards for me… This story has gone around the world on the internet and created a totally false impression of what actually happened… the BBC has undermined the faith of ordinary people across the world in the effectiveness of giving to people in their hour of need. It is a disgrace.’
Nick Guttman, director of emergency relief operations at Christian Aid has condemned the BBC story as ‘outrageous and very damaging’, whilst Phil Bloomer, director of Oxfam’s campaigns and policy division has said:
‘It is palpable nonsense… We know because we bought the food, we bought the trucks, we took the food in, saw it distributed and then we drove the empty trucks out… you have to ask why the BBC seems to have been prepared to run with these extraordinary claims about our work without even putting in a call to Oxfam before they were broadcast.’ More in The Guardian HERE; Independent HERE; Times HERE; Telegraph HERE.
Prominent British Asians have called for the BBC Asian Network to be saved. Actor and writer Meera Syal and Olympic medal-winning boxer Amir Khan and are among the entertainment stars, actors and peers signing a letter – which you can see in The Guardian HERE, urging the BBC to halt the closure of the station. The letter says that the eight-year-old digital broadcaster provides a ‘key platform’ For the national Asian community and:
‘… offers creative British Asian talent an outlet which is demonstrably under-represented in the more mainstream BBC. This would all be tragically lost if these proposals are agreed.’
Jarvis Cocker becomes figurehead of the Save 6Music campaign, more in The Guardian HERE. More on the review in The Guardian HERE; Observer HERE, HERE and HERE; Sunday Times HERE
Amid reports that Chris Evans has sparked 654 official complaints to the BBC with critical messages appearing on his radio show’s message boards, Terry Wogan has written on his blog to fans, or Togs – Terry’s Old Geezers and Gals – who have been particularly vociferous against Evans since he took over the Radio 2 Breakfast Show in January. He said:
‘I asked all Togs to welcome Chris with open minds and hearts, and I know that they have… They know better than most that it took me years and years to build a loyal audience. Chris has had six weeks! I’m trying to build a new audience myself on a Sunday morning… Give us a chance.’ More in The Guardian HERE; Independent HERE; and Telegraph HERE.
Television
The survey of Britain’s main television channels, carried out for Channel 4 by the Communications Research Group, has found that men still outnumber women by two to one, and that, where they do appear, women predominantly feature in programmes about ‘soft’ issues and older women are kept off the screen. The survey indicates that the position has not changed since 2006, when a BBC report found there were twice as many men on television as women.
Women are equally represented in soaps, but make up just one third of people in factual programmes and even fewer on news bulletins. Women make up just over a third (37%) of those giving their opinion in vox pops. More in The Observer HERE and Sunday Times HERE
Publishing
Robert McCrum argues in The Observer that only belatedly are publishers confronting the implications of the digitisation of literature. He says:
‘Electronic time can seem faster than real time. The transformation of the literary landscape has happened at warp speed and it’s not over yet… So it should come as no surprise that the publishing business, a slave to real time and long lunches, should have been so slow to adapt. The book trade has always been intrinsically conservative… At first, when the Google Books Library Project was launched in 2004, senior UK publishers… instinctively found an ostrich-like default position. If they had understood the digital revolution better, they might have resisted Google’s piracy with an articulate common purpose… As it was, only Nigel Newton of Bloomsbury had the wisdom to pull his head out of the sand and raise the alarm. More HERE.
The sale of The Independent is being held up while Alexander Lebedev tries to strike a better deal with its landlord, the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT). The Independent and London Evening Standard pay a total of £5m a year to DMGT. More in The Sunday Times HERE.
News Summary: 1st March 2010
March 1st, 2010 -
Libraries
Libraries are among the services “most vulnerable” to widespread cuts across local councils, with a BBC survey estimating 25,000 public sector jobs could be lost around the country (more HERE). More than 70% of the 49 councils that responded to the survey predicted spending cuts of between 5% and 20%. The BBC reports that:
‘… services such as libraries… face cuts as councils battle the “perfect storm” of recession – falling revenues and higher demand’
Local Government Association deputy chairman Richard Kemp has said:
‘We know that if the government ring-fences schools, health, defence and the police, other services will need to take a big hit. The LGA view is that everything else will face a cut of 16.5% in real terms. Others believe it could be 18.5%.’
The Guardian reports HERE that under a 10-point government plan to help councils cut spending – in response to the BBC survey – suggests that “arts and leisure services will be most vulnerable to cuts while homelessness, children’s social services and planning are likely to be more protected”.
Meanwhile Tony Travers, director of the Greater London group at the London School of Economics, says:
‘Nothing like this has happened for a generation… To minimise the impacts on the public… would require massive efficiencies in all service, higher charges for many and sharing back-office staff with other public bodies.’ More in The Telegraph HERE.
Heritage
The Times reports fears that historic treasures worth millions will be lost to the country after ‘the Government quietly halved its grant to the “fund of last resort” for heritage.’ Treasury pressure has forced the DCMS to reduce the £10 million previously allocated to the National Heritage Memorial Fund for next year to £5 million, meaning that the fund’s acquisition budget for next year is now in effect down to £1.7 million because £3.3 million of its funds are already committed to assisting the £50 million purchase of Titian’s Diana and Actaeon from the Duke of Sutherland. More HERE.
Radio
In a strongly worded letter to Mark Thompson, the Director-General, representatives of the music industry have said they were ‘surprised and alarmed’ by last week’s reports that the BBC is to close 6Music. Geoff Taylor and Tony Wandsworth; chief executive and chairman of the British Phonographic Industry have said:
’6 Music has established itself as a vital platform providing exposure to a wide range of emerging British music talent… There is no other radio station that is remotely comparable in scale or depth for showcasing new music... It is therefore vital to the artistic and cultural diversity of this country that the role of 6 Music as a taste-maker for the airwaves is preserved.’ More in the Times HERE; and in our Weekend News Summary HERE.
Whilst The Guardian thinks the 6 Music announcement has reminded people why they pay the licence fee, HERE; The Telegraph thinks the licence fee could be scrapped altogether under a Labour government, in response to Ben Bradshaw’s view that there is ‘good reason’ to have a debate as to whether the £3.6 billion annual licence fee is the ‘best funding mechanism’ for the BBC HERE. Further coverage of the BBC’s strategic review, or ‘election manifesto’, can be found in The Guardian HERE.
Tech
CeriseClub, a French internet company has said that illegal file sharing is a ‘national sport’. Southwest France is said to hide one of the highest rates of software piracy in the developed world. Poitou-Charentes, for instance, may be famed for its goat cheese, but it has been hailed by La Charente Libre, the local daily newspaper, as “champion of counterfeit software”.
Studies suggest that 42 per cent of software programmes are copied illegally in France, compared with 26 per cent in Britain and 27 per cent in Germany. In the southwest, the piracy rate was 49 per cent. The cost to business in France is estimated at £1.8 billion — by far the highest in the European Union, driven by an attitude of “Microsoft makes billions. It can afford to lose a few euros here and there”. More in The Times HERE, which also covers today the need to save music from “the twin ravages of illegal downloading and a lack of strategic direction” HERE; and the disproportionate effect of sharing on newcomers’ earnings HERE.
