Culture, Creativity and Media content in the 2010 Conservative Manifesto

April 14th, 2010 - 
1 Comment
Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Below are the sector relevant parts of the Conservative manifesto

Make Britain the leading hi-tech exporter in Europe

We will implement key recommendations from Sir James Dyson’s Review into how to achieve our goal of making Britain Europe’s leading hi-tech exporter, including:

  • encouraging the establishment of joint university-business research and development institutes;
  • initiating a multi-year Science and Research
  • Budget to provide a stable investment climate for Research Councils;

Page 11

Create a more balanced economy

We will create the conditions for higher exports, business investment and saving as a share of GDP.

• creating a better focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths

(STEM) subjects in schools; and,

• establishing a new prize for engineering.

Research and development tax credits will be improved and refocused on hi-tech companies, small businesses and new start-ups. At the same time, we will give strong backing to the growth industries that generate high-quality jobs around the country.

We will improve the performance of UK Trade and Investment with a renewed focus on high priority sectors and markets where the return on taxpayers’ money is highest. We will regularly compare government support for exporters and inward investment against the services provided by our competitors.

Page 11

Boost small business

In the end, it is not the state that creates sustainable employment – it is business people. And small businesses are especially important to the UK’s economic recovery and to tackling unemployment. Government can help boost enterprise by lowering tax rates, reducing regulation and improving workers’ skills.

As well as stopping Labour’s jobs tax, for the first two years of a Conservative government any new business will pay no Employers National Insurance on the first ten employees it hires during its first year.

To support small businesses further, we will:

  • make small business rate relief automatic; and,
  • We will support would-be entrepreneurs through a new programme – Work for Yourself – which will give unemployed people direct access to business mentors and substantial loans.

Page 16

Improve skills and strengthen higher education

Developing economies are able to provide highly-skilled work at a fraction of the cost of British labour. The only way we can compete is by dramatically improving the skills of Britain’s workforce, yet thousands of young people leave school every year without the skills they need to get a good job.

A Conservative government will not accept another generation being consigned to an uncertain future of worklessness and dependency.

We will promote fair access to universities, the professions, and good jobs for young people from all backgrounds. We will use funding that currently supports Labour’s ineffective employment and training schemes, such as Train2Gain, to provide our own help for people looking to improve their skills. This will allow us to:

  • create 400,000 work pairing, apprenticeship, college and training places over two years;
  • give SMEs a £2,000 bonus for every apprentice they hire;
  • establish a Community Learning Fund to help people restart their careers; and create a new all-age careers service so that everyone can access the advice they need.

To meet the skills challenge we face, the training sector needs to be given the freedom to innovate. We will set colleges free from direct state control and abolish many of the further education quangos Labour have put in place.

Public funding will follow the choices of students and be delivered by a single agency, the Further Education Funding Council.

Universities contribute enormously to the economy. But not all of this contribution comes directly – it can come from fundamental research with no immediate application – and universities also have a crucial cultural role.

We will ensure that Britain’s universities enjoy the freedom to pursue academic excellence and focus on raising the quality of the student experience. To enable this to happen, we will:

  • delay the implementation of the Research Excellence Framework so that it can be reviewed – because of doubts about whether there is a robust and acceptable way of measuring the impact of all research;
  • consider carefully the results of Lord Browne’s review into the future of higher education funding, so that we can unlock the potential of universities to transform our economy, to enrich students’ lives through teaching of the highest quality, and to advance scholarship; and,
  • provide 10,000 extra university places this year, paid for by giving graduates incentives to pay back their student loans early on an entirely voluntary basis.

Page 17

The Conservative Party believes in lower and simpler taxation. That is why we will ensure that by far the largest part of the burden of dealing with the deficit falls on lower spending rather than higher taxes. Cutting the deficit is the most urgent task we need to undertake if we are to get the economy moving, but it is not enough. So, initially, we will cut the headline rate of corporation tax to 25p and the small companies’ rate to 20p, funded by reducing complex reliefs and allowances.

Encourage enterprise

We will improve Britain’s international rankings for tax competitiveness and business regulation.

Over time, we hope to reduce these rates further. Our ambition is to create the most competitive tax system in the G20 within five years.

We will restore the tax system’s reputation for simplicity, stability and predictability. In our first Budget, we will set out a five year road map for the direction of corporate tax reform, providing greater certainty and stability to

businesses. We will create an independent Office of Tax Simplification to suggest reforms to the tax system.

  • We will take a series of measures to encourage Foreign Direct Investment into the UK, including:
  • making the UK a more attractive  location for multinationals by simplifying the complex Controlled Foreign Companies rules;
  • consulting on moving towards a territorial corporate tax system that only taxes profits generated in the UK;
  • and, creating an attractive tax environment for intellectual property.

Page 19

Spread prosperity

We want Britain to become a European hub for hi-tech, digital and creative industries – but this can only happen if we have the right infrastructure in place. Establishing a superfast broadband network throughout the UK could generate 600,000 additional jobs and add £18 billion to Britain’s GDP.

We will scrap Labour’s phone tax and instead require BT and other infrastructure providers to allow the use of their assets to deliver superfast broadband across the country. If necessary, we will consider using the part of the licence

fee that is supporting the digital switchover to fund broadband in areas that the market alone will not reach.

We will give councils and businesses the power to form their own business-led local enterprise partnerships instead of RDAs. Where local councils and businesses want to maintain regionally-based enterprise partnerships, they will be able to.

Local government should be at the heart of our economic recovery, so we will allow councils to:

  • keep above-average increases in business rate revenue so that communities which go for growth can reap the benefits;
  • give councils new powers to introduce further discounts on business rates; and,
  • introduce an immediate freeze of, and inquiry into, the Government’s punitive programme of back-dating business rates on ports.

Page 25

Philanthropy

Even in these difficult times, the British people have demonstrated their desire to give money and time to good causes. We will introduce new ways to increase philanthropy, and use the latest insights from behavioural economics to encourage people to make volunteering and community participation something they do on a regular basis.

The National Lottery

We will restore the National Lottery to its original purpose and, by cutting down on administration costs, make sure more money goes to good causes. The Big Lottery Fund will focus purely on supporting social action through the voluntary and community sector, instead of Ministers’ pet projects as at present. Sports, heritage and the arts will each see their original allocations of 20 per cent of good cause money restored.

Page 39

We will pay the student loan repayments for top Maths and Science graduates for as long as they remain teachers, by redirecting some of the current teacher training budget;

We will create 20,000 additional young apprenticeships and allow schools and colleges to offer workplace training;

Page 52

Curtail the Quango State

Under Labour, the quango state has flourished. Government figures show that there are over 700 unelected bodies spending £46 billion every year, but this does not even include the range of advisory bodies, public corporations, taskforces and regional government bodies that have sprung up under Labour. We believe that Ministers should be responsible for government policy, not unelected bureaucrats. Any quangos that do not perform a technical function or a function that requires political impartiality, or act independently to establish facts, will be abolished. To increase the scrutiny of quangos, we will:

  • give Select Committees the right to hold confirmation hearings for major public appointments, including the heads of quangos; examine the case for giving Select Committees the power to prevent increases in quango budgets; and,
  • ensure that the National Audit Office has full access to the BBC’s accounts.

Page 70

Make politics more local

We want to give individuals more direct control over how they are governed. So, mirroring our reforms at the national level, we will give residents the power to instigate local referendums on any local issue if 5 per cent of the local population sign up, and they will also be able to veto any proposed high council tax increases.

We will stop Labour’s plans to impose supplementary business rates on firms if a majority do not give their consent.

Nothing underlines the powerlessness that many communities feel more than the loss of essential services, like post offices and pubs, because of decisions made by distant bureaucrats. Our new ‘community right to buy’ scheme will give local people the power to protect any community assets that are threatened with closure. In addition, we will:

Give people a ‘right to bid’ to run any community service instead of the state; and, we will give democratically accountable local government much greater power to improve their citizens’ lives by:

  • giving local councils a ‘general power of competence’, so that they have explicit authority to do what is necessary to improve their communities;
  • ending ring-fencing so that funding can be spent on local priorities;
  • scrapping the hundreds of process targets Labour have imposed on councils;
  • ending the bureaucratic inspection regime that stops councils focusing on residents’ main concerns;
  • scrapping Labour’s uncompleted plans to impose unwieldy and expensive unitary councils and to force the regionalisation of the fire service;
  • ending the ‘predetermination rules’ that prevent councillors speaking up about issues that they have campaigned on; and,
  • encouraging the greater use of ward budgets for councillors.

We have seen that a single municipal leader can inject dynamism and ambition into their communities. So, initially, we will give the citizens in each of England’s twelve largest cities the chance of having an elected mayor.

Big decisions should be made by those who are democratically accountable, not by remote and costly quangos. We will abolish the Government Office for London as part of our plan to devolve more power downwards to the London Boroughs and the Mayor of London. Decentralising control must go hand in hand with creating much greater transparency in local government. Power without information is not enough. We will implement fully the Sustainable Communities Act, and reintroduce the Sustainable Communities Act (Amendment) Bill as government legislation, to give people greater information on, and control over, what is being spent by each government agency in their area.

Our plans to decentralise power will only work properly if there is a strong, independent and vibrant local media to hold local authorities to account. We will sweep away the rules that stop local newspapers owning other local media platforms and create a new network of local television stations. And we will tighten the rules on taxpayer-funded publicity spending by town halls.

Page 76

City features

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland, and home to 13,000 businesses, including some of Britain’s most successful firms. For example, eight of the ten largest insurance companies in the UK have an office in Glasgow, and the city is also home to leading technology, energy and creative businesses. Glasgow is the hub of an important entrepreneurial sector, which includes innovative start-ups in fields such as mobile telephony and computer games. Glasgow’s commercial strength also extends to manufacturing, and the city continues to be a

global leader in hi-tech ship building.

Page 1

Brighton and Hove is one of Britain’s most creative and diverse cities. The city hosts over 50 festivals each year, including England’s largest annual arts festival, and boasts some of the top live performance venues in the country. It is also home to a large number of creative industry companies, including some of Britain’s leading digital media businesses. Brighton and Hove also has the highest proportion of same-sex households of any city in the UK, and the annual Pride Festival attracts more than 120,000 visitors to the city each year.

Page 60

Manchester was the epicentre of the industrial revolution, and the first industrialised city in the world. Today, the city is a national symbol of successful urban regeneration. Over the past three decades, Manchester has undergone extensive urban renewal, transforming the city’s canals, mills and warehouses into vibrant new commercial, residential, and cultural spaces – including the creation of the Imperial War Museum North (pictured). As a result of this regeneration, Manchester is one of Britain’s most dynamic cities, and has been voted amongst the best places in the country to locate a business.

Page 100

Posted in:
Policy

Culture Creativity and Media content in the 2010 Labour Manifesto

April 14th, 2010 - 
No Comments
Tags:
, , , , , , , , , ,

Below are the sector relevant parts of the Labour manifesto.

Page 1.7

Broadband Britain

Britain must be a world leader in the development of broadband. We are investing in the most ambitious plan of any industrialised country to ensure a digital Britain for all, extending access to every home and business.

We will reach the long-term vision of superfast broadband for all through a public-private partnership in three stages: first, giving virtually every household in the country a broadband service of at least two megabytes per second by 2012; second, making possible superfast broadband for the vast majority of Britain in  partnership with private operators, with Government investing over £1 billion in the next seven years; and lastly reaching the final ten per cent using satellites and mobile broadband.

Because we are determined that every family and business, not just some, should benefit, we will raise revenue to pay for this from a modest levy on fixed telephone lines. And we will continue to work with business, the BBC and other broadcasting providers to increase take-up of broadband and to ensure Britain  becomes a leading digital economy.

Page 3.4

Barriers to social mobility will be tackled by giving disadvantaged families free access to broadband to support their child’s learning.

Page 6.3

In today’s fast-changing world, parents want to be confident they have the information and choices they need to protect their children. We will continue to promote internet safety for children, building on the recommendations of Dr Tanya Byron’s review. We will support parents who challenge aggressive or sexualised commercial marketing. We will ask  Consumer Focus to develop a website for parents to register their concerns about sexualised products aimed at their children.

Page 6.5

free TV licences for the over-75s;

Page 7.2

The next stage of national renewal

  • A golden decade of sport with the 2012 Olympics as a great national and world-wide celebration.
  • Registered Supporters Trusts enabled to buy stakes in their club bringing mutualism to the heart of football.
  • Operational independence for major museums and galleries, with more lottery funding returning to the arts, sport and culture after 2012.
  • Protection for the post offices and pubs on which community life depends.
  • The BBC’s independence upheld; and Britain equipped with a world-leading digital and broadband infrastructure.

Page 7.3 onwards

Arts, culture and museums

We have made unprecedented investment in Britain’s cultural life, widening access by introducing free admission to museums and galleries. Every child and young person should be entitled to five hours of art, music and culture per week, through learning to play a musical instrument, visiting local museums and joining film clubs, or taking part in local theatre.

Through Creative Partnerships we are ensuring that young people in the most deprived parts of the country are able to fulfil their artistic talents by working with local arts and cultural organisations.

We have provided the first nationwide programme of free theatre to young people; now we will build on the success of the National Theatre’s £10 Season to work with theatres and sponsors to provide reduced-rate tickets for theatrical productions around Britain. Our national cultural life and creative industries can prosper only by developing young artistic talent. Creative Bursaries will support the most artistically gifted young people in their early professional careers.

So that our cultural facilities remain world-class, charities, businesses and cultural organisations must collaborate more closely in the future. We will review how incentives for philanthropic support can be strengthened. Our major museums and galleries should be operationally independent of government, so we will legislate to ensure their managerial and financial autonomy. We will maintain our commitment to free admissions, encouraging people of all ages and a wide range of backgrounds to visit. Every child will have lifetime library membership from birth. Britain is enriched by its unique historical heritage. We will review the structures that oversee English Heritage, putting mutual principles at the heart of its governance so that people can have a direct say over the protection and maintenance of Britain’s built historical legacy.

We will give public institutions new rights to borrow works of art from the national collection, so that more people can benefit from access to our national artistic heritage.

National Lottery funding is more in tune with people’s priorities than ever. We will promote greater public involvement in the way that National Lottery proceeds are spent on good  causes. A proportion of Lottery funding is going to the Olympics. After 2012, this proportion will return to culture, heritage and sport.

Page 7.6

Britain’s creative industries

In every nation and region of Britain a wealth of creative talent – in industries ranging from film to fashion, design and video games – has flourished, and creative industries now account for ten per cent of the national economy. The strength of Britain’s film industry is a source of pride.

Through Labour’s film tax credit we have ensured that Britain – with its unique range of skills and facilities – is the right place to invest in film production. So that films can be enjoyed more widely too, we will maintain the film tax credit and create a merged British Film Institute and UK Film Council to establish a single body to promote film production and film heritage.

Subject to state aid clearance, we will introduce a tax relief for the UK video games industry.

We will support film festivals around the country, and establish a new biennial Festival of Britain, beginning in 2013, showcasing our major cultural achievements and young British talent across all of our creative industries.

The BBC is the most admired and trusted broadcaster in the world: respected internationally for its objectivity and its creative excellence, and here in Britain as a pillar of our cultural life.

We support an independent and world-class BBC at the heart of a vibrant public broadcasting system. Our strong support for its editorial independence and the licence fee that finances the BBC’s programmes and activities will continue. The BBC Trust should fully involve the public in decision-making.

The licence-fee is guaranteed for the ten-year Royal Charter that took effect on 1 January 2007. Channel 4 will continue as a public-service broadcaster providing distinctive competition to the BBC, alongside ITV and Channel 5. We are committed to maintaining plurality in regional news provision. We will fund three regional news programme pilots from the digital switchover under-spend in the current licence-fee period.

The digital revolution is transforming the world of broadcasting. We are working with the BBC and Digital UK to ensure that TV’s digital switch-over takes place smoothly by 2012, providing financial support and helping elderly people and the most vulnerable households in the UK.

To ensure we preserve competition and protect children and consumers on the Internet, we will safeguard the independence of Ofcom. We are extending broadband access to every business and home, ensuring universal access within a decade to high-speed broadband across the country. We will update the intellectual property framework that is crucial to the creative industries – and take further action to tackle online piracy.

Posted in:
Policy

Weekly email 25th March 2010

April 12th, 2010 - 
No Comments
Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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

Posted in:
Weekly Email

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

The Future of the Arts with a Conservative Government

February 22nd, 2010 - 
3 Comments
Tags:
, , , , ,

Jeremy and Ed have launched our arts proposals today, as they publish a policy paper on our plans for the sector. Our approach is to provide coherent and sustained support for the arts base centred on the following key principles:

  1. To secure long term funding for the arts; based on the mixed economy and the arm’s length principle which ensures they have the resources to carry them through the good times and the bad.
  2. To promote excellence in the arts through greater trust and independence for our arts organisations.
  3. To use technology and a more coherent approach to arts funding in schools to enable access – we believe as many people as possible should enjoy the arts in all their varied forms in this country.

Ed said:

“Under Labour the arts have not been give the priority they deserve. We cannot go on like this. The arts need coherent and sustained support in order to consolidate and build on their achievements… Conservatives are passionate about the arts and if we are lucky enough to form the next Government, I look forward to working with the sector to create funding stability and promote excellence and access.”

Jeremy has discussed our plans with Charlotte Higgins in the Guardian – you can read the full intervew HERE, and Charlotte’s discussion of it HERE. The Guardian are also running a ‘have your say’ HERE, which you could join in, although we would rather you told us what you think here on our blog, by signing in and posting in our comments section below.

You can download the full paper here: The Future of the Arts

Posted in:
Policy

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

£19.8m of treasures boost public collections

November 6th, 2009 - 
Comments Off
Tags:
,

Modern British paintings and old masters crown year of achievement for government’s Acceptance in Lieu scheme. Paintings by three giants of current British art, David Hockney, Frank Auerbach and Sir Howard Hodgkin are some of the many exceptional cultural treasures that have come into public ownership this year through the Acceptance in Lieu Scheme.

The Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) report for 2008/09, which is published today, records a year of outstanding achievement despite the economic turbulence of the later months with transfers to the nation to the value of £19.8 million, writing off £10.8 million of tax.

The government scheme, administered by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), allows those liable to Inheritance Tax to pay their tax bill by offering important heritage objects to the nation.  In 2008/09 thirty-six cases were completed, the highest number for three years and a wide range of important paintings and archives have been brought into public ownership for the enjoyment of everyone.

The items saved for the nation comprised works by Titian and Van Dyck, Guardi and Millet, Reynolds and Gainsborough, as well as, for the first time, a number of works by living artists and some that have never been seen by the public before. Other historic treasures include Roman antiquities and archive correspondence of an early 19th-century prime minister with letters from Lord Nelson and the papers of a Nobel Prize winner.

We think the Acceptance in Lieu scheme is excellent and we are considering ways to build on its success.

Posted in:
Uncategorized

Jeremy announces our plans to set musems and galleries free from Government interferance

October 28th, 2009 - 
Comments Off
Tags:
,

Jeremy spoke at  Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre this morning and set out our plans to reclassify Museums and Art Galleries that are currently classed as Non-Departmental Public Bodies so they have greater independence from Government.

He also outlined plans to streamline the heritage sector. He said:

“We need to re-examine the administrative status of our foremost museums and galleries. They are technically “quangoes” – but in fact they are nothing of the sort. They are cultural organisations for which stewardship of the nation’s assets combines with a specific fund-raising remit. As such rules like year-end requirements to use or lose budgets are totally inappropriate. Likewise the requirement to hand back to the Treasury any funds raised, for which they then need to resecure permission to spend.

“So I can today announce that we intend to introduce a Museums and Heritage Bill if we win the next election. This will contain the key elements of heritage protection reform contained in the Heritage Protection Bill. This includes reducing the bureaucracy of the current system by establishing a single system for designating heritage buildings, monuments and landscapes; introducing a fairer and more transparent online decision making; and greater local decision-making.

“But the new Bill should also establish a new administrative status for non-departmental public bodies within the cultural and heritage sectors. This will recognise their role as public organisations with responsibility to steward the nation’s assets. But it will also allow them the independence to be truly effective and entrepreneurial fundraising bodies. They must have both the ability and responsibility to raise money both for capital projects and also for endowments to give them funding security over the long term.”

More HERE and the full transcript of his speech is  availible HERE on our Shadow DCMS policy website.

Posted in:
Uncategorized