Arts Group

More than 200 new arts jobs across London & Essex have been given the green light thanks to NDotM (New Deal of the Mind).

Working in partnership with a range of arts and cultural organisations including the British Library, Young Vic, Lyric Hammersmith, Notting Hill Mas and the Royal Court Theatre, NDotM successfully bid for funding through the government’s Future Jobs Fund which is aimed at helping find placements for young people who’ve been unemployed for six months or more.

167 people will be recruited through local Job Centres for the jobs in London. Meanwhile, 56 jobs have been created in association with Essex-based Theatre Resource which is one of the biggest disabled-led arts organisation in the UK.

Along with other placements announced previously, this latest announcement means that NDotM has helped identify and secure funding for over 300 jobs in the arts & creative sectors since its launch last March. That’s more jobs than days NDotM has been in existence.

Martin Bright, NDotM’s founder and Chief Executive said, “This is a great start to 2010 and means that 200 young people will be starting work in theatres, libraries, design studios and arts organisations who would otherwise have been stuck on the dole , their creative potential wasted.”

The people who’ll fill the first 30 FJF funded placements at London’s Southbank Centre are expected to begin work in early March.

www.newdealofthemind.com

The Guardian has coverage of announcements from Shadow culture secretary Jerermy Hunt indicating what a Conservative victory at the general election could mean for the shape of the Arts. Contrary to claims (last year at the launch of the National Campaign for the Arts Manifesto launch) by Ed Vaizey, Shadow Minister for Culture, it appears our sector may also be subject to cuts in funding in response to dwindling public finances.

The coverage is led by the Tory aspiration to enter into a “Golden Age” for the Arts, through encouraging the emergence of a culture of philanthropy equivalent to our American equivalents. This would seem to set us up for tax-related benefits  as well as other measures recommended by Sir John Tusa’s Arts Task Force in their report (see www.artstaskforce.co.uk ). Whilst undoubtebly a good ideal, this is largely unproven in the UK as a model, and would be a massive step to take from recent year’s reliance of much of the Arts on public subsidy. Whether this would be a phased movement, looking to replace public with private funding is not made clear, though as journalist Polly Toynbee commented at the Bright Blue event in Portcullus House this week – cuts are seldom able to be able to be carried out in the the surgical manner that might be desired to produce the “leaner” organizations Hunt perhaps rightly espouses.

Singled out for criticism by Tory policy is the proportion of state funding that goes on the administration of the Arts grant distributors, with organizations including the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England spending more than 10% of their income in this way. The Arts Council is restructuring to reduce this, but the premise does call in to question the balance of spending across other similar bodies.

The Conservative policy of returning more lottery funding to the Arts is re-emphasised, as is a committment to championing excellence in the arts (perhaps responding to much of the criticism levelled at public art initiatives’ over-emphasis of diversity and localism over quality of practice).

And last but not least, we are assured that free museum entry “is here to stay under a Conservative government”.

Following a warm reception for the Liberal Democrats, who invited us to input on their own Arts Policy, the Arts Group is continuing to speak to the Shadow DCMS team around issues relating to internships and STEM funding following discussions at the Conservative Conservative Arts and Creative Industries Network and other events with Shadow Arts Minister Ed Vaizey. Watch this space for formal responses!

The Guardian article is here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/jan/1Following a warm reception from the Conservatives, who have invited us to their network events, and the Liberal Democrats, who invited us to input on their own Arts Policy, the Arts Group is continuing to speak to the Shadow DCMS team around issues relating to internships and STEM funding. Watch this space for formal responses!4/arts-funding-cuts-proposed-conservatives

Report from Chair of the Arts Group, Kit Friend:

The discussion around the Arts and Education to inform the Liberal Democrat’s Policies was productive, I called in particular for the securing of FE/Foundation funding, and a serious approach to dealing with the catastrophically low graduate premium for the Arts, and the Broke & Broken HE funding system. The calibre of other invitees was fantastic, with much experience brought to the table. Future discussion and progress with the party seems positive, and we should be able to look forward to at least one of the big 3 producing decent policy ahead of the general election for us – regrettably the incumbent ministers in the DCMS have been unable to make time to meet with a delegation from the Arts Group, but we hope after the expenses debacle is over this may be more likely. Other parties: you’re welcome to our advice!

Other attendees at the discussion:

Floella Benjamin – TV presenter
Eliza Bonham Carter – Curator, Royal Academy Schools
Dinah Caine – CEO, Skillset
Christina Coker – CEO, Youth Music
Paul Collard – National Chairman, Creative Partnerships
Kate Cross – Director, egg theatre
Laura Gander-Howe – Director Learning & Skills, Arts Council England
Shân Mclennan – Creative Director, Learning & Participation Southbank
Caroline Miller – Director, Dance UK
David Blagbrough, Inspire!

Members of the Arts Group’s constituent Unions attended the NUS HE Funding Lobby of Parliament on Wednesday 18th March to call for an end to the Broke & Broken Funding system, and to highlight specific issues for students of the Arts.

Members of SUARTS met the following reception:

Kit Friend, Campaigns & Communications Officer, met Rudi Vis, Labour MP for Finchley & Golders Green who was shocked to be told about the small or even negative graduate premium currently expected for those studying the Arts and vowed to pass on our concerns to the Secretary of State – watch this space!

Laura Lenander, Byam Shaw Student Rep, met David Lidington, Member of Parliament for Aylesbury, Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister, who was well aware of the ‘gap’ in funding for the lower middle-class students, in fact he said he reguarly had parents contacting him concerned about this issue.He was also very aware of how the HE system in England is part of an international Market and we needed to up our game if we are to survive this global industry. He wasn’t keen on the marketization of HE. But also recognised that something needs to be done. He also said that he, and the conservative party as a whole were not going to be making any promises about how they will spend money, saying some unpopular decisions would need to be made to reduce the country’s debt… He was happy to take away the information on broke and broken and was keen that a wider debate should happen about HE when the review of funding takes place.

Helen Gimber, SU President, met with Meg Hillier MP’s researcher, she said that Meg was against different institutions being able to charge different amounts of fees, and agreed the fees going up would limiit the range of people that would go into higher education. Helen highlighted the acute issues that arts students face, and all the recent funding cuts that have affected arts institutions disproportionately, she felt that Meg was sympathetic of this.

For more information about the Lobby from NUS click here

For more information on our HE Funding Campaign click here