A week on, David Hawkins assesses what came out of the Tory Party Conference
In cultural terms, what have we learnt at the end of this Conservative conference, the last before the General Election?
- David Cameron: “Look at Britain in 2009, it is in so many ways a great place to live: Great culture, and arts, great diversity, great sport”
- George Osborne announced that we’re going to have cuts to Whitehall and local government of 1/3 These cuts will be passed onto the Arts Council as confirmed informally by Ed Vaizey during the week
- Michael Gove: the Shadow Education Secretary (and member of the NCF Advisory Committee) announced the intention to change the Human Rights Act so that excluded school pupils who put two fingers up to authority and who are then expelled cannot claim their rights have been infringed, the development of a troops to teachers project to get ex-army personnel into our schools, proper teaching of British history, the removal of those who have messed-up our qualifications system and within the first 100 days the removal of sink schools from present management.
There is indeed a greater role for the private sector in filling the void here. In education moving all schools over to Academy status and giving head teachers more freedom to engage with businesses for funding, mentoring and partnership work will give the commercial sector a renewed role in our communities and bring to life David Cameron’s core belief in “Social Responsibility”.
In terms of arts council cuts – it’s a case of short-term losses could lead to long-term gains. The arts community cannot be immune from the present fiscal pressures – we are (indeed) all in this together, as George Osborne said Tuesday. Cultural organisations need to get savvier in building relations with business, commercialising and marketing their work, understanding that they are as much a part of the Third Sector rather than some precious salient beyond the market as welfare reform or mental health NGO’s, embracing innovation and enterprise and in building a greater understanding of the need to sell to funders the role of culture in the economy whilst moving beyond fundraising to a more sophisticated managed philanthropy model.
Many in the arts world believe they understand modern managed philanthropy when in actual fact they are talking about little more than glorified fundraising. True venture or strategic philanthropy involves working on specific goals, projects or problems, setting KPI’s to establish success and managing funds, time and skills to then deliver against these targets. The key policy elements of philanthropy: greater clarification of tax incentives, educating would-be philanthropists regarding the social norms for giving and finally encouraging the wealth and commercial banking industry to work together to develop the business case for giving, are vital. David Cameron’s Commission on Philanthropy will review these key elements; let’s hope the arts sector can raise its game.
Posted in Commentary 1 comment
Submitted by peterwhittle on Thu, 2009-10-15 12:27.
NCF Director Peter Whittle will be attending the Conservative Party Conference this evening, Monday, and tomorrow Tuesday 6th October. Should you be there and want to get in touch, you can contact him best on prwhittle@btinternet.com
Posted in Commentary add new comment
Submitted by peterwhittle on Mon, 2009-10-05 12:32.
In America, ABC News has reported how a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) conference call in which artists were asked to help support President Obama's agenda -- a call that at least one good government group called "inappropriate" -- has prompted the White House to issue new guidelines to prevent such a call from ever happening again.
"The point of the call was to encourage voluntary participation in a national service initiative by the arts community," White House spokesman Bill Burton told ABC News. "To the extent there was any misunderstanding about what the NEA may do to support the national service initiative, we will correct it. We regret any comments on the call that may have been misunderstood or troubled other participants. We are fully committed to the NEA's historic mission, and we will take all steps necessary to ensure that there is no further cause for questions or concerns about that commitment."
In the call, Yosi Sergant, then the NEA's communications director, seemed to encourage the listeners to create art to further the president's goals by promoting the United We Serve campaign and create art specific to areas of health care, education and the environment.
"I would encourage you to pick something, whether it’s health care, education, the environment, you know, there’s four key areas that the corporation has identified as the areas of service," Sergant said on the call.
Buffy Wicks, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, was also on the call, and thanked the artists "for being on the call and just a deep deep appreciation for all the work you all put into the campaign for the two-plus years we all worked together.”
At another point, Michael Skolnick, political director for hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, said, "I’m hoping that through this group, and the goal of all this, and the goal of this phone call, is through this group we can create a stronger community amongst ourselves to get involved in things we’re passionate about as we did during the campaign. But to continue to get involved in those things, to support some of the president’s initiatives, but also to do things that we are passionate about and to push the president and push his administration."
White House officials say they are enacting specific steps to make sure such a call never happens again.
After listening to the transcript and the audio posted at the conservative website www.BigHollywood.Breitbart.com -- secretly recorded by Los Angeles filmmaker Patrick Courrielche -- Melanie Sloan, executive director of the good-government group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), told ABC News that the call was "disturbing."
"It's not what the NEA was created for, it's not supposed to be helping the president's agenda; that's not the point," she added.
The Los Angeles-based NCF contributor Charles Winecoff comments on the issue today on Big Hollywood:
'Whatever happened to speaking truth to power? Or “power to the people?” Today, the NEA is nothing more than yet another tentacle of Obama’s massive stimulus monster, strangling individuality, originality, innovation – and hope.'
Posted in Commentary add new comment
Submitted by peterwhittle on Wed, 2009-09-23 07:59.
On November 23rd 2009, British film industry will honour men and women of the armed forces by launching their biggest ever charity DVD initiative.
Retailing at £9.99, HEROES: The Greatest War Movies Ever is being produced with the aim of raising over £1 million for wounded soldiers. £7 out of every DVD sold will be donated straight to the Help for Heroes charity.
The archives have been thrown open to the public who are being asked to decide their favourite films to help compile the DVD. The Great Escape, Apocalypse Now, Lawrence of Arabia: it's hoped that HEROES will contain the definitive collection of the best scenes from all time classics.
You can vote online at www.heroesdvd.co.uk
Every penny of profit will go to the Help for Heroes charity. The money raised will go towards building new Army Recovery Centres (ARC), which will provide care for seriously wounded or long term sick soldiers.
Says Ross Kemp: 'The money raised from this DVD will go towards helping some very brave young men and women who have been wounded in the service of our country. They do not consider themselves to be Heroes; we know differently. We may not be able to prevent them getting wounded, but by supporting projects like this one we can do something to help them get better.'
Posted in Commentary add new comment
Submitted by peterwhittle on Sat, 2009-09-19 07:58.
