ONE HUNDRED PERCENT!!

A great guy, a dancer for whom I have huge respect was moved to have a rant-ette on facebook about the fact that Newcastle City Council has proposed a total cut of arts funding towards a saving of £90m in their "Austerity Measures" response. It prompted the following response from me...


"The Arts" continue to be the first lamb for sacrifice. I think we 'arts workers' are often complicit in what happens to us. All those reasonable arguments about protecting essential services ARE reasonable. Present a paediatric cardiac unit next to a picture of a performer and ask the public to choose which to cut and its a done deal. But I don't think we should have EVER thought of ourselves as anything but ESSENTIAL. I have witnessed and read and contributed to countless consultations and research that identify the contribution of arts and culture to this region's economy. Doesn't anybody READ this stuff? If they did how can the council be contemplating a TOTAL cut of support for arts in Newcastle?

We MUST, once and for all, show the value of the contribution we make to 

our city and the region it serves. The arts are NOT a luxury item to be 

abstained from during lean times. Out of our sector may just come some new 

solutions to the economic mess imposed upon us! Let the council work with 

the managers of arts and community venues and services whose whole 

professional lives are about squeezing every drop from every penny they 

receive and I bet we'll come up with a whole new landscape


A BIG potential- even likely obstacle is that "the new landscape" might just end up featuring some very different landmarks run in very different ways than before. Some pipe dreams may well be revealed to be just that, whilst accountability to the people and the social impact of council spending on arts may become higher priorities as it should be across all council spending. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bon Voyage, Mon Enfant!

Image
It's hard dealing with the lack of communication let alone discussion of my Godson's immediate future. Its hard not to view my part in his recent past as a failure. The point is that it is over and I need to move on whilst there is still some relationship left between us. I'm getting quite 'Zen' in covering my frustrations with calm.  My Godson has always been unwaveringly CERTAIN of any decision concerning his learning that was opposed to mine. He was SURE that the scant attention he gave to his studies would at least yield passes. He dismissed my protestations that higher grades offered greater prospects as irrelevant. In exasperation I finally  reminded him and his father that he was here to go to school and that when that ended he would leave my home. His school career recently ended when he did not secure the grades to enrol into the final year.  My Godson is and always has been capable of cruising through a standard UK education, but it wasn't impo...
Read more

Waiting!

Image
I love working with other people and I absolutely hate it too! I love it when I get people together who agree to do stuff but I get twitchy when they're late and I remember that everyone's doing everything "at risk" unless I'm fortunate-enough to have cash with which to bribe them! Yesterday I completed my proposal for our new proposed Main Project- I'm really pleased with it and very excited to submit it, but it would be a mistake not to share it with my colleagues- they're a great bunch when I can get their attention! I have always to remember that they're not as committed to the company as I am: they joined as a favour to me initially and though they've all benefited from it at some time in the last five years... except Wayne who we all forgot was on the Board -including him lol I can't expect anything from them really. So, I get into waiting for responses and starting other things and forgetting that I'm waiting (I'd get annoyed...
Read more

Laurieston Arrival

Image
I doubt I'll be able to express my true feelings at actually arriving at Laurieston Hall for an Edward Carpenter Community, Gay Men's Week. I'm one of MANY people who regard Laurieston as my "Spirtual Home"- a palpable feeling hits me when I turn off the road onto the drive to the Hall. I was all the more keen to come this year when I discovered that this MIGHT be the last 'Season' that the Lauriestonians welcome visitors- at least for a while, Edward Carpenter Community have been coming here for 31 years. Despite a 12 year gap that ended last year, this is my 15th ECC event and almost all of them have been at Laurieston. There are over 60 gay men here from all over UK. So, getting here was a doddle from Newcastle- apart from taking a wrong turning off the M6 and refusing to trust the Sat Nav when I got to Laurieston (from a new direction) and going 4 miles AWAY from the house until I realised... Oh, and I spun off the road on a country road approching...
Read more