Culture in Plymouth

David Cameron speech on tourism (culture)

tokwoid — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:51:36 +0000

The prime minister delivered a speech 12th Aug on the government view of tourism and what it means for the future economy and how Britain should position itself globally.

“For too long tourism has been looked down on as a second-class service sector. That’s just wrong,” he said. “Tourism is a fiercely competitive market, requiring skills, talent, enterprise … It’s fundamental to the rebuilding and rebalancing of our economy. It’s one of the best and fastest ways of generating the jobs we need so badly in this country.”

For the full transcript go to http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/speeches-and-transcripts/2010/08/pms-speech-on-tourism-54479

For comment/reporting

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2010/aug/12/david-cameron-speech-live

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10950167

New Culture minister gives first keynote speech

tokwoid — Sat, 22 May 2010 13:45:58 +0000

Jeremy Hunt - a gatherer?

Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, has given his first keynote speech.

He intends to place an order before Parliament in September that could see arts, heritage and sport each receiving an extra £50 million a year.

READ A FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE SPEECH HERE

SEE SPEECH HIGHLIGHTS ON YOUTUBE HERE

FOLLOW DCMS ON TWITTER HERE

Proposals
Under the order, the share of money going to each of the arts, heritage and sport good causes will increase to 20% and the Big Lottery Fund will receive the remaining 40%. He also proposes that the Big Lottery Fund will focus its support exclusively on the voluntary and community sectors.

“I want to get the Lottery back to how it was originally conceived,” he said. “The lottery was set up to fund grassroots initiatives, not as a pot of money for Ministers to dip into.”

Principles
Mr Hunt said three key principles would underpin future policy:

a mixed economy of public and private support for the arts, with stronger incentives to promote philanthropy
access to high quality arts for as many people as possible, through continued free admission to national museums and galleries and continued education programmes
a reaffirmation of the arm’s length principle, with no politicisation of funding decisions

Philanthropy The Culture Secretary also said that he wanted to make private giving to arts and culture easier by:

reforming Gift Aid
building on the successful Acceptance-in-lieu Scheme to make it possible for donors to give works of art to the nation during their lifetimes
rewarding high-performing arts organisations through longer-term funding deals, so reassuring sponsors and donors that their support would complement public investment

Passion
“I am totally passionate about the arts and culture in this country,” Mr Hunt explained. “For me culture is not just about the jobs in the creative industries, not just about its economic impact, and not just about the thing that’s enjoyed by the millions who go to the cinema, theatre and concerts every week, or visit our museums and galleries.
“Rather, it’s what defines us as a civilised nation. It helps us understand the world around us, explain it and sometimes escape from it – and we are all the better for it.”

Government spending on arts

tokwoid — Tue, 04 May 2010 20:00:40 +0000

Find the arts spending...

The Plymouth Culture Board recently got shown exactly how much of the nation’s money gets spent on arts – see if you can spot the indifference.

And the next time The Daily Mail harps on about how much public money gets spent on art, refer to this diagram…

Culture Forum Feedback

tokwoid — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 00:30:43 +0000

EU there

Feedback below after the recent Plymouth Culture Forum, with a great idea about collectively highlighting, identifying (and bigging up) our city Europewide:

Firstly, thanks for a really good set of presentations at the Forum meeting in the National Marine Aquarium.

I was particularly impressed with how Plymouth is now going to be marketed through Lloyd Northover.

I have one or two comments and observations from having worked in an EU project from 2004-2007 (EQUAL ESF funded project), with partners from Italy, Germany, Austria and Holland. At the opening conference in Turin, in 2004, I discovered that many of our partners had no idea where Plymouth was in the UK!

Ever since that “awakening”, when presenting to partners on other EU potential partnership projects, I open my power point with a map of the UK, specifically showing the lower half and where Plymouth is in relation to London, so that they know where Plymouth is on the map.

I have also added to this, inasmuch as telling potential partners what a wonderful part of the UK Plymouth is to live in and/or visit.

What impressed me a lot was the Northover presentation that highlighted all the good things about Plymouth. It will be so easy to incorporate this into my introduction to other potential EU partners in the future.

My comment is that there are many organisations in Plymouth who could do the same thing! If we ALL gave a consistent view of how great Plymouth is for its culture and diversity, we can reflect on the successes and positives, which, by association, reflect on the organisations that we represent.

If Lloyd Northover could put something together, a few slides, etc, from their presentation, for use by all as in introduction to visitors, potential clients/partners, etc, then we can concertedly deliver a powerful message that Plymouth truly is one of Europe’s most vibrant waterfront cities where a high quality of life is enjoyed by all. I think it is encumbent on us all to project this image, if we are to live it.

Put Plymouth on the map

Anything that the marketing gurus from Lloyd Northover can do to help us with this projection, will be greatly welcomed.

Thanks again for an inspiring forum meeting.

Best wishes

Graham Nicholls

Financial Controller

Plymouth & District Mind Association

Cultural Capital- A manifesto

tokwoid — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:03:07 +0000

Britain’s leading cultural and heritage organisations have joined together for the first time to launch their vision for the future in the document, Cultural Capital: A Manifesto for the Future. The publication shows how investing in culture and heritage can help Britain’s social and economic recovery from recession. It demonstrates with facts and figures that a fifteen-year period of investment has created a public appetite for culture that continues to grow, and that the arts, heritage, museums, libraries and archives make a strong contribution to the economic and social wellbeing of Britain.

The UK has the largest cultural economy in the world relative to GDP. Every £1 invested in culture produces £2. Two thirds of the adult population in the UK enjoy the arts, visit historic sites and go to museums and galleries. Of the top 10 UK visitor attractions, 8 are national museums

Follow the link to read the document- http://www.mla.gov.uk/news_and_views/press/releases/2010/~/media/Files/pdf/2010/news/Cultural_Capital_Manifesto

Tell your story of Plymouth – and influence the city’s new brand

tokwoid — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:49:43 +0000

contribute

Have you ever moaned off about Plymouth?

Do you want to have your say on how the city is represented in the future?

Now’s your chance.

Plymouth’s City Development Company has called in the branders to have a go at poor, label-less Plymouth.

Of course, we who live here know all about its good points – but the people about to brand our city aren’t telepathic.

They’ve embarked on an exercise to help people tell their stories of Plymouth, and in doing so are asking several questions about what you think of our city.

Like:

What 3 things in the city come to mind?
What 3 words best describe the city?
What 3 things define the city?
In a sentence, what does Plymouth mean to you?
In a sentence, what makes Plymouth different to anywhere else?
In a sentence, why wouldn’t you live anywhere else?

So if you’ve ever whinged about not being listened to, Lloyd Northover are all ears. They did Belfast a couple of years ago.

Join in this important consultation exercise by clicking here. Or sending your answers to the questions direct to contribute@forplymouth.com

And don’t say you weren’t asked. Spread the word, so we all get a chance to add in our two penn’eth.

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?

tokwoid — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:23:45 +0000

New Orleans by night

Plymouth has just hosted a quick visit by a couple of business leaders from New Orleans, Louisiana, US of A – who might want to link up with our Lil Ole city to make some bucks. For us both.

They’re interested in hooking up the Big Easy with the city that gave you the Mayflower, the steps that go with the Mayflower, the Pilgrims, and some great 1950s architecture (Click that link for a super-positive view of Plymouth’s buildings and Peninsula Art’s forthcoming festival in a Big National Newspaper!).

In the meantime, they hung out with the Barbican International Jazz and Blues Festival, and chewed the fat with TR2 and the Theatre Royal. Plus they checked out telly-makers TwoFour and web-video uplinkers Silverstream.

Hello Louis!

Watch this space for a televised, internet-streamed, transatlantic version of Hello Dolly on Plymouth’s Big Screen…

Of course, Louis Armstrong has been to Plymouth before, performing at the now decrepit Palace Theatre

We’re already connected to the Big Easy – jazz-architecture tours anyone?

Nationally significant art show in Plymouth right now

tokwoid — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:16:20 +0000

Sir Joshua Reynolds exhibition on now

If you’re intending to come in and see the major exhibition SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS THE ACQUISITION OF GENIUS there are just two weeks left to do so!

Don’t miss this opportunity to see the biggest art show the City Museum and Art Gallery has staged for some 15 years – while it’s on display right here in the City!

The Gallery is open from 10am to 5.30pm Tuesdays to Fridays and from 10am to 5pm on Saturdays. Admission is free. Free, we tell you!

The exhibition will close at 5pm on Saturday 20 February.

Also, consider nipping across the road to the sister exhibition Encountering Reynolds – Beyond the Museum at Peninsula Arts within the striking Levinsky Building.