Winter 2010 Newsletter

Greetings from the glorious Southbank Hut with much good news to share which will warm the coldest of these February days.

More Jobs than Days

We were absolutely delighted to get the go ahead for more than 200 new arts jobs across London & Essex. Working in partnership with a range of arts and cultural organisations including the British Library, Young Vic, Lyric Hammersmith, Notting Hill Mas Bands Association and the Royal Court Theatre, NDotM successfully bid for funding through the government’s Future Jobs Fund.

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

This means that along with other placements we’ve already announced, 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 which is pretty amazing as Martin Bright, our founder and Chief Executive said, “What a brilliant start to 2010. It means 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.”

We’re looking forward to meeting the people who’ll fill the first 30 FJF funded placements here at the Southbank Centre early next month.

Think Tank Clash

Still at the Southbank, we’ve been modestly accepting the metaphorical bouquets that came our way after the first Think Tank Clash at the Purcell Room on Feb 9th.  The event was sold out, but that’s not surprising as it was chaired by Rory Bremner whose wit, humour and diligent homework made it a great evening and we hope, the first of many more.

We won’t blow our own trumpets, see what others thought – Sunder Katwala has a good account of the event on his Next Left blog and Reform’s Dale Bassett covered it for Conservative Home. Jonathan Rowson, who spoke for the RSA on the night, points out that his organisation is not strictly speaking a think tank, but calls for more such events.

There was much talk in the green room after the event about taking the show on the road, so watch this space. Joe Dyke has a comprehensive report on Total Politics. And there’s an altogether more spiky version of events at Arbitrary Constant for real talking people, got to Winkball, a fantastic website which employs students (dressed in canary-yellow uniform) to record mini-interviews at public events.

EAS Campaign Gathers Support

Our campaign for a modern day version of the Enterprise Allowance Scheme is gathering support from people as diverse as Shadow Business Secretary, Ken Clarke and Guardian columnist Deborah Orr.

We can’t help wonder whether the Tories will commit to a reintroduction of the EAS while Labour dithers. Meanwhile uber trendy fashion label, Superdry is hot news on the business pages and a very real example of how the EAS helped Julian Dunkerton turn a market stall into a multi million pound, international brand. There are many others who’ve forged successful careers in the creative industries thanks to the Enterprise Allowance Scheme and we get an inkling that this is something all the main political parties are actively considering which chimes perfectly with initial findings from a major research project we’ve  been working on for the Arts Council…

ACE Report II

New Deal of the Mind has completed a second report for the Arts Council looking at the prospects for new entrants to the creative sector. Though the economic landscape for them is bleak, NDotM found three reasons to be cheerful. Firstly, politicians of all parties agree that the creative sector is vital to the economy (if not on how best to support it). Secondly, young artists and entrepreneurs have no intention of abandoning their creative dreams and are making the very best of opportunities thrown up by the recession. Thirdly, NDotM is already getting behind the low-cost initiatives that really can make a difference.

Out & About

So, despite the vile weather, the cancelled trains, postponed meetings, winter bugs and slippery pavements we have, as the late great Ian Drury said, Reasons to be Cheerful. Not least because as I write the Southbank Centre is swarming with children revelling in the half term Imagine festival which has books, poetry, performances, music and more. The sort of event that we know unlocks creativity and imagination and a whole world of possibilities…

Thanks for your support.

Jo

Jo Phillips
Media and Communications

This entry was posted by Jo Phillips on Friday, 19th February, 2010 at 5:01 pm and is filed under Blog, Newsletter.

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