News and Policy Brief September 2011
This month we report on the announcement of the new AHRC funded Knowledge Exchange Hubs, the impact of the EBacc on subject choices at GCSE and Skillset’s consultation into training provision and skills development.
Amongst other issues, we also report on the current consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework and announcements on the changes to Local Authorities’ spend on cultural services.
Parliament is still in recess with the Party Conference season underway, but we also bring you news of a new Labour Party Creative Industries Network.
Read on for more news and policy updates.
Contents:
1) Skills and Education
- Power of Making
- Knowledge Exchange Hubs
- The Internet of Things Workshop
- Skillset Consultation
- Further Education Reform Programme
- English Baccalaureate
- Creative & Cultural Skills and the National Skills Academy for Creative and Cultural
- Conference Making Futures II
2) Local Government
- National Planning Policy Framework
- Local Authorities’ arts spend
- Taking Part Publication
3) Funding
- Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture
- Catalyst Arts
4) In Parliament
- Creative Industries Network
- Labour Party Conference
- Conservative Party Conference
- Shadow Cabinet Reshuffle
1) Skills and Education:
Crafts Council/V&A exhibition sees media agree on craft skills and the Power of Making
The Crafts Council/ V&A exhibition Power of Making opened at the V&A on 6 September. Several commentators have acknowledged that the exhibition has changed their understanding of contemporary craft, bringing a new appreciation of its contribution to 21st century society and the levels of skill involved.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Deputy Art Critic Alastair Sooke said “This exhibition transformed my understanding of what contemporary craft can be – ingenious, exciting, and relevant to the 21st century” while Nancy Durrant in The Times commented “There is nothing here that is not firmly rooted in the present, however old the methods used to make it.”
Read more comments here
Knowledge Exchange Hubs
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has announced the creation of four Knowledge Exchange Hubs to build new partnerships and entrepreneurial capacity in the Creative Economy and increase the number of arts and humanities researchers actively engaged in research-based knowledge exchange. They will be located within four universities, the University of Lancaster, University of Dundee, Queen Mary, University of London and the University of the West of England, each of which will lead consortia of other universities, creative businesses, including SMEs, arts and culture organisations and other agencies.
Funding for the hubs will run for four years and totals £16 million of AHRC investment – over £20m including the contribution from the universities themselves.
The University of the West of England hub, Research and Enterprise in Arts and Creative Technologies (REACT), will be based at the Pervasive Media Studio at Watershed in Bristol. REACT will work with the Universities of Bristol, Exeter, Bath and Cardiff as well as the Watershed Media Centre and a range of other creative industry partners.
Read more from the AHRC here
Contemporary Craft and The Internet of Things: Crafts Council collaboration with Pervasive Media Studio
Coincidentally, the Crafts Council is collaborating with the Pervasive Media Studio, Bristol on a workshop to explore the principles of ‘The Internet of Things’ in relation to contemporary craft practice in November. The event will bring makers, engineers, technologists and experts together to explore the relationship between craft and STEM disciplines. We will report on the outcomes of the day at an event to be held later in November.
The call for applications is here
Skillset Consultation:
The Crafts Council has responded to Skillset’s consultation on training provision and skills development in the creative industries. Skillset will, in turn, report to the Creative Industries Council, prior to the latter’s report to government in January.
Read the Crafts Council’s response here
Further Education Reform Programme
In October last year the Crafts Council submitted evidence to the Department for Business, Innovations and Skills’ consultation ‘Skills for Sustainable Growth’ which set out their new strategy for further education and skills. The Department is now consulting on the implementation of the further education reform programme. More here
See the BIS website for the consultation document and questions.
English Baccalaureate
Last month we mentioned the report published on 28 July by the House of Commons Education Committee. This report recommended that the complement of subjects forming the EBacc should be reviewed following the completion of the National Curriculum Review later this year. The Committee said that the decision not to include music and the arts in the EBacc “could be seen as odd in light of the Government’s view that ‘Involvement with the arts has a dramatic and long-lasting effect on young people.”’
Read more here
Now, a study commissioned by the Government from the National Centre for Social Research has found that the EBacc is increasing the proportion of pupils at GCSE stage focussing on ‘core academic’ subjects. 33 per cent of pupils taking GCSEs next year will take a combination of subjects that could lead to an EBacc; 47 per cent of pupils taking GCSEs in 2013 will be doing a combination of subjects that could lead to an EBacc.
Read the report here
The Crafts Council continues to advocate for the inclusion of practical and cultural subjects in the National Curriculum and for the reintroduction of craft as an independent statutory subject to Key Stage 3.
Creative & Cultural Skills and the National Skills Academy for Creative and Cultural
Creative and Cultural Skills and the National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural have announced that they are collaborating to create a more comprehensive skills business for the UK’s creative and cultural industries. Creative and Cultural Skills has announced that Paul Latham, Chief Operating Officer of Live Nation will become Chair of the combined business and that David Worthington, formerly Chair of Creative & Cultural Skills will now Chair a new group of well-known industry champions.
Read more here
Making Futures II
The second Making Futures conference, convened by Plymouth College of Art in September, again focussed on the theme of sustainability.
The Crafts Council’s peer-reviewed paper ‘Craft and the Creative Lifecycle: making in Changing Times, examined the distinctive contribution made to the sustainability agenda by contemporary craft makers, and proposed craft as a creative, social, ethical and business practice capable of driving sustainable economic and community development.
In a keynote speech, BOP Consulting presented preliminary findings from Craft in an Age of Change, a major report on the size and impact of the contemporary craft sector in the UK commissioned by the Crafts Council, Creative Scotland, Arts Council of Wales and Craft Northern Ireland.
Read our report on Making Futures and abstracts of the papers here
2) Local Government:
National Planning Policy Framework
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) is currently consulting on the draft National Planning Policy Framework which aims to ‘radically streamline’ the existing planning policy guidance and sets out the Government’s key economic, social and environmental objectives and the planning policies to deliver them.
A number of arts and cultural organisations have raised concerns about the impact of the proposed framework on the arts and cultural sector. Culture is almost entirely absent in the document and there is no reference to the promotion of cultural businesses, facilities and services.
We believe that the arts and culture, including craft, have significant potential to contribute to local identities and a sense of ‘place’ as well as building skills and the leisure economy in rural areas. The Crafts Council strongly advocates recognition and protection of cultural venues, including craft venues, in the planning system
The Crafts Council is submitting a response to the consultation. In the meantime, we have co-signed a letter published in the Sunday Telegraph on 2 October in which 20 leaders of cultural organisations called for the inclusion of culture in the National Planning Policy Framework.
Read the letter here
A copy of the framework and consultation document can be found here
For further analysis of the role and potential of craft in rural contexts see our Craft and Rural Development briefing
Local Authorities’ arts spend
At the end of August the DCLG released statistics on the provisional outturn estimates of local authority revenue expenditure and financing for 2010-11. Key points from the statistics show an estimated increase of 1.8 per cent in total net current expenditure by local authorities from £119.1 billion in 2009-10 to £121.2 billion in 2010-11. However in real terms, net current expenditure has decreased by 1.1 per cent.
The figures also show provisional net current expenditure by council service, and include statistics on Cultural Services. These figures show a decrease of 5.9 per cent from 2009-10 to 2010-11.
Cultural Services are grouped with Planning and Environmental Services in the report, which together comprise 8.8 per cent of total net current expenditure, compared with Education which comprises 37.4 per cent and Police Services comprising 9.9 per cent.
Read the publication here
As we have reported over the past year a number of local authorities pledged to reduce or abolish their spend on culture following the Spending Review. Some MPs, led by Alison McGovern the Labour MP for Wirral South have called for cultural spending to fall under the statutory spend of local authorities.
Taking Part
The DCMS has published the latest data from ‘Taking Part’ the ongoing survey of child and adult participation in the arts, started in 2005.
Read the report here
3) Funding:
Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture
ACE and NESTA have announced the eight projects selected to receive funding from the Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture.
Craft makers are increasingly harnessing new technologies to develop products and business models and the Crafts Council continues to explore how the craft sector can contribute to innovation in this field, as well as the ways in which new ‘smart’ capabilities can be incorporated into more traditional making practices. See our Craft and the Digital World briefing for a specific exploration of this theme in relation to digital technologies.
Catalyst Arts
On 29 September, Arts Council England (ACE), Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) announced further details of the £100 million Catalyst fund which aims to increase support for arts and heritage organisations across the country to raise funds and build the long-term resilience of the sector.
Full information is available here
Artists’ Visas
Another issue making the news is that of the difficulty of obtaining visas for artists visiting the UK. We know that this is already affecting craft organisations wishing to work with overseas makers. We are working alongside others to continue the debate on this issue and it would be helpful to know of specific examples where craft has been directly affected. If you have any direct knowledge, please email our Policy Officer, Camilla Buchanan
4) In Parliament:
Creative Industries Network
The Labour Party Shadow Culture Secretary, Ivan Lewis has launched a Creative Industries Network to bring Labour policymakers together with trade bodies, businesses, arts organisations and unions. The network aims to forge links between businesses and the creative industries and to inform Labour policy.
The launch was hosted by the Creative Coalition Campaign (CCC), a membership body of rights holders and trade unions. Andrew McGuiness, CEO of the Advertising Association will chair the network which will cover issues including access, education, apprenticeships, investment and growth.
More from the CCC here
Labour Party Conference:
The Shadow Culture Sectary Ivan Lewis spoke at the Labour Party Conference on 27 September. He covered a range of issues relating to the creative and cultural sector including the media, the Olympics and the creative industries.
He criticized the current government for what he described as ‘a concerted attack on public investment in the arts’ and argued that the creative industries in the UK are at risk from global competition, calling for an ‘active, industrial strategy’ to support these industries and referencing Labour’s new creative industries network.
Read the full transcript here
Conservative Party Conference:
The Conservative Party Conference ran from 1-5 October in Manchester. The Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt spoke to the conference about the Olympics on Monday 3 October.
Read his speech here
Shadow Cabinet Reshuffle
The Labour Party Leader Ed Miliband announced a shadow cabinet reshuffle on 7 October. Ivan Lewis has been moved from his role as shadow culture secretary to the international development portfolio and Harriet Harman will now be the shadow deputy prime minister, party chair and shadow secretary of state for culture, media and sport.
Read the full list of shadow cabinet members here.
New Arts Council England Publication:
Culture, knowledge and understanding: great museums and libraries for everyone
ACE has published a companion to its 10-year strategic framework for the arts ‘Achieving great art for everyone’, which outlines its strategy for museums and libraries setting out five goals for the sector which include: – Excellence – More people experiencing museums and libraries – Sustainability, resilience and innovation – A diverse and highly skilled leadership and workforce – Opportunities for every child and young person to experience the richness of museums and libraries.
Read the report on the ACE website
As we reported last month, ACE also commissioned former Education Secretary, Baroness Estelle Morris, to review its 10-year strategic framework ‘Achieving great art for everyone’, in order to assess how strategic goals can best cover the museums and libraries sectors alongside the arts.
Her report is also available on the ACE website
Download documents
Power of Making PDF
Power of Making.pdf (133KB Pdf File)The Internet of Things PDF
The Internet of Things.pdf (100KB Pdf File)
