[Cms-moe-list] FW: COBWEB Express

[Helen Lindley-French]

Hi

I just received this notice of the newsletter from COBWEB.  Are we planning 
on MO doing a similar thing as well as the news page?  What are your 
thoughts?

cheers

Helen

-----Original Message-----
From:	CPD Cobweb [SMTP:cobweb@city.ac.uk]
Sent:	Friday, April 06, 2001 1:30 PM
To:	'cobweb@city.ac.uk'
Subject:	Re: COBWEB Express

COBWEB EXPRESS No. 13
3 April 2001

News from COBWEB, the Creative Industries Opportunities Broker on the web
http://www.cobweb.city.ac.uk
See directions below on how to unsubscribe from this fortnightly service.
Welcome to the thirteenth issue of COBWEB Express, a fortnightly update on
what's happening at COBWEB, and news and developments in the creative
industries.
Contents:
* COBWEB News
+++ Thanks for your feedback
+++ Cobweb to continue until June
+++ Next newsletter on 24 April
* Creative Arts News:
+++ Culture and Creativity: the next ten years
+++ The Telegraph's response
+++ Arts Council funding increase
+++ Sainsbury's sponsors new art prize
+++ New Learning and Skills Council
+++ Women's consultancy service
+++ New Media Knowledge courses
+++ Training loans simplified
+++ The end of free content?
* Links

COBWEB NEWS
=================

THANKS FOR YOUR FEEDBACK
Thank you to all the people who took the time to send in feedback on Cobweb 
Express. It showed that everyone rated the newsletter as good, very good or 
excellent, and that you particularly appreciate hearing about creative
industries news, funding, training and links to useful sites. One comment
was that it can be annoying not to have complete links to newspaper
articles. Our original reason was to limit the number of long URLs, but
we're now going to include full addresses wherever possible, to save you
time and possible frustration!
As a start, here are full URLs for three articles mentioned in the last
issue:
Liz Stuart's article in The Guardian about how the budget affects small
businesses: www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4149649,00.html The
Telegraph's report on Conservative plans to axe the Arts Council:
www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=002396433836623&rtmo=aseNppsL&atmo=tttttttd&pg
=/et/01/3/11/narts11.html Stephen Pile's feature about the convergence of
art and science:
www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=002396433836623&rtmo=fsVal3fs&atmo=tttttttd&pg
=/et/01/3/10/basci10.html
If you didn't get a chance to send in your feedback, and would still like
to, please e-mail your comments to Gail Marsom at g.marsom@city.ac.uk
COBWEB TO CONTINUE UNTIL JUNE
We're delighted to let you know that the Cobweb project will be continuing
until at least June 2001. We're having discussions with various people
about the future of the initiative after that date, and would welcome your
suggestions. Please let us know how you would like it to continue and send
your ideas to Gail at g.marsom@city.ac.uk
NEXT NEWSLETTER ON 24 APRIL
Due to the Easter holiday, the next newsletter will go out on Tuesday 24
April.

CREATIVE ARTS NEWS
=================


CULTURE AND CREATIVITY: THE NEXT TEN YEARS ...
Chris Smith has just launched the Government's green paper for arts policy
over the next decade. The main proposals include: a call for funding
bodies to back talent by giving grants to individual artists and creators;
creating 'Premier Arts Companies' with guaranteed six year grants; and
setting up new regional centres of excellence. There are plans for new
schemes to support individual artists and small businesses, including
improving access to funding, expert advice, the protection of intellectual
property rights, accommodation, networking and skills development. The
Government intends to use Business Links to help small businesses cut
through bureaucracy and find expert advice, and is starting a new scheme
offering grants of up to 50,000 GBP to small creative businesses. In
addition, funding bodies will be asked to introduce "individual awards for
artists and creators which give the individual the power to develop their
artistic project by themselves or in partnership with larger cultural
organisations". You can download the paper as a PDF file from:
www.culture.gov.uk

THE TELEGRAPH'S RESPONSE ...
As you might expect, Norman Lebrecht of The Daily Telegraph has some pithy
responses to the 'Culture and Creativity' green paper. He calls it a
"milestone on the road to state control" and states that the Arts Council
is "inevitably, if not immediately, doomed". Lebrecht notes that the paper
earmarks 150 million GBP towards putting culture online and supports the
idea of individual artists being able to apply for personal grants. As for
the proposal to select the best arts organisations and give them a six
year funding package, this amounts to "the boldest declaration of
confidence in the arts since Keynes's founding statement". For the full
story, see
www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000166941319210&rtmo=QwkHzzOR&atmo=99999999&pg
=/et/01/3/28/basmit28.html

ARTS COUNCIL FUNDING INCREASE ...
The Arts Council will deliver an average 17% rise in funding for arts
organisations, according to a recent announcement. There are significant
increases for literature, visual arts and dance. Core funding for
literature was increased by 75%, with poetry receiving a major boost,
while grants for the visual arts will rise by nearly a third, and dance
awards are up by 17%. The Guardian reported that Chris Smith believes
money should be set aside to help young artists who suffered during the
Conservative years of the early 1990s when "subsidy was slashed and
bureaucracy stifled experiment". See the Arts Council press release at
www.artscouncil.org.uk/press/2001/mar/22mar.html and the Guardian article
at www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4157476,00.html. You might
also be interested in a feature by artistic director Dominic Dromgoole in
The New Statesman. He rails against the rise of the arts administration
industry and refers to The Arts Council as the Death Star at the top of
the heap of the arts admin empire. See
www.consider.net/forum_new.php3?newTemplate=OpenObject&newTop=2001032600
35&newDisplayURN=200103260035

SAINSBURY'S SPONSORS NEW ART PRIZE ...
Sainsbury's has announced it is establishing Britain's largest ever visual
art prize, worth 150,000 GBP. Entitled Art to You, it is aimed at regional
galleries and museums, and entries for the first prize must by in by 8
June this year. Desmond Shawe-Taylor, director of the Dulwich Picture
Gallery, tells The Times: "It shows another side to sponsorship, one that
doesn't depend on corporate entertainment to work." See the story at
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,62-108037,00.html

NEW LEARNING AND SKILLS COUNCIL ...
The Government has set up a new Learning and Skills Council which will
organise and fund all adult education apart from that provided by
universities. This includes workforce development, adult and community
learning, advice and guidance for adults, and links between education and
business. The Council's first year budget is 5.5 billion GBP, an increase
of 9% on previous funds. The Learning and Skills Council web site is at
www.lsc.gov.uk

WOMEN'S CONSULTANCY SERVICE ...
Spotted on the CIDA web site (www.cida.co.uk): information about Account 3, 
a consultancy service for women in business. The company offers
counselling, support and advice to women looking to get an innovative
business idea off the ground. Call them on 020 8983 3761 for an
appointment.

NEW MEDIA KNOWLEDGE COURSES ...
New Media Knowledge is promoting a number of useful upcoming courses.
First up is 'Maximum Access' on 18 April which explores how to create
accessible interactive media products. 'Successful Freelancing' on 23
April gives an introduction to the freelance life, 'Digital Synergies' on
25 April examines cross-platform projects, and 'Managing Online
Communities' on 26 April discusses building and managing online
communities. See their site at www.nmk.co.uk for more details. And while
you're there, you might want to find out why Tom Campbell thinks the
brothel could provide a new organisational model for individual workers in
the digital industries. His article is at
www.nmk.co.uk/industry_trends/it_item.cfm?ItemID=1638&ThreadID=23

TRAINING LOANS SIMPLIFIED ...
The process of applying for a Small Firms Training Loan has been
simplified. As Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) will cease to exist
from this month, applicants will no longer have to have applications
endorsed. To find out more, see the Lifelong Learning site at
www.lifelonglearning.co.uk/sftl/sftl00.htm. For advice on business and
training, you can call the Business Link Signpost Line on 0345 567 765.

THE END OF FREE CONTENT? ...
A recent Wired article asks whether the days of free content are over,
citing new charges by Salon, FreeEdgar and, of course, Napster. While
companies argue that consumers are willing to pay for unique content,
analysts are less sure this tactic will work. See Aparna Kumar's article
at www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,42694,00.html

LINKS
====

www.artroute.co.uk  Artroute gives up-to-date information about
contemporary arts in East London, allowing galleries and artists to reach a 
wider audience. It has daily listings about art events taking place in the
area, and you can find out about galleries from Dazed & Confused and
Flowers East to Victoria Miro and White Cube2, and see details on 96 local
artists.
www.feedmag.com  You can rely on Feed magazine for provocative coverage of
everything from media and technology to pop culture, science and the arts.
See the current edition for 'Bell curves and bitstreams', an article by
Stefanie Syman on the beginning of the end of digital art. The full URL
for this feature is www.feedmag.com/templates/default.php3?a_id=1675

COBWEB RESOURCES
=================
We hope you'll find the COBWEB site an invaluable source of advice,
information and networking.  Check out http://www.COBWEB.city.ac.uk to:
* Register on the site: we ask you to register to gain access to the site,
and promise to keep your details confidential.
* Find helpful web sites: search and browse more than 300 creative
industries web sites covering everything from business and product design
to the visual arts.
* Network with other creative industry professionals: join a network to
share ideas, problems and solutions with like-minded people.
* Try our free web site course: click on 'User Trial Promotions' for
details of our free course to help you build your own web site.

ABOUT COBWEB
===========
COBWEB is a London-wide initiative providing online advice, information
resources and networking for the creative industries. COBWEB is run by City 
University and partners.
FEEDBACK
=======
We would be delighted to receive your feedback on COBWEB and COBWEB
Express. Please e-mail cobweb@city.ac.uk
You can visit our site at http://www.cobweb.city.ac.uk


COBWEB funding is provided by the European Social Fund ADAPT initiative,
City University and Show Business Ltd.
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Email: carols@city.ac.uk