Leading the World

Centre Director Dr Richard Howells gets an honourable mention in the new AHRC report: “Leading the World: The Economic Impact of UK Arts and Humanities Research”, which is just out.

He was among the 33 UK arts and humanities researchers selected by the AHRC to contribute essays on the value of arts and humanities research.

The editors say: “The word ‘value’ was deliberately chosen in place if ‘impact’ because it is arguably closer to the instincts and interests of these researchers.”

Too right it is!

Professor Jonathan Bate, the eminent Shakespeare Scholar and Fellow of the British Academy, is now editing them for publication.

Avant guitar

Readers of Lost in CCI are encouraged to attend a £5 concert at Cafe Oto on Wednesday 24th June 2009 which is being produced by a graduate of the MA Cultural and Creative Industries programme, Rita Vozone (2007-8).

The concert features two guitarists from Rita’s homeland of Portugual, Manuel Mota and Nortberto Lobo. Mota, we read, is an experimental lo-fi blues guitarist, while Lobo blends traditional Portuguese music with John Fahey (a personal hero of Lost in CCI’s).

We have to say, it all sounds pretty damn good. Hope to see you there!

More details: http://www.cafeoto.co.uk/programme/MANUELMOTA.shtm

Some Other Way Forward

CMCI staff member Dr Ruth Adams chaired a panel on Tuesday this week at a conference entitled ‘Some Other Way Forward: The Legacy’ held at the Southbank Centre. Some Other Way Forward, or SOWF, is a treasury funded project of the South Bank and Bankside Cultural Quarter – of which King’s College is an educational partner – which “aims to put young people at the heart of the arts as visitors, creators and advocates.” Ruth chaired the session which examined the outcomes of the ‘Street Genius’ project, which offers creative placements for (often disadvantaged) young people at the arts organisations which make up the South Bank Cultural Quarter.

The panel consisted of representatives from the London Sinfonietta, BFI Southbank and Rambert Dance, and the young people who had worked with them. All the panelists spoke candidly of the challenges and difficulties they had encountered along the way, not least dealing with people and situations outside their normal experience, but all talked also of how much had been learned and gained from the endeavor. The young people’s stories were inspiring, and they had clearly made the most of the opportunities they had been given, and were well on their way to careers in filmmaking, contemporary dance and music. The institutions involved all said that taking the young people into their organisations had made them look at the way they did things anew, and some had made, or planned to make, quite serious adjustments to their personnel, programming and marketing in order to reach previously overlooked communities.

Ruth was asked to chair the session as she has been involved in the project in a consultancy role since its inception.

Present at the conference were a wide variety of representatives from schools, colleges and universities within the Cultural Quarter, together with many arts organisations, youth charities, and local and national government. Other speakers included Baroness Estelle Morris and Jude Kelly, Artistic Director of the South Bank Centre.

More information on SOWF, Street Genius and the Legacy Conference can be found here.

Making Meaning, Making Money

All our PhD and MA students are invited to a book launch and panel discussion which the centre is putting on in collaboration with the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies and in partnership with the National Centre for Australian Studies, Monash University.

The book is Making Meaning, Making Money, an Anglo-Australian volume edited by Lisa Andersen and Kate Oakley, who is a friend of Lost in CCI.

It will be launched at the event by John Newbigin, cultural entrepreneur and former policy advisor to Labour Party figures Chris Smith, Neil Kinnock and Lord Putnam. The panel will then discuss: “Culture or Coal? Will Creative Industries lead the Australian Economic Recovery? What can the Australian Government learn from Britain’s approach to the arts? And should this be reflected in a Cultural Policy?”

The panelists are:

Professor Kate Oakley, University of the Arts and City University London
Professor David Throsby, Economics, Macquarie University, Sydney
Dr Tony Moore, National Centre for Australian Studies, Monash University, Melbourne
Professor Justin O’Connor, Faculty of Creative Industries, Queensland University of Technology

The event runs from 6-8pm on Wednesday 24 June 2009 at the Council Room, King’s College London. RSVP by 22 June to: menzies.centre@kcl.ac