Hi everyone,

Sarah, Beryl,  - is it worth inviting an Arts Council representative 
to respond to this?
  David McNeill and Alex Holdaway are cited in the online press 
release as the contacts for further information.

I think a few people on the list based in the England, would be 
interested in clarification about the new restructure.

I would be really interested in understanding the Arts Council's 
position on whether they have decided to fold media art into the 
wider fields of visual art, music etc, as the Australia Council have 
elected to do.

This would be a little ironic, given the posting Sarah sent through 
announcing that even that bastion of the traditional, MoMA, are 
recognising the predominance of media art, with the restructure of 
their curatorial department:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/03/arts/03arts.html?ei=5070&en=41e9fcf5994d0b66&ex=1161316800&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1161180233-b2s5yH3I7N9NbmrWKtzh7w

In response to one of Simon's points below, I know that the new 
thrive! initiative has been put in place to support some applicants 
who have previously qualified for Recovery funding. But the thrive! 
criteria is quite different, and I am not even sure if the initiative 
has been formally adopted.

Would anybody else be interested in a policy statement from Arts 
Council on this restructure?

Best wishes

Honor

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

honor harger

locations: yverdon-les-bains, .ch /newcastle, .uk
email: [log in to unmask]
mobile: +41 794252349

-> r e s e a r c h
z-node, ch: http://www.z-node.net/

- > w o r k
av festival, .uk: http://www.avfest.co.uk/

- > p l a y
r a d i o q u a l i a: http://www.radioqualia.net

-> l i s t e n
radio astronomy: http://www.radio-astronomy.net

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .



Date:         Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:08:07 +0100
Reply-To:     Simon Biggs <[log in to unmask]>
Sender:       "Curating digital art - www.crumbweb.org" 
<[log in to unmask]>
From:         Simon Biggs <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [NEW-MEDIA-CURATING] department restructuring at Arts 
Council England, national office

<snip>

What happens
to those organisations currently in the Recovery Program? Where is the
Recovery Program?

"Projects" seems to be a strategic program with no apparent allowance for a
responsive mode. How can new projects be brought into the picture or old
ones dropped? Thus ACE will potentially have more control over grass-roots
activity (or simply be unable to respond to it).

As there are no longer any arts boards there is no need for project
officers. Instead there are now Strategy Officers. This suggests that these
roles are intended not to support clients but to undertake research and
advise artform based Strategic Directors. They in turn report to an
Executive Strategic Director who in turn reports to the CEO, as one of the
four main functions of ACE. It seems unclear as to where client-facing roles
are situated.

The no-show for new media or interdisciplinary arts suggests they have taken
a leaf out of the new Australia Council approach, which is to fold all
funding back into the traditional arts boards, the argument being that as
everyone now uses new media there is no longer a need to fund it seperately.
That argument has some merit but it does not address questions around
inter-disciplinary work. The ACE structure has no role concerned with this
issue, whether proactively or in responsive mode. This seems a major
oversight and something that should concern all those who are seeking to
achieve things in this area.

<snip>

Regards

Simon


On 17.10.06 00:03, "NEW-MEDIA-CURATING automatic digest system"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>  Date:    Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:00:59 +0100
>  From:    Sarah Cook <[log in to unmask]>
>  Subject: department restructuring at Arts Council England, national office
>
>  Department restructuring at Arts Council England, national office,
>  October 4th 2006:
>  http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/pressnews/press_detail.php?rid=5&id=723
>  ----
>  I haven't quite figured out all the changes as a result, but on the new
>  staffing structure I see officers for visual arts, music, theatre,
>  broadcast, dance, but not new media / film and video / performing arts
>  / collaborations ....
>  perhaps someone could advise on what has happened and the implications
>  for the regional offices down the road?
>  -sarah