Sorry to learn of this 'rash' - am in NYC right now and the debates seem to be mirroring or indeed inhabiting the same problems. Sadly (or otherwise) we are without borders on this one and many other problems.
Johnny


______________________________
Professor S Golding
Director, Institute for the Converging Arts & Sciences & Professor of Philosophy
    in the Visual Arts & Communication Technologies
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Greenwich London SE10 9LS
Office: King William Court. rm 130     t: +44 (0) 8331 8948 mobile: +44 (0) 7554 88 50 55
________________________________________
From: Curating digital art - www.crumbweb.org [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Honor Harger [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 02 April 2011 11:43
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [NEW-MEDIA-CURATING] A rash of unsubscriptions

Hi all,

I am relieved to hear the voices of our friends in the international
community, confirming what seems obvious to me: a list based in the
UK set up to discuss new media art curating, ought to be mindful of,
and responsive to, the impact of the decisions made in the last few
days.

IMHO, there wouldn't be a strong UK new media art sector to speak of,
nor the number of curators active in this field in the UK, had it not
been for the work of many of the organisations who have lost support
in the past few days.

There are many other forums who have been very swift to respond to
this news, and it's far-reaching implications. If mailing lists like
these are going to retain their 'cultural urgency' (ahem) in the web
2.0 era, they need to remain places for topical conversation and
analysis, in my view.

Best wishes,

Honor Harger



>folks,
>
>i also agree that this discussion is relevant far beyond the borders
>of england; i think that when it comes to drafting letters etc., it
>might be good to work in a smaller, dedicated group and venue, but
>the general discussion about the funding cuts happening in the UK
>right now has its parallels all over the continent; i know of
>similar discussions (always with a different inflection, but also
>with a similar basis of arguments) in, for instance, switzerland,
>japan (before fukushima), norway, all directly related to the status
>of "media art" in the structure of public arts funding. (the
>international constituency of the list should feel encouraged to
>contribute, rather than to unsub. this discussion is what the crumb
>list is there for, as far as i am concerned.)
>
>or think of the fundamental debate that is currently going on in the
>netherlands and that has a big, big question mark hanging over the
>*entire* publically funded arts sector for 2013 ff. below are some
>links (for those of you who read dutch, i could find good english
>summaries yet).
>
>what's interesting is that our dutch colleagues did what simon also
>suggested, i.e. interdisciplinary (they call it 'intersectorial')
>cooperation across the different art sectors. the Virtual Platform,
>the sector institute for e-culture, has a link to the document which
>this cooperation has generated - looks like an a statement that
>offers an alternative strategy to the government's ideas for funding
>cuts:
>
>http://virtueelplatform.nl/#3322
>
>regards,
>-a


Date:         Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:42:53 +0200
Reply-To:     honor <[log in to unmask]>
Sender:       "Curating digital art - www.crumbweb.org"
<[log in to unmask]>
From:         honor <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [NEW-MEDIA-CURATING] ACE 'funding'
To:           [log in to unmask]


Dear all,

Like Marc, I have been reeling from the news of yesterday and conferring with
colleagues about what has happened, and what we should do.

Drew Hemment (director, FutureEverything), and I touched base yesterday, and
Marc and I touched base this morning, and we feel we need to reach out to all
the organisations hit so hard.

It seems clear that nationally, the media arts / digital arts
landscape has been
completely ravaged with funding cuts to a wide range of significant
organisations who have helped shape and define the field over many the years.

onedotzero, folly, Proboscis, Lumen, Mute, Isis, Lovebytes, SCAN,
Labculture/PVA, AccessSpace, Vivid, Picture This, and several others have lost
funding, as far as we know.  Several other organisations who have been very
influential in the digital art space, including our friends, ArtSway in the New
Forest, Quay Arts on the Isle of Wight, and Moti Roti in London, have also been
cut. In addition, many other organisations who have been doing valuable work -
including Animate Projects - were not funded.

It seems to us that that half the digital visual arts organisations active in
the UK have been cut.

This is a massive shock and loss to us all.

It is clear there will be more need than ever to form partnerships, and work
collaboratively, and there will be huge pressure on those organisations who
have emerged in one piece.

We am not sure yet how precisely we deal with this, or whether we need to
formalise our solidarity, but I think it is so important for us to collectively
recognise that media and digital has been a serious loser in the past two days.

We believe now is a time to stand up to be counted, and to extend the
collaborative ethos and goodwill that already characterises our sector.

Do people feel we could usefully swap notes on tangible ways we can better work
together?

Best wishes,

Honor Harger
Director, Lighthouse


--
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

honor harger

present location: brighton, .uk

email: [log in to unmask]
sms: +44 7765834272

-> w o r k
director of lighthouse: http://www.lighthouse.org.uk

-> b l o g
particle decelerator: http://decelerator.blogspot.com/

- > b l a g
twitter: http://twitter.com/honorharger

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

-> w e b
bio: http://www.radioqualia.net/honor

University of Greenwich, a charity and company limited by guarantee,
registered in England (reg. no. 986729).  Registered office:
Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, Greenwich, London SE10 9LS.