Live Webchat with Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries (Monday 31 January, 1.15-2.15pm)

[HelenMumsnet]

We're delighted to announce that Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, will be joining us for a webchat this Monday lunchtime.

Ed's responsibilities range from libraries and art galleries to broadband access, internet and film.

Ed says said that, ever since he was appointed last May, it has been a priority for him to keep in direct contact with people who want to ask questions, raise issues or make comments and suggestions.

So, do feel free to ask away - either on the day or, if you can't join us then, by posting your question in advance here.

[LilyBolero]

THe other thing about Young Musician is that it is not promoted as 'part of the school education' - Cameron said he wanted his crap competition to become 'like the school nativity play or sports day'. Young Musician is something a very few people are able to take part in. It's not 'part of the school's music education'.

[Blu]

It is laughable that the performing arts - our USP to tourists, the heart and soul of communities, live art that brings real people together, something Britain really is great at - should be delivered as an 'app'.

And no, Mr Vaizey, you did not, as you parrot throughout your webchat, get a 'good deal' for the arts. The government spends a minute, really minute, proportion of it's money on the arts, to huge effect (by hard working innovative world class arts organisations, big and small), and you have slashed it by more than 30%. And in instructing ACE via the DCMS to protect the big institutions you have further undermined the seedbed of arts talent, the smaller and local organisations.

And how, please, please come back and explain this, how are those smaller local organisations, which work with a more inclusive demographic than the Royal Opera House, supposed to fnd private sector patrons when even the ROH cannot find enough support amingst it's corporate donors and old money trusts and foundations to prevent it being having to sell tickets whuch are still the most highly subsidised, in terms of cash subsidy per ticket, than any other?

Big Society? Big Myth.

[Crystylline]

well said Blu He didn't answer my Qs about funding, or about the very dubious announcement/retracted announcement that News International was now going to be sponsoring an Arts Council England programme... Competitions Commission anyone? Privatisation anyone?

[Bumperrlicious]

Anyone else feel like we are entering the dark ages?

[AlistairSim]

I cannot tell you how proud I am to have Mr Vaizey as my MP.

[bocoid]

I'm also baffled by the 'good deal for the arts'. Good how?
I work for an arts organisation which is having it's council funding slashed, and arts council grant completely removed as apparently they are no longer able to fund 'participatory' arts. We work with hard to reach young people, older people and people with disabilities - our arts projects are all at risk and most will not continue. Where is the 'good deal' in that?

[thewook]

bumperlicious
So true, the new dark ages :(

[austenreader]

So our children no longer have Music and other Arts recognised as achievements. I speak as one whose DC gained 11 A grades at GCSE and 5 As at A level with a few *s in that mix - and yet she wouldn't have got one of those poxy Ebaccs! She actually wouldn't!
(She also reached the last five in her instrument at BBC Young Musician last year.)
Now her chosen career is being buggered about with all the upheaval in the NHS. The business we have which is supposed to pay for her to go to university is going down the pan thanks to 20% VAT, the cost of fuel and everyone's general fright then,just to cap it all, the countryside we live in is being sold off.

But I'm not surprised. We've seen it all before. It was predictable.

[ReadingTeaLeaves]

What a pillock.

Here's one I love particularly:
"...libraries are a local service, delivered by local councils, who are democratically elected. So they can listen to their voters and take decisions in the light of what their voters are telling them."

Errr. Well in my borough the local council have chosen to close the ONE library in the ONE and ONLY Labour ward in a Tory controlled council. So, voters in the area who are impacted by the library are labour voters, who's vote against the Tories won't register at all since that's how they vote anyway. The people who keep the Tories as Council majority get to keep their shiny libraries, because the council have been precisely that cynical in deciding which library to close.

Let's hear it for Wandsworth Borough Council. Yay.

Since I can't register my dismay in my local council election I shall simply have to do so in the national elections instead. Thanks for pointing that out to me Ed. Appreciated.

[WonderingStar]

ReadingTeaLeaves - it's ironic isn't it - because if the people in that ward had been tactical and cynical enough to vote in a Conservative councillor, they would have had a voice at the meeting which met to discuss which option to take. Of course every other ward has a councillor there to fight for their ward's library. I suspect the council think that this is democracy ... rather than looking at it from a whole-borough point of view (which btw many of us in those other wards do, most people who give this any thought don't agree with what is being proposed).

[OhBuggerandArse]

Annoyingly, I haven't found any mention of this webchat elsewhere in the media, except for Guido Fawkes picking up on Gloria de Piero turning up. Would have been nice to see people publicising what a twit he made of himself - but I guess he's just not that important or interesting to the newsrooms.

[gaelicsheep]

OMG, I have just whizzed through the webchat bit - not the rest of the thread yet. What a boorish twat! His response to LilyBolero about "Search for a Star" just beggars belief. And I thought the last lot were phillistines!

[madamimadam]

I just wanted to say OhBuggerandArse, you have my favourite MN nickname.

And the thought that Ed Vaguely read it again and replied to it today cheered me up a bit today. I have hidden shallows, me.

[madamimadam]

I have to say, as no fan of the Labour Government, I was really hoping that he'd come on here with some really cogent arguments for what the Coalition is doing to the arts, with concrete proposals to support culture and the arts in the long-term. Unlikely, I know, but still.

What really concerns me about this lot is their obvious arrogance, contempt and disdain for anyone who suggests that their plans might not have been terribly well thought through. (I mean, News International and the Arts Council? Where do you even start with that one?)

We've seen it here with EV but does anyone here know if there is a single Coalition proposal that has seen proper consultation, transparent process, and appears properly considered to people who are experts in the subject? I know he might dismiss us as 'Mumsnet vipers' but even Gus O'Donnell is ignored when he 'suggests' the Coalition should have a plan B for the recovery.

If we ever see you on here again, Mr V, how come Post-war Britain could afford to keep libraries and the arts going and we can't?

[austenreader]

Lilybolero
You make a good point about YM not being part of the school education. (You made many good points today.)
Of course it isn't. Music should be part of the school experience but it should not be competitive. The scheme that Vaizey was promoting today is horrifying.
Children who compete in music festivals etc., or in any form of competition for that matter, need careful guidance. It is not for all. But it is by no means rare for children to reach a very high level in their chosen field without competing. I have seen dozens of my DD's music friends who could/would do very well in the YM competition but choose not to. They play their music for sheer pleasure.

[thewook]

Ohbuggerandarse I know: re the media. Compare the silence to the Gordon Brown biscuit furore. Talk about an agenda!!

[Bumperrlicious]

Not even the guardian? Maybe Justine needs to poke Dh . Imagine the conversation:

JustineMN: darling did you see the webchat on MN today?
MrJustineMN: the webchat?
JMN: yes with Ed.
Mr JMN: Ed...Ba...Mill...
JMN: Ed Vaizey!
Mr MN: Yes, Ed Vaizey, that's what I was going to say. Yes, he was rather good wasn't he?
JMN: no he wasn't! Do you even read my site? The work I've built up over 10 years to become a political force? Do you?
Mr JMN: yes I do when I can. Don't you know I'm trying to run a big important newspaper, do you ever read that?
JMN: Yes. When I've finished Take A Break. By the way, let me have that tie dear, there's a tip in there for removing houmus using brown paper and an ice cube.

[Bramshott]

Can't believe I missed this . The overwhelming feeling is that they're not DOING anything. They're just passing the buck, and hoping someone else is going to do it for them.

Rural broadband is a case in point - their "broadband strategy" wants local councils and private providers to take the lead. And if local councils (in rural areas mostly parish councils, who are mainly volunteers) can't / don't see the point; or private providers don't think it's worth investing, then it probably won't happen. This is the big society at work isn't it .

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

I am going to send link to the Music & Musicians bit in Private Eye later but in the meantime to underline Ed talking a load of guff about Big Society.

[[
link.ft.com/r/CTBPCC/5C129L/P9T3B/EWOFK5/M92O49/AZ/h?a1=2011&a2=2&a3=1 Media Groups have said NO to government big society plans to donate ad free ad space to...the govt.]]

And about Apps "and things like that"
Apple wants profit share of all 3rd party developed apps sold outside apple store

Yes very accessible to cash-strapped arts organisations - when costs of development are so high as well.

[Blu]

The app thing is so ridiculous. There are increasng numbers of artists from all disciplines making digital and multi-platform work and that's great, but to suggest that apps is a way forward to economise and that increasing your audience by making screened events is a substitute for a live experience is nonsense. If Ed Vaizey doesn't think so perhaps he should ponder the difference between calling a phone sex chatline and the real thing, or perhaps put himself in front of a football crowd and explain that as footie is now available on TV the government will be closing down 30% of stadiums, to get feedback on the importance of the live event.

It's all so crass and glib.

The screenings of opera etc have been great, as an additional extension of that piece of work. It doesn't replace a local small theatre which attracts keen local audiences, and young people in particpatory classes and workshops.

[ReshapeWhileDamp]

ReadingTeaLeaves - interesting point about how 'democratically electing' your council won't necessarily result in policy decision you'd be happy with. Your example from Wandsworth is of a library in the one Labour ward being closed down by the Tory-run council.

Where I live, the position is interestingly reversed. I live in rural South Oxforshire (which, as has been widely reported, is losing 20 of its 43 libraries) and we are losing both of our local well-attended and bustling small village libraries. Oxfordshire CC is tory-controlled but the Tory councillors come from the shires - the inner city councillors from Oxford are all (I think) non-Tory. While the city is also losing several libraries in the poorest areas (Blackbird Lees, for example, which is a long way out from the centre) most loses will come from the small rural communities in the Tory shires. And I do wonder whether there will be an unexpected grassroots rebellion from the deep-dyed blue voters who are about to lose their facilities.

Would be nice if it happened!

[gaelicsheep]

Some really good points here.

Firstly regarding music and competition. I totally agree this is not suitable for all children. I reached a very high standard in my instruments and was strongly "encouraged" to enter music festivals etc. I found it very very stressful and hated every minute, even though I was often quite successful. This led to burn out when I was about to start music college. I'd had enough, I dropped out to something totally different and I do not play any more, even for pleasure.

Secondly, rural broadband. I haven't read the strategy Ed referred to (I will at some point but expect a lot of hot air), but all the solutions mentioned so far will only help certain parts of any community. In our area those who live close to the exchange can get 6MB and don't see a problem (well why would they). Others of us live in the outlying hamlets miles from the exchange and can't get landline broadband at all. Is the community council going to help with this for the sake of a hundred or so households? I don't think so. And yes, new satellites are being launched as EV said. But from what I've heard this will mean more reliability for the same money, NOT cheaper packages.

[austenreader]

gaelicsheep
I'm sorry to hear that you dropped out of music. I can't play a note but I bang on about it because my DD, an only child, gained so much from the social experience of playing in orchestras. DH and I have been to countless youth concerts over the last few years and greatly admire the work of the people who run music centres, and the peripatetic music teachers who bring on the players to a standard where they can join.

Not everyone is a soloist. Many of these wonderful young players are more than happy to be almost invisible as part of a section in an orchestra. I can think of a few who would rather die than play solo let alone compete.

That's why I'm so horrified at the cuts to a service which is such a valuable part of so many children's lives. In my DD's case, every Friday night for 11 years.

This proposal Vaisey was lauding is an insult.

[austenreader]

If the above sounds elitist, it wasn't meant to be. For 'orchestra' I could equally well have written windband/folk group/brass band/ jazz band. All these are included in our local music centre.
Hundreds of kids benefit and not just the wealthy.
No X-factor style competition is going to adequately replace this structure.

[gaelicsheep]

It is a total disgrace. I am incredulous at the sheer arrogance of that man and this Govt.