Abolish the DCMS
The News Review:
- Abolish the DCMS
- Families will be at home with ‘Little House’.
- Thank You Gig By Hometown Starlet.
Abolish the DCMS
Spiked – Mar 26, 2005
On the contrary, arts policy was so important to prime minister Tony Blair’s first term that it had become the model for his industry policy. Instead of moaning about the arts, Blair’s first culture secretary Chris Smith boasted of the contribution of the so-called creative industries to Britain’s balance of payments. Pop music earns us more than car-building does, said Smith – a comparison that said more about the state of industry than it did about record sales. Nevertheless, back then everything the culture minister touched seemed to turn to gold. He introduced a star-struck prime minister to the Gallagher brothers from Oasis, and shock-artist Damien Hirst. More people went to museums, like the new Tate Modern, than went to see football on the weekend. Smith published figures that showed the ‘creative industries’ earning 112…
The DCMS oversaw a massive expansion of museums and arts centres across the country, using lottery money and the Millennium Fund. Local authorities, seeing the success that the Tate Modern had brought to London, wanted to reproduce it. But too many of these museums failed due to lack of interest, like the Museum of Popular Culture in Sheffield (now a student Union bar), or the Earth Centre at Denaby, whose home-grown lunches, manured with the visitors’ own excrement, failed to excite. Increasingly tawdry arts centres were beginning to look like a substitute for a regeneration policy. With the economic case for the arts looking more threadbare, the DCMS’s new pitch was that the arts would resolve the problem of social inclusion. Now museums were called ‘centres for social change’ (2). The department was influenced by policy wonks like Charles Leadbeater and Kate Oakley who argued that ‘cultural entrepreneurs can play a critical role in promoting social cohesion and a sense of belonging’.
Families will be at home with ‘Little House’.
Free with registration – Chicago Tribune – AccessMyLibrary.com – Mar 26, 2005
–> COPYRIGHT 2005 Chicago Tribune Byline: Maureen Ryan Mar. 26–There was a time in the not-too-distant past when well-crafted family entertainment was relatively common on the broadcast networks. But these days, aside from wholesome programs such as “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” it’s rare to find something on one of the six broadcast networks that the entire family can enjoy — discerning adults included. That’s why “Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie” (7 p. 7) on ABC’s Wonderful.
Thank You Gig By Hometown Starlet.
Free with registration – Europe Intelligence Wire – AccessMyLibrary.com – Mar 26, 2005
Thank You Gig By Hometown Starlet. | Europe Intelligence Wire (March, 2005). It is expected to be her last show in Hull before her album is released later this year.