Will the real Renaissance please stand up?

 
Culture Secretary James Purnell says in today’s Guardian (5 Jan 08);
“Community arts in many ways can be excellent in a different way from, say, the National Theatre. But what I wouldn’t say is, ‘We’ll tolerate average work because it happens to be in a particular location.”
In another part of the article the MP says, “If [...]

Fema sorry for ‘fake’ conference

Why do I still get shocked by stories like this? And they want us to believe that they landed on the moon! LOL

Fema was widely criticised for its response to Hurricane KatrinaThe US Federal Emergency Management Administration has apologised for having its employees pose as reporters at a hastily arranged news conference.
No actual reporters were [...]

Harry Potter translation arrest – SHORT SIGHTED STUPIDITY!!!

This story sums up a lot to me. This 16 year old French kid had the initiative, intelligence, patience and the skill to translate the whole of the new Harry Potter novel into French faster than the publishers, for no monitary gain, and he gets arrested!
Many young people are doing creative things outside of schools [...]

Selling out from Community Media……

…….or bridging the gap?
Click here to watch a programme we (Firstborn Creatives) recently made for BBC1.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/bristol/realmedia/032007/marvin_insideout?size=16×9&bgc=C0C0C0&nbram=1&bbram=1

Fresh 6 Film Festival

Today I will be working at – and taking my children to – the Fresh 6 Film Festival, which is for young people. Includes screenings, workshops, advice surgeries and competions/commissions. The website is www.freshfilm.tv
Last years went really well. I hope it has a good turn out today. Yesterday Firstborn and Calling the Shots ran a [...]

Talk of ‘User Generated Content

The one day ‘Digital Communities’ conference in the Watershed in June was the first time I heard the term ‘user generated content’, and since then the phrase is everywhere. [i]
In my opinion it’s just a clumsy/fancy way of saying ‘homemade videos’. [ii] To be fair it’s not just that though, as the shift in how [...]

The idea of De-Schooling

I came across the theorist Ivan Illich (a peer of Paulo Freire), who wrote an influential text in 1971 titled ‘Deschooling Society’. The popular perception of the text is that Illich was arguing for the elimination of schools, but in the Foreword to a 1996 book of essays titled ‘Deschooling our Lives’ [i] , Illich [...]

Has media made the world a better or worst place?

That was the title of an event I went to in Cheltenham this evening, part of their literature festival. The panel were a Clare Short, Libby Pervis, Jeremy Paxman, Tony Benn, a print journalist called Daniel something, a Radio 4 presenter called Nick something, and the chair was also a Radio 4 presenter but I [...]

Black Film Makers Awards

Last Friday I went to London the Prince Charles Cinema to the Black Film Makers (BFM) awards, which closed the BFM Festival season. We (Firstborn Creatives) had a lovely film called ‘Confetti’ nominated for the awards, which was written & directed by Shiloh Harmitt. We didn’t win anything, but it was still an inspiring event [...]