Archive: Culture
Britain's Creativity Challenge
By Charles Leadbeater
Published by Creative and Cultural Skills, 2004
Culture is moving to the heart of the way we make our living, how we learn, take leisure and express our identities. Britain has a strong position in creative global industries, from media and fashion to music and computer games. That is in part due to the position of English as a global language. We have been able to exploit that only because of the quality of much of our cultural infrastructure which trains people in cultural activities - design, painting, music, performance. As modern Britain has become more diverse and open, so it has become a breeding ground for ideas and talent. That creativity finds expression through thousands of cultural entrepreneurs like Sazzadur being carried by this rising tide.
Download it here: http://www.ccskills.org.uk/media/cms/documents/pdf/Creativity%20Challenge.pdf
Ten Challenges for Arts Organisations
This report based on more than 80 interviews and workshops with small and large arts organisations across England argues that they face ten critical challenges, the most important of which is to establish a broad consensus over the value of arts in society. The report goes on to look at the challenges arts organisations face in terms of their leadership, business models, use of technology, relationships with audiences and partnerships with other organisations.
The Pro Am Revolution
After the rise of the professional in the 20th century we are now seeing this historic shift reversing in the Pro-Am revolution. Enthusiastic amateurs, pursuing activities to professional standards will have an increasingly important role in our society and economy.
From astronomy to activism, from surfing to saving lives, Pro-Ams - people pursuing amateur activities to professional standards - are an increasingly important part of our society and economy.
For Pro-Ams, leisure is not passive consumerism but active and participatory, it involves the deployment of publicly accredited knowledge and skills, often built up over a long career, which has involved sacrifices and frustrations.
The 20th century witnessed the rise of professionals in medicine, science, education, and politics. In one field after another, amateurs and their ramshackle organisations were driven out by people who knew what they were doing and had certificates to prove it.
The Pro-Am Revolution argues this historic shift is reversing. We're witnessing the flowering of Pro-Am, bottom-up self-organisation and the crude, all or nothing, categories of professional or amateur will need to be rethought.
Based on in-depth interviews with a diverse range of Pro-Ams and containing new data about the extent of Pro-Am activity in the UK, this report proposes new policies to support and encourage valuable Pro-Am activity.
Link to the Pro Am Revolution site
