The recent dispatching of a relief ship to Gaza reminded me of your "Song for the Mavi Marmara." Seems like yesterday... I'd urge you to reuse it on your in-progress Gaza album.
I was moved to look up a few statistics recently: the county I live in is the least populous in Maryland, with a population of 19,100. The Gaza Strip is a little more than half the land area of my county but has a population roughly 100 times as large.
Just to say: don't let the larger sums of money allocated to the arts in Europe (or, to a lesser extent, the UK) fool you. The way this money is distributed does not ever end up supporting musicians. I don't want to sound ungrateful for any money ending up in artistry (and I no longer live in the UK, or Europe), but the various Arts Councils are really quite depressing in practice. I won't say we'd be better off without them, but grassroots supports for artistry, wherever it can be found, is the only way to challenge the status quo in the arts.
well i'm sorry to directly contradict a nice person like you, but decades of experience making a living touring in europe tells you you're completely mistaken. i know where the money is coming from that's getting me paid, i promise! you're correct that it's not nearly as good in the uk, and those arts councils are of limited use. and in some countries all the support for the arts goes towards classical music. but in denmark, france, and other countries in europe there is real arts funding, that's why i always get a guarantee in those countries, it comes from the culture department, a local municipality's arts budget, etc.
true. the 100 to 1 statistic is eu vs us, but it varies a lot by country. especially when it comes to which kinds of music gets support, and how easy it is for foreigners to access it... scandinavia is the best. france is great if you're french. the netherlands is great if you're a classical musician, not so much for everyone else.
The US sounds dreadful on this front, but the UK is following on the same trajectory. The UK government recently trailed a policy which would disallow Arts Council funding to any artists who make 'political' statements - which means... whatever the UK government decides it means, at any given time.
Every supposedly independent and non-ideological institution in the UK has now been sabotaged with highly politicised appointments who have pushed wildly socially conservative or neoliberal agendas.
So, people in charge of the tax authorities have slashed staff and stopped pursuing the highest earners. People in charge of environmental standards have slashed inspections and don't bother enforcing rules. And in the arts, you get this absolute shit-show. I don't know if it'll go through this time, but something like this will probably happen imminently.
Good for the musicians boycotting this SXSW. Thanks for informing me about it, I had no idea that festival ran on blood-money, or the terms on which artists performed there. Disgraceful, isn't it? The state of our respective countries - god help us.
it really is disgraceful. i find the wealthy clique of anglo countries that i call the anglosphere have so much in common in terms of cost of living and lack of support for the arts and so many other things, but it's worst of all here in the usa. the uk is like the sociopolitical halfway point between the usa and the eu, i'd say. no matter how bad the policy is, if the usa does it, the uk adopts it 20 years later. it's totally bizarre. or corrupt.
Thanks for the note! You're exactly right that England is always 20 years behind the States, (sad little lapdog that we are). That's why I watch the US with such grim fascination (and usually through my fingers). Whatever you're up to, we'll be doing tomorrow.
The arts funding issue is so maddening. Even if you're a bean-counting conservative, and only look at things through that lens, the cultural sector has been hugely lucrative for the UK for a long time. But that's still not enough for the nitwit neoliberal ideologues on both sides of the house here. Everything must be marketised, and the state must shrivel (except the army).
I'm dredging half-remembered articles now but I recall reading about the extraordinary shift of demographics in the arts (especially the UK) which came with the swingeing welfare cuts of the 80s (and continually, ever after). While we used to have a great diversity of artists from different backgrounds - crucially, economic backgrounds - that changed completely, as the only people who could afford to pursue their creative talents were already rich. So our cultural output as a nation has become... monocultural, and thin. Far fewer bands are from the working classes. Where I live in Sheffield, there once was a steady stream of brilliant, blue-collar musicians from Pulp to the Human League. The dole acted as a stipend which enabled poor-people's creativity to be sustained. And from that tiny State "investment", extraordinary cultural (and literal) riches came.
Now though - it's infinitely harder. And our pop stars, actors and film-makers are vastly more likely to be Oxbridge educated. Just like in government, and the boardrooms. Really maddening stuff.
Anyway, thanks so much for your article and response - will hit "send" on this, and then "subscribe"! All the best :)
The recent dispatching of a relief ship to Gaza reminded me of your "Song for the Mavi Marmara." Seems like yesterday... I'd urge you to reuse it on your in-progress Gaza album.
I was moved to look up a few statistics recently: the county I live in is the least populous in Maryland, with a population of 19,100. The Gaza Strip is a little more than half the land area of my county but has a population roughly 100 times as large.
yes, there's a relvant statistic! i'm working on a new song for the flotilla...
You are amazing David keep going.
Hi David,
Just to say: don't let the larger sums of money allocated to the arts in Europe (or, to a lesser extent, the UK) fool you. The way this money is distributed does not ever end up supporting musicians. I don't want to sound ungrateful for any money ending up in artistry (and I no longer live in the UK, or Europe), but the various Arts Councils are really quite depressing in practice. I won't say we'd be better off without them, but grassroots supports for artistry, wherever it can be found, is the only way to challenge the status quo in the arts.
Stay wonderful,
Chris,
well i'm sorry to directly contradict a nice person like you, but decades of experience making a living touring in europe tells you you're completely mistaken. i know where the money is coming from that's getting me paid, i promise! you're correct that it's not nearly as good in the uk, and those arts councils are of limited use. and in some countries all the support for the arts goes towards classical music. but in denmark, france, and other countries in europe there is real arts funding, that's why i always get a guarantee in those countries, it comes from the culture department, a local municipality's arts budget, etc.
Very glad to be wrong, David! I think the issue is that it varies from country to country, making it a mistake to generalise in this case. 🙂
true. the 100 to 1 statistic is eu vs us, but it varies a lot by country. especially when it comes to which kinds of music gets support, and how easy it is for foreigners to access it... scandinavia is the best. france is great if you're french. the netherlands is great if you're a classical musician, not so much for everyone else.
Interesting stuff thank you folks.
The US sounds dreadful on this front, but the UK is following on the same trajectory. The UK government recently trailed a policy which would disallow Arts Council funding to any artists who make 'political' statements - which means... whatever the UK government decides it means, at any given time.
Every supposedly independent and non-ideological institution in the UK has now been sabotaged with highly politicised appointments who have pushed wildly socially conservative or neoliberal agendas.
So, people in charge of the tax authorities have slashed staff and stopped pursuing the highest earners. People in charge of environmental standards have slashed inspections and don't bother enforcing rules. And in the arts, you get this absolute shit-show. I don't know if it'll go through this time, but something like this will probably happen imminently.
Good for the musicians boycotting this SXSW. Thanks for informing me about it, I had no idea that festival ran on blood-money, or the terms on which artists performed there. Disgraceful, isn't it? The state of our respective countries - god help us.
it really is disgraceful. i find the wealthy clique of anglo countries that i call the anglosphere have so much in common in terms of cost of living and lack of support for the arts and so many other things, but it's worst of all here in the usa. the uk is like the sociopolitical halfway point between the usa and the eu, i'd say. no matter how bad the policy is, if the usa does it, the uk adopts it 20 years later. it's totally bizarre. or corrupt.
Thanks for the note! You're exactly right that England is always 20 years behind the States, (sad little lapdog that we are). That's why I watch the US with such grim fascination (and usually through my fingers). Whatever you're up to, we'll be doing tomorrow.
The arts funding issue is so maddening. Even if you're a bean-counting conservative, and only look at things through that lens, the cultural sector has been hugely lucrative for the UK for a long time. But that's still not enough for the nitwit neoliberal ideologues on both sides of the house here. Everything must be marketised, and the state must shrivel (except the army).
I'm dredging half-remembered articles now but I recall reading about the extraordinary shift of demographics in the arts (especially the UK) which came with the swingeing welfare cuts of the 80s (and continually, ever after). While we used to have a great diversity of artists from different backgrounds - crucially, economic backgrounds - that changed completely, as the only people who could afford to pursue their creative talents were already rich. So our cultural output as a nation has become... monocultural, and thin. Far fewer bands are from the working classes. Where I live in Sheffield, there once was a steady stream of brilliant, blue-collar musicians from Pulp to the Human League. The dole acted as a stipend which enabled poor-people's creativity to be sustained. And from that tiny State "investment", extraordinary cultural (and literal) riches came.
Now though - it's infinitely harder. And our pop stars, actors and film-makers are vastly more likely to be Oxbridge educated. Just like in government, and the boardrooms. Really maddening stuff.
Anyway, thanks so much for your article and response - will hit "send" on this, and then "subscribe"! All the best :)