Congratulations to the National Youth Jazz Orchestra celebrating fifty years

On  the 16th July 2017 the Observer reported that the Arts Council had rejected an application from the Music Venue Trust for support for venues. I am not surprised the Arts Council rejected the Music Venue Trust’s application, as the majority of the Arts Councils funding decisions are based on the bounded rationality of the…

Pete Allen Newsletter January 2024 Welcome to the New Year and January’s  newsletter. If you know of anyone who would like to receive the newsletter please ask them to drop me a line at allenpete886@gmail.com I will add them to the list. Wednesday 3rd January – The Conservative Club, Radway Place, Sidmouth, EX10 8TL 3 pm to 5.30 pm.  Admission  is £15 at the door,…

The leader article ( Amid the pandemic music send a message about things eternal, Monday 23rd March 2020 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/22/the-guardian-view-on-music-and-pandemics-the-global-prisoners-chorus) on culture and music completely missed the point which is the  meltdown of music; especially among underrepresented music such as jazz, blues and folk. The available research shows that jazz musicians had 45% of their incomes coming from…

Industrial Strategy – Creative Industries Sector Deal Set out below is my response to the recently published (March 2018) Creative Industries Sector Deal that forms part of the Government’s industrial strategy. The document can be downloaded at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/695097/creative-industries-sector-deal-print.pdf 1 Analysis of the Creative Industries Deal The first step in any strategy formulation is to ask and…

Arts Council England has been conducting a “conversation” which is arts speak for consultation. The word that should have been used is debate. The consultation has been running for 12 weeks and concludes on the 12th April 2018. The Arts Council asked a number of questions under the following subject headings: Looking to the future…

Debbie Dickinson 17th May 1957 – 1st March 2019 It is with overwhelming sadness that I received the news that Debbie had passed away. Debbie was an incredibly talented educator, International live sound engineer, music event manager, tour manager, music producer and creative collaborator. Debbie was an Associate Professor at City, University of London and…