Sheffield blog

What you can do to support culture in our city

As you may have heard Museums Sheffield (which runs Millennium Gallery, Graves Gallery and Weston Park Museum) was dealt a devastating funding blow this week when it failed to get Renaissance funding from the Arts Council.

Not getting this funding means a 30% cut in Museums Sheffield’s annual budget which in turn means redundancies, a reduction of learning activity and none of the high profile collaborations with Tate, V&A and the British Museum which have resulted in a first-class exhibition programme over the last few years rather than the sort of municipal displays you can often find in regional museums and galleries.

Clearly it’s a major blow to Sheffield if our museums service degenerates in this way and will have a damaging ripple effect on the rest of the cultural scene.

If you feel moved to, it would be great if you could register your displeasure at this decision and persuade the powers that be to think about other means of supporting Museums Sheffield:

Museums Sheffield: make the case for culture in Sheffield

This amounts to interrogating the Arts Council on their decision. Email ACE Yorkshire at enquiries@artscouncil.org.uk marking it for the attention of the Yorkshire Office. You can also email Alan Davey the head of the Arts Council chief.executive@artscouncil.org.uk.

I’m sure you can compose your own email but good points to cover might be:

• Museums Sheffield provides an excellent and museums service which will now be compromised – you might want to include your favourite exhibitions of the past few years.
• Museums Sheffield serves a diverse and large audience – ‘Great Art for Everyone’ in the words of the Arts Council.
• A decimated museums service will have a degenerative effect on the wider arts scene in Sheffield.
• Why were York and Leeds chosen over Sheffield when both cities have a stronger tourist economy, more robust arts infrastructure and greater investment from the Arts Council already – surely Sheffield needs this support most.
• ACE’s allocation of Renaissance funding is unbalanced – central England inc. Sheffield, Nottingham, Derby and Leicester all unsuccessful in their bids. London, Oxford and Cambridge all successful – rich cities and services getting richer and poor ones getting poorer.
• Finally a call to reverse the decision/ find other ways of supporting Museums Sheffield.

If you’re a Sheffield resident its also worth contacting your local councillors and MPs imploring for local government to support Museums Sheffield in the absence of Arts Council funding.

You can find contact the relevant contacts on the Sheffield city council website and councillors.sheffield.gov.uk.

Again, good points to make might be:

• Museums Sheffield provides an excellent and museums service which will now be compromised – you might want to include your favourite exhibitions of the past few years.
• The people who will suffer from this are Sheffield residents from all areas and backgrounds.
• A decimated museums service will have a degenerative effect on the wider arts scene in Sheffield.
• Despite difficult budgeting decisions it’s time for Sheffield City Council to invest in culture in Sheffield in order to enjoy economic and social returns.
• Finally entreat them to protest at the Arts Councils decision and support Museums Sheffield via local government funding.

Thanks for standing up for culture in Sheffield.

You can also follow @Ruskins_Ghost on Twitter for more on the #saveSheffieldmuseums campaign.

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Twitter latest

Here are this month’s additions to the list of Sheffield people and organisations of interest on  Twitter. The full directory can be found on the Sheffield Twitter users page.

There is also a Twitter list of people and organisations in Sheffield in Twitter.

Sheffield words – retweeting your words for Sheffield to support the culture bid
@shefwords

Eve Wood – director of Made in Sheffield and the Beat is the Law films
@everdien

Quality time volunteering
@QualityTime247

James O’Hara – founder of Threads at @dqsheffield and one of the Tramlines organisers
@JAMESOHARA

Boots for Africa – Sheffield FC charity
@bootsforafrica

Site art gallery
@site_gallery

Museums Sheffield
@MuseumSheffield

Crystal peaks shopping centre
@PeaksShopping

Sheffield now – a community interest company, giving children and young people a voice in the design of their environment
@SheffieldNOW

Our favourite places – independent guide to the best of Sheffield
@faveplaces

Daily geographer – geography blog
@dailygeog

South Yorkshire police
@syptweet

The Grind – Kelham island coffee shop
http://twitter.com/Grindsheffield

Raw talent – Iain Hodgson’s new music show on BBC Sheffield
@RawTalentBBC

Nick Clegg – Sheffield Hallam MP and Liberal democrat leader
@NICK_CLEGG

Nicola Bates – Prospective Conservative MP for Sheffield Hallam
@nicolabatesppc

Me pod – maternity clothes that look beyond the bump
@me_pod

White house physio
@PhysioSheffield

CND removals -  removal company
@cnd_removals

Sheffield university’s theatre and performance festival
@PlatformFest10

Sheffield university staff cricket club
http://twitter.com/UniStaffCC

Swallownest baptist church
@Swallownestbapt

ITS Sheffield – IT services
@itssheffield

Visualis – TV, film and video production
@VisualisUK

Tim Cleasby – photographer
@TJCphotographer

4 networking Hillsborough – networking in Hillsborough
@4NHillsborough

JCI Sheffield – personal development organisation
@JCISheffield

Cats for peru – band
@catsforperu

TDC – events and video
@thefolksattdc

Snooker skills – not for profit social enterprise to help disadvantaged groups through snooker
@Snookerskill

Forced entertainment – group of six artists
@ForcedEnts

Sweet theatre – handmade sweets
@SweetTheatre

Walkabout bar
@WALKABOUTSHEFF

Chariband – promotion and fundraising social enterprise
@charibag_lady

ESP projects – social enterprise providing ICT services to the social economy
@espprojects

If you want to be listed on it then follow @sheffieldblog, get in touch or comment below.

The city’s culture debate

A free event is taking place this month at the City hall which will see a panel discuss what makes a city a great cultural destination and why is culture important:

As Sheffield bids to become the first UK city of culture 2013, we bring together a diverse panel of national and international cultural figures to discuss the role of culture in defining a city – both in Sheffield and on an international scale.

The line-up currently includes Jon McClure from Reverend and the makers, Emmy award-winning Jamaican writer and poet Kwame Dawes, the BBC’s Paulette Edwards, Museums Sheffield chair Sandra Newton and Mark Jones, founder of Wall of sound record label. There will be a Q&A afterwards, as well as an acoustic set from the Reverend.

I’m guessing that the outcomes of this debate may go on to inform the detail of our city of culture bid, should we make the shortlist. Last week, a Sheffield Telegraph article gave an indication of some of the creative and cultural assets on which our bid would be based:

• the foundations laid by Sheffield theatres, the Museums and galleries trust and Sheffield international venues
• the city’s festivals – including a possible new festival centre in a landmark location
• our creative population (7.2% of the workforce), including the digital economy and independent film
• mass participation events based on ideas from the people of the city
• established and emerging music artists performing gigs in unusual locations
• a possible resident orchestra for of Sheffield
• a base for visual arts

If shortlisted, does Sheffield have a good chance of becoming the UK’s first city of culture? I’d say we have more chance than Barnsley but I wonder whether some of the culture that Sheffield does best is perhaps not mainstream enough to appeal to the panel that will decide.

For example, I know many people who enjoy the Kid acne artwork around town and the word-of-mouth gig and club nights, but is this the sort of thing they will be looking for? Or will the lottery-funded cultural facilities remain the cornerstone of our bid? The likes of the Millennium galleries undoubtedly make Sheffield a better city but I can’t help thinking the heart and soul of the city’s cultural scene is to be found elsewhere.

Hopefully the ‘ideas from the people of the city’ project would help ensure that our bid does indeed capture the full breadth of Sheffield’s cultural offering, both traditional and non-traditional.

The 14 bids on the table are due to be whittled down to a shortlist of five by Culture secretary Ben Bradshaw in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, free tickets for the Culture debate event are available from the City hall box office.