menas + kultūra = galia

Blogging from Lithuania where I have the pleasure of working this week with amongst others, the Lithuanian Artists Association and the British Council as they roll out a new programme of arts and health activity. More of that soon - the blog however, has a distinctly grubby, tabloid feel to it.

THE GREAT STINK

First though - in the UK, we hear that acute NHS trusts are in dire straights. ‘Hospitals are so full that elderly patients are being discharged in the middle of the night and routine blood tests are being conducted at 3am, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has warned. As bed spaces for acute care become increasingly under demand, patients are being turfed from ward to ward which is leading to a poor continuity of care, the RCP said.’ 

Whilst acute services are constantly under pressure, (but isn’t that the whole of the NHS) let’s not forget the ‘cinderella service’ that we are so closely affiliated too. Emphasis should quite rightly be on public health, and if we really want address promotion, prevention and protection, we have to focus on the determinants of health and well-being - what are these determinants? Well let’s start with poverty, literacy and a deficit of aspiration in a population in which inequalities are perfectly illustrated by those in the comfortable position of power. Our celebrity fixated aspirations to have the biggest TV, the fattest 4 x 4, plump, collagen-enhanced lips and the quickest and easiest food, points to a public health nightmare well before we even book our private hospital bed. Is our well-being about the way we feel about our bodies - crooked teeth, balding head, bad posture, too fat, too thin - or do we just believe in the rubbish that’s peddled at us through the media? 

My first thought when I heard Big Brother producer, Sir Peter Bazalgette, was to chair Arts Council England – one of Jeremy Hunt’s last decisions as Culture Secretary - was biliousness. I mean, Big Brother: doesn’t that say it all? But thanks to thinkers far greater than me, I’ve been reliably informed that this might be far more relevant to the arts/health agenda than it first implies. Think about the potential of libraries (now under Arts Council jurisdiction) to be cultural hubs, where alongside Post Offices and other community spaces, people might be able to find out more about their conditions, and services available to them, and potentially engage in arts-lead initiatives. This could indeed, be a more creative approach to an expansive public health agenda and engagement with civic society. Of course, I have to mention BlueSCI who are already making huge leaps in this direction. 

As a footnote to the Bazalgette appointment, its worth noting that he is the descendant of Victorian engineer Joseph William Bazalgette, who following a nervous breakdown, and alongside public health champion John Snow, revolutionised London’s sewage system, which before his intervention had been responsible for tens of thousands of deaths from cholera. Their work was undertaken in the face of significant political and scientific resistance, which asserted that cholera was transmitted by air, and not as Snow and Bazalgette asserted, by water. Their groundbreaking partnership fundamentally changed understanding of public health, saved countless lives and reduced what was known in London, as The Great Stink.

There’s something in that. Challenging the system - seeing arts and culture as change agents. Thinking differently. 

So with all this in mind - here is a call for all you innovators to think about how you join your arts and public health to these new possibilities. Here is your chance - make your vision huge - work with the people who use these spaces - the people who are disenfranchised, this is an opportunity: TAKE IT.

Arts Council England has announced that it has an extra £6 million available to support arts funding for libraries.  This will open to applications on Thursday 27 September 2012. Arts Funding for Libraries will support projects that stimulate ambitious and innovative partnerships between libraries and artists and/or arts organisations, encouraging communities to participate in cultural activities. The funding will run from September 2012 until March 2015. Click on THE SUN above for details. 

The Leveson inquiry’s killed off the News of the World, why not finish the job off and bury the SUN too, after-all it’s been dead in Merseyside for the last 23 years, where people with taste have chosen to boycott it for its fictitious journalism and lies. The Hillsborough story doesn’t need my comment, so I’ll let the SUN headlines from then (above) and now (below), speak for themselves. 

It’s bizarre that this rag still gets away with its objectification of women too, and with distant memories of the Off the Shelf Campaign of the 80’s, I notice Lucy-Anne Holmes is spearheading a new campaign to get rid of page 3. here’s a snippet of her story.

‘The country was gripped by Olympic fever, and as Holmes opened the paper, she was glad to see there was no topless woman on page 3, just stories of victorious athletes, such as Victoria Pendleton, Jessica Ennis. She leafed through the sports coverage contentedly, until she reached page 13. There she found "a massive picture of a girl in her pants", she says. The typical image had just been moved back. "It made me really sad. It was the biggest female image in that issue, and I think pretty much every issue of [The Sun] for 42 years." At a time when women's strength was being celebrated with medals, on podiums, this image, in the country's biggest-selling daily newspaper, seemed starker than ever. Since Page 3 began, in November 1970, the most prominent daily newspaper image of a woman has been smiling, and topless.’

You can follow Lucy-Anne Holmes on facebook and twitter.

I seem to remember the then MP, Clare Short, was met with vitriol over similar attempts to get the SUN to remove page 3. One of its headlines ran, 'Fat, jealous' Clare brands page 3 porn. HOW SHE'D LOOK: Mission impossible ... we give Clare a Page 3 'makeover'. Sounds like misogynistic bigotry to me - a peddling topless young women alongside athletes, or more probably the latest news and views on anorexia, or the super-morbidly obese. Now as the Paralympics have finished, its been reported that hate crimes against people with disabilities have gone up. I wonder what parted distorted journalism plays in all this. There’s a time and place for naked bodies and all things erotic, but it’s not in the ‘news’ paper. Dim, twisted and offensive. Oh, and what: no mention of 'those' royal topless photographs today? Only a polite acknowledgement of dear Richard Desmond's apparent 'fury' at the Irish Daily Star's publication of them. You couldn't script it, could you?

So, to cap this tabloid nonsense off, here’s a reminder of the response of artist Sarah Lucas to both her frustration at Goldsmith's College minimalist doctrine of the 1980s, and her reading of literature on feminism, pornography and sexuality. She turned to popular culture and the tabloid press and its attitudes towards the female body and here then, is her 1991 conjoining of sex, politics, disability and tabloid scandal. Offensive or a critique? You decide. 
Its title: SOD YOU GITS

Talking of which...
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published the list of the ‘domains and measures’ that will be used from now on to create an assessment of the wellbeing of the nation – but no measures specific to arts have been included. Earlier this year a campaign by the sector to have engagement with cultural activity formally recognised as contributing to personal wellbeing had fed into an ONS consultation to determine the most appropriate ways to measure wellbeing, and it was proposed that the DCMS ‘Taking Part’ survey could be used to provide the statistical evidence needed to feed into the calculations. But the ONS has rejected any such inclusion in favour of a measure that assesses “satisfaction with the use and amount of leisure time… without making a judgement that particular or specific activities are good for wellbeing”.

The domains are still under development and ONS are seeking comments on the measures by email via nationalwell-being@ons.gov.uk

Networking evening...

So we’ve a networking evening scheduled for the 27th between 6 - 8 here at MMU. I’ve had a number of confirmations, and if you want to come along, drop me an email at artsforhealth@mmu.ac.uk and I’ll get back to everyone with the room details a couple of days before the evening. Although its an informal session (and you can bring any thoughts to the party), I’ll just talk a little about the National Alliance; the Conference in Bristol next year; a media campaign around arts/health and how we might undertake some more regional/local activity...(but I need your help - hint, hint)

Footnote

Ahh, a tabloid hell eh? My children recently asked me the question, ‘why don’t we have riots on the streets in this country, like the Arab uprising?’ Hmmmm, I pondered delicately, ‘I thought we did last year in London and Manchester, and in pockets all around the country.’ ‘No, not just looting’, they responded, ‘the ones where governments get overthrown?’ Kids eh?

Thank you as ever...C.P.

कला + संस्कृति = शक्ति

I know from from previous correspondence, that the subject of Christopher Hitchens frequently riles people, so in a bid to continue his provocations from beyond the grave, I’d like to recommend a good read! I’ve just read the short and sharp posthumously published, Mortality - and of the many, many cancer journals I’ve read, this alongside Barbara Ehrenreich’s brilliant, Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World; and Until Further Notice, I am Alive, by Tom Lubbock are the best. Hitchens had of course, been keeping notes and diaries of his time with cancer and he describes his deportation, “...from the country of the well across the stark frontier that marks off the land of malady.” Bizarrely he offers some perfect tips for essay writing, or giving an authentic presentation. Because his cancer took away his voice, he writes eloquently about finding your own unique voice and he does so through poetry and philosophy. Of course its more than this; it’s an account of facing up to your own mortality, and as such, is a perfect little book.

Writing this blog on a sunday means at least I get to digest the weeks news and pull out and loose connections between the arts, culture and health and I mention the Hitchens’ book, not least because I am embarking on a large piece of work that explores the relationship between art and dying, and that takes into account the big issues around dignity and the right to choose the manner in which we die. We’ll be developing a dedicated website for this, so keep your eyes peeled.

The weeks news could so easily be (and is) dominated by the Paralympics, but I’m sure you’ve heard enough from me on all things Olympian, but there are again some tail-ends to deal with, that tie into both Hitchens and the ‘legacy’ question of both sporting events. As Jeremy Hunt bounds into from his new role as Health Secretary from his muddy tenure as Culture Secretary and straight from the Olympic festivities - (and apparently without a backward glance to his relationship with the crumbling Murdoch empire), are we prepared for the ultimate arts/health champion? Surely having had two of the most important roles in Government that link our two areas of expertise, means we are in the presence of an illuminati! 

Let us wait and see, but I wouldn’t advise holding your breath just yet: perhaps a steady deep breathing is in order. For some reason, the words Slash and Burn spring to mind. Be prepared - be very prepared.

The reshuffle of the cabinet office has however, shone a light back onto the case of Tony Nicklinson through the appointment of Anna Soubry who has been appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Department of Health and has spoken positively about the need to debate the laws on assisted dying further.

Speaking to the Independent, she said, "I think it's ridiculous and appalling that people have to go abroad to end their life instead of being able to end their life at home...The rules that we have about who we don't prosecute allow things to happen but there's a good argument that we should be a bit more honest about it."

Although a change in the law seems remote, it’s worth revisiting the very recent Falconer Report for the Commission on Assisted Dying.

‘In this report, the Commission concludes that the current legal status of assisted suicide is inadequate and incoherent. While the current legal regime can be distressing for the people affected and their families, it is also unclear for health and social care staff, and lays a deeply challenging burden on police and prosecutors, which could be eased by a new statutory framework. A proposed legal framework for assisted dying is laid out in detail in the report, including strict criteria to define who might be eligible to receive assistance and robust safeguards to prevent abuse of any new law.’

Interesting times lie ahead for us all, and we must consider our own choices before we are plunged into the fear and anxiety of terminal illness. I really believe that the arts have a central role in this debate.

CREATIVE PRACTITIONER WANTED

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM)

The Hamilton Project: Deadline: September 17, 2012

TfGM have invested in high quality, accessible transport interchanges that relate to the environs in which they are situated and to the residents that they serve; investment has been made in integral artworks that have been designed and created by professional artists through consultation and engagement with local people. Proposals are sought from creative practitioners to design and install creative interventions and implement a element of engagement with local community groups that will influence and develop public art and creative public realm development on and within a new build Public Transport Interchange which is planned for Wythenshawe.

Themes/considerations

• A design that changes helps change the perception of young people in Wythenshawe
• A design that makes people get off the metrolink and explore Wythenshawe
• A landmark - unexpected
• Interactive 
• Uses multimedia 

Click on the milk-float below for more details.

ANGUS - WEAVER of GRASS

Sunday 16th September

Run by the renowned Horse & Bamboo Theatre- Angus MacPhee's life is a powerful and emotional tale of illness and lost traditions. Affected by schizophrenia during WWII Angus spent 50 years in a psychiatric hospital where he did not speak; instead he wove remarkable costumes out of grass. For more details on the production please visit: http://angusmcphee.blogspot.co.uk

For more details contact alison.kennedy@manchester.ac.uk

WELLCOME TRUST SMALL ARTS AWARDS (UK)

The Wellcome Trust has announced that the next application deadline under its Small Arts Awards is the 26th October 2012.  The Small Arts Awards provides grants of up to £30,000 to projects that engage the public with biomedical science through the arts. This can include:

• Dance
• Drama
• Performance arts
• Visual arts
• Music
• Film
• Craft
• Photography
• Creative writing
• Digital media 

The aim of the awards is to support arts projects that reach new audiences which may not traditionally be interested in science and provide new ways of thinking about the social, cultural and ethical issues around contemporary science. The scheme is open to a wide range of people including, among others, artists, scientists, curators, filmmakers, writers, producers, directors, academics, science communicators, teachers, arts workers and education officers. 

Read more by clicking on the boxing mice:

BIG Invests £100m to Support 

People with Multiple Needs (England)

The Big Lottery Fund has announced that it will invest £100 million over the next 8 years to help people with multiple needs.  The funding is being targeted at 15 areas where there is a significant concentration of people with multiple needs and where there are organisations with a track record and able to take on the challenge of providing better connected support services to help people with multiple needs. Organisations tackling homelessness, reoffending, addiction and mental ill health, will be invited to create partnerships in each area, led by a voluntary and community sector organisation. Their aim will be to bring together other local services, fill gaps in local provision, share results and lessons and involve the beneficiaries in the delivery of the project. The North West areas that BIG is focusing on are: Liverpool, Manchester and Blackpool

For further information on this announcement and which areas have been targeted please click on the signs below: 

CULTURE HEALTH & WELLBEING 

24 - 26 June 2013

A new new conference website up and running, with early details of next years conference which will take place in Bristol.

Click on the flyer below to go straight to the site.

Thank you as ever...C.P

Making lazy, stupid plants work harder

Plants with larger root systems take up minerals more easily.

Plants these days. They're coddled, entitled, fed with a silver spoon.

Use of man-made fertilizer and traditional breeding, over the years, has selected for traits that led to today's modern-variety plants that grow fat with yields.

But the downside of easy access to nutrients is that it has allowed for the breeding out of desirable traits that has left plants, well, acting like enabled, spoiled children.

"They're lazy," said plant biochemist Roberto Gaxiola, an assistant professor of cellular and molecular biosciences at Arizona State University. Because nutrients are plentiful, they don't bother with growing large root systems. Yet, he explained to me, larger root systems are needed for them to take up more phosphate and nitrogen from the soil.

More now than ever, plants depend on these fertilizers for growth. Wild crop plant varieties, on the other hand, have had to evolve in an environment of everyday nutrient scarcity. It's these wild crop plant root systems that have been the focus of Gaxiola's research for more than a decade.

Root engineering 

Gaxiola told me that these wild varieties have learned to use more efficient pathways of transporting sugars from leaves to roots. They produce larger root systems that do a better job at acidifying soil and taking up minerals like nitrogen, phosphate, potassium.

He's identified genes involved in overexpression of a type of kinase, an H+-PPase, that phosphorylates a process of loading sugar. The localization of this kinase is in cells that surround the vascular tissue, which is used to synthesize and transport sugar.

"It’s the only way that roots can grow and be active," Gaxiola told me. "You cannot grow a root if you don't move sugar from the leaves. What does this kinase regulate? It could be one of the genes, but clearly it's multifactorial. It's upregulating sugar transport for a larger root system."

Last May, Gaxiola and his colleagues published their latest of a series of papers detailing how his lab inserted genes from wild rice, tomatoes and arabidopsis into modern-yield, salt-tolerant varieties (1). These genes, as part of commercial varieties through root engineering, could lead to more efficient use of phosphorus and increase crop biomass and seed yields.

Another paper, recently published in Nature by scientists from the International Rice Research Institute, uses a similar approach (2). These scientists isolated and inserted a gene from a wild variety of rice into commercial strains to produce larger roots that better take up phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium.

Gaxiola said, "It's interesting work. We have similar results, but with a different gene." Again, a kinase is involved that regulates synthesis of sugar for transport to the roots to become more active, grow, and take up minerals.

Phosphorus and the future

"It's a good example of how crop domestication made crop plants 'stupid' and dependent on heavy external fertilizer inputs. Their plants seem very promising indeed," said biologist James Elser, a subject of a previous post.

Elser, also an ASU professor, is raising more awareness about the need for sustainable phosphorus. His wish, he'd said to me before, is to hear "President Obama say the word 'phosphorus',"as the problem deserves serious attention.

According to Elser, plants that can more efficiently use phosphorus could end up being highly beneficial to poor people, such as in underdeveloped Asian countries. As phosphorus availability becomes depleted and costs for fertilizer rises, farmers in these countries can't afford fertilization of their rice plants. They're also hit with the fact that the roots won't take nutrients. Often the soils have the phosphates, but they're bound to the soil. The roots need to acidify the soil to release the phosphate that's bound.

Plants that efficiently use phosphorus could also reduce eutrophication. The problem is caused when fertilizer run-off enters streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans. These extra nutrients cause algae to bloom and create "dead zones," Elser said, one of the most famous examples of which is the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone.

Hurdles of funding and anti-GM sentiment

With so much to gain from plants that can grow in phosphorus-poor soil or with less fertilizers, I had to ask Gaxiola, How close are we to seeing salt-tolerant, large-rooted plants being used commercially? Gaxiola's plants, for example, as he described, are "one of the strongest phenotypes" ever produced for the market.

"Oh, my friend," Gaxiola replied gently to my question, in a way I've found to be typical of his native Mexico City, "there are field trials, heavy investment, and then you have to pray that a company like Monsanto gets interested."

Why Monsanto? Because there are few other large biotechnology companies who could jump through the hoops required to commercialize a genetically engineered crops. It's unfortunate, Gaxiola told me, because to reduce the impact of fertilizer overuse on the environment and biodiversity, what we really need is more investment into plant engineering and more commercialization of nutrient-efficient plants.

One is led to wonder: With all it's focus on growing crops organically, is anti-GM sentiment actually hindering development of plants that could help the environment? Also, who is anti-GM sentiment helping if not only Monsanto? If only Monsanto can invest in GM? Wouldn't less regulations on GM help other biotechnology companies get in the game? These are questions worth more exploration.

References

1. Gaxiola RA, Sanchez CA, Paez-Valencia J, Ayre BG, Elser JJ. Genetic Manipulation of a "Vacuolar" H+-PPase: From Salt Tolerance to Yield Enhancement under Phosphorus-Deficient Soils. Plant Physiol 159, 2012;3-11. doi: 10. 1104/ pp. 112. 195701
2. Gamuyao R, Chin JH, Pariasca-Tanaka J, Pesaresi P, Catausan S, Dalid C, Slamet-Loedin I, Tecson-Mendoza EM, Wissuwa M, Heuer S. The protein kinase Pstol1 from traditional rice confers tolerance of phosphorus deficiency. Nature 488, 535–539 (23 August 2012) doi: 10.1038/nature113466

Photo credit: ASU

Daniel Suelo, the man who quit money, seems remarkably healthy

Daniel James Shellabarger (better known as Daniel Suelo) is portrayed in the bestselling 2012 nonfiction book by Mark Sundeen titled “The Man Who Quit Money” ().

Apparently Suelo stopped using money in 2000, and lives in a cave near the city of Moab in Utah. His diet comprises primarily wild vegetables and fruits, insects, and road kill; as well as discarded or donated food he gets from others when he visits the city. The photo below is from a recent BBC documentary. An interesting 2006 YouTube clip on Suelo is titled “Moneyless in Moab” ().

Suelo is listed as having been born in 1961 (), and the photo above appears to have been taken in 2012. If these dates are correct, he is 51 in the photo above. I cannot help but think that he looks remarkably healthy. The 40-50 age period is one that often sets the stage for many diseases of civilization in urban societies.

Suelo’s decision seems like a radical one, at least to me. There are always complex motivations behind radical decisions. In the case of Suelo, some of these motivations are captured in the comment below, which is part of a review of the book “The Man Who Quit Money” posted on Amazon.com by a reader.

[…] a picture of Suelo not as an untarnished hero, but a man who has wrestled with heartbreak, depression, disillusionment with his family's faith, and his repugnance to working for the pure sake of making money and buying things. Whether or not you are inspired to follow Suelo's example, this book will make you think.

Many people have been inspired by Suelo’s story, to some extent because they see that adopting a radical form of “simple living” () may not only be possible but also liberating. Obviously Suelo’s lifestyle, as it is now, would not be possible without the help of others who adopt a more “traditional” lifestyle. Below is a critical review by a reader of the book, posted on Amazon.com, which harshly reflects this perspective.

Any infantile mentality charmed by this inane story should simply generalize the message - visualize a world in which all of us live like the parasitic protagonist. How fortunate for Suelo that there are still people who engage in productive work and indirectly and unknowingly keep the human sponge alive […] Suelo never quit money he simply quit contributing anything and continues to survive simply as a parasite.

Still, Suelo’s story is interesting, including from a human health perspective. An article on Details.com by Christopher Ketcham provides a glimpse at what a day in Suelo’s life looks like (). It seems that on most days he has one main meal per day.

It is hard to get a sense of the nutrient composition of his diet. It looks like his diet is limited in but not devoid of industrial foods, and one in which food consumption is sporadic, opportunistic, and driven primarily by hunger and availability – not by stress or set meal times, for example.

He probably walks a lot; his cave is one hour away from Moab by foot, and it looks like he goes to Moab often. Apparently he almost never gets sick.

Suelo also writes a blog (), which has many followers, and also maintains other websites, from the Public Library in Moab. His first blog post has over 1,000 comments under it ().

艺术 ＋ 文化 ＝力量

First of all, just a big thank you for visiting this blog. Each week, I’m thrilled to see people visiting form all over the world. The statistics I gather from google are really basic, and the stats below show the top ten countries who’ve stayed on the blog for a significant period and read it! It doesn't however show the smaller numbers of irregular users, or if a country hasn’t been on this week. So hits from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Switzerland, Finland and Mauritius that have happened this week, just don’t show up on the chart. However, you can see by last weeks stats, we’re getting a lot of interest beyond our ‘North West’ remit. It just illustrates how this arts and health field is really growing. The graph moves clockwise from the UK in green round to its red neighbour of Brazil.

THE STATE OF ARTS & HEALTH continued...

Thank you to those of you have got in touch about your research. I’ve heard from colleagues ranging from people working in Merseyside to projects in Canada. Please remember, you still have a couple of weeks to send me details of your work, wherever you are in the world, and I’m particularly keen to know about research methodologies and the kinds of networks that you are all part of too. Please get in touch directly by emailing artsforhealth@mmu.ac.uk

NETWORKING EVENT

Just a reminder that our agenda-less event will take place between 6:00 and 8:00 on Thursday 27th September, here at MMU, venue to be circulated nearer the time. Register your place at artsforhealth@mmu.ac.uk 

PARALYMPICS, TUTU, THALIDOMIDE 

and CULTURE...

This week has seen Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a stalwart peace campaigner and Nobel Peace Prize winner in recognition of his campaign against apartheid; pulled out of a leadership summit in Johannesburg because he refused to share a platform with Tony Blair. Tutu said that the US and UK-led action launched against Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003 had in fact, brought about conditions for the civil war in Syria and a possible Middle East conflict involving Iran. As well as pulling out of the event, he is demanding that both Blair and former US president, George Bush JR stand trial for war crimes. Hard to imagine that ever happening isn’t it? But good to hear such a vocal and eloquent critic.

Elsewhere, we’ve had more Olympian action, this time from the Paralympic Games  and some interesting debate about whether the games will raise the profile of people with disabilities when the event is long over. There’s also been a surprise apology from Chemie Grünenthal, (CG) the German pharmaceutical company that manufactured the drug that caused thousands of babies to be born with shortened arms and legs, or no limbs at all. Their chief executive wanted to apologize to mothers who took the drug during the 1950s and 1960s and to their children who suffered congenital birth defects as a result.

"We ask for forgiveness that for nearly 50 years we didn't find a way of reaching out to you from human being to human being," Harald Stock said. "We ask that you regard our long silence as a sign of the shock that your fate caused in us."

OK...50 years after taking the drug off the market, they issue an apology! Here’s an quote from an interesting article on the subject. 

“...Grünenthal remains silent still on adjusting compensation for inflation and the dreadful effects on the victims – the men and women in adulthood, many now without parental support. CG did not just remain silent. It brought forth the drug thalidomide on 1 October 1957, from very murky origins indeed. It licensed its manufacture worldwide as a safe sleeping drug for mothers in pregnancy. One of the licensees was the British whisky company, Distillers, which put "Distaval" on the market as a tranquilliser in April 1958 and marketed it until 1962. Chemie Grünenthal was reckless. It had not tested the effect on pregnant women or animals to see if it could cross the placental barrier. It ignored early warnings. The wife of one of its own employees had given birth to a baby without ears 10 months before it puts its poison on the market. It made no difference. Nor did warning signs of deformed births and nerve damage from Australia. It produced sales leaflets for doctors stressing the drug's safety. It engaged – bribed might be a better word – compliant doctors who vouched for it though they did not know how it worked."

In this week of Tutu’s dignified and pointed stance; Grünenthal’s 50 year late apology and the opening of the Paralympic Games, it was wonderful to see a replica of the Marc Quinn sculpture, Alison Lapper Pregnant,paraded through the Olympic Stadium - buck naked, pregnant and beautiful. The original sculpture of artist Alison Lapper, who has phocomelia, which is similar to thalidomide in that she has short limbs; was displayed in Trafalgar Square in 2005 as part of the Fourth Plinth commissions. 

Whilst up in the windy and wet North, we’ve had the pleasure of the new Cultural Olympiad commission, Connecting Light. For Friday and Saturday night only, you had the opportunity to engage with a hi-tech art installation by the New York digital arts collective YesYesNo. Great eh? By visiting a dedicated website ‘the public’ could devise messages to send via the 400 balloons, strung out irregularly from Newcastle to Carlisle, with clumps of them appearing at special viewing spots, including Housesteads Roman fort and Walltown Crags. Great stuff - clumps of balloons, changing colour over 2 evenings. Oh no - we’ve missed it!

...lets hope that the 73-mile stretch of wall was reasonably accessible to any paralympians who fancied scrutinizing it. Find out more by clicking on the suspiciously photoshopped looking image below. 

The sculpture, Alison Lapper Pregnant reportedly cost £150,000...worth it? I reckon so. Lets mix up beauty, disability and art and lets look in the face of each other for all we are. I can’t help wondering how much the two-day, colour-changing balloons cost on Hadrian’s Wall? Worth it? - you tell me.

FUNDING NEWS

YAPP CHARITABLE TRUST

The Yapp Charitable Trust is an independent grant making trust that aims to make grants totalling £300,000 to about 100 small registered charities each year. Grants of up to £3,000 per year for up to three years are available to sustain the work of registered charities with a total annual expenditure of less than £40,000 that work with:

• Elderly people
• Children and young people aged 5 – 25
• People with disabilities or mental health problems
• Moral welfare – people trying to overcome life-limiting problems of a social, rather than medical, origin (such as addiction, relationship difficulties, abuse, offending)
• Education and learning.  http://www.yappcharitabletrust.org.uk

SMALL RESEARCH GRANTS

The British Academy, the UK’s national body for the humanities and social sciences, has announced that its Small Research Grant scheme will re-open for applications on the 17th September 2012 with a closing date of the 7th November 2012. Under the Small Research Grants programme grants of between £500 and £10,000 over two years are available to support primary research in the humanities and social sciences. Funds will be available to:

Facilitate initial project planning and development

To support the direct costs of research

To enable the advancement of research through workshops, or visits by or to partner scholars. http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/srg.cfm

HILTON FOUNDATION

Organisations that work with young people have the opportunity to apply for grants through the Hilton Foundation. Organisations such as charities and other not for profits can apply for grants ranging from a few hundred pounds up to £30,000 per year for up to 2 years that meet one of the Foundation's chosen areas of focus. These are:

• Disabled children
• Children in hospital
• Homelessness
• Life-limited children in hospices.

The next closing date for applications is 5.30 pm on the 9th October 2012. 

http://www.hilton-foundation.org.uk/application.htm

FOYLE FOUNDATION SMALL GRANTS PROGRAMME

Small charities operating in the areas of the arts and learning that have an annual turnover of less than £100,000 per annum can apply for funding of between £1,000 and £10,000 through the Foyle Foundation’s Small Grants Programme.  The Foundation which is one of the largest grant making trusts in the UK provides grants that are helping to make the arts more accessible by developing new audiences, supporting tours, festivals and arts educational projects; encouraging new work and supporting young and emerging artists; and that address special educational needs and learning difficulties.  Larger organisations can apply for funding through the Foyle Foundations Arts and Learning Main Grants Programmes. Applications can be submitted at any time.

http://www.foylefoundation.org.uk/small-grants-scheme/ 

MUSIC GRANTS FOR OLDER PEOPLE

The registered charity, Concertina makes grants to charitable bodies which provide musical entertainment and related activities for the elderly. The charity is particular keen to support smaller organisations which might otherwise find it difficult to gain funding. Since its inception in 2004, it has made grants to a wide range of charitable organisations nationwide in England and Wales. These include funds to many care homes for the elderly to provide musical entertainment for their residents. Some of the charities that have received grants from the charity include Age Concern, Exmouth which received a grant for entertainments for the elderly in Exmouth and surrounding areas and Sue Ryder Care, Lancashire to fund access to music therapy workshops at Birchley Hall near Wigan and St Helen's.

The deadline for applications is the 30th April and the 31st October every year.

http://www.concertinamusic.org.uk/Grants.php 

WOMEN MAKE MUSIC (but not Pussy Riot at the moment)

The Performing Right Society (PRS) has announced that its Women Make Music grant scheme is now open for applications.  The second year of Women Make Music comes after a successful pilot programme in 2011.  Through the programme, financial support of up to £5000 is available to women musicians; and new music in any genre is welcome, from classical, jazz and experimental, to urban, electronica and pop. The aims of Women Make Music are:

• Break down assumptions and stereotypes within the music industry by encouraging role models for future generations
• Raise awareness of the gender gap and to ensure that women are aware that support for new music is available to them
• Increase the profile of women who are creating new music in the UK
• Stimulate new collaborations between organisations and female music creators

The next application deadline is the 17th September 2012. Read more at:

http://www.prsformusicfoundation.com/Partnerships/Flagship-Programmes/Women-Make-Music 

CASE WELLBEING RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY

As part of its strategic research programme, CASE is seeking to commission a study to develop their understanding of the social benefits arising from engagement with culture and sport and the impact of such engagement on well-being.  Outputs from the programme will include evidence-based narratives outlining the social benefits of engagement and a ‘conceptual framework’ exploring the relationship between engagement, the resulting social benefits and measured impact on well-being. 

This work aims to make clear the social case for increasing engagement with culture and sport and will complement DCMS work exploring the economic case.  It will also help inform CASE members’ activity to enable social benefits to be better identified, understood and considered within both policy development and initiative design.

CASE plans to commission this work before the autumn, with results published in 2013. This is not a call for expressions of interest but if you would like to be notified when the tender is released please email case@culture.gsi.gov.uk 

Thank you as ever for reading and your feedback...C.P.