Happy New Year from all at All About Audiences
This week, the return to work for many, was marked by the return of the snow, an earthquake and a partial solar eclipse; portents that 2011 will be as tumultuous as 2010?
For many working in the cultural sector or the wider public sector, the new Coalition government and their series of measures to tackle the national deficit announced in 2010 has introduced a period of dizzying change, much of it systemic and unlikely to be (easily) reversible. However as our December Masterclass, 'Empowering People: arts, culture and the Big Society' with Francois Matarasso showed, several Coalition initiatives are far from new.
The concept of ‘Big Society’ has been ingrained in our Charity Laws, established following the dissolution of the monasteries in the Sixteenth Century; and the civic philanthropy and the establishment of the public library system in the Nineteenth Century was another flowering of the notion of Big Society. More recently a national index of happiness was also considered by the previous government confirming that there is nothing new under the partially eclipsed sun.
The seismic shock-waves of change of 2010 will still be felt in the year ahead but remember that ringing in the New Year is also about renewal and fresh starts. And maybe the best New Year Resolution for the cultural sector is simply to be resolute, to be confident in the work that we produce, exhibit or present and how it engages and inspires the audiences we serve. The biggest funder of the arts, ahead of local authorities and Non-Departmental Public Bodies, is the public themselves. To weather these latest changes and the current recession we need to be flexible and resilient but also hold on to our artistic mission, our values and the extraordinary relationships we have with the public. These themes and more will be discussed and dissected at the All About Audiences conference, 'We're Not in Kansas Anymore: adapting to survive' on Monday 28 March 2011. The confirmed headline speaker is Mark Robinson, author of the fantastic, Making Adaptive Resiliance Real.
So here’s to a year in which we avoid being snowed in by uncertainty but can work together to make the most of opportunity and change. We look forward to working with you and welcoming you at these events and more in 2011.
Best wishes,
Ivan Wadeson (Chief Executive) and the All About Audiences Team
For All About Audiences, 2010 was all about:
becoming All About Audiences, Research, Subscription, The Knowledge Bank, Industry Seminars, Go See This, Print Distribution, Digital Services, Consultancy Surgeries, Organisational Change, Area Profile Reports, Box Office Data Analysis, Evaluation & Impact Studies, Arts Council Cuts, Family Friendly, Valuing Older People, Mystery Shopping, Open City, Masterclasses, Gap Analysis', Changing DCMS Priorities and much much more....