FolkArts England News

AFO Conference changes people's minds

A full and sometimes rather heated debate on venues charging merchandising fees to artists has given rise to a major change on policy.

Feargal Sharkey challenging the Met

Feargal Sharkey is to challenge Form 696 in court. According to the Belfast Telegraph of 20 November he will apply next week for judicial review of the way in which local authorities are implementing the controversial risk assessment form:

VAT 15%!

Unless you have been hiding somewhere you will know that the Chancellor has reduced VAT to 15% from December 1^st 2008 for a 13 month period. We are encouraged, as no doubt you have been by the VAT office to pass this 2.5% decrease on to your customers. You will be receiving bills from contractors and some artists for the next festival season, bearing VAT at 15%. For those of you who are registered for VAT, this will make very little difference as you claim it back, but for those of you not registered, it will reduce your costs and hopefully help you fight the Credit Crunch.

UKBA Launch Soon

The new Tier 2 and Tier 5 points based immigration system is drawing close.  Probably by the end of November the UK Boarder Agency will have got the go ahead from Parliament to put the whole new system in place.  If you are currently booking overseas artists for your club, festival or event then this will most certainly effect you and you should get yourself completely up to speed soon.

NCA check Iceland

Once again the National Campaign for the Arts is up to speed and at the front end.  Recent correspondence requests information of any charitable organisation, arts body etc that has funds in Icelandic banks or their UK subsidiaries. 

Another One Bites the Carbon Footprint

TheGen, the free newsletter produced by Generator North East Music Development Agency has published it’s last hard copy, A5 colour booklet.  Paul M Read, Editor says ‘After much discussion at Generator HQ, we’ve decided that it is time to evolve the publication, switching to become exclusively online and producing more focused editions on a regular basis’. 

Make Your Mark

Make Your Mark has partnered with a live music promotions company - Curious Generation - to find and support the next generation of music promoters. They're looking for young people aged 18-30 from across the UK who want support to set up and run a regular, live music night in their home town or city.

Father and son get the nation dancing

By the 20th October £31,992 had been reportedly collected on behalf of WaterAid at over 90 events, taking place as part of the Big National Ceilidh on the 18th October. 

Hopefully the Guinness Book of Records will recognise that over 10,000 people were dancing Circassian Circle at 10pm on the night.  More news and detail will come in in the next few days and we will keep you up to speed.

Sustainability, environmental, green issues.

The business link, one in every region, has published a series of papers that will help us improve our carbon footprint.  The following extracts are the ones that might be useful to festival organisers.

And another one!

After a year when bad weather hit the festival scene yet again and it is quite possible that we could be looking at overkill on festivals in the UK, a new one has been announced. 

Olympiad Launched

So the Cultural Olympiad is up and running across the country, with the London Organising Committee (LOCOG) expecting the weekend to open up opportunities for people across the UK to visit spaces, places and people to get them involved in imaginative, thought provoking, creative activities.  To see more about the Cultural Olympiad and it’s Open Weekend launch, go to www.london2012.com/get-involved/cultural-olympiad/open-weekend.