Further cuts in HE funding for arts subjects

[Roslynmuse]

The MU published this on Friday:

https://musiciansunion.org.uk/news/mu-expresses-horror-at-proposed-halving-of-funding-for-music-at-he-in-england?fbclid=IwAR15_oHoG4v1cnv0uren6DlzPW_S-QBHVg6YKOQSA5GhfZlw_SXpHcwBoKI

It won't come as any surprise to anyone working in HE; but two things leap out - the incredibly short time allowed for the token 'consultation', and the enormity of the proposed cuts. 50% is not cheese-paring; it will mean closures of conservatoires and university music departments (and departments for all the other subjects mentioned too).

Our government truly detests the arts (and I wouldn't expect any better from any other political party), detests independent thought and critical thinking, and won't be happy until all creativity has been suppressed.

[Ein Heldenleben]

The MU published this on Friday:

https://musiciansunion.org.uk/news/mu-expresses-horror-at-proposed-halving-of-funding-for-music-at-he-in-england?fbclid=IwAR15_oHoG4v1cnv0uren6DlzPW_S-QBHVg6YKOQSA5GhfZlw_SXpHcwBoKI

It won't come as any surprise to anyone working in HE; but two things leap out - the incredibly short time allowed for the token 'consultation', and the enormity of the proposed cuts. 50% is not cheese-paring; it will mean closures of conservatoires and university music departments (and departments for all the other subjects mentioned too).

Our government truly detests the arts (and I wouldn't expect any better from any other political party), detests independent thought and critical thinking, and won't be happy until all creativity has been suppressed.

Even if they took a narrow Benthamite approach to the matter this looks odd. British musicians -classical, jazz, pop , hip-hop you name it- make a huge contribution both to gdp and to exports. We are running a severe heavy metal balance of payments deficit though...

[ardcarp]

Does anyone know if this shocking decision will also affect FE (i.e. a 6th-form college)?

It's bad enough that esteemed universities such as Exeter and Leicester do not offer a music degree.

[Richard Barrett]

It's bad enough that esteemed universities such as Exeter and Leicester do not offer a music degree.

I'm not sure about Leicester but Exeter had a music department that was closed down in 2004.

[Roslynmuse]

I'm not sure about Leicester but Exeter had a music department that was closed down in 2004.

There are Music Technology degrees at UG and PG level at De Montford University, the dept led by Leigh Landy.

[Dave2002]

Even if they took a narrow Benthamite approach to the matter this looks odd. British musicians -classical, jazz, pop , hip-hop you name it- make a huge contribution both to gdp and to exports. We are running a severe heavy metal balance of payments deficit though...

I wonder if in fact this is true, and even if the "music" is a genuine contribution to the UK economy, how much of it is due to serious and well trained musicians? I just don't know.
Pop music and music for films are significant earners, but a lot of the people working those fields are more like musical technologists - people who know how to make recordings, use computer technology to create a musical artefact - a product or an event - rather than people who are very competent musicians. I may be wrong - in which case let me know.

Also, if the marketing of high value films is going to plummet, then the contribution to GDP of musicians in any country will drop.

[Richard Barrett]

Even if they took a narrow Benthamite approach to the matter this looks odd. British musicians -classical, jazz, pop , hip-hop you name it- make a huge contribution both to gdp and to exports.

Indeed, and this was an argument I would associate with the Blair years, but the idea that the monetary value of cultural activity should necessarily play a role in government funding policy is highly problematic of course. It's not an argument you'd hear in Germany for example.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I wonder if in fact this is true, and even if the "music" is a genuine contribution to the UK economy, how much of it is due to serious and well trained musicians? I just don't know.
Pop music and music for films are significant earners, but a lot of the people working those fields are more like musical technologists - people who know how to make recordings, use computer technology to create a musical artefact - a product or an event - rather than people who are very competent musicians. I may be wrong - in which case let me know.

Also, if the marketing of high value films is going to plummet, then the contribution to GDP of musicians in any country will drop.

This is worth reading . The UK music industry is globally a big player . Who am I to say that hip-hop artists are not serious and well-trained ? I know it’s a highly competitive business !

https://www.academyofmusic.ac.uk/music-by-numbers-2020-report-industry-growth/

[Richard Barrett]

Who am I to say that hip-hop artists are not serious and well-trained?

(although why should that matter if it's the saleability of their work that's at issue?) Seriousness and training come in all different shapes and sizes of course. Nor are seriousness and training guarantees of the quality of the music being produced - I'm sure we can all think of artists who are highly serious and well trained whose work is as dull as dishwater.

[Ein Heldenleben]

(although why should that matter if it's the saleability of their work that's at issue?) Seriousness and training come in all different shapes and sizes of course. Nor are seriousness and training guarantees of the quality of the music being produced - I'm sure we can all think of artists who are highly serious and well trained whose work is as dull as dishwater.

One thing you can’t level at hip-hop is the overbearing influence of the dead hand of Academe. Not my sort of stuff but UK is also full of highly successful film, game and TV music composers most of whom seem to live in large manor houses in the West and South West. Presumably they will have had quite a lot of training ? In virtually every sphere UK musicians are global leaders and the depth of our education system must have something to do with it surely?

[Richard Barrett]

In virtually every sphere UK musicians are global leaders and the depth of our education system must have something to do with it surely?

For sure - and the richly multicultural aspect of British urban society too (something else that's under increasing attack).

[oddoneout]

The MU published this on Friday:

https://musiciansunion.org.uk/news/mu-expresses-horror-at-proposed-halving-of-funding-for-music-at-he-in-england?fbclid=IwAR15_oHoG4v1cnv0uren6DlzPW_S-QBHVg6YKOQSA5GhfZlw_SXpHcwBoKI

It won't come as any surprise to anyone working in HE; but two things leap out - the incredibly short time allowed for the token 'consultation', and the enormity of the proposed cuts. 50% is not cheese-paring; it will mean closures of conservatoires and university music departments (and departments for all the other subjects mentioned too).

Our government truly detests the arts (and I wouldn't expect any better from any other political party), detests independent thought and critical thinking, and won't be happy until all creativity has been suppressed.

The consultation of which this forms part opened on 26th March, so standard 6 weeks approx, but that's not long to disseminate the detail contained about specific areas affected. Looking at the budget proposal figures it seems that funding for the arts has been slashed to enable increases to nursing/health, computing and IT.
The blurb witters on about how important the arts subjects are and how the government wants them to continue to be available - but won't be putting the money in to support the provision as they are of lower priority.
I am somewhat puzzled by the figures for high cost course funding going from (£mill)896 in 2020-21 to 899 in 2021-22 being a +0% change.

[Dave2002]

This is worth reading . The UK music industry is globally a big player . Who am I to say that hip-hop artists are not serious and well-trained ? I know it’s a highly competitive business !

https://www.academyofmusic.ac.uk/mus...dustry-growth/

I'm not disputing that - but I think that there are perhaps many people who are part of a money making work force who by some standards might not be considered as musicians or musically trained - and I'm not disregarding that there are some who have natural talent. For me the word "industry" is significant. Maybe I'm wrong. For me it's a question of how one classifies someone's work - but then I could be very wrong.

[Serial_Apologist]

One thing you can’t level at hip-hop is the overbearing influence of the dead hand of Academe.

Interestingly enough, the advent of hip-hop in America in the early 1980s was in part down to funding cuts for musical education in American schools hitting the urban poor areas hardest. I have a tape of an interview from 1988 by the British jazz trumpeter Ian Carr of the celebrated American drummer Max Roach, in which Roach cited the resulting ending of free musical instruments to school students in the ghettoes as the start of the new musical art form, the teenagers coming up with their own substitute solution.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Interestingly enough, the advent of hip-hop in America in the early 1980s was in part down to funding cuts for musical education in American schools hitting the urban poor areas hardest. I have a tape of an interview from 1988 by the British jazz trumpeter Ian Carr of the celebrated American drummer Max Roach, in which Roach cited the resulting ending of free musical instruments to school students in the ghettoes as the start of the new musical art form, the teenagers coming up with their own substitute solution.

Max may have been right . Charlie Parker got hold of an instrument by joining the High School Band . Going back earlier though Louis Armstrong bought a trumpet from a pawn shop with a loan from the family that had semi-adopted him. I seem to remember reading that the very earliest St Louis blues musicians may have used brass instruments that had been abandoned by the defeated confederate marching bands. There is a very strong High School / University Marching band tradition in the States which , with a high brass take up rate, perhaps explains the excellence of so many of their orchestral brass sections.