AHM pose a question

At the AHM symposium in October, Philip Schlesinger questioned whether Creative Scotland will be successful - will it convince the public it works? As yet there there are no clear set of objectives - only a vacuum of silence - although it appears that a business plan will be finalised in December. Philip Schlesinger noted that The Symposium offered the first real focus for debate since the establishment of Creative Scotland in July, 2010.

The discussion session was mainly about how artists could achieve a “voice” with Schlesinger suggesting that effective lobbying should reach out beyond obvious self-interest and that a more sophisticated argument, involving others, needs to be thought through.

AHM would like to pose an initial question: What do you, artists, designers, creative beings, expect and want from Creative Scotland?

Please share your thoughts via the AHM Symposium group on Central Station:


http://community.thisiscentralstation.com/_AHM-pose-a-question/blog/3024058/126249.html

Art21 Resource

Art in the Twenty-First Century is a PBS documentary series about contemporary visual art in the United States and the artists who make it. It is well worth a visit!

www.pbs.org/art21

Q&A: Martin Boyce

Central Station have published an interesting interview with Martin Boyce which looks at Glasgow's Art scene.

Read it at:
http://community.thisiscentralstation.com/_QA-Martin-Boyce/blog/2601506/126249.html

UK Immigration Policy alienates visiting academics and students

Tara Beall alerted AHM to the article, 'Points-based visa system alienates visitors to UK' (see link) in the Times.

Tara adds that "In addition to the serious concerns raised in the article regarding the difficulty that visiting academics and artists now face when attending conferences or giving lectures in the UK, there is a second and equally important problem with the new points-based visa system, which is quietly devastating the creative landscape of Glasgow: These visas are now awarded based almost solely on income. (For a Tier 1 Visa, applicants with Masters Degrees must be earning a minimum of between £20-25,000 annually). As you will all be aware, this is particularly difficult for recent graduates from most creative disciplines.

As a result, many recent GSA graduates have already been forced to leave Glasgow because they do not meet these new requirements. We can be assured this trend will continue unless the points-based visa system is reviewed."

Manifesto Club have launched a new campaign. You can do a number of things to help the campaign:

* Forward the link to The Times letter to your local MP, and any other MPs or Lords whom you have contact with, and tell them that you support the call to review the visa regulations and the points-based system.
* Visit the campaign page, they have a range of suggestions for further action: http://www.manifestoclub.com/visitingartists