Culture Media

BAFTA and Julies Bicycle Announce New Partnership

Announcements, Julie's Bicycle, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

JBsustainingcreativity.102840The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) announced a new sustainability partnership between the BAFTA Albert Consortium, responsible for industry carbon calculator Albert, and Julie’s Bicycle, the sustainability organisation.

The new partnership between the BAFTA Albert Consortium and Julie’s Bicycle aims to encourage and assist good practice in sustainability across the creative sector, and underscores the importance of a collaborative approach in accelerating the creative industries’ transition to a sustainable and responsible, resilient business community. Both organisations have pledged to pool resources to support the development of the skills, knowledge and practical tools needed to facilitate sustainable practice across music, arts, culture, media, broadcasting and film.

Kevin Price, Chief Operating Officer at BAFTA, said: “Individually, the creative industries have done much to promote and embed sustainable practices. Nevertheless, by sharing opportunities, challenges and aspirations across the sector we stand to achieve much more. BAFTA is incredibly proud to have assembled the leading think tank on the sustainability of the TV industry – exploring the substantial need for immediate practical action. Our challenges and solutions are by no means unique and I firmly believe a collaborate approach to be a catalyst for greater progress.”

Alison Tickell, Founding Director of Julie’s Bicycle, said: “This collaboration is really good news for sustainability. Our industries consistently punch above their weight with great creative ideas, entrepreneurial drive, 100% commitment and extraordinary global reach – in fact, exactly the qualities that the sustainability movement needs right now; together we are a formidable force for positive change.”

New metaphors for sustainability: Le Tour

Ashden Directory, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This post comes to you from Ashden Directory

Le Tour de France is the metaphor Bradon Smith offers in our series of New metaphors for sustainability. Bradon is  a research associate in the Geography department at the Open University, and is also the AHRC research fellow on climate change for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. 

The bicycle is a wonderfully efficient and ecological mode of transport; and the dynamics of professional cycling are a model for the cooperation that real sustainability will require.

This week saw the climax of the Tour de France. Four hundred thousand people gathered on the mountain roads leading up to Alpe d’Huez to watch that one stage alone. Cycling works as a spectator sport partly because of the intense physical effort, but also because of the layers of tactics and teamwork: strength and stamina aren’t enough to win the Tour.

No rider could win the Tour without their team. Teamwork, co-operation and the team’s different skills are required to win even a stage. Many of the members of a team (the domestiques) ride not for their own chances of glory, but for the benefit of another member of their team: setting the pace for their leading rider, carrying water for them, sheltering them from headwinds, and so on. These sacrifices are central to a team’s success.

Nor can any rider win any stage – some are more suited to mountains, others to flat stages. The rider who can achieve the fastest speeds (a sprinter) is unlikely to win the Tour, which requires a better all-round rider. Some teams are dedicated to the success of a single rider, others spread their efforts more widely. A team has to play to the strengths of its members.

Despite the intense competition, and personal rivalries, there is a fundamental trust within the peloton. Hurtling along the road at 40mph, wheels within inches of one another, each rider must trust that the others will hold their line.

And this trust has built a unique ethic: the peloton follows a set of unwritten rules. It is not done, for example, to profit from other riders’ crashes – the peloton will wait instead. And the team of the leading rider is expected to do the most work, setting the pace for the whole peloton.

Technological developments have dramatically affected cycling: bikes are lighter and more aerodynamic, and the riders are all equipped with radios for constant communication with their teams. Fans are divided over whether these changes are detrimental. But these developments have not drastically altered the basic ethic of the peloton.

But there is another side to cycling. Teams are reliant on their corporate sponsors, and team tactics are also built around giving the most TV exposure to their sponsors’ logos. Deals are done between riders of competing teams: ‘you can have this win, if you help me tomorrow’. And – the big ones – doping blights the sport and fans speculate about deals and corruption at a high level. It isn’t really clear how these problems will be eradicated; but in a sport shot through with the ethos of teamwork and cooperation, they strike right at its heart.

There is a temptation to ‘cheat’ with sustainability too: to greenwash and make tokenistic changes, but never integrate it fully into our lives and societies. But the cooperation that is central to professional cycling is also central to sustainability; as in a cycling team, one specialism will not be enough; and like in the peloton, we need to trust that others will also make the effort.

“ashdenizen blog and twitter are consistently among the best sources for information and reflection on developments in the field of arts and climate change in the UK” (2020 Network)

The editors are Robert Butler and Wallace Heim. The associate editor is Kellie Gutman. The editorial adviser is Patricia Morison.

Robert Butler’s most recent publication is The Alchemist Exposed (Oberon 2006). From 1995-2000 he was drama critic of the Independent on Sunday. See www.robertbutler.info

Wallace Heim has written on social practice art and the work of PLATFORM, Basia Irland and Shelley Sacks. Her doctorate in philosophy investigated nature and performance. Her previous career was as a set designer for theatre and television/film.

Kellie Gutman worked with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture for twenty years, producing video programmes and slide presentations for both the Aga Khan Foundation and the Award for Architecture.

Patricia Morison is an executive officer of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts, a group of grant-making trusts of which the Ashden Trust is one.

Go to The Ashden Directory

Hands off culture and media in Hungary! – Petitions24.com

news, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hands off culture and media in Hungary

Artistic freedom and freedom of the press are under threat in Hungary.

If one theatre director can be dismissed for political reasons, anybody can be dismissed for anything: for being liberal or conservative, for having blue or brown eyes, for being Catholic, Jewish, Roma or homosexual.

Art is a profession and evaluation of art is also a profession. Art should be evaluated by professionals, not politicians. If politicians can decide what is good or bad, what is contemporary art and what is not, what is moral and immoral, political control over the freedom of expression will break loose. We had enough of that in the 20th century.

If a politically biased committee other than the court can have legal control over the content of media, freedom of the press will be curbed.

We cannot accept political control in art and media.

(If you cannot sign this petition, try doing it with another browser)

For more infomation go to:

http://www.wan-press.org/article18748.html

http://www.enpa.be/en/news/hungarian-media-law-fuels-international-concern_50.aspx

via Hands off culture and media in Hungary! – Petitions24.com.

Ãœber Lebenskunst. Initiative for Culture and Sustainability

news, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The “Ãœber Lebenskunst” project is turning the city of Berlin into a showcase for initiatives that bring together culture and sustainability and examine new models for action.

Whether neighborhood gardens, urban beekeepers, carrot mobs, Wiki woods, sewing cafés or climate pirates on the Berlin’s Spree River – around the world, new forms of ecologically sustainable living models are being put to the test.
The Call for Future is directed at everyone who wants to come up with ideas both in and for Berlin. We are looking for art projects and social initiatives conceived to go beyond what we think is possible. That make the impossible a reality. The art of sustainable living in the 21st century needs not only global expertise, it needs the dedication and the innovative spirit of local initiatives.

Application deadine: May 24, 2010

“Everyone’s a part” – the trailer for the Call for Future.

See the movie in large scale

HOW TO BECOME AN ARTIST FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVING

It’s easy. Please fill out our form (making sure it’s legible) and submit it in either German or English by May 24, 2010.

Please download the form here:

Deutsch | English | Français | Srpski/Hrvatski/Bosanski |  Polski | Español | Türkçe | Tiêng Viêt

In a two-phase selection process, applicants who are selected in the initial round will be asked to submit supplementary material (business plan, information about relevant previous projects, project planning, etc.) at the beginning of June 2010. An international jury made up of representatives from the realms of art, culture, media, politics, science and civil society will confer on which projects should receive funding by the the end of June 2010. The successful participants will be invited to present their projects at a kick-off workshop September 7-9 at the House of World Cultures in Berlin. The chosen projects will be given conceptual and financial support up through the theme festival to be held in June 2011.

How to submit your application
The application deadline is May 24, 2010 (postmark date/date of e-mail)
# by e-mail to call@ueber-lebenskunst.org
# by mail to

House of World Cultures
The “Ãœber Lebenskunst” project
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10
10557 Berlin

… or submit your application in person at the reception.

The House of World Cultures at

Google Maps

If you have questions about the Call for Future, you can contact the Ãœber Lebenskunst team.

Just send an e-mail to Info@ueber-lebenskunst.org or call us:

Mon-Fri from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Tel. 030 397 872-20
FAQ

Frequently asked questions about the Call For Future

Application

1. Who can apply?
Anyone can apply. Individuals, groups, families, residential communities, citizens’ initiatives, associations or organizations from the realms of art, culture, media, architecture and urban development, science and research. Applicants who are NOT residents of Berlin have to work together with a local partner. Because the idea is to focus on model artistic projects and social initiatives that build on models from elsewhere both in and for Berlin, we are expressly seeking these types of partnerships.

2. Which application documents have to be submitted?
For the pre-selection process, it is sufficient to submit the form (in German or English) which you have personally filled out and signed. Supplementary materials such as drawing, photos, manuscripts, recordings, audio files or DVDs can also be submitted. These materials will not be sent back. They will remain in the House of World Cultures.

3. How are projects selected?
As part of a two-phase selection process, a pre-selection will be made on the basis of the application documents submitted. The preselected applicants will be informed in writing at the beginning of June and asked to submit additional information about the planned project (résumé, business plan, information about previous projects, etc.). The Über Lebenskunst jury will confer on project funding at the end of June 2010.

4. What kind of funding can I expect?
In addition to financial funding of up to €20,000 per project, initiatives may receive both technical and/or conception all advice for project implementation from the Über Lebenskunst team. The participants selected by the jury will present their concepts at an (internal) kick-off workshop to be held September 7-9, 2010.
All participants that make the second round will be invited to a dinner the day before the kick-off workshop. The focus here will be getting to know each other in person and networking among the relevant actors in Berlin.

5. Can third-party resources be incorporated into the project?
Co-funding is possible.

6. Why is the call limited to Berlin?
In the 21st century, local ideas always have to be applied globally. Which is why we are primarily directing our call to local initiatives or to people who will implement their ideas and projects together with partners in Berlin, focusing (implicitly or explicitly) on global issues.
In addition, the future of humanity lies in the urban realm. Already today, more people live in urban regions than in rural regions around the world. Global urban co-existence must be conceptualized in a way that gives new value to living and is continuously reinvented. Today, people from roughly 190 different countries live together in Berlin. This is just one more reason that Berlin is a model city for ecologically sustainable living models for the 21st century.

via Ãœber Lebenskunst. Initiative for Culture and Sustainability.