art

Funding for Children’s Arts Under the Spotlight as UK Gears up for the Games

A number of public figures and leading lights in the art world are putting their weight behind a campaign by national charity, Action for Children’s Artswww.childrensarts.org.uk to draw attention to the lack of public funding invested in art for children.   As young people across the UK look set to benefit from the sports legacy of the 2012 Olympics, Action for Children’s Arts is calling for the arts not to be overlooked. Findings from a report published on 1 June outline that children up to the age of 12 make up fifteen per cent of the UK population but only get one per cent of the arts funding.

The report – based on Freedom of Information requests made by the charity – questions the current funding policies of the national Arts Councils and the British Film Institute, as well as the programming policies of flagship arts organisations including the BBC.   Children’s author, Michael Morpurgo, will join other distinguished speakers in asking what can be done to make sure that the arts make their vital contribution to the well-being of all children at a conference taking place at the Unicorn Theatre in London on 19 June.   Among the proposals that Action for Children’s Arts will put forward at the conference are:

• Making 15% the benchmark for children’s share of public funding for the arts

• Making children’s arts part of the remit of leading arts organisations

• Making children’s film and television a national responsibility

Action for Children’s Arts Patron and Children’s Champion, Peter Duncan, says:

 “While it’s fantastic that sport is receiving so much positive attention this year, we must be careful not to neglect the arts. The programmes of most cultural organisations in the UK are child-free zones. Typically, organisations spend around three per cent of their budgets on education activities and around one per cent on productions or exhibitions aimed directly at children. The case we want to make is for children to have a fair share of the available funding. That doesn’t mean less for adults, children don’t go to the theatre or cinema on their own, art is a shared experience.”

“Children’s imaginations are stimulated through reading, singing and dancing, watching plays and films. The attitudes, values and skills that we learn in childhood stay with us for the rest of our lives”, he adds.

In the wake of successive reports, such as those from UNICEF, the Children’s Society, Barnardo’s and the Mothers’ Union, each raising concerns about the state of childhood in Britain today, Action for Children’s Arts aims to draw attention to the positive contribution that the arts can and should make to children’s well-being.   Speakers at the conference include:

Dr Maggie Atkinson, Children’s Commissioner for England

Sharon Hodgson MP, Shadow Minister for Children & Families

Aileen Campbell MSP, Minister for Children & Young People, Scottish Government

Aideen McGinley, Chief Executive, Ilex, Northern Ireland

Readers of a leading music magazine have been voting for which star’s they would like to see back from the dead.

2pac shakur Hologram Coachella 2012

 The results are in!   The Coachella Festival set many tongues wagging this year, for numerous reasons.  None more so than the appearance of deceased Rap legend Tupac Shakur, who died following a brutal shooting back in 1996. Alongside fellow Rappers Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg, they set the crowd on fire with a mind-blowing performance of the late star’s hits “Hail Mary” and “2 Of Amerikaz Most wanted.”   It is the first time anything of its kind has been done, creating a totally original performance, never seen before and specially mastered with the help and input of Dr Dre with Coachella 2012 in mind.   Prior to this, we have seen similar holograms, which were invented using previous archived footage and images to bring back a past version of the artists in question. None more highlighted than that of Elvis Presley.  This latest form is beyond all imagination.  What Coachella witnessed was a first and somewhat magical.

Tupac’s image created entirely from scratch. Recreating him. Bringing him back to life.   This has now sparked a wave of rumours of stars possibly returning from beyond the grave to grace us with their presence once again. These include whispers of Lisa’Left Eye’Lopez joining the surviving members of TLC on a US tour later in 2012. King of pop Michael Jackson to bless us all by returning with his brothers, also sometime this year, for the upcoming tour to celebrate their successful 1984 Victory Tour. None of which have been officially confirmed.   So, after the major hype and brilliant feedback following the Coachella display, music magazine, RollingStone, offered their readers the chance to vote for who they would like to see resurrected and back on stage. The results are in and the top ten desired can now be revealed.

 

10. The Notorious B.I.G: If Tupac can return as a hologram, why not his rival, the Notorious B.I.G? It would be shocking if Sean Combs hasn’t at least made a few phone calls looking into the logistics of making this happen.

09. Bob Marley: Reggae legend Bob Marley has become one of the most iconic figures in all of popular music, so it makes some sense to extend that image to the realm of holography.

 

08. Michael Jackson: Michael Jackson’s brothers have made a bit of noise in the wake of the Tupac hologram by suggesting that they would be open to doing a show with a hologram version of their late brother. It’s not hard to imagine an arena of people flipping out over watching even a virtual version of Jackson doing his signature moves.

07. Janis Joplin: If someone were to make a Janis Joplin hologram, they would have to work damn hard at getting it right, since so much of Joplin’s appeal came down to an unpredictable humanity that might not translate well to the world of ones and zeros.

06. Jerry Garcia: The Grateful Dead may have ended with Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995, but the band has stuck around in the form of splinter bands and, more recently, concert films broadcast in movie theatres. It wouldn’t be too surprising if a virtual Jerry popped up one of these days, though the rigid and predictable programming of an effect would go against the loose and groovy ethos of the Dead.

05. Jim Morrison: If Jim Morrison should return as a hologram, it might be cool to make the virtual Doors front man appear as a sort of spectral vision. That just seems much more in line with the style of the band than some bland 3D recreation of the late singer.

04. Freddie Mercury: Freddie Mercury was a larger-than-life figure, so if Queen decides to bring him back as a hologram, they ought to get very literal about that. As in, the faux Freddie should appear to viewers as huge as his astounding voice.

03. John Lennon: John Lennon is another star who would be ill-suited to straight 3D representation – he’s too wild, too human. That said, it would be amazing if he could be represented as a shared psychedelic vision that blinked in and out of reality as a live band performed along with the projections.

02. Kurt Cobain: Part of Kurt Cobain’s legacy is the thing in which his fans will scoff, “Ugh, Kurt would’ve hated that!” at virtually any cheesy thing that’s come out since his suicide in 1994. They’re probably right almost all of the time, the Nirvana front man was said to have hated a LOT of things. It seems pretty safe to say that Kurt Cobain would’ve really, really hated a hologram version of himself “performing” years after his death. Nevertheless, enough of you would like to see it that he ended up at Number Two on this list.

01. Jimi Hendrix: Apparently, guitar god Jimi Hendrix won this poll by a significant margin. It might work really well as a visual, but that hologram would have to be pretty amazing to come close to capturing the effortless soul of the guitarist at his peak, and the sheer sex appeal and beauty of the man in his human form.

What do you think reader’s? Are  there other names you would much prefer to see in this list?  Anyone you are truly shocked to see make the grade?

With this sensational breakthrough in technology, who knows what the future has in store for us. Could this be the way forward in terms of entertainment? Only time will tell.   One thing that is certain, Sataloma News  will be waiting in the wings to deliver you with news and keep you updated on any future events or breaking stories that may arise in the near future in connection with this exciting, new prospect. As soon as we hear, you will be the first to know.

 Music IS most definitely alive

Sataloma TV, on YouTube is launched this week.

With lots of Video’s to feast your eyes on, bringing yo all the new music artists, that we have featured at Sataloma News, entertainment news and broadcasts, interviews and reactions to current issues.

Take a look click like if you like what you see and of course don’t forget to subscribe.

www.youtube.com/satalomatv YouTube Preview Image

Gok Wan recovers while sketching his new collection, amongst other things.

Gok Wan Art

We are glad to see that Gok Wan seems to be recovering newly from his recent Spinal Surgery, and whilst he starts work sketching his new clothing collection, he has been tweeting some very unique and wonderful pieces of artwork.

The Gok Wan Art has been received so well by his followers, many of them asking if he plans to sell his work, with Gok replying that he would consider sketching and selling a couple of pieces for charity.

here are some of the the drawings.

Gok was taken into hospital a week ago after suffering with back pain, and had to stay in and have emergency back surgery, he is now at home recovering he tweeted on Tuesday

 

@therealGokWan : Very stiff! I know how that sounds – no wise cracks! 1st day of recovery today… Physio! I hope I get chocolate rewards if I do well!

He then shared his plans on Wednesday tweeting :

I’ll mostly be seeing friends, having physio and sketching the new collection… Oh and flirting outrageously with everyone! #bewarned

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