[spectre] Arts Council adds new gagging clause to NPO contracts

marc garrett marc.garrett at furtherfield.org
Mon Sep 22 17:39:23 CEST 2014 

Hi Julian,

Thanks for sharing this bit of history,

I can almost smell the deathly squirms of joy from the sycophants, and 
unimaginative slack careerists who'd gladly sell humanity down the river 
so they can peddle more shallow crap down our throats.

Wishing you well.

marc
> ..on Mon, Sep 22, 2014 at 03:12:23PM +0100, marc garrett wrote:
>> Hi Heath,
>>
>>> the arts council scapegoated irational.org instead
>>> of supporting it as is its mandate
>> Your experience with the Arts Council sounds terrible.
>>
>> The ACE response at the bottom of the article seems to say their
>> main concern is about misappropriation of public funds. But what
>> does this really mean, it could mean anything, what examples do they
>> have that we can look at?
>>
>> Surely we are entering a kind of totalitarian initiative reflecting
>> an arts version of Minority report-- a kind of panopticon of the
>> arts, where concerns based on losing one's funding creates a
>> perpetual condition of fear, therefore self-censorship.
> Sadly I saw all this before, in Australia in 2002/2003.
>
> Colleagues and I made what many deemed as the first 'documentary video game',
> one that drew attention to the Australian government's brutal refugee detention
> centers. The project, 'Escape From Woomera', received AUD25000 in Australia
> Council (federal) arts funding. This deeply irritated the Immigration Minister
> Philip Ruddock (architect of the detention camps) who went on to publicly vent his
> anger and calling his colleagues to act.
>
> The result was a call for review of media arts funding in Australia, with many
> rumours that a committee has since been put in place to screen candidate
> projects to ensure they're not critical of the government:
>
>      "Arts Minister Rod Kemp ominously asked the Council for an “urgent report”.
>      Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner, Dr Sev Ozdowski, argued that “at best,
>      this game is insensitive,” while The Age dedicated an entire editorial to
>      condemning the game (“It's no game if life imitates art,” ran the headline).
>      When the New Media Arts Board of the Australia Council was abolished a year
>      later, dark rumours circulated that it was payback."
>
>      http://www.abc.net.au/arts/blog/Daniel-Golding/videogames-politics-Escape-From-Woomera-130901/
>      http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/29/1051381948773.html
>      http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue55/7103
>      http://julianoliver.com/escapefromwoomera/
>
> I, for one, was told twice I'll never receive funding from Australia again.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Julian
>
>>> On Mon, 22 Sep 2014, marc garrett wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> irational was blacklisted by arts council
>>> for displaying arts council logo on irational website
>>> as stipulated by arts council funding requirements
>>> after the daily mail newspaper published a hit piece against
>>> arts council using irational.org as a weapon
>>>
>>> the arts council scapegoated irational.org instead of supporting it
>>> as is its mandate
>>>
>>> i received a call from the chief exec of arts council at the time
>>> swearing and threatening me that if we did not remove the logo
>> >from our our site immediately he would fuck us up
>>> we waited a few days to discuss internally and then removed it
>>> during which time, other government departments had further
>>> threatened irational.org
>>>
>>> this new gagging clause it to protect individual careers in the
>>> arts council not even the arts council itself
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hi all,
>>>>
>>>> Thought this important to share here....
>>>>
>>>> marc
>>>>
>>>> Arts Council adds new gagging clause to NPO contracts
>>>>
>>>> Arts organisations and those connected to them must be sure not
>>>> to do anything that could damage ACE’s reputation as a
>>>> Government sponsored body, else their grants could be at risk.
>>>>
>>>> Arts Council England (ACE) is inserting a new clause into its
>>>> National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) grant contracts for
>>>> 2015-18 to deter any individual involved with those
>>>> organisations in any capacity from doing anything that ACE
>>>> considers might damage its reputation. Under the new draft
>>>> contract, from 2015 ACE will be able to “impose additional terms
>>>> and conditions” on an NPO if it judges that the organisation’s
>>>> staff, trustees, volunteers or anyone else “closely involved”
>>>> with it may be acting so as to have a “detrimental effect… on
>>>> its [ACE’s] reputation as a distributor of public money or as a
>>>> Government sponsored body”. Under the 2012-15 NPO contracts, ACE
>>>> could withhold or demand repayment of all or part of an
>>>> organisation’s grant if it acted in a way that was likely to
>>>> harm ACE’s reputation, and this clause remains in the new
>>>> contract, but the much broader scope of the new clause has
>>>> raised serious concerns across the sector.
>>>>
>>>> Potentially the new clause could not only prevent anyone
>>>> connected with an NPO from speaking publicly about ACE decisions
>>>> or policies, but it could also give the funding body the power
>>>> to withdraw from arts activities that it initially agrees to
>>>> fund, but which it subsequently judges to be too politically or
>>>> socially sensitive. Simon Hughes MP, Minister of State for
>>>> Justice and Civil Liberties, told AP: “I think this clause is
>>>> too extreme. I understand that ACE want to discourage
>>>> organisations from public criticism but this wording is drafted
>>>> also to control individuals and curb their fundamental freedom
>>>> of speech. I would urge funded organisations to think carefully
>>>> before signing up to this restriction of activity for their
>>>> staff, governing bodies and volunteers.”
>>>>
>>>> more…
>>>> http://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/news/arts-council-adds-new-gagging-clause-npo-contracts
>>>> ______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>>
>>
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>>
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--->

A living - breathing - thriving networked neighbourhood -
proud of free culture - claiming it with others ;)

Other reviews,articles,interviews
http://www.furtherfield.org/reviews.php

Furtherfield – online arts community, platforms for creating, viewing,
discussing and learning about experimental practices at the
intersections of art, technology and social change.
http://www.furtherfield.org

Furtherfield Gallery – Finsbury Park (London).
http://www.furtherfield.org/gallery

Netbehaviour - Networked Artists List Community.
http://www.netbehaviour.org

http://identi.ca/furtherfield
http://twitter.com/furtherfield

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