A Midlands-based consortium is researching case studies of arts companies that have sustained themselves successfully without dependence on regular grant income, or who have learnt to adapt successfully to its withdrawal. A feature of the research, entitled ‘Who Calls the Tune?’, will be to examine the viability of nearly 200 companies whose RFO status was withdrawn last year. The project has been initiated by the Leicester-based ATC, also known as Arts Training Central, with support from partners including De Montfort University, the University of Northampton and a number of local authorities. ATC is keen to hear from anyone in the cultural sector with experience of non-dependent working.
e: [email protected]
The impact of an arts experience on the audience is being investigated by a research project designed to trial new ways of understanding the true value of engaging in cultural activity. The project, run collaboratively by Audiences Yorkshire, The University of Sheffield and Lisa Baxter, uses qualitative research methods, following the McMaster report’s note that “too many organisations are trying to second-guess what their audiences want”. It is hoped that the findings could help organisation improve their sales copy, building design, customer experience, market positioning and branding.
e: [email protected]
Welsh dance company, Diversions, is changing its name to National Dance Company Wales. The new name is launched under the slogan “Dance is for the nation”, and follows the formation of a national theatre company for Wales under the leadership of John McGrath (AP198).
w: http://www.ndcwales.co.uk
A European project on artistic mobility, ‘Artists moving and learning’, has launched a website giving information about research into the impact of mobility of artists in Europe from an educational and lifelong learning perspective. It will include interviews with artists from the performing and visual arts in ten EU member states. A comparative study with recommendations targeting policy-makers and educators in the cultural sector will be published next year.
w: http://www.encatc.org/movingandlearning
 

Sound It Out Community Music in Birmingham is one of only two arts organisations to have been awarded funding from the Youth Sector Development Fund through the Department of Children, Schools and Families. £0.5m will enable the organisation to deliver music activity for ‘at risk’ young people. The money will fund ‘Shine’, an 18-month music programme in five Birmingham constituencies which aims to help tackle anti-social behaviour by recruiting more than 800 young people aged 13–19 to take part in activities, predominantly on Friday and Saturday evenings.
w: http://www.sounditout.co.uk
The National Campaign for the Arts (NCA) has responded favourably to an independent review of the primary curriculum. However, while the NCA agrees that developing children’s ICT skills across the curriculum is important in exploring new artforms, it is “concerned that the new emphasis on ICT means that practical arts skills risk being sidelined”.
w: {www.tinyurl.com/l4k4au}
New research shows that 2.5 million young people in the UK have been inspired to progress into “real” music-making because they have played music-based console games. The research, commissioned by Youth Music, found that while 33% of young people in the UK play musical instruments, more than half (51%) play music games, which can be an entry point into music for young people from low income backgrounds.
w: {www.youthmusic.org.uk}