England Slaps Australia In The Face
and
Prime Minister Tony Blair Shuns Intranet For Trad Jazz
Dear Ian King
I am sorry to have to write to tell you that at the recent International Initiatives panel of the Arts Council your request for a grant towards the above project was turned down.
I know that this will be disppointing news. The IIF funds are heavily oversubscribed and some very difficult decisions have to be made as a result.
Yours sincerely
Nicola Triscott
Combined Arts Officer
Arts Council of England (ACE)
Nicola Triscott
Combined Arts Officer
Arts Council of England (ACE)
14 Great Peter Street
London SW1P 3NQ
Dear Nicola
Thank you for your letter of yesterday the 13th of November conveying the down-hearted news, made ever more galling, in having read following in today's Croydon Advertiser, that Croydon Council has spent £1million this year on asylum seekers and that it is seeking recompense from the government for it.
Thank you for the time spent on processing our application. In not keeping us in suspense to hear the news - is admirable, and therefore much appreciated.
I wish the successful applicants good luck in their ventures, and will look forward to learning who they are on your list.
I'll end on the down-cast note, that;
Jazz: A policy for the support of jazz in England produced in November 1996 by The Arts Council of England, is evermore looking like a paper-tiger.
Yours sincerely
Ian King
Publisher/Editor (Kings Jazz Review)
To:
The Editor
The Croydon Advertiser
Dear Sir
No KJR regrets, for their action is good for Croydon.
We've had two applications positively rejected, and still have two major ones in the pipeline, all incidentally, submitted under the aegis of the jazz policy. Under clause 65 of the policy "support for touring of International jazz through the - International Initiatives Fund" we submitted another application amounting to £30,000 to bring over in July next year (1998) from Australia, the seven piece New Wolverine Jazz Orchestra (Sydney) to play a series of gigs in concert halls throughout the UK, in effect, it would tie in with their booking at the Davenport Convention, the home of Bix in the USA.
Guess what? It too has been turned down. Something's wrong !
This all White Australian jazz orchestra play their own interpretation of the Bix Beiderbecke music, a type of jazz made famous by the brilliant White American cornetist who died at an early age, and the New Wolverines visit to the USA, is to be made in his honour.
#race
I find this latest ACE rejection particularly galling, when Croydon has spent £1 million for asylum seekers (children only) this year, sanctions their arts officer over to the USA to study Black American jazz being played in night spots, presumably to improve upon Croydon's mainly all Black jazz festival held this year.
This latest ACE rejection becomes even more disgraceful, when governments have spent untold amounts of money on administering one-sided Race Boards all over the country, which can only lean to awful community relations, therefore how otherwise, do I see the jazz policy as evermore becoming a paper-tiger.
Furthermore, this rejection has to be a slap in the face to Australia - for their vouchsafe split, fired first-hand by inflicting a snub to this fine New Wolverine Jazz Orchestra of expatriates from Sydney, Australia, in favour of an ACE policy of flooding the country (ENGLAND) with foreign national art forms.
Yours sincerely
Ian King
Publisher/Editor (Kings Jazz Review)
28/11/97
NB
As expected, the Croydon Advertiser felt unable to print the above letter.
I don't expect the press to openly themselves, criticise government policy on Race, but I do expect it to give an airing in its pages to opposing views on the policy expressed by its readers.
When I was called-up and brought down to England to embark, having lost two brothers in WWII, and so started to sing about my homeland for comfort, I did not say: "Please Miss, can I have a Race Board, because these naughty English are calling me Names:-
Example:-
Opinion Page (Editorial) Croydon Advertiser
Caption:- "Fires of hate are fanned by prejudice and secrecy."
OK - CONTENT
(1) "Croydon plans to move a group of British pensioners from a dilapidated block of flats (KJR: why are they there in the first place ?) in Purley to be replaced with asylum seekers who are flooding into the area from abroad in unprecedented numbers."(2) "The bill facing taxpayers from these refugees is expected to reach £3 million this year alone."
However - here's the rub - CONTENT
(1) "Stop the Alien Invasion." The editorial goes on to tell us that there are evil forces in our midst whose aim is to try and prevent this happening. It then goes on to give us points of advice, and asks the question. "What as a civilised borough, can we do to cope with the refugee crisis ?"
"First, the Council must secure assurances from the Government that Croydon's taxpayers do not end up with the bill for coping with part of a European problem."
"Secondly, it must talk openly with residents whose lives are to be touched by the refugees problem rather than making decision behind closed doors."
With that kind of advice it is no wonder England is finding it ever more difficult to support its true music culture - Traditional jazz. It's a disgrace.
As with the National media and press, I see this Croydon Advertiser message as turning the English into a bunch of whimpering ninnies, window dressing the world even more, that England is a soft touch, and as it has been shown by the media, turned itself into a kind of Kennington Palace floral compost heap, ready for burial.
The Advertiser should point the finger of blame at government for allowing this unmitigating invasion ever to take place, not indoctrinate us to become mealy-mouthed.
The TV media have a lot to answer for - for England has now lost its stiff-upper-lip and sense of direction.
Smile:-)
...and out of proportion, Jackob and government jumps over the moon.
To comfort the Blues out of all this, government should now seriously think about lottery money for the Jazzitoria to make us all jazzin' happy, listening and dancing to England's true musical culture - Traditional jazz.
Here following seems to me to be good advice for the Croydon Advertiser and government from the Danish files, and from KJR - get shot of the Race Boards and direct the savings made into supporting Traditional jazz, England's true musical culture.
FT - Saturday the 6th of December 1997
Danish Controversy
Immigration rules tightened
Denmark's Social Democratic Party-dominated minority government, worried by a surge in support for the right-wing populist Danish People's party, yesterday announced measures that will make the country less attractive to immigrants.
Refugees and immigrants who cannot support themselves will be made to attend classes in Danish and Danish social conditions. If they fail to attend their social security will be cut.
New restrictions will be placed on the right to bring family members to join immigrant families, who will lose the right to bring their parents to the country for permanent residence. Immigrants convicted of serious crimes will be thrown out of the country - Hilary Barnes, Copenhagen.
On 6th February the Croydon Advertiser came to its senses with an Editorial "The Nanny State Is Blind To A Growing Refugee Crisis" which prompted a couple of letters the following week from do-gooders writing in, that as England is a compassionate country it should opens its doors to everyone the world over seeking asylum.
To date, £3million has been spent on them and not a penny to Traditional jazz from ACE - England's Disgrace
13th December 1997
Dear Prime Minister
A Slap In The Face To Australia
The voice on your return from Amsterdam about small businesses is encouraging.
The voice on your schools policy after having talks with Microsoft's Mr Bill Gates is encouraging.
What is not encouraging, is the time ACE is taking to asses the KJR application for £75,000 under the capital programme rules to set up an Intranet system for Traditional jazz clubs in England, that is, the time when by my slip of the pen to the previous government was made on its policy, before the word "Intranet" was generally accepted by the internet world.
(ACE letter of 6/2/98 rejects the application - see KJR Home Page : ACE Rejects Intranet For Traditional Jazz).
It is all jolly fine to furnish school pupils with the new technology, but if the workplace is not ready to accommodate them, it becomes not worthwhile. My time spent on the internet is proving worthwhile for our artform, and it needs more like minded people on board.
Now to the main purpose of this letter. The enclosed KJR web page begs the question:- Is it your strong commitment to European integration that is the cause for the ACE International Fund to favour them, and in so doing, reject the expatriate artform of Australian application ?
I have written to the arts minister Mark Fisher on another matter, and look forward to learning of your overall views in real terms on the whole matter.
Yours sincerely, Ian King
As you know my Department channels Government funding of the arts in England through the Arts Council of England and the ten regional arts boards, which take decisions on the level of support to individual art forms, organisations and projects without the involvement of Ministers.
The Arts Council have made a commitment to support the White Paper "National Review of Jazz in England" referred to in your letter. Implementation of the White Paper is therefore a matter for the Arts Council itself working closely with the sector.
As you may know, in addition to revenue support for jazz, the Arts Council has made National Lottery capital grants to jazz projects which total well over £13 million. This does not include Lottery capital grants supporting jazz indirectly which have been made to venues which incorporate jazz programming, although not exclusively. There have also been a number of awards to jazz made under the Arts Council's "Arts for Everyone" Main and Express schemes. Should you have any queries on National Lottery applications your Regional Arts Board would of course be happy to help you.
Ministers wish to see all art forms flourish. I know that both the Secretary of State and Mr Fisher wish to encourage the propagation of the rich range of jazz on offer in England today.
Yours sincerely, Patricia Reason
Dear Patricia
Thank you for your letter of 12 February which is the most discernible I've received of the plethora of letters sent to me over the past ten years rejecting support for England's true musical culture, Traditional jazz. Such well-judged writing makes one see light where there was darkness
I enclose a copy of a fax sent to all Regional Arts Boards on the 6th November 1995. None had given support to New Orleans, Dixieland and Traditional jazz.
The first sentence of the penultimate paragraph of your letter is very much a revelation to us, especially as Traditional jazz is the only type with a specific reference to it in England's jazz policy document. We shall seek with ACE a breakdown of the £13 million grant mentioned.
I shall not trouble you with our views on the remaining three points in the paragraph as these have been expressed many times before, not only by us, in our publications.
It is unfortunate that "Dumbing" ACE (whatever that means in the letter to the Sunday Times yesterday) can only classify every Didgeridoo blow, AfaTakaWaka musical note as jazz, seemingly with one and only purpose to discriminate against those artists of Traditional jazz, leaving them out in the ice-cold, to grow old, thus allowing England's prime musical culture to die out and fold.
Sad. Utter senselessness.
Yours sincerely, Ian King