In a powerful show of support for the arts, the government of the United Kingdom is putting forth £500,000 ($755,550 U.S.) to open public rehearsal spaces for bands. Ten of these “fully-equipped” spaces will be set up by the end of 2009, placed strategically in various locations across the U.K.: Liverpool, Norfolk, Bristol, Hastings and Manchester, to name a few. The first space has already opened in the Knotty Ash Youth Center where the Beatles played in 1962.
The program is being co-developed by Feargal Sharkey, a former member of punk rock band The Undertones, with the goal of improving the culture for youths in otherwise “deprived” areas.
In an era where nearly all forms of music revenue (even live performance) are falling, should government funding of music be something to consider as a solution?
Government funds music rehearsals
Tags: arts in government, United Kingdom
Wow. Wasn’t it possible to post applications to get musical equipment funded over there last year? Great initiatives.
I wouldn’t consider government funding a real solution, at least not directly, but of course, give the kids access to equipment and they’ll (hopefully) use it. With the ease of setting up a home studio nowadays, I think the next step should be to implement basic studio stuff in music classes. I know I would’ve liked that better than 7 years of playing the recorder.
Prima facie, it seems like a gamble. What evidence can they provide that it’s worth the initial financial outlay? Is that even the goal? When they say, “fully equipped”, does that mean they provide instruments? Amps only? The orig. article is a little lax on the details.
I think it’s wonderful of them to do, I just wish the US would do that as well. At a time when children in our own country are losing music classes left and right (or so the commercials say), I think it’d be a huge positive if things like this happened here too. Though I think right now isn’t the time solely because of the exorbitant amount of money that our government just put out to fix the economic problems we’re having.