DCMS Blog
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A huge thank you to all who attended the Communications Review seminars that have taken place over the last couple of weeks – we’re grateful for your time and contributions and for the constructive comments and feedback you’ve given us since the events began.
Continue reading "July Communications Review Seminars completed" »
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As the third Communications Review seminar gets underway at DCMS today, Henry Anderton from the department's Comms Review team looks back at discussions on issues such as consumer data, competition and even fish bladders.
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With just a few days to go until the Watershed Cultural Arts Centre in Bristol celebrates its 30th birthday, we hear from its Programme Director, Mark Cosgrove on the impact it's had on the cultural landscape of the UK over the past three decades.
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Jane Wilson, Chair of Arts Development UK, looks at CASE from a local authority perspective and how it can support operational activity and policy development.
Continue reading "It’s time to take-up CASE at a local level" »
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Orian Brook, PhD student at the University of St Andrews, is using CASE in her research to find out if the distance people live from arts venues influences their attendance.
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As DCMS celebrates its twentieth birthday, our Deputy Head of News (and 1992 veteran) Toby Sargent looks back on two decades of life as the Whitehall guardians of the nation’s ‘glittering trinkets’...
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Charles Cecil, Founder and Director of UK-based games developer Revolution Software, examines what the Government’s recent computer science education and tax relief proposals could mean for the future of the UK games industry.
Continue reading "Tax relief incentive could signal sea change for UK developers" »
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Six months ago the Creative Industries Council asked us to set up the Skillset Skills Group and me to chair it. Our remit was to advise them on what is needed to make sure we continue to have the people with the skills and talent that will make the UK Creative Industries world-beating.
Continue reading "Report done – but this is only the beginning" »
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Alex Evans, programming guru and co-founder of Guildford based Media Molecule video games studio (which brought us Little Big Planet) on how good programming skills are merely the foundation for creative content creation, while casting his mind back to the birth of the home gaming era.
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Christmas officially kicked off in London this week with the Regent Street lights* being switched on by last year’s X Factor winner, one of this year’s judges, a former Spice Girl, a DJ and the splendid British actor, Bill Nighy. Hopefully the IT crowd downstairs will be able to post a nice picture.
Continue reading "Christmas lights, tackling displacement and some thoughts on Remembrance" »
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Following the launch of Creative England last week, Chairman John Newbigin shares his vision for the new agency.
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On 3 November this year, the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth will open its doors not to the usual gazers of underwater life but to the growing number of gamers emerging in the South West. Organiser and MD of Remode Studios Ella Romanos explains why the coastal region is making a mark on the fast-growing gaming industry.
Continue reading "Extended Play: South West’s first major games festival launches in Plymouth" »
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‘Ditch your duvet, those summer nights are back*’ as The Daily Mail reported last week, demonstrating yet again that, if there’s one thing we in this country never tire of, it’s speculation about the weather.
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Following the official transfer this weekend, Chief Executive of Arts Council England Alan Davey reveals how his organisation has prepared to take on responsibility for museums and libraries from MLA.
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It’s not that long ago – well, 50 or 60 years, to be honest – that the idea of travel abroad was something beyond the reach of any but the very rich or those for whom it was an exotic by-product of their job.
Continue reading "Package holidays, backpackers and music festivals" »
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Rosie Clarke, Museums at Night Project Coordinator shares her excitement for the coming weekend's festivities.
Continue reading "A magical weekend of arts and heritage starts tomorrow!" »
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It has produced mind-blowing visual effects for Hollywood blockbusters such as Iron Man 2 and Inception and won a clutch of awards including BAFTAs and an Oscar. But visual effects firm Double Negative is not American or Japanese - it's British. Co-founder and VFX supervisor Paul Franklin, one of the Oscar-winning team that worked on Inception, discusses the little known success of the UK visual effects industry and the challenges it faces.
Continue reading "Visual effects: why the UK must build a legacy for the future" »
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I spent the first days of recess in Norwich, Ipswich, Swindon, Bristol and Bath, visiting organisations covering all areas of my brief.
Continue reading "Bookshelves, broadband and Bristol’s creative hothouses" »
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On the back of the recent Next Gen Skills Review, Michael Rawlinson, Director General of The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE) discusses next steps for the UK’s video games and interactive entertainment industry is to reach its full potential.
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Some of you may have read Watership Down, the children’s book by Richard Adams, which was published in the seventies, then made into an animated film in 1978, generating a No.1 hit single for Art Garfunkel, before going on to become one of those cultural icons – like the book and film Babe or the comparethemeerkat.com ads – that change how we think of a particular animal.
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Paul Durrant, Director of Business Development at the University of Abertay Dundee - an institution recently higlighted in an industry report as a leading light in computer games education - celebrates the 20th anniversary of the seminal computer game Lemmings and describes the university's efforts to ensure the next generation of game developers have the skills to create the ground-breaking games of the future.
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Dan Efergan, Creative Director of Online at Aardman Animations and an advisor on the Media Sandbox scheme, looks at some of the innovative projects that will be on show in Bristol next week.
Continue reading "Technological epiphanies: why I’m looking forward to the Media Sandbox Showcase" »
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Darren Henley, author of the Music Education in England review on the importance of Music Education.
Continue reading "Children and young people should receive the best possible Music Education" »
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Never mind Valleys and Roundabouts, says Watershed’s Clare Reddington, it’s time to re-discover Silicon Gorge: Bristol and the South West of England.
Continue reading "Bristol: the UK’s answer to Silicon Valley" »
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Rory Stewart, MP for Penrith and the Border on the challenges and benefits of bringing superfast broadband to his constituency.
Continue reading "What superfast broadband can bring to rural communities" »
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Guest blog by artist Razor (Raisa Haines), singer, violinist and regular at Nottingham’s CRS studios which now has a dedicated, fully-equipped space for rehearsal, provided through the DCMS Rehearsal Spaces scheme.
Continue reading "How Nottingham’s CRS studios helped my artistic development." »
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Ian Livingstone is Eidos Life President, Games Workshop co-founder and currently leading an Independent Skills Review for the Video Games and Visual Effects sector.
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Last week was pretty hectic, and I was involved in issues across the whole of my fairly wide-ranging brief.
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It's now been three months since the election, and it feels as if we have barely drawn breath.
Continue reading "Tough times, difficult decisions, fresh thinking" »
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We need faster broadband. 160,000 homes cannot access broadband at all, and around two million only get really slow speeds.
Continue reading "Call to tech industry to join broadband consultation" »
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I've been wondering for a while if I have the longest job title in Government, as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries with responsibility for Digital Access and Inclusion. I suspect others might outdo me if they used their full eighteenth century monikers.
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So far, I think I am making good progress on my DCMS priorities.
