Lewis spoke of the need to “match our cutting edge creative ideas with an equally creative global business strategy which ensures we can benefit from the new jobs and growth of the future”, adding that “The Conservative-led government has so far failed to provide the strategic leadership which is urgently required, and in education and the arts, they are implementing policies which are damaging the foundations of our creative success.” Other demands made by Lewis included a call or more cross-department working within government and for the collation of rigourous data about the sector.

The creation of the network is to be welcomed we think; it’s too easy for us all to work in our own silos, and an opportunity for a real opportunity for sector leaders to come together – to share ideas, develop joint initiatives and present a coherent set of policy recommendations – can only be a good thing.

In response to Labour’s plans, a couple of ‘morning after the night before’ points that our experience here at the hub immediately called to mind are:

1. Firstly, in terms of learning the business skills required to generate private investment, not all businesses want to become global enterprises, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need help to develop their business skills.

We’d say that Labour’s review needs to listen hard to the multitude of small businesses which together form the backbone of the creative sector about their ambitions and development needs.

We’ve done a lot of work with small businesses like this, for the Arts Council, various former Regional Development Agencies and the Learning and Skills Council, and know a fair bit about their business development needs, and what works and what doesn’t. We’d hope to follow up on this with the network, and would be happy to share what we know and plans we’ve developed for a Joining the Dots programme that in part will do just this.

2. Looking at the fairness pledge, which aims to ensure those signed up to it offer internships and jobs on the basis of merit rather than social background, we of course support that proposition. Who wouldn’t? However, many small businesses still find the costs of offering creative apprenticeships prohibitively expensive and CC Skills appears unable to get its head around the idea of small businesses offering a ‘collective’ apprenticeship, potentially across SMEs sharing creative industries ‘hub’ spaces. This is something of a hobby horse issue for us – and has been in our discussions with CC Skills down the years.

For the time being, internships are often the only way for small businesses to provide the entry level experience that is so important to those entering the creative sector these days. And many -ourselves included – pride themselves on offering an incredibly valuable, carefully sructured opportunity. Public sector support to help the ‘common man’ small businesses in the sector to provide more financially rewarding entry level internships would surely be a good thing?

3. Next, arts organisations are businesses, regardless of whether they have charitable status or not. Their business aims may be charitable, or they may be ‘for profit’, but either way, they are still businesses. It’s semantics you might argue, but we’d say the semantics get in the way of a bigger, cultural issue for the cultural sector. We work a lot in the music sector, and here the economy is very mixed, with individual artists working as micro businesses, and a multitude of small businesses working tirelessly to survive. These guys have to operate as businesses – albeit with charitable or social entreprise models – if they are to survive. So, using common terminology, are these guys, are we, an arts organisation or a business? We tend to describe ourselves an ethical business working in the creative sector. 4. And finally, back to that point about rigourous data. Yes, absolutely that’s needed. And without giving too much away, we’d suggest that everyone keeps an eye on info coming out of the National Campaign for the Arts l ater this autumn. We’re working with the NCA at the moment, and can’t say too much, but there are some really interesting numbers being crunched at the moment. If you want to keep up to date with that then sign up to our hub email newsletter.

And so to today’s work…

I’m really enjoying working on the Fertilizer Festival, it’s a brilliant project and is allowing me to combine all my interests; promotion, live music, marketing and online and digital promotional techniques. I’m really looking forward to the Festival landing in May, and experiencing some underground and slightly left field music from Poland!

I’ll leave you with a few of my favourite links from my first few weeks at the hub…

• Firstly my favourite band at the moment Strawhouses who I’m sure I am now beginning to annoy my fellow hubites with by talking about them so much.

• The Fertilizer Festival on Twitter… please follow us!

• hub operations manager Andi’s RT @Shunt project which I very much enjoyed at The Shunt Lounge.

Tom Johnson, hub Fertilizer Intern 2009.

the hub co-produces Fertilizer with sound uk. The team behind Fertilizer is dynamic, entrepreneurial and passionate about good music. As part of that team you?ll get to work on putting together the marketing strategy for the festival, creating on- and off-line publicity materials, building our distribution networks and online presence and getting involved in our PR. We hope that during your three months with us you?ll pick up skills, experience and contacts that will prove useful to you in your future career, and that you?ll have lots of fun into the bargain.

Alongside all this marketing activity, you?ll also get hands on experience of working in a small, busy and friendly team, and will help us to keep things running smoothly.

We?re looking for someone to join our team from the end of February 2009 and be part of it for until the end of May 2009, working 3-4 days a week. So if you?re keen to hone your marketing skills, are passionate about music, like words and have a way with them and are a good team player, we?d love to hear from you. You?ll also need good computer skills, and to be able to commit to being part of our team for three months. In return, we?ll pay your expenses and make sure your internship is something of real value to you. We?re based in east London, by the way.
Here is what Gemma Scott, one of our recent Interns, said about this internship:
“Finding direction in an arts based career can be difficult in many ways. The hub?s Internship has gifted me with the experience of working closely as part of a team with devoted and respected professionals, and has inspired me to pursue a career in arts development and education. I worked on a range of varied and exciting projects and this helped me understand the many ways in which different people contribute to the arts industry through their various job roles to achieve some spectacular results. The guys at the hub are friendly and supportive and will readily adapt the experience towards individual interests and requirements. I would highly recommend this Internship to anyone wanting to progress with a career in the arts.?

HOW TO APPLY
If you?d like to apply to join our team, please send Andi Studer your CV and a covering letter, telling us about your skills, interests, career ambitions, why you are interested in working with the hub and what you can contribute to the team. Andi?s email address is: andi@thehubuk.com

The deadline for getting your application to us is: Weds 18 February 2009
Interviews will be held on Tues 24 February 2009

You?ll be working on a diverse range of content-focused initiatives from doing an audit of arts programming for children and young people to taking the hub?s Phrased and Confused spoken word and music project to the next level. You?ll also work alongside the hub?s digital team in creating and developing new digital content for our own projects and for clients. We are looking for an enthusiastic and passionate intern to play a part in delivering this programme of work and become part of the hub team for a three month placement from March to May 2008. the hub is a dynamic arts development practice.

• we develop new thinking and practice in the arts
• we create and work on projects that excite us
• we enable others to better meet their potential
• we share our knowledge to improve our cultural landscape

Our entrepreneurial, ‘think and do tank’ approach to development marks us out from other consultancies and public sector agencies. We combine our own practice with consultancy. We think and do in order to learn, and we share with our partners, clients and peers what we learn. We work in this way because we value our independence, because we’re excited by ideas, and because we’re motivated by a desire to develop our cultural landscape.

If you are interested in applying for this position please send your CV and a covering letter explaining;

• your interest in the area of creative production
• how you would use this opportunity to develop your career
• your wider ambitions for your professional future
• which days you are available

to Andi Studer andi@thehubuk.com by Monday 4 February 2008 at 5pm. This internship is unpaid although we offer a desk space, use of our facilities, arts industry training opportunities and travel expenses.

the hub is a dynamic arts development practice.

• we develop new thinking and practice in the arts
• we create and work on projects that excite us
• we enable others to better meet their potential
• we share our knowledge to improve our cultural landscape

Our entrepreneurial, ‘think and do tank’ approach to development marks us out from other consultancies and public sector agencies. We combine our own practice with consultancy. We think and do in order to learn, and we share with our partners, clients and peers what we learn. We work in this way because we value our independence, because we’re excited by ideas, and because we’re motivated by a desire to develop our cultural landscape.

If you are interested in applying for this position please send your CV and a covering letter explaining your interests in this area, how you would use this opportunity and which days you are available to: Wendy Smithers wendy@thehubuk.com by Monday 5 November 2007.

This internship is unpaid although we offer a desk space, use of our facilities, arts industry training opportunities and travel expenses. To find out more about the hub please go to: www.thehubuk.com