Arts Council England and British Council have published Supporting UK Musicians Abroad, a summary of research carried out by the hub last year, which provided recommendations for how the two organisations could work together more effectively to maximise the impact and benefit of their support for musicians and music organisations wishing to develop their work internationally.

In arriving at our recommendations, we mapped the support currently available to those musicians and other music professionals in England working, or wishing to work, internationally, and identified where the needs of such individuals and organisations are currently unmet.

the hub’s findings have been welcomed by both organisations, and they have already informed the new Memorandum of Understanding between the Arts Council and British Council and the Arts Council’s consultation document Achieving great art for everyone. On a practical level, the two commissioning organisations have also begun work in response to some of our recommendations, for example the suggestion of a more ‘joined up’ approach to strategic planning, showcasing in the UK and overseas, online intelligence and clearer communication of our international priorities. Meanwhile, recommendations relating to touring, internal professional development, evaluation and lobbying and advocacy will inform future developments.

You can find a copy of the executive summary, our mapping and gapping analysis of the current infrastructure in England and contextual information about the commissioning partners, along with their joint response to our research, here.

Following initial consultation carried out by the hub last year, the Mayor of London has launched Making Music Matter, his music education strategy for London 2010-12. Published earlier this month, just over a year after the first ever Mayor’s Music Education Summit which the hub also produced and which kicked off the consultation process, the resulting programme includes: a new £100K fund for music education in the capital, to seed fund partnerships between local authority music services and orchestras and ensembles in the city; an audit of music education provision across London boroughs; an annual Rhythm of London event; a Rhythm of London website, signposting musical opportunities for young people, teachers and the general public; events and publications to support teacher development; advocacy to funders and government, and regular consultation with young people, teachers, parents and music education providers. You can download the full document here.

Fertilizer 2009… Good S**t From Poland is nearly upon us!! And here at the Fertilizer HQ we’re busy putting together the final touches, ready to hit you with a plethora of underground sounds and leftfield new music. The venues are booked, the artists have their flight tickets and we’re ready to go with this year’s festival in London’s East End.

The mash up of sounds and influences has to be seen (and heard) to be believed this year as we bring you everything from the finest Polish hip hop, to electronica, post rock psychedelia and even an orchestra of tiny instruments. To find out more about the acts showcased this year check out their biogs on our website. And for the first time we’ll also be spreading good s**t across the UK as the Fertilizer tour bus heads for Norwich, Bristol, Oxford, Liverpool and Gateshead for a series of very special shows featuring Sing Sing Penelope, Jacaszek and Contemporary Noise Sextet.

Plus thanks to Sound and Music this year Fertilizer has been able to commission a unique British Polish Jazz collaboration between Pete Wareham of Acoustic Ladyland and Polar Bear fame and Poland’s prog-jazzers Pink Freud. Pete is at the heart of the new breed of improvisers who effortlessly blends rock, electronica and beats with Jazz which makes him the perfect partner for Pink Freud who epitomise Gdansk’s tradition of improvisatory drawing on a truly eclectic range of influences, including jazz, rock, folk, jungle and drum’n’bass, making them one of the most interesting and spontaneous jazz groups we’ve come across in recent years.

Pete has been out in Poland to practise and perform with Pink Freud and you can follow his time over there through his regular updates on Twitter. The guys will be playing 2 exclusive gigs during the festival the first at London’s Cargo on Wednesday the 13th of May and then at Howard Assembly Rooms in Leeds the next night, Thursday the 14th.

And this year it’s easier than ever to keep up with everything Fertilizer. Why not become our friend and receive exclusive updates on the festival, read interviews with the acts and be in with a chance to win some goodies? You can also join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

I’ll leave you with our first in our new series of the Fertilizer Phrasebook, which aims to equip you with all the phrases you’ll need to have a good time at this year’s Festival:

No. 1 - Zatańczymy? – which means ‘Shall we dance?’

One of the hub’s associates, John Hart, is taking to the road soon, as part of a 10th anniversary tour by UK folk legends, Edward 11. We’re all off to the London date in London’s Cargo, on 4 February. In a perfect example of how – unlike other consultants and researchers – everyone at the hub all ‘think’ and ‘do’, John will spend a good portion of February on the road.

The links between Edward 11 and the hub team go back years; John and Julia, the hub’s director, first met too many years ago, when the latter was Events Manager at The Stables in Milton Keynes, and her responsibilities included lugging the band’s kit in and out of the tour van. We wait to see if she’s still got the muscles to shift those amps…

Check out the news from the recent Music Education Summit which we produced for the Mayor of London’s office; check out this link to interviews carried out by Radiowaves’ team of young reporters:

more at: http://www.radiowaves.co.uk/story.aspx?lngStoryID=40021

Here we’re at hub towers we’re excited and delighted to be launching our new training brochure this month. It’s full of training courses based on client feedback about what they – and the people they work with – need, and covers areas such as business planning, fundraising, digital strategy and production, legal and finance essentials, creative production, music industry essentials making the Olympics work for you. Easily navigable, each section outlines example frameworks, content and learning outcomes, and it also talks you through how we work with clients to customize our training sessions to ensure that they provide exactly what’s needed.

As you may already know, the hub has a strong track record as a training organisation; over the years we’ve worked with music industry bodies and development agencies to train hundreds of artists, promoters, producers, label managers and others working in the cultural sector. In response to demand, we’ve done more and more training each year. We really enjoy training; it’s inspiring to spend time with other industry professionals keen to find new answers and try out new ideas – and it keeps us on our toes! As trainers, the hub gives people what they want: industry-specific training, full of relevant, practical advice and information that can be put into practice straight away; trainers who continue to do pay their dues and are generous with their knowledge, and plenty of opportunities for debate, questions and networking. All of our trainers are specialist ‘industry insiders’, who combine significant training expertise with up-to-the-minute practical experience of working as managers, producers, fundraisers, marketers or project managers.

Our Fundraising and Sponsorship courses cover everything from government funds to private investment; as the credit crunch kicks in and industry models shift, injecting cash into small businesses will be harder but all the more important. Our Digital Strategy and Production courses are a 21st Century reality check, explaining how to get digitally savvy on a shoestring, build a business-focused digital ‘toolkit’; check out the hugely popular Penniless Podcaster too! We cover the live stuff too – our Creative Production courses cover everything people need to know to make their events a success – the checklist, health & safety, logistic – the lot. Everyone hates business planning, right? Our Business Planning courses are renowned for cutting through the c*** and getting people inspired and on-track. The same is true of our Music Industry Essentials courses, aimed at artists and entrepreneurs alike, which show you how to make money from your music and grow your music business. Meanwhile our Legal & Financial Essentials sessions tackle contracts, copyright, legal and company structures, boards and governance, demystifying all that legal jargon. And, If you want to build your international know how, check out our International Arts courses, which explain how to work internationally, and – the one we all want to crack – how to make the Olympics work for you.

We hope you enjoy reading our first ever Training Guide; we’re very excited about it, and we’d love to explore with you how we might be able to work together. To find out more, give us a call on 020 7377 1373 or email info@thehubuk.com.

Yes, we’re pleased to announce the return of Phrased & Confused, back to once again explore that creative common ground between music and lyrics.

This year we’re shaking things up a bit, and are packing up our Phrased & Confused belongings to take over a stage at the award winning Summer Sundae Weekender festival, which for three days (8-10 August) takes over De Montfort Hall and Gardens in Leicester.

We don’t want to give the game away here, but we have got some rather special things planned and artists confirmed. For more information, check out www.phrasedandconfused.co.uk where all – well, some anyway – will be revealed.

The Insulting Cabaret will be occupying the Late Lounge of the National Theatre this Saturday. Hosted by Perrier award winning funny guys Noble & Silver, the event will showcase a fine array of international artists all performing around the theme of the Insult.

For more information, download a flyer by clicking here. Be there or be a square, yeah!

The British Council and NESTA opened applications for a new award that seeks to stimulate the development of the UK music industry in an international business context. This aims to find the most talented young entrepreneurs in the UK’s music industry and give them the chance to find out more about what is happening out there, by becoming part of the British Council’s international network of young creative entrepreneurs.

The competition is open to music industry specialists between 25 and 35 years of age, who have at least three years experience and a track record in innovation. Applicants must be seeking to push the boundaries of the industry and have a vision for extending international business and cultural relations through music.

If you think this sounds like you then you could well be the inaugural winner of this prestigious new award.
Applications are now open. The deadline to apply is: 6 May 2008
For more information about the award and details of application procedure please visit: www.creativeconomy.org.uk/ukyme08