The Birmingham Post Power 50 (tremble at their might!) has just been announced. With last year’s list having an impressive showing from the arts world, interest at CiB could almost have been described as ‘mild’.
Ok, so it’s easy to be cynical about these things (and it’s open season on the Birmingham Post site – all the winners’ profiles are commentable), but there’s little sense in detracting from the recognition given to the following folks who work hard on the city’s arts & culture scene.
So, from CiB (hating the game, not the playa since 2007) hearty congrats go to:
- 26. Amajit Talwar, Punch
- 29. Graham Vick, Birmingham Opera Company
- 30. Soweto Kinch, Musician
- 35. Mark Ball, Royal Shakespeare Company and Fierce!
- 39. Sarah Gee, Indigo
- 43. Sandra Hall, Friction Arts
- 49. Stuart Griffiths, Birmingham Hippodrome
While I’m at it, the Birmingham meeja luminaries who would like to thank their friends, family, deity of choice, etc and so on are:
- 7. Sir Michael Lyons, BBC Trust
- 14. Jon Bounds, Blogger
- 15. Suzie Norton, Screen West Midlands
- 20. Steve Dyson, Birmingham Mail
- 28. Ian Squires, ITV
- 31. Jonnie Turpie, Maverick TV
- 41. Gurjeet Kaur Bains, The Sikh Times
The big list of movers and shakers is on the Birmingham Post website which, like I say, they’ve made an effort to do all nice so you can comment on how brilliant and deserving everyone is.
But feel free to vent your spleen in the comments here if you feel the need.
“But feel free to vent your spleen in the comments here if you feel the need.”
Thank you. But I am not sure I’ve got any spleen left to vent, though surely some on the list deserve spleen as much or more than plaudits.
In general, the list makes me wonder a) who are the most controversial figures, and b) who would CiB readers propose?
“Ok, so it’s easy to be cynical about these things”
Indeed it is. Can we not just ignore this toss next year please?
Nah, I’d rather talk about if/why it’s toss than just dismiss it.
Maybe it’s not toss – maybe it’s quite valuable, especially in a city that some say doesn’t do enough to put itself forward.
Then again, maybe it is toss – but it’s quite well-read toss and it _matters_ to some people. So, thinking pragmatically, what would make it better?
I’m just not into the idea of hoping something will go away – maybe I’m wrong.
Hi Chris
My initial comment was quite flippant but i stand by it. I don’t see how this is about pushing the city forward.
Who does this matter to? The list just seem like a futile endeavor when surely there are better ways in honoring some great things that some of the people on the list have achieved.
Maybe I a am being over cynical about this. I’d be interested to see what other people think.
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I agree with Stuart and Chris – it is well-read toss.
A list that rates a persons ability to influence or control is always going to be controversial owing to its subjective nature.
Despite the diverse judging panel (Radisson SAS?), the rankings are representative of the Post editorial stance. Like all other print media, the content is written to appeal to their readership which comprises in the main, of opinion-formers, decision makers and policy shapers throughout the region.
Regardless of this, I applaud the inclusion of Soweto Kinch and Graham Vick as both have strived to push integration between art, music and communities higher up Birmingham’s agenda.
Maybe a CiB Power 50?
I whole heartedly agree with Liam Byrne re Soweto Kinch and Graham Vick. Their power is in their creativity and vice versa, and lists such as these should in my view reflect more such individuals who are entrepreneurially shifting the symbolic understanding of the city, inside and outside the city. Perhaps too much attention in these lists falls on the ‘funderati’ who hold the purse rather than on those who – imaginatively – spend the cash.However, dialectically speaking, you cant have one with out the other. But more of the other is, as we know, can be a good thing.
I take it that the Liam Byrne who thinks its toss is not the Liam Byrne who’s in at number one!! Or maybe it is and he’s refreshingly honest for a politician!
A CiB Power 50 would be great – but surely just as subjective and representative of CiB’s editorial stance as is the Post’s version?
I think you’ve missed the point here: the list isn’t that important but the debate which follows is. The people from creative/media industries may not be your choices but they are the ones who’ve got on the radar of the typical Post reader and therefore decision-maker in this city.
Isn’t there a saying about it’s better to be inside the tent pissing out, than outside pissing in?
Are you on the list Sarah?
Yes I am Liam, and for exactly the reason I’ve outlined.
I was also involved in setting it up last year and I would have loved to have seen more people from the creative sector included. The harsh fact was that very few of the people that I’m sure we both know were known more widely in the city. Funny enough, some of the people I argued to be on the list have made posts above…just as well I didn’t succeed?!
Being serious, what I learnt was that if you want to change things, you have to do it from the inside. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to go native; you just have to learn the language ;¬D
Why am I not on this list :-P
Srsly tho, I couldn’t really care less about this list. What does it all mean in the end anyway?