I’ve been invited to meet Jeremy Hunt MP (or The Secretary of State for Culture, the Olympics, Media and Sport, the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP to give him his full name) later today. The email said:
The meeting will give the Secretary of State the opportunity to discuss his plans for local TV with you, as well as Government’s wider media priorities including the roll out of high speed Broadband, the Creative Industries and the forthcoming Communications Bill.
The Minister will be interested in your views on how Government’s programme will impact on Birmingham and the West Midlands specifically, as well as on the county as a whole.
From a quick search on Twitter it looks like Will Perrin, Julia Higginbottom and Jon Bounds have been invited too. I’ve no idea who else will be going.
Anyone got anything they’d like me to chip in?
Btw, I think we can safely assume that by now all the funny references to a certain on-air gaffe have been done.
How about educating him in the importance of digital content as opposed to digital infrastructure….that’s what makes sustainable jobs and increases the perception of the UK’s digital industry to the rest of the world. Hold on….I’m glad i’m a digital creative as I’ve just come up with a great idea that will revolutionise the digital economy…super duper fast broadband.
I’m going as well. A couple of senior BCU people will be there as well.
I would like some assurance as to what benefit the Midlands is getting from the Olympics. We put in a strong bid, but inevitably we were dwarfed by London. I’d like to see some more investment in the Midlands, especially in sports and so forth, seeing as Manchester and Glasgow have had Commonwealth Games money, London’s had the Olympics and so on.
And as the High Speed Rail will make Birmingham International so much closer to the centre of London, will there be investment in that to match?
I’d ask him if he would like to lend his support for the English animation industry through extending the Film industry tax break system to the production of animation.
Local animation companies have been missing out on large productions due to England lacking the incentives offered in almost every other nation with an animation industry.
More information on it here: http://www.animationforumwm.co.uk/news-display.aspx?id=206
Dave – lovely, catch you later.
David – Thanks for your thoughts. On a related note, last I heard companies from the West Mids were doing spectacularly badly at bothering to pitch for Olympics-related contracts. Not sure transport is quite his remit though (although there should be joined-up thinking across dept and all that).
I’d ask about assisting arts’n’culture people and orgs make the transition from a state funding culture to a sponsorship/patronage culture. It’s not necessarily that people are unwilling – it’s that this is often alien territory for them (just as the funding mindset is alien to people outside of that culture). Guidance on best practice and so on would be useful.
I’d also probably scream in his face incoherently about lack of mandate so it’s probably for the best I’m not there.
Pete – ta muchly (for the former – am adopting a pragmatic approach on the latter), Might be worth catching up with Sarah Gee – I think she was due to meet him today to chat about WMids arts funding and philanthropy, what with her soon to launch @loveangelshares and all.
yep see you there – here’s the agenda and attendee list
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DEPdgbeB3sKRBTNSJwAaUjKUc1xpwTEEB8lixrOcIJc/edit?hl=en
Social Media Tips for Musicians
[…] got a lot of readers and comments. Think there was a link on CIB), be careful what you broadcast! Jeremy Hunt message Created in Brum Competition for Created in […]