This morning I received an email that made me very sad, worried, panicked, confused and upset all in one go. It was from Ideastap informing me that their funding had run out and they would be closing up shop, so to speak, at the beginning of June.
I'd been speculating for a while about the lack of new 'Spa' days on the site, and presumed they had faced a cut - along with all other arts orgs out there-but I never expected something as drastic as this.
Those of you who know it, will appreciate the huge impact it made on the lives of emerging artists in all forms. Free training, job listings, a great blog, and most of all funding opportunities. The end of this organisation, is a threat to the future of the arts across the country. If you don't know them, it only takes a minute of browsing their site to start to understand their significance, and how much they do to support artists.
Artists will continue to work, continue to emerge, but in the current culture of 'arts is bad' that exists across national and local government spending - it's going to be harder than ever for them to do so. As a result, we will once again find ourselves in an age, where art as a career or hobby is only accessible to the wealthy elite. (Hence the emotions stated at the top).
If you would like to join a cause that is fighting to save this vital organisation please sign up here. If you just want to share your thoughts, feel free to comment.
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