Stewart
7th Jan 2008, 13:36
I posted this over on my blog (http://booklit.com/blog/2008/01/07/saving-dedalus-books-a-petition/) and I see a few Palimpers have signed already, but I'll post it here should others wish to add their name:
British independent publisher, Dedalus Books (http://www.dedalusbooks.com/), are, after twenty-five years in existence, threatened with closure due to the withdrawal of Arts Council of England (http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/) funding. This is due to cuts announced recently which would see about two hundred companies across England losing their grant.
Dedalus Books, for the uninitiated, are a specialist literary publisher (more here (http://www.dedalusbooks.com/about.html)) publishing both British and European names within their own niche market covering what they call “distorted reality, where the bizarre, the unusual and the grotesque and the surreal meld in a kind of intellectual fiction which is very European.” Some of the names on their list are recognisable Andrew Crumey, Honoré de Balzac, Eça de Queirós, and Nobel prizewinner, Luigi Pirandello. Of the greater unknown, they are, to me, a reading temptation.
In this Times article (http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/article3056702.ece), a reason is given for the cut:The Arts Council says the cuts are designed to concentrate its funding on organisations of excellence while penalising the average: “In the majority of cases this has been decided on the basis of . . . well documented issues with poor performance. It is the strength of artistic output.”
I don’t know about Dedalus’ performance over the years but it seems silly that they should withdraw funding from this niche publisher when, according to the Art Council of England’s literature policy for 2007-2011 (http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/downloads/literature_policy.pdf) (PDF), they list, amongst their priorities:We want to increase the profile of international writing in this country by supporting those publishers committed to literature in translation.
And:We want to increase the profile of international writing in this country by supporting those publishers committed to literature in translation.The people at Dedalus Books must feel that their Arts Counci has failed them with such hypocrisy. What’s particularly galling is that the funding that has been withdrawn is, apparently, around £25,000. It seems like pocket change when you consider, according to this Observer article (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1939502,00.html) the Royal Opera House (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.royalopera.org%2F&ei=tFyBR9uDMqS-wQHk4-nLBw&usg=AFQjCNGWkAac_4CmmjI8ALWRJFRcBN69gQ&sig2=v_-r0Hhe4iuPNLZ515rxeQ), over 2005 to 2008, stands to make £77m from Arts Council funding. In the Lords Hansard (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/lords_hansard_by_date.htm) for May 2006, Lord Colwyn raised the point that “in 2005–06, jazz funding was £1 million; for 2006–07, opera received £62 million.”
While, in terms of audience share, both jazz and opera perhaps share parity, the funding is grossly weighted to opera, although that may be, as also noted in the Lords Hansard, the industry is worth £5billion. Since the bulk of the Arts Council funding goes to opera and that, as the figures would seem, is making enough to sustain itself, one wonders why they persist in funding such an art form when there are others, notably literature, that need the money.
Returning to Dedalus Books, they have a period of appeal which is coming up soon wherein they can state their case. What would be helpful to them is literature minded souls willing to sign their petition (http://www.gopetition.co.uk/online/16111) in order to get:The Arts Council to reverse its recommendation not to fund Dedalus after January 2008 and to enter into a new partnership with Dedalus so the company can thrive and not merely survive.The Arts Council of England also note on their priorities for the next few years that they “will create greater equality of opportunity for readers, writers and those in the publishing industry.” Well, as a reader, I would hope that the damning decision is reconsidered in order to give that “greater equality of opportunity” as I, for one, don’t want my only choices, in ten years’ time, being whatever Richard & Judy deem suitable for literary consumption. Okay, perhaps a tad extreme, but you know what I mean.
Further contact details and information can be found on the Saving Dedalus Books (http://www.dedalusbooks.com/savededalus.html) page.
I actually wanted to whinge on and on about opera. But restrained myself. :lol:
British independent publisher, Dedalus Books (http://www.dedalusbooks.com/), are, after twenty-five years in existence, threatened with closure due to the withdrawal of Arts Council of England (http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/) funding. This is due to cuts announced recently which would see about two hundred companies across England losing their grant.
Dedalus Books, for the uninitiated, are a specialist literary publisher (more here (http://www.dedalusbooks.com/about.html)) publishing both British and European names within their own niche market covering what they call “distorted reality, where the bizarre, the unusual and the grotesque and the surreal meld in a kind of intellectual fiction which is very European.” Some of the names on their list are recognisable Andrew Crumey, Honoré de Balzac, Eça de Queirós, and Nobel prizewinner, Luigi Pirandello. Of the greater unknown, they are, to me, a reading temptation.
In this Times article (http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/article3056702.ece), a reason is given for the cut:The Arts Council says the cuts are designed to concentrate its funding on organisations of excellence while penalising the average: “In the majority of cases this has been decided on the basis of . . . well documented issues with poor performance. It is the strength of artistic output.”
I don’t know about Dedalus’ performance over the years but it seems silly that they should withdraw funding from this niche publisher when, according to the Art Council of England’s literature policy for 2007-2011 (http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/downloads/literature_policy.pdf) (PDF), they list, amongst their priorities:We want to increase the profile of international writing in this country by supporting those publishers committed to literature in translation.
And:We want to increase the profile of international writing in this country by supporting those publishers committed to literature in translation.The people at Dedalus Books must feel that their Arts Counci has failed them with such hypocrisy. What’s particularly galling is that the funding that has been withdrawn is, apparently, around £25,000. It seems like pocket change when you consider, according to this Observer article (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1939502,00.html) the Royal Opera House (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.royalopera.org%2F&ei=tFyBR9uDMqS-wQHk4-nLBw&usg=AFQjCNGWkAac_4CmmjI8ALWRJFRcBN69gQ&sig2=v_-r0Hhe4iuPNLZ515rxeQ), over 2005 to 2008, stands to make £77m from Arts Council funding. In the Lords Hansard (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/lords_hansard_by_date.htm) for May 2006, Lord Colwyn raised the point that “in 2005–06, jazz funding was £1 million; for 2006–07, opera received £62 million.”
While, in terms of audience share, both jazz and opera perhaps share parity, the funding is grossly weighted to opera, although that may be, as also noted in the Lords Hansard, the industry is worth £5billion. Since the bulk of the Arts Council funding goes to opera and that, as the figures would seem, is making enough to sustain itself, one wonders why they persist in funding such an art form when there are others, notably literature, that need the money.
Returning to Dedalus Books, they have a period of appeal which is coming up soon wherein they can state their case. What would be helpful to them is literature minded souls willing to sign their petition (http://www.gopetition.co.uk/online/16111) in order to get:The Arts Council to reverse its recommendation not to fund Dedalus after January 2008 and to enter into a new partnership with Dedalus so the company can thrive and not merely survive.The Arts Council of England also note on their priorities for the next few years that they “will create greater equality of opportunity for readers, writers and those in the publishing industry.” Well, as a reader, I would hope that the damning decision is reconsidered in order to give that “greater equality of opportunity” as I, for one, don’t want my only choices, in ten years’ time, being whatever Richard & Judy deem suitable for literary consumption. Okay, perhaps a tad extreme, but you know what I mean.
Further contact details and information can be found on the Saving Dedalus Books (http://www.dedalusbooks.com/savededalus.html) page.
I actually wanted to whinge on and on about opera. But restrained myself. :lol: