Blogs
A five-minute read roaming freely around the world of local government, culture and technology, alongside our team of sector experts.
From Pintxos to Public Subsidy: A Cultural Fundraiser’s Travelogue
As a regular visitor to Bilbao for the last 20 years, the diversity of the city’s and region’s culture never ceases to delight me.
In praise of smaller things – valuing grassroots community-led arts in challenging times
Recently a news story about a folk music session at the Greenbank Pub in Bristol caught my eye.
Darkness or light at the end of the tunnel for culture in 2025?
Even among committed optimists, in which camp I usually try to count myself, there will be those struggling in the dark days of January
The secret diary of a highly-caffeinated project manager
Everyone is so busy! We’re facing competing demands, achieving a happy work/life balance, increasing concerns about money and the rising cost of living.
Nurturing the lifeblood of the arts – freelance futures and the pandemic
‘Please reopen our theatre!’ Singers and orchestral players obviously, but also florists, tailors, wigmakers, metalworkers, hoteliers, restaurateurs, accountants, gasfitters, mechanics, all desperately pleading for work, with theatres closed in the midst of economic crisis and a public health emergency.
So what about the library post-Covid?
As we head through 2022 have you noticed that you are starting to think and talk about your life and daily activities in terms of before-Covid, during-Covid and after-Covid?
In praise of local government IT
What to say to people at parties. Someone asks me what I do for a living, and I have to say that I worked for 35 years in local government IT and now I do consultancy.
A New Year Miscellany
Miscellany: “An unorganised collection or mixture of various things” (Merriam Webster), yes that feels like a reasonable description for this blog.
Libraries are first and foremost about…
Books? It’s true that if you mention ‘library’, even today most people first think of a place with a lot of books.
Video killed the radio star?
Well I guess arguably it did for some, and the same was said of the arrival of the ‘talkies’ in the 1920s.
Libraries, levelling up and laundry baskets
All the talk at the moment seems to be about ‘Levelling up’, though I’m unconvinced anyone knows exactly what the term means.
After Covid: what next for the library and the High Street?
As we head into autumn it’s encouraging to see that not only are the UK’s shopping areas open but that also the majority of public libraries have reopened and are offering some level of ‘normal’ service.