peeriebryan

This is the case with the music tutors too. Most work hours well beyond what they are paid for, as well as voluntary work such as running after school and weekend youth music groups If you're in any doubt as to the work these tutors put in I suggest you attend the Schools Music Festival next month to see the astounding levels of talent they help nurture - http://www.shetland-news.co.uk/2010/February/news/Festival%20concert%20line-up%20announced.htm

Shetland Arts' own funding has been reduced significantly of late, with further cuts in the pipeline. But we're keen to help any organisations or individuals to find solutions to the current financial challenges. Rightly or wrongly, when times get tight, arts provision is often the first to suffer That's the crux of the matter! There's no denying that the SIC need to tighten the belt, but I think the impact of funding cuts must be assessed before the true value can be ascertained, and in this case I'm not sure it has been thought through On a purely financial level, I have my doubts that by introducing charges the 'yield' of £130,000 will be achieved, as this seems to assume that the number of students will remain at the current level. The yield of £130,000 and a cost of £160 per year suggests 812.5 students, which is the approximate number of current students. But it is reasonable to expect the number of students to fall once charges are introduced Neither does this figure take into account any subsidies that may be required for low income families or the costs of administrating the means-testing (should that be required) and processing the charges Here’s a reasonably likely scenario - if two thirds of current student numbers carry on tuition the ‘yield’ will be about £87,000. Lets say 25% of the remaining students are from a low income family, and presumably they’ll get tuition free, that leaves a ‘yield’ of £65,250. Of that, you can probably deduct admin charges of about £5,000, so we’re left with £60,250 – less than half of what the SIC are expecting So a £60,250 saving rather than a £130,000 saving? Then the impact of potential redundancies must be factored into the figures....

Come on folks. Lets try to keep this thread on topic. The original poster started a discussion about music tuition charges specifically in the music section of the forums! Anyway.... Earlier today the council voted 9 to 11 in favour of introducing instrumental charges Councillor Rick Nickerson spoke out against the charges on Radio Shetland news earlier tonight calling it a 'Tax on Talent', and ironically was followed by a feature on Shetland musicians at Celtic Connections, most of whom have benefited from free music instrument provision Chris Stout spoke of the value of music education, and Jenna Reid in particular spoke of the 'head start' tuition gave her and the value of supporting the arts and culture. Kevin Henderson also spoke highly of tuition, in particular the introduction of fiddle teaching in schools and the need to encourage young people to play When asked about the future of music tuition in Shetland, Tavish Scott highlighted the importance of music to Shetland, that Shetland is defined by music, and that we need to make sure music doesn't get lost in the inevitably tough economic climate

^ by that do you mean resign? If I no longer felt that I was meeting the requirements of my post or fulfilling my role to the best of my abilities then yes, I would resign If you mean it in the literal sense ie. hara-kiri, then no, probably not

The document which proposes charging for instrumental tuition is here - http://www.shetland.gov.uk/coins/submissiondocuments.asp?submissionid=10206 - there is only one sentence which makes reference to the charges The above statement suggests 812.5 students to produce the resultant 'yield' of £130,000. This is already the approximate number of students who get instrumental tuition, but it seems inevitable that charging will reduce student numbers, and if so the yield will be much lower than stated

Can we please try to keep this thread on topic - there's already an active thread on the Blueprint for Education and school funding cuts that the last few posts would be more at home in - http://www.shetlink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6746

My point was not the Mareel business plan, rather the councillors mentioned sticking to a decision. Without wishing to go too far off topic I'll briefly address your points.... No, the business plan is not 'built around the same concept' as leisure centres etc which are based on annual subsidy, and Shetland Arts is accountable. Mareel will create jobs, and the business plan has been reviewed and approved by many organisations, regulatory bodies and all the funders (inc Shetland Islands Council, European Regional Development Fund, Scottish Arts Council lottery fund, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Shetland Development Trust, Gannochy Trust)

But aren't they the councillors who tried to get the council's long-standing decision to support Mareel overturned in 2008, denounced the decision when the council voted to continue support six weeks later and have persisted in their opposition to the decision(s) ever since?

^ I note that in the section of dialogue you've quoted above, you've left your own post intact whilst selectively removing the first sentence from my response which complimented the quality of many posts in this thread and provided balance to my reply

As a relative newcomer to Shetlink you may have missed much of the constructive debate on issues such as Viking Energy, Mareel, Drugs in Shetland and the like in which many people have put forward a wide range of well reasoned views. In my opinion, this thread has been characterised by ill feeling and one sided supposition rather than contention. Sorry, but but I think you are being a bit unfair. Many of the 'Posters' have done extremely well to keep this Topic at the public forefront by discussing, assuming, argueing. critiqueing and generally able to offer their many intelligent views on what may have occurred with a subject that had been locked down and kept quiet about for years. No official information has ever been made public (until very recently) and I believe that both the SIC and the Miller's have suffered greatly from that fact. I agree that there have been many well constructed and insightful posts throughout this thread that have made for very interesting and informative reading However, there’s a difference between keeping a "topic at the public forefront" through reasoned debate and bumping a topic to the top of the forum through reiterating accusatory assumption, laudatory self quoting, questioning the motives of those who express a contrasting opinion, unprovoked personal attacks and re-replying to posts

It'll be on the 60 North TV streaming channel - http://www.shetland.org/60NTV There's the Stand Up Helly Aa comedy night at the Garrison Theatre after the procession - http://www.shetlandarts.org/stand-up-helly-aa-at-garrison As far as I'm aware, most of the pubs are open too

As a relative newcomer to Shetlink you may have missed much of the constructive debate on issues such as Viking Energy, Mareel, Drugs in Shetland and the like in which many people have put forward a wide range of well reasoned views. In my opinion, this thread has been characterised by ill feeling and one sided supposition rather than contention.

Peerie Bryan is the guy to ask about this because it is a fringe event organised by Shetland Arts rather than the committee. I certainly hope it is on again because it is an excellent event and well timed. What I can't understand is why a change was made from the two venue approach to just using the Garrison. When Islesburgh was also used in parallel with the Garrison, both concerts sold out early, so there is clearly no problem on that issue. I thought the idea of running the two concerts in parallel was a nice touch as it reflects the UHA hall procedure with the acts travelling between. It comes down to the availability of musicians during the day; most are at either work or school so they need to arrange time off and musicians from several groups play with the Jarl squad. Many play all night with squads or in halls too and are understandably not keen on taking on further commitments during the preceding afternoon

Yup - http://www.flickr.com/photos/shetlandarts/collections/72157619096385682 Gwilym Gibbons and I also made a peerie video tour of the site about a month ago - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDXRohI1Rak New releases will open in Mareel at the same time as the rest of the UK Currently films shown at the Garrison come on large reels and there's a limited number of copies in circulation, hence the wait. Mareel will be showing digitally distributed films so there's no physical media to transport

To be fair, Judane wasn't a "white elephant". The company operated successfully for many years

The roads are rapidly deteriorating so it might be worth getting away from work early if you can, and if you're at home it might be best to stay put! There's apparently a bit of a shortage of grit/salt, so only main roads will be gritted until the next shipment arrives

Alyn Cosker will be playing with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra on Radio 3 at 11.30 tonight - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pjj4d

Jazz drummer Alyn Cosker will be playing a couple of gigs in Shetland with his quartet early next year. They'll be at the Lerwick Town Hall on Friday 5th of Feb and the Bigton Hall on Saturday the 6th Feb. Tickets are available from the Shetland Box Office (£10, £8 concessions) at Islesburgh Community Centre - 01595 745 555 He's a truly top notch musician and his band are the business! Here's some links: http://www.alyncosker.co.uk http://www.myspace.com/alyncosker http://www.linnrecords.com/artist-alyn-cosker-.aspx http://www.linnrecords.com/recording-Lyn-s-Une-Alyn-Cosker-drums-jazz.aspx "Alyn plays like a Demon and an Angel; if he ends up in Hell or Heaven his extraordinary talent will suit any environment - he is a chameleon." (Tommy Smith) “Alyn is a fantastic drummer who plays with a lot of heart, swing and passion....a jazz drummer for the now and the future” (Courtney Pine) "Alyn represents the best of the new generation of drummers currently on the scene. He has the intellect to negotiate very difficult music, while at the same time maintaining an organic "earthiness" in his playing. I have called him to tour with my quartet, 4 Walls of Freedom, and would do so again without reservation. He's smokin'!" (Joe Locke) “a prince of paradiddles.....rim-shot royalty” (Rob Adams)

Glad to hear it's going well, so my fingers are crossed at this end ...and well done to Oddrun for nagging dee into getting it checked oot! There must be a lesson in there somewhere

For the sake of balance, count the many millions more that have been wisely invested in infrastructure and services that afford Shetland one of the best collective qualities of life in the world Perpetual and generalised SIC bashing makes for tedious reading

Tonight's Steve Earl gig at the Clickimin Centre has been cancelled His flight from Inverness, where he played last night, was cancelled due to "freezing fog" conditions in Inverness Refunds are available from Shetland Box Office, Islesburgh Community Centre - 01595 745 555

It has become apparent that Shetlink has been blocked by the SIC’s Internet filters. The decision appears to have been made at an ICT Board Meeting on Thursday 3rd December with the ban coming into force soon after. We haven’t been able to confirm the extent of or reason for the ban, but TeeAyBee’s recent post in another thread explains the process:

The moderators 100% support you on this Mainlander This thread is in danger of being locked due to the inability of certain posters to engage in relevant and non-personal debate

Hi Phil n adammoody. Welcome to Shetlink

Please keep the subject on topic as per original post... ...as there's already a thread for general mobile phone discussions here -> Mobile phone signal and service (coverage, contract, 3G etc) - cheers!