Arts & Business an organisation we are members of here in Weber Shandwick published the results of an annual survey of business investment in the arts yesterday.

 The headline figures across the UK are impressive enough with business investment in the arts up 11%. The situation in NI is disappointing and it is the only region showing investment down by nearly 10%. This depressing statistic is not all that surprising. Despite our huge cultural heritage on this island we are showing very little commitment to our new and emerging artists. The first draft of this year’s Executive budget was very disappointing and only improved after a major public campaign by the Arts Council. Even at that levels of investment here still lag well behind the rest of the UK and the rest of this island.

 The FT had a good piece highlighting the survey findings. Colin Tweedy, Chief Executive of Arts & Business, commented: “Private investment is now growing faster than public income. This is good news at a difficult time for some in the arts. These record figures are recognition of the work of countless individuals and companies whose energy and imagination have connected the UK’s cultural and commercial worlds and made our cultural life genuinely the envy of the world.”

Economic growth in Northern Ireland has handsomely outstripped the rest of the UK in the past five years and you would think there is more moeny to invest than ever before. They could well follow the example of our landlord, Ewart Properties, which has invested heavily in art for our wonderful building on Linenhall Street or even James Nicholson Wine Merchant who has incorporated modern Irish art into his new premises in Crossgar.  

Until then in a UK context London will remain the epicentre of the growth accounting for 64% of all private investment. Other parts of the UK will continue to embarass NI with strong growth such as that experienced in the West Midlands (61%), Scotland (49.7%) and North West (48.1%) .
 
By art form, theatre (up to £68 million), museums (up to £86 million) and festivals (up to £25 million) saw the biggest increases, though dance (down to under £8 million), opera (down to £13 million) and libraries (down to £3 million) all fell. Visual arts, music and literature all saw slight decreases.

Bimpe Fatogun in the Irish News has a good account of yesterday’s events in the Assembly when Environment Minister Arelene Foster did the right thing by reversing her minded decision to grant Seymour Sweeney planning permission for the development of a visitors centre at the Giant’s Causeway. Minister Foster has maintained all along that she acted in good faith throughout this episode and yesterday’s announcement, although a volte face, will strengthen her ministerial reputation.

The SDLP voted against the budget as they did against the Programme for Government and Iris Robinson bites back in style in her column in the Newsletter. The SDLP faces a big challenge to explain its opposition in a way which the public understand. So far the O’Conall Street jury is out on whether they are doing so effectively.

Has the Forster Flop entered the political lexicon or will it be that if you square up the Robinsons you can expect to end up on the receiving end of the Ronsinsons squared?

My first Irish News  column appears today and after last Saturday’s primary result I thought it would be a good idea to look at the role of advocacy in the election.   I have drawn on material which I have used before to emphasise the shifts in campaigning and communications since the last presidential election. The changes are nothing short of revolutionary and will impact on politics and business way beyond the United States. I am a guest columnist because of my office in the CIPR. Over the coming months I will try and discuss the role communications is playing in our society and how the seismic changes which we are all witnessing are creating unprecedented opportunities for my profession.

This is the article in full:

With the race for the democratic nomination still wide open after Barack Obama’s  comprehensive win in South Carolina the impact of new communications and campaigning techniques is clear to see.  The last time America went to the polls the bloggers were the new kids on the block. Today, you are nobody in US media or politics if you don’t publish in cyberspace. Blogging is more democratic than traditional media - the Irish News will give me 800 words a month whereas I can publish that in a day on my own blog. But it’s only in the past two or three years with the emergence of social and digital media platforms such as MySpace, Facebook or Netvibes, that readers can share their favourite blogs and track others with as much ease as you can read this paper. This is what is making the US election so very different in communications terms and is most likely the reason why many traditionally hard to reach groups such as ethnic minorities and young people are reconnecting with politics and coming out to vote in record numbers.
Such a change in communications is the classic tale of evolution. The first cars did what horses did, only quicker. The first word processors did what typewriters did, only easier. And the first wave of digital communications technology did what print and broadcast media had already done - share information - only faster and farther.
At first, in other words, new technologies enhance the performance of existing tasks. The real revolution comes when people use the new technologies, not to improve existing tasks, but to create new possibilities. That’s the key difference between this US election and last.
Public relations caught the first wave of this communications revolution by adopting new technology to spread information. We showed how it no longer makes sense to send a message to the many, to persuade the few. But that first wave, sharing information with more segmented audiences, is cresting. A new one, a fundamental transformation of communication from information to advocacy, is gathering pace. For the first time, individuals looking for news, information and cues are relying less on institutions, or even this paper and more on each other. Three drivers show why:
First, the news media aren’t dictating the “news” anymore. Instead of merely accepting what’s presented on traditional media from conventional sources, people are increasingly turning to each other for information and validation. Top US market researchers used a simple Google search on the world’s 20 largest brands to prove the point: Less than 20 percent of search results were linked to the companies themselves. About half were related to experts, the media and other sources. The remaining and growing 26 percent came from consumer generated sources such as blogs and product reviews, which are playing an increasing role in what the public learns and thinks about current affairs.
As individuals take control, they’re demanding more, which brings us to the second driver - “pull” now overrules “push.” Amid information overload, pushing messages is not enough. We need to pull people toward the ideas we want to convey in a true exchange. What’s required is engagement. Individuals the world over are increasingly striving to fulfill higher needs and more actively shape their own futures. As consumers, they’re looking for deeper total experiences delivered by companies that share their values. And values are something only personal engagement can convey.
The need for personal engagement helps explain our third driver: the law of the few. Initial forecasts said the new media would produce isolation, not interaction. As it turns out, people may not have as many close acquaintances, but they have multiple “core ties” to others they turn to and confide in. In this networked society, individuals don’t take their cues from centralised, institutionalised experts. They come from influencers, connectors, bloggers, activists and simply anyone willing to stand on top of a soapbox to voice their opinion, virtually or otherwise, anywhere in the world.
As the game changes, campaigning has changed too. Obama has been particularly successful at recruiting advocates, forging emotional bonds and higher levels of involvement from supporters — active, vocal, proud, informed, experiential.
Those vying for the world’s biggest job have grasped this potential, as have the planet’s biggest brands. The first technological wave, the acceleration of information, has crested. The second, the use of information to transform individuals into advocates, is rising and advocates are playing a central role in this year’s election.

Northern Ireland has a unique system of government designed to promote compromise and encourage collective government. Does the SDLP’s vote against the Programme for Government strengthen or weaken this goal? The view on O’Conall Street is that the party most associated with the Good Friday Agreement has behaved perfectly within it’s rights by adopting a position of opposition. The SDLP mandate entitles it to a seat at the Executive but does not bind it to the larger parties will. To say that the northern Executive is a regular government and should operate as such is as flawed as suggesting that all our political leaders need to do to tackle sectarian division is work together.

The checks and balances built into the Agreement and its institutions are complex and require a consultative and inclusive approach to policy making. That is one of the reasons why the Civic Forum was established. I am not aware that it has met since the Executive was formed. It may take us a little longer to make policy here but the structures are in place to give wider society much greater ownership of it. A good debate and a considered responce from the civic forum would have further informed tonight’s debate. The business community had much to welcome in the Programme for Government but others in education, the environmental lobby and the community relations sector were not so encouraged. The SDLP clearly saw the opportunity to articulate these interests and the system is such that they can do so and still remain part of the powersharing institutions. It will be up them to convince their supporters this was the right thing to do.

‘If you think education is expensive, try ignorance’, a favourite quote of mine and profoundly relevant to any society serious about increasing standards of living for its citizens. Education is not just about school and college. It’s lifelong and should never be to far from anyone of any age. Today we had the pleasure of being involved in the launch of the UK Skills Passport, UKSP. UKSP is a unique web-based resource which aims to provide much needed information, advice and guidance for employers and employees on training provision, clearly identifiable career development pathways, information on qualifications that employers have recommended as meeting their needs and how to access government funded provision.

UKSP will create a world-class framework for the assessment and development of skills and will simplify the recruitment and development process for employees. It will also help to identify the skills development needs of those keen to pursue a career in the sector and will simplify access routes to skills development funding and the best providers of funding.

UKSP has been welcomed and adopted by leading Northern Ireland’s hoteliers, including Bill Wolsley and Howard Hastings, who both see it as an important tool to not only recruit new employees, but to improve the skills of employees currently in the sector.

It doesn’t stop there. The Prime Minister’s accreditation today of employers as trainers enabling them to award everything from HND to PhDs is an interesting initiative. Skills are the magic bullet. They are good for business, great for the employee and can only benefit the customer.

The Assembly has debated selection at eleven to death but there is so much more to education than that. Sir Reg Empey speaking today at the UKSP launch as Minister for Employment and Learning said by improving the skills of employees in the Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism sector we will not only give tourists a higher quality of visit, but also allow Northern Ireland to develop internationally competitive business. The passport will encourage continuous training and provide an environment in which employers within the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism sector have access to the right number of people, with the right skills and qualifications.

Obama’s big win in South Carolina with over 80% of the black vote is already prompting comments that the US is voting along racial lines. Some in the Clinton campaign spent the past week trying very hard to box Barack off as the ‘Black Candidate’ and the Obama campaign now have a very big job to ensure the label does not stick. Hillary can win without the black vote but Obama needs to cross the divide and reach out to whites and hispanics to secure the nomination.

Super Dooper Tuesday is now an effective national poll. The campaign teams can no longer rely on intense state campaigning and town hall meetings. For the next week and a bit the new and traditional media will be the principle stomping ground. This makes the race card a potentially devastating one.

It also pits two communications styles, empowering versus articulate, head to head. Take a look at Obama’s victory speech last night and Clinton’s in New Hampshire for a better sense of the differences.

In PR terms things will really hot up now and we will see what impact social and digital campaigning is having at a national level. There is no doubt the Obama campaign in particular used this media to great effect in Iowa but convervely it offers a perfect platform to those who would wish to push the race question for Hillary’s benefit between now and Super Dooper Tuesday.  

To track the big blogs and US media commentary I have signed up to NetVibes.comwhich allows you to collect on one screen live feeds from all your favorites. I have also uploaded the Obama application on Facebook. It’s a very impressive tool bringing together, again on one screen all the campaign’s output including commentary, video and blogs.    

I am just getting started on my new column for the Irish News which will appear next Tuesday. My piece is on the social and digital media revolution and as I was researching it I stumbled on the Irish Times blogger, Shane Hegarty’s post yesterday which has also been picked up by Slugger.

Shane, who by the way is from Skerries, one of the few towns in Ireland where a beautiful beach, a love of rugby, cricket, GAA, sailing all go hand in hand, is bang on the money; if you have a blog you earn your readers. That’s worth some respect. I am happy to reproduce his words below.

January 24, 2008

Opinion writers and blog writers

There can be a mistaken view that because a person is given space in a newspaper to air their opinion, then they automatically attain some authority. Appearing under the banner of a national newspaper doesn’t make anyone a better writer, nor does it make them more authoratitive. It does give them an important platform, of course. I don’t pretend that this blog would have the kind of traffic it does if it weren’t on Ireland.com. But authority still has to be earned.

It’s why successful blogs deserve a great deal of credit. Most have had to earn that traffic and authority through their own hard work. They’ve had to do it in a crowded market, and without being able to hide behind good editors and sub-editors (I know this because I would long ago have sunk without them). It doesn’t mean that all blogs - even successful ones - are good, nor that there isn’t a debate to be had about their value, attitude, what attracts attention and what doesn’t. But newspaper opinion writers have an entire structure on which to lean, and despite that some are very bad indeed.

Yes, blogs are unfiltered, but what value is a filtering system when it is aimed only at bringing in opinion writers who agree with the editorial line of a newspaper? Ultimately a blogger’s opinion is as legitimate as any opinion writer’s. It might be badly written. It might be poorly thought-out and woefully explained. It can be hysterical or nonsensical. But so can the opinion columns in our national newspapers.

I was elected Chairperson of the CIPR in Northern Ireland and am looking forward to a year as the spokesperson for an ever changing industry.

With over 9000 members the CIPR is the largest professional body for public relations and public affairs practitioners in the world. 60 years old this year and going from strength, it has been active in Northern Ireland for 42 years.

I have a hectic year to look forward to with the only PR driven press and broadcast awards in these islands in April, the all Island PR awards in June, a major all island conference to mark our big anniversary in the autumn as well as the prestigious Northern Ireland PR awards in November.

I hope to post regularly on the activities in this exciting, albeit temporary role.

Sir Ronnie Flanagan, Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary and former Chief Constable of the RUC, was today the subject of one of the oldest journalist tricks in the box, the doorstep.

 Having evaded interview since the collapse of Sean Hoey’s trial in December, Channel 4 and Victor Barker’s persistence paid off when the artful dodger was trapped in the camera’s lights as he left a meeting with Mr Barker who’s son was killed in Omagh.

This is fair game in my books. Ronnie Flanagan has big questions to answer and his failure to do so to date has cast a shadow over a reputation which had survived a damning police Ombudsman’s report and serious political attack.

When the question was put Flanagan was masterful as always in his reply. An unequivocal and apparently heartfelt apology to the families was forthcoming followed by a series of considered and conciliatory remarks about the failings in the police investigation and the hurt this will have undoubtedly caused the families. He told Channel 4 it was on his watch and so it was for him to say sorry but that is where it stopped. He would not be resigning and Chief Inspector of Constabularies.

In communications terms Sir Ronnie demonstrated that even the most undesirable doorstep can be contained if calm is maintained and a simple message communicated. His actions do beg a very big questions however. Why the radio silence to date? I always tell the kids its never too late to say sorry but Ronnie Flanagan is no kid, he is one of the most calculated and effective communicators in these islands and tonight his reputation remains damaged by the long silence which has been so damning. The doorstep did its job. It broke the silence and allowed the debate to continue. Having spoken once it will be near impossible for Ronnie Flangan to return to purdah.

 I’ll post a link to the story when it appears on Channel4’s website.

 On another matter entirely Mr Flanagan might wish to share some private advice with Mr Wallace Thompson, the Special Adviser at the Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment who yesterday fell foul of the other end of the journalistic spectrum and gave an interview to RTE which clearly he should never have. Enough said on that matter as I suspect it may well be the last we hear of Mr Thompson for a very long time. First rule of PR. Always have a good think about what the impact of a message might be before communicating it.

Newsnight last night convened its informal monetary policy committee to debate the Fed rate cut and possible recession in the US. The seat reserved for former Chancellors was taken (rather appropriately) by Nigel Lawson who did in my books a pretty poor job of saying it’s all down to the business cycle much to the disagreement of the more eminent and illuminated panel members.

Locally the Iseq sunk only to recover after news of the 3/4% cut in the US. In the North, a place cushioned by an outrageously large public sector contribution to the economy, nobody seems that concerned at all. Despite yesterday’s budget I cannot see a single political comment on the global issue from our local politicos.

 So Where to from here?

 Many suggest the UK and Ireland could be even more exposed than the US because of both countries current account deficits, albeit the situation is clearly more acute in the UK. Either way one thing is clear. Apart from a general stock market crisis there is also a serious and worrying situation in the financial services sector globally which is much more likely to hit the ordinary man and woman in these islands where it hurts, in their pockets.

 On another note altogether. Isn’t wonderful to see young Saoirse Ronan nominated for the Oscar. This young lady could turn out to be this island’s greatest advocate in 2008.  She is of course joined on the nomination list by another Irish citizen, the great Daniel Day Lewis.