29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE. Waiting for Alia. It is quite easy to see a woman naked.
In fact, naked women are always only an internet search, an art gallery, a television show, or film away. The semi-naked, alluring female form is even more pervasive. These images stare at us from billboards, music videos, and television advertisements asking us with their flesh and their “fuck me” expressions to buy more and more things. Yes, images of naked women and/or semi-nude women are everywhere, including in the Arab world. They are meant to be consumed. The idea that female bodies are sacrosanct, and that somehow they are “protected” from overt sexualization in Egypt is false. Of course, the female body is not only a site of political control and the regulation of patriarchal public morality. [Advertisements for lingerie in Beirut, celebrity billboard in Cairo] In these images, the point is to titillate the viewer. [Above: The singer Maria demonstrates how to lick different objects and insert others in your mouth.
Technology. Exhibitions. Why young people should be at the heart of your arts organisation. Young people's attention is valuable.
So valuable, in fact, that a million pound battle is fought for it every day across the nation's televisions, cinemas, radios and computers. In the arts, this attention is vital; young people are not just our next generation of audiences but our future industry leaders as well. What can we offer young people in a world where they have so many options? And how can we hope to compete with the big budgets of our competitors? At Contact we place young people at the heart of everything we do. New experiences Living in a world that increasingly compartmentalises young people as just another demographic can leave them only experiencing things other people think they should see. Integration not separation Young people want to feel engaged and valued.
Practical training In the past, the arts have been great at offering young people the chance to exercise their creative ideas with so-called 'takeover' events, where they programme a venue over a week or weekend. Don't keep it reel: why there's life after 35mm. After 120 years and countless movies, 35mm is officially on the way out.
In January, 63% of the world's screens will be digital, according to report from IHS. Last year, 67% of global screens were still 35mm. The year 2011 is the tipping point, when digital cinema replaces celluloid as the mainstream form of projection. It's the end of an era and the start of something new. "Since 1889, 35mm has been the principal film projection technology," David Hancock, head of film research at IHS, said this week. In 2009, James Cameron's Avatar convinced the industry that it was time for an upgrade.
The impact is as far-reaching as it gets. Many in the industry aren't happy. "Films that make up the glorious history of the art … should be viewed as they were meant to be," it reads. There's a lot of romanticising 35mm as a format. High-definition picture and sound have eclipsed the quality of celluloid. Without the watchful eye of a projectionist, things can still go wrong. The creative industries need to focus on talent rather than free labour. What's next for arts graduates?
An extended period of unpaid work, says Kit Friend. Photograph: Don Hammond/Design Pics/Corbis For the creative industries to thrive, from the first scribblings at playgroup, to the most sophisticated innovations of our Masters students and beyond, we must ensure that all those with the innate talent and potential are able to access careers in our sector and flourish. While there are any number of things that might be done to improve the experience our proto-creatives have in classrooms and studios as they progress up the chain, for far too many, they will never even set off down the path. Parents up and down the country have advised their children (probably in the millions) not to study the arts as it offered no secure or fiscally rewarding careers even after years of dedication – the trouble is they're both right, and our entire sector conspires to continue to make this the case.
The tragedy of this is lost on too many creative industries employers.