On the 2nd April I wrote to the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport. My letter is printed below. “Dear Mr Whittingdale Re: The Culture White Paper I read the Culture White Paper and I have a number of comments that I trust you will find helpful. Perhaps it might help to explain…

Pete Allen News Letter – July 2023 Welcome to my news letter for July 2023. We have some great gigs coming up. On Sunday 2nd July we move to our new venue in Newbury the Bacon Arms, Oxford Street, Newbury, RG14 1JB. 2.30pm to 5pm.  With special guest DAVE MOORWOOD (banjo/guitar).  Admission £15 at the door, preferably by…

I was bemused to read in the article “Time for Change” that Arts Council England gives 16% of its music funding to jazz. My last calculation in “Public Investment in Jazz 2012-2022” (see  https://www.chrishodgkins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Public-investment-in-jazz-2012-to-2022.pdf) showed that of the total funding of music for Regularly Funded Organisations was £359 million of which jazz accounted for £6.9million or 1.9%. For…

I have just received details of the Will Michael Jazz Education Awards for 2016. The Will Michael Jazz Education Awards Panel is  chaired by Ivor Widdison. His colleagues on the Panel are Dr Catherine Tackley, Bill Martin, Andrea Vicari and Richard Michael.  The Awards were presented by Leslie East, Chair of the Jazz Committee of the Musicians’ Company,…

An excellent article in June’s edition of Jazzwise by Andy Robson. NYJO are celebrating fifty years. They used to say life begins at forty but in this case,  life roars ahead at fifty. Congratulations to Bill Ashton, Nigel Tully, Jack Fallow, Mark Armstrong and the rest of the NYJO team.