Jackson 1 Essays - Identity Politics, Politics, Black Power

Jackson 1 Bennie Jackson African American Studies 2210 Professor Eboe Hutchful April 26, 2017 Your Week 13 Discussion Board specifically flagged the issue of gender in the Black Freedom struggle for the first time. Yet, as we already know from the readings, the voices of Black Women have resounded from the very early days of the struggle. How have Black Women activists themselves conceptualized or visualized their particular situation and their role in the struggle? Answer by reviewing the ideas of the following: A. J. Cooper, Mary Church Terrell, Anne Dunbar-Nelson, Amy Jacques Garvey, Claudia Jones, the Combahee River Collective and Angela Davis. How should each of these activists be classified: as integrationist, Black Nationalist, or Transformationalist? Although black women played a huge role in the Black Power Struggle , they rarely received recognition for their dedicated participation. From the movement's inception, black women were at the forefront, organizing communities, church congregations, and Civil Rights organizations. However, despite such committed involvement to improving the conditions of black Americans, black female movement participants encountered sexist treatment from their black male counterparts and mainstream society. All of the women that were inv olved in the Black Freedom Struggle was motivated by accepting values of integrationalism , transformationalism, and/or Black Nationalism. Even though black women encountered sexism within organizations prior to 1966, the sexism was not as blatant and combative a s it was during the Black Freedom Movement. Mary Church Terrell, whose ideologies leaned more to integrationalism , was one of the most profound activists leading up to the Black Freedo m Struggle . Her scholarly articles, poems, and Jackson 2 short stories about race and gender appea red in numerous journals and magazines. Terrell began her professional career as a writer, educator, and activist, co-founded the National Association of Colored Women and served as the organization's first president . Terrell joined the passionate efforts to end legal segregat ion in Washington, D.C. In 1940 she wrote her autobiography, A Colored Woman in a White World, which details her own battles with gender and race discrimination in t he United States. In 19 09, she was made a charter member of the NAAC P. Within the NAACP, she could not escape sexism, therefore, Terrell confronted Washingto n's then current racial issues and i t became her greatest achievement. Ann Dunbar-Nelson addressed the issues that confronted African-Americans and women of her time. S he served as field organizer for the Woman's Suffrage M ovement and for the Wome n's Committee of the Council of Defense . Dunbar-Nelson was a teacher, activist, and journalist who was active in the women's suffrage and anti-lynching movements. During the last two decades of her life, her efforts were directed towards the political issues surrounding African Americans. Her one-act play "Mine Eyes Have Seen" was published in the Crisis, a NAACP journal edited by W.E.B. DuBois. It raised questions about the duties of Black Americans that served in a war waged by a country that had not given them any justice. Ann Dunbar-Nelson utilized theories of transformationalism through her may works that developed from her abilities to use her Creole linguistics to get her points across. While she continued the struggle for Black Nationalism and African Independence, Amy Jacques Garvey doubled as a pioneer for Pan-African emancipation. Becoming the wife of the late, great Marcus Garvey in 1922, she gained notoriety by aiding him in writing his countless articles and publications. Garvey, within her own right, later published her own book, Garvey and Jackson 3 Garveyism and later published two collections of essays, Black Power in America and The Impact o f Garvey in Africa and Jamaica. Herself and husband were advocates of rallying for blacks to gain their own central powers and have freedom to self-govern. All along she helped organize and develop Garvey's philosophy of African Consciousness, Self-help, and above all economic independence. She will be greatly remembered for her conscious efforts of heroic deeds and sacrifices. Claudia Jones was a Communist for her entire adult life and a leader in several major mo vements. Although her formal education had terminated because she was forced to drop out of high school, her education did not stop there.

Woodstock Music Festival

Woodstock Music Festival Abstract Woodstock Music Festival was a three day event that took place in 1969. It involved a â€Å"throng of sex, drugs, and rock n rollplus a lot of mud.† Woodstock has turned out to be a 1960s hippie counter-culture symbol during one of the most unstable years in contemporary history.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Woodstock Music Festival specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In this paper, theories regarding the causes of this colossal concert will be discussed and argued, in effect convincing readers to look at the music festival in new point of view and discover the symbolic significance that stirred novelty to a crippling nation. Body In 1969 America summer, numerous huge concerts took place, however none of them were as symbolic and celebrated as Woodstock Music Festival. Woodstock impact on the society and culture of Americans will be remembered in many decades to come. John Roberts, Artie Korn field, Michael Lang, Joel Rosenman were men who initially established the event. Their initial plan concerning the concert was to back up the plan of opening a recording music studio in Bethel, NY; this is where the concert in fact took place. Intended to become the biggest event that assembled many people in one specific place and time, Woodstock Music Festival represented â€Å"three days of love, peace and music† in the middle of Vietnam War terrors (Evans, 48). Woodstock was the most eminent music concert and it took place when Americans were greatly divided; more than four hundred thousand people from all over the country assembled to commemorate â€Å"Three Days of Peace and Music.† Those 3 days of celebrated performances, indescribable mud and memorable experiences enabled Woodstock Art and Music turn into be a symbol of all generation. The historic event became large for Americans’ generation as an icon of camaraderie and love of music during a time of d isaster, war and generational clefts. Woodstock music festival was a shrilly pacifist show, but its meaning was thinned by the media. Instead of focusing on the political avowals made, typical cultural critics talked-about long hair, nakedness and hippies (Perone, 87). The event, as it were, had lost its grip in the midst of a normalizing and co-optive media tradition that overlooked existent politics and replaced sensationalism and symbolism. The concert was officially known as â€Å"The Woodstock Music and Art Fair,† it went through various hypothetical incarnations, recorded in an article in the year 1994 by Elliot Tiber.Advertising Looking for research paper on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Many articles wrote lots of different things regarding the concert and large numbers of people from different parts of the country walked for miles to reach the location (Evans, 108). Even though the W oodstock Music Festival was intended to be a ticketed event, ultimately, the planners stopped collecting the tickets because the crowd started to cut away and to trample the fences which made even more people to come to the concert. The event schedule featured the most celebrated and legendary rock and folk music groups of the 60s. In the first night, the concert was headlined by Ritchie Havens and came to an end many hours later with Joan Baez giving a blazing close-down. Artists began their performances every day at around midday and they made sure they engaged the crowd. There were fundamental causes for this event and so they had to give their all. The Americans were very segregated at the time and the frights of the Vietnam War were still very fresh in their minds. So much was going on and there was too much pressure surrounding the people. The event was all about love, peace and above all music (Makower, 97). Woodstock Music Festival was inspiring and remarkable for people who attended because it had performing artists who played for the largest audience of their vocation. Woodstock Music Festival featured unforgettable â€Å"acts of the Rock Roll† epoch i.e. â€Å"Joan Baez, Richie Havens, John Sebastian, The Who, Santana, Mountain, Canned Heat, Arlo Guthrie, CCR, Joe Cocker, Grandpa Simpsons favorite band that day––Sha Na Na, The Band, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, CSNY, and Country Joe and the Fish and Jimi Hendrix, who sang his terrific edition of the Star-Spangled Banner.† The event was about three days of peace and love, contrasting the Vietnam War and abhorrence. The Vietnam War was a lengthened conflict existing between nationalist forces who tried to unite Vietnam nation under a communalist government and the US (with South Vietnamese help) trying to put a stop to the spread of communalism.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Woodstock Music Festival spe cifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Engaged in a battle that many saw as having no means to win, United State heads lost their citizens support for the warfare (Evans, 56). Ever since the end of this warfare, the Vietnam War has turned into a point of reference for what not to do in the future when it comes to U.S. foreign battles. This war left Americans in division and with so much hatred; the festival intended to bring peace and love in the land. The festival was caused by the urge to unite American people and to alleviate the pressure that the people were going through. Organizers of the event said that people who were buying tickets for the Festival were contributing to a unified front against the hatred, the division and the Vietnam War. Artists played great music and made antiviolence speeches; Country Joe for instance exhorted the audience that â€Å"if you want to stop this fucking war, youll have to sing louder than that.† Leaders of the movement and other advocates took their turns too and several men smashed their draft cards protesting against the Vietnam War (Makower, 73). Nonetheless, Media’s image and reminiscence of this festival focused on the commemorating side of it: the loud music, the rain and mud, the nakedness, drugs and â€Å"free† love. There were numerous turbulent incidents closely enveloping Woodstock Music Festival. For example the Vietnam War had just got into its 5th year. It would have entered its 6th year if Saigon to the Vietcong did not admit defeat on 30th April, 1975. In the previous year, Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination was very fresh in the minds of many people in the country. A fugitive convict, confessed to the felony however he later claimed to have been set-up. His confession was however sustained 8 times and in 1998, he passed on in prison. There was also another recent assassination involving Sen. Robert F. Kennedy: this occurred in LA at the Ambassador Hotel which happened just 2 months after the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. A Palestinian migrant known as Sirhan Sirhan assassinated Kennedy, after he had addressed his cohorts, and passed away the following day: Sirhan was arrested and put in jail.Advertising Looking for research paper on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More During the festival Lang said that Americans were trying hard to get-out of that Vietnam War. He stated that â€Å"The whole decade had been filled with efforts to improving the human condition with human rights struggles, civil rights and womens rights. We were just first realizing that we were trashing the planet we lived on and the ecology movement was just beginning and a lot of groups at the time were turning a bit violent in trying to get their message out, (out of) frustration.† He continued to say that Woodstock served as a diplomatic and a serene way to fight the negative and depressing attitude brought about by those events. The country had gone through so much and even if the artists’ initial plan was to establish a recording music studio, the cause of the Festival was to bring Music, Love and most of all Peace (Perone, 29). Actually, by the first day of the Festival, as the performers looked-out-upon the huge multitude, they must have seen that Woodstock M usic Festival was not going to be just like any other concert that would be overlooked and forgotten. Looking from the outside Woodstock Festival might have been seen like just a concert for the young generation that involved hearing and dancing to their favorite musical tunes, but it proved to be much greater than that. Even though music was a significant part of the event, it could not have celebrated for such a long time if that were the extent of its worth. This means that the Festival was much more than just music and dancing. Woodstock brought out an important message to the people by helping them realize that they could come as one during depressing moments and discover a unified aspiration which was â€Å"Love and Peace†(Makower, 35). Even though there was law enforcement during the festival because it was feared that there would rioting, the police disregarded drug laws. The audience stayed diplomatic and calm all through the period of the festival in spite of the in tense use of LSD and Marijuana. During the Festival, no conflict was reported even though there was death because a tractor ran over a man. The entire Festival was a moment of peace and cheerfulness. Lots of people attending the event were given a gleam of hopefulness and optimism in a world that disregarded them. Despite the mud engraved in their bodies and the drugs, the long for love, peace and acceptance was in the air. The atmosphere and the frame of mind created by this is what made the Festival terrific and unforgettable. If it wasn’t for this pervasive feeling, the crowd could have dismissed the event like just any other excuse to get together, listen to music, dance and get high on drugs. There were little things that created great difference like the fact that there was no reported damage of properties during the entire festival. Also, even if there was lots of trash left at the concert site, the venture to clean-up the six hundred acre was completed in 5 days; crew members and attendees also helped with the cleaning (Littleproud, 46). For the majority of people, the impact of the festival was evident in their lives. Both men and women acquired self-confidence to go out there and make a big difference regardless of what some people may have thought of them. These people made great impact on the US society when just living their ordinary lives. They were educational pioneers with their varying feelings regarding the meaning of music, art and the society’s structure. Woodstock Music Festival’s impact that was left on the country could have been just as enormous on the people who watched it as the ones who were in reality present (Bennett, 67). People who went to the festival showed almost everybody around them that they can get together and make a big difference if only they wanted to. This event came at a time when most young people of America needed ideas of how to bring unity and peace in their land regardless of their differenc es. Due to Woodstock Music Festival, both men and women were inspired to go out there and make their own music. Also, there were new musicians who made their debut at the concert; for example Carlos Santana. Much of the music played during the festival was cordial and it happened to be a way of allowing the listeners find a foundation on which to talk about the events surrounding their world (Littleproud, 201). The Festival feeling has lasted on people’s minds for decades and up until this day, music continues to have a much more intense and influential effect on the people listening to it. It is obvious that without music events like Woodstock, Music wouldn’t be what and where it is at present. Efforts to recreate Woodstock Music Festival couldn’t be mastered because of one major factor. This was plainly that there was no profound ground or purpose to the reproduction. â€Å"Woodstock 94† was the second concert but it was no more than a big endorsement. In spite of Woodstock 69’s initial plan of studio promotion, it turned out to be much more than that for the reason that it took place at a time when Americans were searching for answers not simply empty ideas and talks. With the great publicity of Woodstock 94 in the media, it lost all optimism of be what the original Festival was all about. Woodstock 99’ was overly commercialized but this was not an issue, however everything else that was visualized happened. There was great hope for the last try to have another emblematic Woodstock prior-to the closing stages of the millennium. The optimism and expectations were shattered just as fast as the Woodstock site in Rome, NY. The festival’s audience was made up of a small number of patriot Woodstock aficionados that went to all three concerts bearing the name â€Å"Woodstock.† It appeared that the other people that constituted the rest of the attendees were practically all there to get high and tear down anyt hing that surrounded them. By the end of the festival, almost the entire stage and music equipments were ruined. There were also rape cases and all mementos given like posters, caps and shirts were stolen. The conducts portrayed during Woodstock 99’ festival can be referred to as â€Å"destructive vigor.† It went past foolish brutality to a point of bringing down the splendor of the original Woodstock 69’. Sadly now when people remember Woodstock Music Festival, they can’ help but also recall the damage that took place during its most recent effort at recreation. Conclusion In spite of people’s wish to bring back the mood and sensation of the original Woodstock Music Festival, all that remains is its effect on people who took part in it and the affect it had on the society they live in. Woodstock 69’ feeling will never be lost despite what happened in the consequent Woodstock concerts. It was caused by the desire to promote music studios but it played a greater role. At that time so much was going on in US and people were experiences great hatred and division. The Festival brought the feeling of â€Å"Love, Peace and good Music.† Bennett, Andy. Remembering Woodstock. USA, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2004. Print Evans, Mike. Woodstock: Three Days That Rocked the World, California, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2009. Print Littleproud, Brad. Woodstock Peace, Music Memories, New York, Krause Publications, 2009. Print Makower, Joel. Woodstock: the oral history.USA, SUNY Press, 2009. Print Perone, James. Music of the counterculture era. Chicago, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. Print

Museum of tolerance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Museum of tolerance - Essay Example The movie further expressed on how the blood of the oppressed flowed in large volume to the popcorn. The learning of the oppressions African-Americans underwent made me doubt of wanting to know more about the past occurrences, but the tour study had to continue. According to the information provided in the museum, the Holocaust which involved the eradication of the Jews was specifically a planned mass-slaughter. The Jews were not only rounded up and shot-down, but also slaughtered. As a result of this, majority of the young couples committed suicide instead of waiting for their separation. During this time, Hitler called for the silencing of any person who raised opinion against him. In addition to these, a video clip showed how 2 million Jews were forced to occupy a very small area (Warsaw Ghetto) and left to die of hunger. In another graphic clip, I also saw how babies were mishandled; infants were thrown out of the trucks during the deportation of people. Just learning that the babies who were thrown away belonged to women who were forcefully deported from their places was horri fying. I would not wish to think of genocide like the Holocaust taking place again, but it might occur. The only thing that reduces the chances of such genocide from taking place again is the fact that we now know what may happen if it happens. The Germans did not know. The only way such genocide will happen is by us letting it happen. In my life I have been discriminated, but it cannot be compared to what took place in 1800s. I remember being left out by my high school friends during the formation of study groups. The reason for them leaving me out of their groups was that I was a slow learner. The discrimination not only made me feel out of place, but also worsened my academic performance. It was as a result of it that I tailed in most of the continuous assessment tests. However, I later managed to cope

The catcher in the rye Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The catcher in the rye - Research Paper Example After an emotive nosedive emphasized by Pencey Prep expulsion, Caulfield checks the Edmont Hotel and meanders the vicinities of Manhattan for 3 days. However, as Caulfield’s adventure progresses, he gradually begins bridging the gap between childhood innocence and the adulthood onset. The second last chapter of the novel follows Caulfield as a few significant occasions add to his advantage of personal closure concerning the loss of virtuousness between childhood and adulthood, a universal theme of the book. Caulfield’s walk on 5th Avenue at the beginning of the chapter signifies his many struggles related to his journey to adulthood throughout the book (Gohn 44). Caulfield literally aims at "catching" the children as they fall into adulthood. Caulfield, like any other teenager, stays scared of growing up. He understands that no one stands at the bottom of this metaphorical face with open arms to hold him as he tumbles, and that frightens him more than anything in his li fe. This fear of the cliff edge pushes Caulfield to walk on the streak between adulthood and childhood without committing to either flank, paralleling his sprints from one block to another (Sanford Pinsker 112). Additionally, Holden adheres to one of his only thoughts that he will ever find consoling for strength - his brother’s, (Allie) memory. As he runs, he "make[s] believes that he talks to his brother" (Salinger 257), and appreciates him when he crosses by the street securely. In a logic, Caulfield views Allie as his catcher on the bottom end of the cliff. He holds Allie's catcher's hand with him at every time, and it is apparent that Allie's death affected and infected him in an irreversible way that made it extremely hard for him to progress in his life. While he reflects to the past, Caulfield’s course of growing up turns out to be stunted. He calls out for Allie's memory to protect him from harms not only as he strolls along the streets in New York but when he rambles through his life. Without guides and uncertain, Caulfield never takes his time to cement precisely what he wants in life and consequently becomes trapped in the midpoint of adolescence. Convoying the discovery of smudged atrocities on his sister Phoebe's school, Caulfield begins to understand that individual’s loss of innocence remains` irresistible. He contemplates of how every child at the school could see the graffiti and, owing that he is young and innocent, he do not know what it implied. The thought drives him "near crazy" (Salinger 260). Caulfield discovers the fact that the communications written in school for children disturbing, wishing it could be possible that Phoebe with her friends could exist unpolluted by such rudimentary messages. In Caulfield’s views, young children like Phoebe signify everything that is pure and real about life, finding consolation in visiting Phoebe within earlier chapters. He despises the thought that their blamelessness w ill inevitably disappear one time. After seeing some more items of graffiti, Caulfield comments that "if you could get a million years of doing it in, you could not rub out even a half the "dirty" cryptograms in the world. It is practically impossible" (Salinger 262). Caulfield finally has his own epiphany - he understands that loss of innocence in children is unstoppable. Society is so corrupt for there to occur a utopian,

Applied research methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Applied research methods - Essay Example The academic sources to be used for the business research process shall come from secondary sources of information such as scholarly articles and peer-reviewed journals. In order to understand the tools and techniques used by managers of successful organizations to keep their employees motivated to perform at the highest levels. Through these sources, we can obtain information on factors such as the importance of a leader’s perception in the mid of the employee, the role played by an organization’s culture and how it affects performance and the importance of having a vision that is clearly defined and well-understood by the leader himself so as to be able to communicate it to the employees and generate maximum commitment out of them. Secondary sources of information will therefore be very important to us for this research as it shall be the guiding light on which all our research methodology is based on will be the basis of developing the survey tools and criteria. Whilst using secondary sources of information might prove useful, we do realize it might present us with some challenges and affect the credibility of our report if proper care is not taken while researching. The information provided prove to be biased and might have been controlled to some extent by the marketer of the research. There is also the possibility that the information available through these sources might not fully adhere to our needs or might be incomplete. Our aim shall be to minimize the biases that may occur due to these problems and we aim to use a number of different articles and publications in order to verify the integrity of the information available and make this research as consistent as possible. We have also chosen to go with secondary academic sources because these sources tend to be very comprehensive in nature and will provide us with all the information we need to fulfill the objectives of the research. Secondly, the sources also happen to be peer reviewe d and evaluated, have been written by academics and certified by the best institutions, which is what adds to their credibility and ensures that the integrity of our own research will not be affected if our work includes such sources. Review of academic sources Leadership and Motivation and having these qualities in one’

The Future for Londons Museums: Development Strategies

The Future for Londons Museums: Development Strategies THE FUTURE OF LONDON’S MUSEUMS Q. What does the future hold for London’s museums? ABSTRACT The following research paper investigates the present condition of London’s museums, focusing upon three aspects: their historical development, their present issues and debates, and their strategies for ensuring future survival and prosperity. To ascertain these facts five senior management figures from five leading London museums were interviewed and asked to complete questionnaires discussing the themes mentioned above. The research focuses at much length upon the decision of the present Labour government to introduce free admission to London’s museums and to finance this policy with funds from the National Lottery. Another key aspect of the research was to determine the level of competition posed to London’s museums by European, American and other international museums; further, to discover how London’s museums might raise their performance to match this competition. A third central aspect of the research, viewed both from the sides of museum management and from the government, is the question of the strategies that London’s museums will pursue in the twenty-first century. The survival and success of London’s museums will very much depend upon the decisions made regarding such strategy and its efficacy once put into place. The present research assesses the likely efficacy of such strategies, and the consequences that their implementation will have upon the public’s ‘museum experience’. The results of the research paint double-sided picture: on the side, of optimism regarding the increased admissions figures witnessed since free admissions began, and, on the other side, a gloomy scene dominated by the London museums’ lack of financial support and by the negative consequences of the government insistence of putting attendance figures before a qualitative artistic and cultural experience. CONTENTS PAGE (Jump to) Abstract Section 1: Introduction Section 2: Literature Review Section 3: Methodology Section 4: Results Analysis Section 5: Conclusion Section 6: Bibliography Section 7: Appendixes Section 1: Introduction Since the foundation of the British Museum almost two hundred and fifty years ago, London has had an international reputation as the museum capital of the world, as the city with the finest collections, the best specialists and the most to offer the fascination of the public. In addition to the British Museum, London can boast the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, the London Transport Museum, the Victoria Albert Museum and the Theatre Museum amongst numerous other world-class museum-experiences. In their early decades London’s museums flourished through the generosity of private donations and gifts, and through royal and government funding; these ample resources gave museums such as the British Museum unrivalled funds for the construction of magnificent architecture and the gathering of the most splendid specimens and pieces from across the globe. But by the early 1990’s, and reflecting Britain’s changed economic circumstances, London’s museums found themselves in need of considerable new funds to pay for refurbishments and developments so as to keep pace with other museums in the capital cities of Europe and in America. The advent of the National Lottery in 1994, and the terms of its constitution whereby a majority of its funds would go to museums and galleries, apparently offered the very chance to bring about a revival in the fortunes and prosperity of London’s museums. Thus between 1994-2003 more than  £13 billion was given to good causes by the National Lottery and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) (Selwood Davies, 2005: p.3);  £1 billion was given to six hundred museums across the country (Selwood Davies, 2005: p.3). These funds were intended for the construction of new buildings and exhibition halls, and to compensate museums and galleries for the loss of revenue that they would incur onc e free admission was introduced. A few smaller museums were also enabled to open in London because of grants from the HLF. The next radical step in the recent history of London’s museums came when the Labour Party in their 1997 manifesto, promised that when elected they would introduce free admission into London’s museums — a move that it was anticipated would greatly increase attendance from members of the general public. In the event, this prediction turned out to be just right, particularly in the two years immediately succeeding the introduction of free admission. The government minister then in charge of museums in 2001, Estelle Morris, spoke of 2000 as ‘an unprecedented season of openings and flourishing’ (DOC, 2000) for London museums. The year 2000 witnessed nine major construction or refurbishment projects in London’s great museums and a total of  £379 million spent on this ( £193 million of which came from lottery sources) (Selwood Davies, 2005: p.4). The most spectacular of these projects was the construction by Norman Foster of the Great Court at the British Museum costing  £110 million (of which  £47 million was derived from lottery sources) (Selwood Davies, 2005: p.5). All in all, it seemed that the lottery was proving a vital fertilizing force in the rejuvenation and restoration of London’s great museums. This optimism was very clearly reflected in the visitor figures following free admission. In 2001/2002 London museums that had previously received capital funding from lottery sources noticed a staggering rise in visitor numbers of 5.3 million when compared with the 1999/2000 season; in 2002/2003 this figure jumped again to 6.3 million extra visits compared with 1999/2000 (this representing an increase of 89%). In stark contrast London museums that did not receive lottery funding say they annual attendance figure drop by 7% in 2001/02 and 13% in 2002/03 when compared to the 1999/00 season. To take an individual instance, the Victoria Albert Museum witnessed an increase in attendance from 75,773 in November 2 000 to 132,882 in November 2001 (this figure even jumped 270% by March 2002). Likewise, attendance figures at the Science Museum rose by 120% and the National History Museum by 74% in the same period (All figures: Selwood Davies, 2005: pp. 6-10). Nonetheless, this stream of incessantly impressive and rising admissions figures masked a major concern unsettling many of the managers and director’s of London’s leading museums. These figures of course welcomed lottery funding as a vital means of rejuvenating London’s museums and making them competitive with museums found in New York, Paris, Berlin and elsewhere. Nonetheless, the advent of free admission introduced at the same time a far greater degree of vulnerability and uncertainty in the financial arrangements and security of London’s museums. It was obvious to museum strategists and directors that a great deal of lottery money would be needed to compensate for the loss of revenue endured once free admission was introduced. Crucially, it would be paramount that lottery contributions of the levels of 2001 would be sustained for the long-term; nothing would be worse that one spectacular year for two of prosperity and massive investment followed by ten or twenty years of under investment and decline. It is recent charge imputed by many museum directors against the government and the HLF directors that they were naà ¯ve in profoundly underestimating the levels of investment that would e required to sustain not only the rejuvenation of London’s museums but merely also their survival. The British Museum alone, for instance, according to its director Neil MacGregor stands to lose  £80 million over ten years from lost revenues and reclaimed VAT. Increased attendance figures are welcomed naturally by all museum directors on the absolute condition that sufficient funds are made available to pay the costs of this increased attendance. Selwood and Davies calculated that since the advent of free admission and 7.3 million extra visitors each of these visitors cost London’s museums on average  £3.56 per visitor —  £3.56 extra that has to be found by the museums from non-lottery funding (Selwood Davies, 2003: p.8). Thus free admission has had a bitter sting in its tale, and it may be said that presently a great many of London’s famous museums find themselves in financial difficulties, unable to pay for restorations and improvements; unable to compete with American and European museums for the finest pieces and exhibitions, unable to attract the brightest researchers and curators — and ultimately in danger of losing the great reputations that some have nurtured for as long as two centuries. It is clear to all, museum directors and government officials alike, that the present funding arrangements of London’s museums are precarious and that a serious strategy needs to be devised to offer such museums long-term financial security and thus a platform to compete with the other leading museums of the world. This present dissertation conducted interviews, by way of questionnaires with five senior figures from five of London’s leading museums — the British Museum, the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum, the London Transport Museum and the V A museum — to ascertain their thoughts and attitudes regarding the present state and the likely future state of London’s museums. These senior figures were questioned on their beliefs regarding the lottery funding of museums, on the advent of free admission, on the extent of government funding, on international competition, and on future strategy. The picture that emerges from these interviews is one of profound uncertainty over the future survival and prosperity of London’s museums; buffeted on the one side by the loss of revenue from free admission, and on other sides by the short-fall in promised lottery investment and the present government’s obsession with the quantitative aspect of museum attenda nce at the expense of the quality of the visitor’s experience. Section 2: Literature Review It perhaps appropriate to preface this literature review with a few remarks about its undertaking. Often when undertaking research that refers to relatively recent events, the researcher finds that the academic world has not yet had time to catch-up in print and publish scholarly books and articles covering these events. With the present research however the proposition was entirely opposite; even though the subjects of lottery funding, free admission and so on are relatively recent, there is nonetheless an abundance of literature dealing with the specific question of the future of London’s museums. The task of the researcher was thus to sift this material so as to isolate its most pertinent and relevant parts. Another unusual aspect of this present literature review is its wide use of government documents and announcements. An overriding theme throughout the present paper is the intimacy of the relationship between the government and museum managers and directors. Naturally, the government perspective upon events is not published through academic books and journals, but by speeches, white-papers, press releases and so on. This research of course made much use of the outstanding museum journals, pre-eminently Curator: The Museum Journal. Of the several articles from this journal used in this dissertation, one was of seminal importance in providing statistical and analytical evidence of the impact of lottery funding and free admission upon London’s museums, this being: S. Selwood and M. Davies (2005) ‘Capital Costs: Lottery Funding in Britain and Consequences for Museums. The article excellently articulates the dilemma that has crept upon London’s museums now that the inadequacy of lottery funding to meet extra visitors numbers has become apparent. There are hints in the above article to possible solutions to the funding crisis facing London’s museums, and these solutions are discussed in greater depth in R. Baron’s ‘Reinventing a State Program for Museum Funding’ (2003). Question marks as to the thoroughness and efficacy in practice of the governmentâ€⠄¢s free admissions policy is raised in several places: Freudenheim’s ‘That Politics Problem’ (2005), Babbidge’s ‘UK Museums; Safe and Sound? (2000) and Sharp’s ‘Controversy and Challenge: British Funding Increases Nationally, But Not to National Museums’ all echo the apprehensiveness and fear felt by many museum directors and staff towards the financial liabilities that would arise in the wake of free admissions (2006). Freudenheim, in particular, highlights a certain naivety in government’s attitude towards the workings of national museums; citing in particular the government’s inveterate insistence upon the increasing of admissions figures no matter what the effects of this upon either museum costs or the aesthetic museum-experience of visitors. The government’s position, and its obvious delight and sense of fulfilment at increased attendance figures since free admission, is given in a number of documents. Principally, the paper London Cultural Capital – Realising the Potential of a World Class City published by the London’s Museums Agency (2004) establishes the governments intentions and strategy towards the future of London’s museums. The paper gives fifteen government policies, under the headers value, access, creativity, and excellence by which the government’s museum strategies will be delivered in future. The government, in association with the National Lottery, has written in several places of its satisfaction at the results of the introduction of the policy of free admissions. In particular, the paper One Year On Visitor Numbers Soaring At National Museums Following Abolition Of Entry Charges published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 1 January 2003 gives a sense of the euphoria and achievement perceived by the government. Also, the paper Two Years On Free Admission to National Museums Draws Even Bigger Crowds again published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on 9 March 2003 gives much the same impression. In each of these documents the government stresses its loyalty and commitment to the principle of free admission and to the extension of this principle as far as possible. At the same time, there is little reference in these documents to the nervousness and trepidation felt by museum directors and managers about the future prosperity of the institutions they preside over. It is in this absence of self-criticism, that the reader perceives the origins of the discrepancy between that government’s perception of the financial condition of London’s museums and the reality of their condition. The possible consequences of such as disparity increasing, and of a competition gap widening between London’s museums and th ose in America and Europe, are well delineated in Cain’s article ‘Museums and the Future of Collecting’ (2005). In short, the extant literature paints the present picture of London’s museums as a time of grave uncertainty with respect to their financial predicament and thus their world-class legacies and reputations. These sources also acknowledge the considerable benefits already brought by lottery funding and free admission, and point also to the great future potential of these schemes; they instil in the reader at the same time a warning that idealism must be checked by pragmatic considerations before London’s museums can attain the future they deserve. Section 3: Methodology The principal method of primary data collection for this research was the interviewing, by way of questionnaires, of several senior figures at five of London’s leading museums. The decision to interview senior management and directing figures, rather than members of the public, had the obvious advantage that the answers obtained would be the specialist opinions of people with an intimate knowledge of the subject matter of the research. Members of the general public, especially those living in London, often show much interest and curiosity towards the subject of the prosperity and fate of London’s museums, but at the same time are not professionals with direct experience of the key debates and consultations. To arrange these five meetings, the researcher wrote fifteen letters to major London museums. Of these fifteen requests for an interview, seven positive responses were returned to the interviewer, of which five eventually furnished the opportunity of an interview. In requesting these interviews letters were sent to the director of each museum, irregardless of the sex, race, or religion of the person. Of the five eventual interviewees, three were men and two women; their ages ranged between forty-one and sixty-three. At the behest of interviewees, all of whom preferred to speak off the record due to the sensitivity of many of the issues of discussion, neither their names nor their titles are given in the final publication of this research. Thus, in the transcripts presented in the appendix of this research, each of the five interviewees are referred to as ‘a senior figure’ and ascribed a coded number following the simple scheme 001-002-003-004-005. This sensitivity, arising from the various present tensions over funding between London museums, the HLF and the government, clearly raises certain ethical questions about the present research. Above all, is it permissible to expose senior figures to possible embarrassment or worse, for the sake of the findings of this research. In answer to this question, the present researcher would say two things: firstly, that explicit consent for every interview was obtained by the researcher before the commencement of each interview, thus all interviewees participated at their own volition; secondly, following Utilitarian principles of seeking ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’, the researcher decided that the possible positive benefits and improved public understanding of the topic that might arise from this research could justify the slight ethical risks associated with the carrying-out of this research. It is a belief of the researcher that by informing the academic com munity and the public of the chief issues and controversies now affecting London’s museums, that the debate generated from this knowledge will lead to greater consideration on all sides being shown towards the preservation and improvement of London’s world-famous reputation as a museum centre. A number of criticisms may be levelled at the methodology discussed in this section. Firstly, it might be asked, with some justification, whether or not the interviewing of only five museum figures can produce results characteristic of attitudes and opinions of London’s museums as a whole. Naturally, critics might ask how the researcher can infer from the collection of five opinions general trends governing the many hundreds and thousands of senior figures working for the management of London’s museums. Likewise, why does the report interview exclusively figures from museum management and not from the government or from the National Lottery? In response to the first question the reply must be that with limited resources and limited time, it seemed most prudent to the researcher to restrict the field of investigation to a narrow focus, where the results obtained could be subjected to a significant scrutiny and analysis — something which resource constraints would have rendered impossible had the field been extended much wider. Moreover, whilst only five persons were interviewed, these figures preside over London’s five largest museums which between them see greater attendance figures and government investment than all of London’s other museums combined. Thus the opinions of the figures interviewed actually are far more representative of London as a whole than would first appear likely. In response to the second question, a similar answer might be given: only museum directors were interviewed because they are the persons with the most intimate knowledge of the matters under discussion. If the present researcher were in future to extend the present research, then the opinions of others outside of museum management would certainly have to be included. As it was, the present report incorporates sufficient expert opinion, to make its findings relevant to the better academic and public understanding of the issues affecting the future of London’s museums. Section 4: Results Analysis The aim of the present research was to investigate the likely future of London’s museums; this research was undertaken by way of interviews with five senior figures from five leading London museums. From the information gained from the literature review undertaken by the researcher it seemed most appropriate to question these museum directors on five main subjects: lottery funding, the advent of free admission, international competition, future strategy and the employment of new researchers and curators. The expectation of the researcher was that the general opinion of these senior figures would have initially been one of welcome to the proposed lottery funding, but that this initial welcome would have turned to mild scepticism in the wake of free admission and the provocation of severe uncertainty following the extra costs incurred by increased visitor numbers and lesser-than-expected lottery investment. What opinions then did these results produce in actuality? (1) Lottery Funding. The five interviewed senior figures unanimously (5 of 5) welcomed the original government proposals to aid London’s and Britain’s museums through funds made available by the national lottery. Museums such as the British Museum, with its newly built Great Court, was given considerable lottery funding amounting to  £47 million (Selwood Davies, 2003: p.3). Museum directors were quick to concede that such developments would have been impossible without these lottery funds — or an extremely large, but unlikely, private donation. In short, museum directors were united in their praise for proposed lottery investment. (2) Free Admission. The chief feature of the respondents’ answers to questions posed about free admission were twofold: on the one hand, respondents welcomed the opportunity to open their doors to ever greater numbers of people, thus disseminating cultural and scientific experience as far as possible; on the other hand, words such as ‘apprehension’ and ‘scepticism’ were used liberally by nearly all of those interviewed. What most strongly prompted this apprehension was the ‘twining’ of free admission introduction with the compensation for lost revenue by lottery funding. Directors confided that when allowed to charge admission fees their museums did at least have a degree of self-sufficiency and so could determine their own future strategies and successes. But lottery funding conditioned by the introduction of free admission policies has subjected London’s museums to a profound financial vulnerability and loss of independence. These museums, now depend upon the HLF for often as much a half of their income; if controversies or difficulties arise with the lottery directors or with the ministers directing them, then the museums are forced to abide by outside instruction and policy. Moreover, the great fear that lottery investment would not be sustained appears to have come true for all of the five museums whose for whom senior figures were interviewed for this research. So too, insufficient lottery funding has been made available to compensate for the extra costs incurred by the vastly increased visitor numbers experienced after the introduction of free admission. Interviewees hinted at a certain naivety and lack of preparation on the part of ministers and lottery managers with respect to the projected visitor increases following free admission and the costs that would be incurred by this. (3) International Competition. On the question of international competition there was further unanimity of opinion amongst the senior figures interviewed. Each respondent vigorously asserted that the collections of the museums he or she presided over as a manager were the equal of any equivalent museum anywhere in the world. Managers from the British Museum and the Natural History Museum, not to mention others, could rightly boast that their reputations were pre-eminent amongst international museums. At the same time, three of the figures interviewed (the exceptions presided over specialist museums with little international competition) confided that many American and European museums simply had far better funding and so purchasing-power than their own London museums. For the immediate future, this gap will mean that these international museums will continue to purchase new pieces of exceptional public interest whilst London’s museums will have to remain content with their exi sting impressive but static collections. In the medium- and long-term future, if this purchasing disparity continues then a qualitative difference will emerge ever more clearly between the museums of London and those of America and Europe. (4) Recruitment. When embarking upon the present research the researcher did not anticipate that ‘the difficulty of recruiting new researchers and curators’ would be a major concern to London’s museums regarding their futures. Nonetheless, as the searching through the literature review proceeded and as the topic came into better perspective this problem seemed to be a central concern for several of the major London museums. Specialist museums like the V A and the Theatre Museum do not, according to results, face such problems; but senior figures from the Natural History Museum, the British Museum and the Science museum may all face crises over recruitment in the near future. According to these figures the recruitment of new staff has been a subject neglected by the government in their ceaseless quest for higher admission figures and in ‘measuring the value’ of a museum-goers’ experience. The science museum can no longer attract top scientists and researchers because they are paid so little:  £20,000 as a starting salary, peaking at  £50,000 ( ). Commercial companies and American museums offer far better salaries and improved facilities. If this ‘brain-drain’ continues for much longer, then it may prove to be the greatest of all dangers to the future prosperity of London’s museums. These institutions are sustained not only by their pieces and specimens, but by the care and expertise of their curators and other staff; it is this expertise and the respect that arises from it that gives these institutions their world-class reputations. If this expertise evaporates, then no amount of increased admission or funding or improved strategy will protect the legacies and future prosperity of London’s museums. But towards the re-capture and enticement of these experts the government and the lottery fund seem somewhat blinded; given the extent to which London’s museums now rely upon government fun ding, it is precisely with the government that the responsibility lies for providing sufficient funding for home-grown and international experts to crave as they used to the opportunity to work in the prestigious museums of London. (5) Future Strategy. The senior figures interviewed for this research are nearly as one when they declare that future strategy has to be built around the attainment of financial stability; this is to be sought through an improved, more efficient and more effective relationship with the government and the HLF. A better balance has to be struck between the government’s ardent desire for ever increased admissions and the practical and pragmatic methods by which these extra admissions, dragging with them their extra costs, will be paid for. If a resolution and balancing is not achieved here then the obvious and inevitable path down which London’s museums must slide is that of ever greater debt and so lesser purchasing-power for new pieces and so a general decline in the standing and reputation of London’s museums. The reality of this predicament is brought home, even as this dissertation is written-up, by the announcement today of the London Theatre Museum (BBC, 2006 ) that they face imminent closure unless a major cash injection from the lottery fund is received. The alternative strategies are these: firstly, an abrupt about-face by the museums whereby they begin to charge for admission. This path is unattractive as there are numerous legislative, ethical and civil obstacles to this policy’s reinstatement. Another alternative is increased public funding from a source other than the lottery; this however looks most unlikely in the short-term. Thus, setting aside the remote chance that a massive private donation will save them, museums must, in their strategising come to agreement with the government about how extra funding from the lottery may be obtained. In short, the results obtained from this present research point to two things: firstly, that senior figures from the five museums interviewed welcomed in general lottery funding as a means to achieve rejuvenation and restoration; secondly, that this optimism changed to apprehension and tentativeness once it became clear the extent to which lottery funding would be dependant upon free admissions policies. Thirdly, it is obvious from all the interviews, that London’s museums are at a cross-roads and a defining moment in their illustrious history. To the left, is the danger of an ever greater financial disparity caused by increasing visitor figures and inadequate lottery funding; to the right is offered a sound financial structure that will ensure the continuation and prosperity of London’s museums’ world-class reputation. Section 5: Conclusion In the final analysis, it seems mo

Personal Essay - I Welcome the Challenge -- Personal Narrative, essay

I have learned a great many things from playing soccer. It has changed my entire outlook on and attitude toward life. Before my freshman year at Cool high school, I was shy, had low self-esteem and turned away from seemingly impossible challenges. Soccer has altered all of these qualities. On the first day of freshman practice, the team warmed up with a game of soccer. The players were split up and the game began. However, during the game, I noticed that I didn't' t run as hard as I could, nor did I try to evade my defender and get open. The fact of the matter is that I really did not want to receive the ball. I didn't' t want to be the one at fault if the play didn't' t succeed. I did not want the responsibility of helping the team because I was too afraid of making a mistake. That aspect...