London 14 JAN: Creative network IdeasTap today published the results of their annual survey, which reveal that 91% of the 2,167 IdeasTap members who responded have worked for free at some stage in their career. Nearly three quarters of those who’d worked for free said they’d do it again.

Despite the largely positive experience of respondents only 28% said that working for free had actually led to paid work. The majority also said they had to supplement the income they did earn from the creative industries with non-creative jobs. The 2,167 IdeasTap members who responded to the survey reflect a small but representative sample of the creative network’s 83,000 members, the large majority of whom are aged 18-30.

The publishing of the survey results marks the launch of The Pay Debate by the online network’s magazine IdeasMag, which will publish a series of interviews, opinion pieces and downloadable resources exploring the contentious issue of pay in the arts.

James Hopkirk, Editor of IdeasTap, said: “We’ve launched The Pay Debate because, as our survey results show, this is a complex issue that affects all of our members, from artists to employers, and we don’t believe there’s an easy answer. We want to hear from as many perspectives as possible. Our aim is to arm our members with the knowledge and resources to make the best decision for themselves, if faced with the zero-dollar question.”

IdeasTap are also currently offering to wipe £9,000 from the student debt of one of their members who has started an arts degree since the introduction of top-up-fees in autumn 2006. More details about the Uni Fee Fund can be found here.

IdeasTap was set up by philanthropist Peter De Haan in late 2008 to support young creative people at the start of their careers. As well as running an online magazine, the multidisciplinary creative network offers its members hundreds of thousands of pounds of funding for arts projects each year and creative opportunities with its leading arts partners.

For the second year running IdeasTap are working with Underbelly and performing arts partners – including the Roundhouse, HighTide and The Bush Theatre - to take a season of IdeasTap members’ best work to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

£25k of cash will be given away altogether, as well as the in-kind support of Underbelly.

The budget for the whole project is fixed, but the number of shows IdeasTap will support with that budget is not – it will depend entirely on the quality, number and range of applications received.

This opportunity is open to anyone aged 18–30 with a “festival-friendly” new show. The shows can be for any size cast, be any genre, and for any audience.

Alongside Underbelly and a selection of our performing arts partners, IdeasTap will be providing artistic mentoring and bootcamps on production, marketing and press. The winners will also get a dedicated show operator and entry into the Edinburgh Comedy Festival brochure.

For full information click here

This brief closes at 5pm on Tuesday 29 January 2013 and is open to IdeasTap members aged 16 to 30 on the closing date.

Creative network IdeasTap, who are funded by the Peter De Haan Charitable Trust,  are offering to wipe £9,000 off the student debt of one of its members. IdeasTap will award the ‘Uni Fee Fund’ to the person who offers the best creative contribution to the IdeasTap network in exchange for the prize. Four runners up will each receive £500 towards their student loan.

IdeasTap is a charity that De Haan founded in late 2008 to support young creative people at the start of their careers.   The fund is targeted at creatives who have started or completed a Bachelor of Arts degree since the introduction of Top-Up-Fees for students in autumn 2006.

Recent UCAS figures show that applications from people in England to start bachelor degrees are at their lowest since 2009, down 6.3% on the same point in 2012 and 14.2% on 2011. Following the introduction of £9,000 a-year fees for students starting degrees in autumn 2012 applications to Creative Arts and Design degrees fell 16%.

Peter De Haan, philanthropist and IdeasTap Chairman, said:

“At IdeasTap our mission is to support creative young people at the start of their careers. Young people are being put off studying arts subjects by consecutive rises in student fees. We wanted to do something that lightens the burden of student debt for some of our members and sends an encouraging message to those considering to a career in the creative industries.”   

Applications for IdeasTap’s Uni Fee Fund are open until Friday 29 March at www.ideastap.com. All awards will be paid directly to the Student Loan Company. Applicants must have started their first degree after summer 2006 in the UK to apply and must have at least £9,000 of student debt associated with that degree. Full terms and conditions here

Through their funding programme IdeasTap is also currently offering £25,000 to young companies to take productions to the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

For more information, interviews or images please contact Joe Duggan at IdeasTap on joed@ideastap.com / 020 7281 3863

IdeasTap

IdeasTap is a charity that funds, connects and nurtures new creative talent. Launched in December 2008 as the arts platform of The Peter De Haan Charitable Trust, the IdeasTap website currently has a membership of over 82,000 young creative people, predominantly aged under-30. It provides a platform for them to showcase their work and find jobs, advice, opportunities, funding and collaborators. IdeasTap has awarded over £1 million of funding and expert mentoring over the past four years and working with leading creative organisations has provided 18,000 creative opportunities to emerging artists. www.ideastap.com

Creative network IdeasTap, the online arts charity launched by PDHCT in late 2008, has reached 80,000 members. The milestone marks a year of growth for IdeasTap, which has added over 25,000 new members to its community over the year.

IdeasTap’s partner programme, which works with leading arts organisations to create opportunities for young creatives at the start of their careers has also expanded with six new partners.

The IdeasTap site also received a record number of weekly visitors in November, with 185,000 visitors in just one week.

You can read more information about IdeasTap activity over the last 18 months in the IdeasTap Annual Report for the year ended 5 April 2012, which is available to download here.

Earlier this month IdeasTap, the arts charity principally funded by the Trust, announced the shortlist of the 2012 IdeasTap Photographic Award. The announcement was made at a private viewing of the longlists’ work at The Flower Cellars in London’s Covent Garden.

IdeasTap Chairman Peter De Haan chaired the judging panel, which included:

* Adrian Mott, Course Director for graduate diploma/certificate in Photography Practice at London University of the Arts

* Fiona Rogers, Cultural & Education Manager at Magnum Photos

* Olivia Arthur, Magnum photographer

* Olivier Laurent, British Journal of Photography News and Online Editor

* Maria Gruzdeva, winner of the IdeasTap Photographic Award 2011

The judges were hugely impressed with the quality and range of the shortlisted photographers’ work, but in the end there could only be six finalists.

The finalists for the 16-22 age group are:

Marco Kesseler 

Christian Schmeer 

David Severn 

The finalists for the 23-30 age group are:

Jordi Ruiz Cirera 

Will Hartley 

Alice Myers

They will now be awarded £1,500 to shoot their dream project, create a multimedia Magnum in Motion project and attend a mentoring session. Two of them – one from each age group – will ultimately win £5,000 and sought-after internships at Magnum.

This month online creative network IdeasTap reached the 75,000 member mark, signalling the increased demand for support for young people at the start of creative careers. In the last financial year IdeasTap saw its community nearly double, growing from 37,337 to 61,702 members, the majority of whom are under 30.

IdeasTap was launched in late 2008 to support young people at the start of their careers by philanthropist Peter De Haan, who was concerned about the impact the financial crisis would have on future prospects for emerging creatives.

To date it has awarded £850,000 worth of direct funding and accompanying expert mentoring to emerging artists and provided over 16,750 professional development opportunities with leading arts organisations. These opportunities are largely facilitated through collaborations with organisations signed up the IdeasTap partner programme; Sky Arts, Magnum Photos, the British Film Institute, Roundhouse, National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, Old Vic New Voices, National Student Drama Festival, HighTide and mac birmingham.

Headline opportunities facilitated by IdeasTap include:

• the Sky Arts Ignition Futures Fund which awards five emerging artists £30,000 each to fund their careers for a year,
• the Old Vic New Voices 24 Hour Plays,
• and the IdeasTap Edinburgh Award which awards £30,000 to two companies to produce a production at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival each year.

There’s also been huge demand for IdeasTap’s free Spa programme offering one-to-one feedback sessions with industry professionals, business seminars and professional headshots.

Peter De Haan, IdeasTap Chairman and Arts Philanthropist, said: “Our growth in membership highlights the need for more support for creative young people at the start of their careers. IdeasTap is supporting emerging artists by connecting them with the funding, opportunities and collaborators they need to get their careers off the ground. We hope that others who recognise this growing need will join our efforts to support the next generation.”

Felix Mortimer, IdeasTap member and winner of the 2011 Sky Arts Ignition Futures Fund, said: “IdeasTap is an invaluable resource in a difficult creative climate where young resourceful artists can make £1,000 look like £10,000. Funding from IdeasTap has allowed me to create a hoax museum, go to France to make a short film, capture the Tempest in a small shop and leave my teaching job to make the biggest theatre project London has ever seen.”

Creative network IdeasTap and north London cultural venue the Roundhouse today formed a new partnership to support young artists at the start of their careers.

The two arts charities are recognised as leaders in the UK youth arts sector and as partners will collaborate to increase the amount of creative opportunities available to young people hoping to develop a career in the arts and cultural industries.

Together they will offer a range of opportunities for emerging artists and creatives across music, media and the performing arts. The first series of these opportunities will be: production bursaries for young film and multimedia-makers, opportunities for music and theatre producers to pitch their ideas for shows at the Roundhouse, and a chance for photographers to have their work exhibited at the venue during the Roundhouse Rising festival.

Peter De Haan, Chief Executive of IdeasTap, said: “I’m excited by the prospect of IdeasTap and the Roundhouse combining to offer innovative opportunities and support to young people at the start of their creative careers. Collaborations with outstanding organisations like the Roundhouse are the driving force behind our vibrant creative network and the future of talent development in this country.”

The Roundhouse join IdeasTap’s partner programme, which currently works with the following leading arts organisations: The British Film Institute, Magnum Photos, National Youth Theatre, Old Vic New Voices, the National Student Drama Festival, mac birmingham, HighTide and the National Skills Academy for Creative and Cultural.

Young people are at the heart of everything the Roundhouse does, as board members, producers, programmers, artists, creatives, consultants and broadcasters. Its

year-round creative programme for 11–25 year-olds spans music-making, music production, circus, spoken word, theatre, TV and video, radio and digital media. The programme champions knowledge-sharing between today’s professional artists and creatives and the next generation. Much of this work is created in the Roundhouse Studios – a dedicated creative centre of 24 studios offering 11-25s access to industry-standard facilities for TV, radio and music production, plus media suites and rehearsal rooms for music and performance.

Since launching in 2008 IdeasTap have awarded over half a million pounds to emerging artists, offered over 35,000 opportunities for young people to engage in up-skilling creative activity and built an online creative network of 70,000 members.

IdeasTap and the Roundhouse have combined previously to offer young designers the chance to have their work projected on a suspended curtain made of 5,600 silicon rods created by internationally renowned architect and designer Ron Arad. Together the organisations will now create year-round opportunities for young people from a range of creative disciplines, including multidisciplinary and digital projects.

ENDS

For more information or interview requests please contact Joe Duggan at IdeasTap on joed@ideastap.com or 0207 036 9081

IdeasTap

IdeasTap is a charity that funds, connects and nurtures new creative talent. It was launched in December 2008 as the arts platform of The Peter De Haan Charitable Trust. The IdeasTap website currently has a membership of over 70,000 young creative people and provides a platform for them to connect, showcase their work and skills, find jobs and promote events and exhibitions of their work.

Since 2008 IdeasTap has awarded over £500,000 in direct cash funding and provided over 35,000 young people with expert mentoring or the opportunity to work with a leading arts organisation. www.ideastap.com

Roundhouse

One of the UK’s most iconic music and performance venues, the Roundhouse is perhaps best known for its role in shaping London’s cultural landscape in the ‘60s and ‘70s, hosting wild parties and launching the careers of some of the most legendary names in rock ‘n’ roll. Today it’s known as one of the best places in London to experience live music and contemporary circus.

But the Roundhouse is more than just a great venue – it’s a place in which established artists collaborate with emerging ones to create and perform some of the most exciting, boundary-busting work on the world stage. Every year, it works with 3,000 11-25-year-olds, supporting them to reach their creative potential in music, media and the performing arts. All revenue from tickets, drinks and food sold at the venue goes toward making this work possible – so while audiences are enjoying a show, the next generation of headline acts is working right beneath their feet, in the Roundhouse’s state-of-the-art creative centre for 11-25 year-olds. www.roundhouse.org.uk

Old Vic New Voices’ community musical EPIDEMIC has been awarded a prestigious Royal Society for Public Health Arts Award. EPIDEMIC was supported by The Peter De Haan Charitable Trust as part of our Community Welfare and Arts Programmes.

Staged in May 2012, EPIDEMIC explored the themes of public health, mental health and obesity, engaging 350 community participants over a research and development period and performances. The community musical, played to sell-out audiences at Waterloo’s Old Vic Tunnels and reflecting on the production a community cast member, said:

“If I thought I would have as much fun, meet such a great crowd of people and be in another top quality production in the future – I would be there in a heartbeat.”

Read more about EPIDEMIC here http://www.ideastap.com/Partners/ovnv/community/community_current

Peter De Haan has been awarded The Rothschild Medal by The Wildlife Trusts in recognition of the outstanding contribution he has made to nature conservation over the last eight years.

The support provided by De Haan has enabled an extraordinary range of schemes to support the natural heritage of the UK and beyond, as well as bring people closer to nature. Highlights include investment in an innovative peatland restoration programme that is to be implemented around the world, pioneering marine conservation, as well as engaging thousands of young people in environmental issues through performances with the National Youth Theatre.

Through a philanthro-capitalism model, De Haan has provided UK Wildlife Trusts, included those of Kent, Leicestershire & Rutland, London and Yorkshire, with major focused financial support and strategic advice. Having donated £3.1 million, Peter De Haan and the Peter De Haan Charitable Trust is the largest individual donor to The Wildlife Trusts.

De Haan’s funding of the UK Peatlands Programme, for example, began in 2009. It has been an inspiring exemplar of bringing decision makers, land managers and scientists together to show how restoring these amazing wild places benefits both nature and makes a significant contribution to combating climate change. De Haan is credited with bringing the UK peatlands back from the brink.

Working under the IUCN umbrella through the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, De Haan identified that the main barrier to peatland restoration in the UK was co-ordinated action across different communities. The programme concludes this summer having produced a comprehensive report on the state of the UK’s peatlands, and calls for the complete restoration of this valuable habitat. Such has been the strength of the advocacy campaign, this ambitious call has been agreed by the devolved governments of the UK. The next step is to apply this exemplar across the world to reverse climate change, particularly in the peatlands of Indonesia, Russia and Canada.

In 2010 and 2011 De Haan’s Trust instigated a series of new projects with an Environment Challenge Match Fund that distributed £150,000 to a number of organisations in the UK, conserving or creating habitats that support bees and invertebrates, restoring fresh waters to good condition and assisting in the establishment of Marine Protected Areas.

About the Rothchild Medal

The medal is sponsored by Charlotte Lane, daughter of Miriam Rothschild and granddaughter of Charles Rothschild – it was created in the spirit of this remarkable father and daughter. Talking about her father Charles on Desert Island Discs in 1989, Miriam Rothschild said: “Before his time people thought you had to conserve rare species and he realised that it was the habitat you had to conserve not the species. You had to preserve the wood in which the animals lived or the meadows in which they lived.”

The medal in The Wildlife Trusts’ Centenary year

The second Rothschild medal was awarded at The Wildlife Trusts’ centenary celebration at the Natural History Museum on 16^th May. The Wildlife Trusts’ centenary has provided a focus for reflection on the generosity and leadership of founder Charles Rothschild and the need for philanthropy to support our work protecting wild places and bringing the natural world into people’s lives.

On 16 May 1912 a banker, landowner, naturalist and scientist named Charles Rothschild got together with like-minded enthusiasts to whip-up support for a radical idea: to identify and protect the very best of the UK’s wild places. Thus began the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves which would later become The Wildlife Trusts movement the first time that anyone had come up with a vision for nature conservation.

Sidney De Haan Research Award from PDHCT

One of the most burdensome and feared aspects of old age is the threat of deterioration of cognitive skills, like memory, reasoning and other aspects of thinking. People who experience mental deterioration are less able to look after themselves and have a less rewarding old age.

In 2006 The Peter De Haan Charitable Trust (PDHCT) awarded The Sidney De Haan Research Award into Vascular Dementia to Age UK’s Disconnected Mind Campaign. The Disconnected Mind project is taking place at the University of Edinburgh. Its scientific investigations focus on the contribution to cognitive ageing of deterioration in the wiring between nerve cells in the brain (the white matter). The sample that is tested—the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (LBC1936)—have such rich information that many other possible contributions to cognitive ageing are also being studied, including several vascular factors.

Funding from PDHCT has thus been key in enabling a major study of cognitive ageing in the unique LBC1936 group, composed of around 1000 people in their 70s living in the Edinburgh and Lothian area of Scotland. All of these people took a well-validated cognitive ability test at age 11. At age 70 they: took the same test again, and a large additional group of mental test to cover the main domains of thinking skills; underwent a detailed medical and health investigation; gave blood samples for geentifc testing and testing of ageing biomarkers and health; and provided much information on their lifestyles, wellbeing and social background. Our funding has helped to revaluate the group at age 73 with the most detailed examination so far, which included enhancement of the examination of vascular factors.

Evaluation at age 70 allowed a study of factors associated with cognitive change from childhood to old age. PDHCT funding for additional evaluation at age 73 has shed further light on this and, importantly, has enabled study of cognitive change within old age itself. PDHCT funding has supported demographic, medical, cognitive and other biological testing, and some genetic testing. Crucially, it allowed to addition of vascular factors such as ankle brachial index (associated with atherosclerotic status), carotid artery stenosis, and retinal vessel topography (allowing a series of proxy measures of the efficiency of the brain’s blood supply).

All the data gathering planned under the Award was completed on time, with an emphasis on the collection of information about vascular risk factors. This wave of testing at age 73 has led to a series of research papers that have already been published or are currently being prepared for publication in high quality scientific journals including: Neurobiology of Ageing, Psychosomatic Medicine, and BMC Blood Disorders.

These peer-reviewed scientific reports are ensuring that the results of the PDHCT Award are widely disseminated to collaborators in The Disconnected Mind project and other scientists worldwide, to Age UK. As studies accumulate from the LBC1936 the intention is to inform professionals in health and social care disciplines. The aim is to provide high quality scientific information that will ultimately help to improve the quality of life for older people in the UK and beyond.