From a press release

Today sees the launch of New Deal of the Mind, a coalition of creative industries dedicated to combating the effects of the recession.

To mark the launch, more than fifty individuals from across the worlds of culture, media and new technology gathered at 11 Downing Street for a meeting hosted by Maggie Darling, the wife of the Chancellor, Alistair Darling.

The cross-party summit was attended by Andy Burnham, Culture Secretary, and James Purnell, Work and Pensions Secretary, as well as shadow culture minister Ed Vaizey and Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone, who is responsible for new technology.

Joining them were key figures from the arts world including Sir Christopher Frayling, Rector of the Royal College of Art, Sir John Tusa, chair of the University of the Arts, Mark Thompson the Director General of the BBC, Dame Jenny Abramsky, who chairs the National Heritage Memorial Fund, and Roger Wright, controller of BBC Radio 3 and director of the Proms.

The group started work on an action plan to help those already affected by the financial crisis and unemployment, and to prepare for the thousands of graduates who will join the workforce this summer.

Martin Bright, former political editor at New Statesman, founder of NDotM, said:

The New Deal of the Mind has quickly grown into a coalition of like-minded individuals who believe we need to start working immediately on imaginative ways to tackle the recession. There is a risk that a whole generation of talent could be lost if we don’t act now.

I am delighted that the NDotM has captured the imaginations of so many people, not just writers, artists and musicians, but innovators, inventors and entrepreneurs. It has also won support from politicians across the political divide. Today’s event was a unique opportunity to discuss a range of ideas. But it is now essential to harness the momentum and turn words into action.

The New Deal of the Mind is inspired by the cultural programmes of President Roosevelt’s 1930s Works Progress Administration (WPA), which employed artists such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning and writers such as Saul Bellow, John Cheever and Ralph Ellison.

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1. Liberal Conspiracy

   New post: New Deal of the Mind launches today http://tinyurl.com/c7snnp

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2. Weekly email March 26th 2009 « Culture Politics BETA

   [...] This week there was a reception at Number 11 Downing street, hosted by the Chancellor’s wife, to challenge the Government to come up with more imaginative approaches to the recession, inspired by Roosevelt’s Works and Progress Administration (WPA) and the BBC’s Marshall Plan of the Mind launched after the fall of the Berlin wall. Ed was there, more HERE. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5955621.ece and HERE http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/politics/arts-new-deal-needs-a-sharper-focus/ Although some say it’s a Liberal conspiracy, which raises the question: is Ed part of it, or an interloper? HERE http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2009/03/24/new-deal-of-the-mind-launches-today/ [...]

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