Six Tower Hamlets youngsters are gagging to “Gigs”!

In the shadow of protests from across the music industry at the Government’s “shortsighted” cuts to young people’s music services, London Mayor Boris Johnson is holding his traditional competition to find London Busker of the Year. The competition itself is a great initiative – but it’s no substitute for the many opportunities which have been written off by the Tory Government of which Boris Johnson is also a member.

Boris Johnson’s busking competition is known as “Gigs”. It gives young buskers the chance to perform at various locations around London to them experience of performing in public. Competiton winners receive a licence to busk on London Underground, a busking trip to Paris and recording time at a top professional studio.

The six talented young musicians from Tower Hamlets hoping to beat off the competition are: Zak Whitefield, Lucy May Walker, Gizmo Varillas, Nelena, Angelle and Russ Reed. They join 125 other acts from across the capital. Competitors have already begun performing at the competition’s busking pitches and will continue till 8th August. Designated pitches include St Paul’s Cathedral, Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square Gardens, as well as various sites throughout the Tube network and at mainline rail stations. If you spot a performer you like, you can vote for them on the Gigs website: www.london.gov.uk/gigs.

The Gigs Grand Final takes place on Sunday, 6th September at Westfield Stratford City, where finalists will compete before a panel of industry judges and thousands of Westfield visitors. The judges will decide a winner in each category and one act will be crowned Gigs Champion 2015. In the meantime, various other busking events are taking place as part of the Busk in London Festival. For further information, go to: www.buskinlondon.com/gigs

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The busking competitions take place against a background of cuts from the new Tory Government. Speaking on behalf of a number of fellow musicians, cellist Julian Lloyd Webber dubbed the cuts “crazy”, not least because they follow a series of cuts made by the previous Tory-led Coalition. Violinist Nicola Benedetti pointed out that music supports child development and therefore helps young people with numeracy, literacy and social interaction – so music education is a good investment. The Musicians Union also criticised the cuts, as did the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM).

The Government is claiming that it has put £171 million into a national network of 123 music hubs. The money is spread over three years and the network will constitute an efficient way to teach music to the nation’s youngsters. At the same time, the Department for Education (DfE) is looking to cut £200 million from the Education Services Grant (ESG), which funds uniform grants, field trips and education in the performing arts. The DfE is suggesting that schools reduce or stop funding music as a result.

That would suggest that the Government is keeping spending on music teaching almost exactly the same, and just suggesting that the education is delivered in a different way. However, the ISM claims that music education funding is falling too – resulting in an overall cut across the UK. It fears that there will be fewer students going on from school to study music at university or performance at academies and conservatoires – with a dip in qualified musicians set to hit the industry in about ten years’ time. “With the music industry being worth over £3.5 billion to the British economy, we simply cannot take this risk,” it said. This is the danger behind many of the Government’s austerity measures: they make the Government look as if they are running the economy well now, but the negative effects will be seen years after the Government has gone.

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