Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Artists recipients: Strictly embargoed
"Strictly embargoed until 7pm on 10 November 2010" is emblazoned in lipstick red on the press release. Received 10 November 2010 10:18 AM (UK). Now all you artists, profs and art students, if you don’t know what an "embargo" is or how it generally works, gather round and see how art information flows can be steered and possibly multiplied.
Like you, I receive a lot of announcements in my email box. However today I was pleased to see the announcement of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Artists recipients list, but was absolutely shocked at the heading in bright red: “Strictly embargoed until 7pm on 10 November 2010”.
What? I mean, it’s not like we’re talking big business or heavy duty politics. They’re artist awards, wonderful awards, but why put in the PR tactic of a press embargo? I never was asked to agree to an embargo, nor would I: send out a press release when you are ready, don’t ask for insider deals, and certainly don’t give me these kinds of instructions in a mass mailing.
For those unfamiliar with a news embargo, Wikipedia offers a, shall we say, neutral introduction. Copyright-free, here are some excerpts:
“In journalism and public relations, a news embargo or press embargo is a request by a source that the information or news provided by that source not be published until a certain date or certain conditions have been met. The understanding is that if the embargo is broken by reporting before then, the source will retaliate by restricting access to further information [for] that journalist or his publication, giving them a long-term disadvantage relative to more cooperative outlets. They are often used by businesses making a product announcement, by medical journals, and by government officials announcing policy initiatives; the media is given advance knowledge of details being held secret so that reports can be prepared to coincide with the announcement date and yet still meet press time...
News organizations sometimes break embargoes and report information before the embargo expires, either accidentally (due to miscommunication in the newsroom) or intentionally (to get the jump on their competitors). Breaking an embargo is typically considered a serious breach of trust and can result in the source barring the offending news outlet from receiving advance information for a long period of time...
The manner in which journalists react to these and other attempts to influence coverage are a matter of journalistic ethics.” (My italics)
So in theory, if any offending publication, probably art magazines and London-centred media outlets release the story earlier, then one could assume that the organization and associated artists would decline interviews. Perhaps that would include a wider net of associated artists and any associated organizations too. Thus a critical art media watcher would gather a list of names and watch the media outlets over, say, the next year.
And journalism ethics? In reference to the range of art media outlets? Sorry. (Burst out laughing.) One needs to know a bit about journalism first, like taking an introductory module at any university, before talking about journalism ethics—and imagine how entertaining political news would be if it followed the range of artwriting practices. The range of news coverage involving dictatorships comes to mind.
Now the standard comparison would seem to be the science journal news embargo used to shape reporting. In Science, Eliot Marshall writes in "Embargoes: Good, Bad, or ’Necessary Evil’?":
“What is most remarkable about this vast private traffic in science news is that it almost never leaks prematurely to the public. Hundreds of news-hungry reporters sit on the information, as they are bidden by journal publishers, until the designated release time. Welcome to the embargo system—a gentlemen’s agreement between science journals and reporters designed to manage the flow of new scientific results to the public. The embargo system is the final stage of a process in which journals impose vows of secrecy not only on journalists but on the authors of the scientific papers they publish. No other area of journalism has such a cozy, formalized arrangement between reporters and their sources of news.
This odd system has developed and flourished over several decades because it offers advantages for everybody involved. Journals get maximum publicity, journalists get time to report complex stories, and scientists get more widespread and more accurate public exposure for their work... Behind the scenes, however, the embargo system is increasingly embattled.” (My italics)
While I would certainly like to congratulate the visual artists on their probably well-deserved awards, this month’s Art Design Publicity award goes to the media artist, the PR strategist of Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Artists who decided on a news embargo. We wish you success generating full-on art media flows at a precise time blasting through the Internet. We propose raising the amount of the award in future to hit newswires (probably already suggested several times). We hope this will activate multiple conversations in the art world and beyond—thinking their "new new information" is so wonderfully unique.
But whatever we as art media propaganda-flow producers do, we should never ever tell the arts students and certainly not unknowledgable teachers. It’s best they remain clueless consumers of art propaganda and focus on their art, writing and their “ground-breaking”—and press pack-filling—“research”.
Art in the Age of Transparency
In the Age of Transparency, we formally announce that we are breaking this ridiculous art news embargo as an act of media art activism and we’ll be reporting on the media coverage to see which outlets conform to maintain their “access”. Will the media outlets inform their readers of the embargo? We hope so.
Received: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 11:18 AM (Amsterdam time)
Subject: Press release: Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Artists recipients for 2010
Strictly embargoed until 7pm on 10 November 2010
Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Artists recipients
Paul Hamlyn Foundation is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2010 Awards for Visual Arts and Awards for Composers:
Visual Artists
- Angela de la Cruz
- Luke Fowler
- Christina Mackie
- Ben Rivers
- Lindsay Seers
Composers
- David Fennessy
- Anna Meredith
- Jason Yarde
Each receives an award of £45,000, paid in three annual instalments of £15,000, to support them in their artistic development. The awards scheme is the most generous in the UK.
First run in 1994, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Artists have supported over 90 individuals with funding exceeding £3 million.
The 2010 recipients join an illustrious group of previous awardees, including visual artists Phil Collins, Tomma Abts, Jeremy Deller, Mark Leckey, Anya Gallacio and Gustav Metzger, and composers Luke Bedford, Tansy Davies, Janek Schaefer and Evan Parker.
Michael Landy, a judge for this year’s Awards for Visual Arts and previous PHF Award for Visual Arts recipient, said:
“Receiving a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award in 2005 changed my life as I was able to concentrate solely on my work. As a judge this year, I hope it has the same liberating effect on the 2010 recipients.”
Joanna MacGregor, the pianist and broadcaster, who was a judge for this year’s Awards for Composers, said:
“The Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Artists offer generous, absolutely indispensable, no-strings-attached support over a period of three years. The three outstanding composers chosen this year have unique backgrounds and voices—all of them are original, challenging, and supremely imaginative, making music and breaking boundaries in ways that are vitally energising and creative. I’m delighted to have been involved in this prestigious Award.”
For more information, images, comment, or to arrange interviews, please contact Dan Watson, Communications Manager at the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
Full details of current and past recipients can be found at a www.phf.org.uk/artists
Notes for editors:
Quotes from the 2010 Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Visual Arts recipients:
Angela de la Cruz (b.1964, lives and works in London)
“I am very excited to get the Paul Hamlyn award because I will be able to expand and experiment with my work and make new work without any financial worries. This is a turning point in my career, and I feel that the next few years are critical to my artistic development. The Paul Hamlyn award will be crucial to allowing this development.”
Luke Fowler (b. 1978, lives and works in Glasgow)
“I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the Paul Hamlyn Foundation for supporting the continuation of my work. In these grey years of economic uncertainty and cultural instrumentalism, the potential for artistic independence seems to be becoming more and more precarious.”
Christina Mackie (b.1956, lives and works in London)
“I am very happy to have been given this gift by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. It encourages me to continue composing, translating and looking forward in my life and work.”
Ben Rivers (b.1972, lives and works in London)
“Receiving the Paul Hamlyn Award is one of the loveliest things to happen to me as an artist. It will allow me to concentrate fully on making work over the next three years without the usual financial quandaries. I will be able to set up a darkroom in a studio so I no longer have to smell the chemicals in my kitchen. This award has come like magic, without any hype, and is an endorsement which has at its core the simple idea of allowing an artist to continue working in their own odd ways, you couldn’t ask for more. Thank you very much.”
Lindsay Seers (b.1966, lives and works in London)
“Recently on Radio 4 I heard the chair of a contemporary prize for literature scoffing at the waste of money the government spends on its contemporary art collection, which he claimed was unnecessary as we have an amazing collection of art from the past. Perhaps we now think that contemporary art is a luxury we cannot afford? Yes – life support machines help us to survive but the outcomes of creativity give us inspiration and understanding about what it is to be human. The fact that this award exists is amazing, a rare and insightful gift – to support artists work in their own lifetime (and a small miracle I have received it).”
Quotes from the 2010 Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Composers recipients:
David Fennessy (b. 1976, lives and works in Glasgow)
“Thank you so much for this award; it is truly an honour to receive it. I am greatly relieved to know that, over the coming three years, I will have this guaranteed income. Without the constant noise of the wolf scratching at the door, it will be easier to concentrate on making good work.”
Anna Meredith (b. 1978, lives and works in London)
"I’m beyond chuffed to have been given a Paul Hamlyn Award. I was really honest in my application about where I’d like to take my music in the coming years and to have the support of this award will not only give me time to write the music I want to be writing but has given me a massive energy and confidence boost too. Thank you so much."
Jason Yarde (b.1970, lives and works in London)
“It is difficult to put into words just how ‘BIG’ it is in every way to be nominated and then to receive a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Arts Award. Ultimately, it is something that can translate into real action. It certainly means some of the big ideas (and some important small ones) that have since settled in the back of my mind have a real chance to fly out into the real world, going beyond the front of mind where they would often just manifest themselves as headaches and daydreams! I‟m overjoyed and most grateful to receive this award and I greatly look forward to delving into the possibilities it will open up.”
About the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Artists
First run in 1994, the PHF Awards for Artists have supported over 90 individuals with funding exceeding £3 million.
The aim of the Awards is to give artists the freedom to develop their creative ideas and to contribute to their personal and professional growth. Nominators (20 for the Awards for Visual Arts and 12 for the Awards for Composers) put forward the name of up to five artists who live and practise in the UK. Nominated artists are then invited to submit an application which includes biographical details, examples of their work and a short statement saying how they would benefit from an Award.
The Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards are made at a critical point in an artist’s career, without being age-specific or having any strings attached in terms of how the money can be used. They are awards, not prizes, made according to talent, promise and need as well as achievement. The Awards focus on the artists themselves rather than a particular type of practice and/or musical genre.
The Awards are not about recognising commercial success and they will therefore only be made to artists who need financial support to continue to practise.
For more information visit www.phf.org.uk/artists
About Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Established in 1987 by the publisher Paul Hamlyn, Paul Hamlyn Foundation is one of the largest independent grant-making organisations in the UK. It operates programmes covering the Arts, Education and Learning, and Social Justice, as well as a programme of support for NGOs in India. The Foundation awards funding through each programme’s Open Grants scheme, as well as operating Special Initiatives, which are strategic interventions in a particular area of perceived need, over an extended period.
For more information visit www.phf.org.uk or follow PHF on Twitter at twitter.com/phf_uk
EDITORIAL REPLY
Wednesday, November 10, 2010 11:25 AM (Amsterdam time)
Please take me off your list.
We don’t play the PR BS embargo game here.
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