REDP ARTICLE FOR ONE EAST MIDLANDS

An hour or so this afternoon to put together a 450-word article about the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP) for publication in the magazine of One East Midlands. One East Midlands wants to get this out in advance of their "Knowledge, Impact and Success" regional event in Derby on 23 June at which REDP will get to showcase its work.

One East Midlands works to ensure that the voluntary and community sector is actively engaged with key regional bodies and other partners, from across the public, statutory, business and social enterprise sectors. We bring together organisations that support Voluntary and Community Sector groups across the region to influence and shape policy, improve services and provide a point of contact at a regional level. REDP has a good working relationship with One East Midlands as we pursue our specialist service for the Voluntary and Community Sector.

facebook: 99 fans and counting!

I note, with interest, that the Council of Faiths page on Facebook has 99 fans today. I've not been keeping a list of those who have signed up there, but I will make a list of them now because I want to know who will be number 100 so I can congratulate them (though I don't think there'll be a special prize). Facebook doesn't use the word "fan" any more. It just tells you how many people "like" this thing or that. Pity ... I have to say that I got a secret smile out of the thought of the Council of Faiths having "fans".

Visit Leicester Council of Faiths' Facebook page - and sign up if you haven't already done so.Whoah, steady now ... don't all rush at once!
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Leicester/Leicester-Council-of-Faiths/174472676333?ref=ts

IDAHO DAY IN TOWN HALL SQUARE

Today is Idaho Day: International Day Against Homophobia, an occasion given the imprimatur of the United Nations. All day, the Rainbow Flag is being flown at Leicester Town Hall (photo above) and at County Hall, seat of Leicestershire County Council. At 1300, a two-minute silence is observed in Town Hall Square, with representatives and guests of Leicester LGBT Centre and Trade Sexual Health in memory of Matthew Shepard and all victims of homophobia and transphobia. Dennis Bradley (Community Development Officer at the LGBT Centre) welcomes us and speaks about the significance of the day, before the Town Hall clock strikes one and starts the silent observance.

To mark this day, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has written to Chief Constables and the Chairs of Local Criminal Justice Boards, Community Safety Partnerships and Primary Care Trusts, providing them with guidance on how they can play their part in tackling homophobic crimes and abuse. The Commission’s letters call on those responsible for tackling abuse to:

• increase the reporting and recording of homophobic hate crimes
• take concerted action to monitor and increase the arrest, prosecution and conviction rates and reduce reoffending rates of homophobic hate crime
• provide better support to victims and
• ensure frontline staff treat lesbian, gay and bisexual people with dignity and respect.

The Equality Act 2010, which recently received Royal Assent, will place a new obligation on public sector organisations to promote equality, eliminate harassment and foster good relations on the ground of sexual orientation. The Commission will continue to support public bodies in meeting these duties.

Infrastructure Providers Group

At Voluntary Action Leicester this morning, for a meeting of the Infrastructure Providers Group. We don't get very much done today. Most of the conversation is on the threats to this kind of work represented by the forthcoming Emergency Budget. I leave the meeting half an hour early, a first for me.

the day before Idaho Day

To the Leicester Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Centre in Wellington Street this afternoon, for an open door event in advance of tomorrow's commemoration of Idaho Day (International Day Against Homophobia).

Clare hasn't visited the Centre in the past few years, during which time it's undergone some renovation and redevelopment and I've never seen round the whole building. So I ask Ian Robson - Centre Director and my colleague on the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP) - to give us a quick tour of the premises. It's a great place they've got - very impressive indeed. Hard not to feel envious, but I do my best!

We join in the barbecue, but have to leave before a three o'clock showing of "The Laramie Project" on their big, wall-mounted, flatscreen HD TV (what, more envy?!?). I have to say that I didn't particularly fancy seeing this film, which tells the story of the aftermath of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard (photo above) in Laramie, Wyoming. I tend not to like "issue" stories, which bang the drum for their cause and often forget that they are a movie or play and become hectoring, soapbox rants. But I'm pleasantly surprised to see that this features some of my favourite film and TV actors (among them Dylan Baker, Steve Buscemi, Nestor Carbonell, Michael Emerson, Ben Foster, Janeane Garofalo, Joshua Jackson, Laura Linney, Frances Sternhagen). It premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and was first broadcast on HBO in March 2002. I've already asked to borrow it and am looking forward to watching it.

Find out more about Leicester LGBT Centre:
http://www.llgbc.com/

Find out more about Idaho Day:
http://www.homophobiaday.org/

Find out more about The Laramie Project:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laramie_Project_(film)

Find out more about Mathew Shepard - his life, death and legacy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari

A screening of "The Cabinet of Dr Caligari" (1920) this evening at Phoenix Square Digital Film and Media Centre.

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari is one of the earliest, most influential and most artistically acclaimed German Expressionist films. The film tells the story of the deranged Dr. Caligari and his faithful sleepwalking Cesare, and their connection to a string of murders. Critics worldwide have praised the film for its expressionist style, complete with wild, distorted set design including crooked buildings and twisted landscapes. The film also boasts one of the first attempts at a twist ending, something quite new and shocking for its time. This is a genuinely creepy film which delves deep into the mysteries of the abnormal mind ... an uncomfortable journey to say the least. Everyone is suspect and, in the end, we must ask ourselves: "who is really the mad one here?" Subtle and ingenious, we see the world the way an insane person might see it; warped and confused, a nightmarish terrain where nothing makes sense and balance is not to be found. The impact of this film is still being felt and seen today, and for good reason. Caligari has been cited as an influence on film noir, one of the earliest horror films, and a model for directors for many decades. It is a shocking, disturbing masterpiece.

This 90th anniversary celebration has seen a series of screenings at selected venues, beginning 9 Feb in Lincoln, then visiting Warwick, Derby, Stamford, Cardiff, Bradford, Saltburn, Norwich, winding up here in Leicester tonight. The screenings are accompanied by live performance of a new, original (partly improvised) score by Cipher (a duo comprising Theo Travis and Steve Sturt), incorporating hypnotic alto flute, haunting soprano saxophone, dark soundscapes, pulsing beats, deep bass and rich textural landscapes. Cipher have a history of writing scores for sinister films, including Alfred Hitchcock's "The Lodger" and "Blackmail", FW Murnau's "The Last Laugh", and GW Pabst's "Pandora's Box" in their repertoire. Travis explains: "We tend to pick films that are dark to write new music for. It's about capturing the mood of the film with a mixture of improvisation and composition. The Cabinet of Dr Caligari is one of the most moody and dramatic films ever made, one that continues to exert a huge influence on film-makers".

At the end of the performance and screening, I nip down the front to congratulate the musicians. I saw Travis playing sax and flute with Gong in Oxford last November, which was my 50th birthday treat. I didn't know he'd be playing here this evening, so that's a bonus for me. He tells me that Sturt is also with Gong now, playing bass. Oh, I love this even more now - getting to chat with two members of Gong, without expecting it!

Find out more about The Cabinet of Dr Caligari:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0010323/

Find out more about Cipher:

http://www.cipher.f9.co.uk/

I'M SPARTACUS! (NO, HONESTLY)

Watching a restored digital print of Stanley Kubrick's sword-and-sandals epic Spartacus (1960) this evening at Phoenix Square. A few odd things about this film. Firstly, it has a musical overture that plays to a blank screen. That might have been commonplace for films of the period, but I haven't seen it (or rather, heard it) before. Secondly, I can hardly remember the last time I saw a film that had a fifteen-minute intermission (I think it might have been 2001: A Space Odyssey when I saw it in Glasgow on its 1978 reissue - another one of Stanley Kubrick's classics, of course).

Spartacus has a lot to say about the impossibility of obtaining and securing freedom and happiness in a society that is based on oppression, where accidents of birth make one person master over another. It says a lot about what choices are left to us in such constraints, and about the redemptive power of love and sacrifice. Anything about ancient Rome can't help but allude to its opposition to (and eventually being overtaken by) primitive Christianity. Indeed, Spartacus has a short opening piece of narration that looks forward to that significant turn of events. But the story is set before the appearance of Christianity and its impact on Rome. It doesn't allow itself that lazy narrative elision into redemptive allusion. Yes, there is crucifixion (and plenty of it) most notably of Spartacus himself. But if we are supposed to see him as a Christlike figure, he is one who kills, who fathers a child without the union being sanctified by the state and one who does not look to a supreme God but who appears to accept the pantheon of gods - domestic and foreign - as being literally true, as much any other part of the world around him. Perhaps it has more to say about communalism, depicting a people's revolt. But even that angle becomes unclear when considered against the inspiration of the individual. there can be no simple answer to whatever "message" we want to take from Spartacus.

Among the Roman nobility, matters of belief seem more straightforward, at least when we take the characters' own words. They disbelief in the gods in private, but venerate them in public because it's a civic necessity and obligation. Among these characters, one of the most troubling (and consequently interesting and satisfying) is Lentulus Batiatus, owner of the gladiator school where Spartacus is trained and where the slave revolt breaks out. Batiatus is played by Sir Peter Ustinov (1921-2004), whose photo is at the top of this blog entry. And he's the real reason why I thought I'd write this one.

I met Sir Peter once, toward the end of his life. He spoke at a conference of the World Federalist Movement (of which he was President from 1991 till his death). I can't recall now whether this conference was in 2002 or 2003. The Friday night before the conference opened, there was a reception for him at the Bahá'í National Centre in Knighstbridge. Sir Peter spent most of the evening immobile in a large chair in the corner of the downstairs reception room, leaning on his walking stick under his chin, looking fairly content but detached. He didn't stay all that long. there was a respectful atmosphere, but not much interaction with the great man.

The next day, however, he addressed those gathered at the conference venue for between two and three hours without a break - and held us all in rapt attention. No one could be in any doubt that here was one of the great raconteurs who, though frail in is body, was still noble, engaged, powerful and persuasive in spirit. He had us laughing uproariously one moment, then distraught with tears the next. Not the kind of thing that can be captured here by someone of my comparatively weak abilities. You had to be there really - and I'll always be glad I was.

BRANDON UNIT

I receive a phone call this morning from a member of staff at the Brandon Mental Health Unit at Leicester General Hospital. She's calling to ask where they could obtain a multi-faith wall calendar. We don't produce one ourselves, though it's one possible project for our 25th anniversary next year. I recommend that she get hold of the calendar produced by Bradford District Faiths Forum.

While I have her ear, I recommend that the Brandon Unit become involved with the East Midlands Network on Spirituality and Mental Health. There's not much active representation from Leicester and Leicestershire on this network and we need to take every opportunity to promote it. She tells me that the unit has a weekly spiritual care team meeting and that she’ll ensure this matter is raised at the next one.

Photo above: an Eid display at the Brandon Unit, made by service users there.

EAST MIDLANDS AMBULANCE SERVICE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY: 2

To Nottingham this afternoon, with Laura Horton (REDP Project Manager) to take part in a Community Engagment Strategy Working Group with East Midlands Ambulance Service. This is the follow up to an earlier meeting on 24 March. A much smaller group this time makes this meeting more manageable, positive and fruitful than the first as we work our way together through the 29-page draft strategy document. Like so many of these documents, the level and style of language may benefit from a little adjustment. For example, a "robust feedback loop and reality checking mechanism" sounds like something you'd find on the console of the TARDIS.

CreativeCoffee Club (4)

To Phoenix Square Digital Film and Media Centre this morning, for the regular fortnightly meeting of CreativeCoffee Club. After 20 minutes or so mixing and mingling in the Screen Lounge cafe bar, we head upstairs to the ETC Training Suite, for a workshop on "Networking Skills" led by Dorothy Warner, Head of Development here. In my post, I've had to live on my wits in terms of networking opportunities. CreativeCoffee Club was the training ground on which I practised the skills I needed to do it well. There are 25 of us in all. We each pick a piece of paper from an envelope. It has half of a movie title on it. Our icebreaker activity is to seek out the person with the other half of our movie title. I pick "Shakespeare", so I'm looking for "In Love". Thankfully, when I do find the person with the other half, it's someone I know, so we can half a laugh out of something that might have brought red faces! I tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade Mel Gordon for us to match up with "Shakespeare vs Kramer" (or for his other half to match up with mine, giving us "Kramer in Love"). That's not the right Kramer of course (pictured above), but I just couldn't resist it.

Visit CreativeCoffee Club Leicester's Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/ccleic
Find out more about Phoenix Square Digital Film & Media Centre:
http://www.phoenix.org.uk/index.php?cms_id=21