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The DCMS have just published an interesting report showing the headline findings from the Child Survey that is part of their Taking Part survey.

It's only the topline information but there is some interesting reading. Especially pleasing is the fact that children rated their enjoyment of cultural activities from 1-10 (where 10 is 'brilliant') and the arts comes out rather well with a mean of 8. This suggests they enjoy arts experiences more than going to the library, historic houses or musuems and gallerys. (Of course, this is all reliant on the children's own understanding of the differences between, e.g. and arts activity or a visit to a gallery).

I'd be really interested with your take on the research. Is it useful to you? How might you use this information. Any thoughts, please comment below.

I'm developing Audiences Central job section by increasing the number and diversity of vacancies that we have listed on the website. I often surf the web, read national publications, magazines and sign up to newsletters and RSS feeds to ensure that I can contact organisations who have arts job vacancies across the region, so I can arrange for them to be included on our site free of charge.

It is our aim to include a comprehensive listing of the sector and regions vacancies as a valuable service to both arts organisations and professionals alike.

Having worked in newspapers and magazine publishing for many years I find it astounding at how many organisations advertising their vacancies in national titles fail to include what region the job is located in?

In the major it of cases this translates to the job being posted in London - this is a real bugbear of mine... in fact now I think about it this infuriates me!

1. People outside of London read broadsheets
2. London is not the centre of the universe
3. Since when has the location of a job been unimportant to the candidate?
4. This is basic What, Where, When Communcations
5. Why aren't these organisations getting value for money advice from their agencies or the media provider taking their hard earned advertising revenue?

Next time you delve into a paper take a look... in fact why not support the campaign for informed recruitment advertising by calling them up and asking the offending organisation where there job is located .... a hundred times each should do the trick.....

....I will finish that sentence at the end of this post.

If anyone ever doubts the commitment of Audiences Central staff to the arts, this will surely dispel that doubt.

The Free Art Fair in London was on during the same week as Freize, and consisted of several established visual artists displaying work in three disused shops in London. The combined value of the work was estimated at over £40,000. All of it was going for free.

The idea was this: you had a mooch round, then, at 6pm on the last day, you joined a queue. You had two chances to get the work you loved. If it was gone, you had to join the back of the queue and guess again. In practice, people began queueing the day before the 6pm deadline, and unless you arrived very early on the last day, there was no way you had a chance of recieving any work.

They wanted people to go home with a piece of art that they loved. The idea was that you would ask for what you really wanted, as opposed to just anything that was available. It was a noble concept. In practice, it didn't work. I will get to this later.

The artwork itself was variable. There were some pieces I loved, but only around three or four. Some was ok. A lot was visually lacking. As an artist myself, I personally love work that can switch me on visually and conceptually. I love vibrant, interesting work that makes me think. I loved Jasper Joffe's 'Faschism', a huge, colourful work that had its roots in Adolf Hitler and 70's fashion mags. I had no way of getting it home, but I would have found a way, if the work was available.

There were in total 25 pieces of work, and one had been stolen. The one piece of work that had everyone talking was by Bob & Roberta Smith. This artist currently lectures at London's Met uni, but has shown internationally, and at such illustrious venues as Tate and Whitechapel. Everyone was talking about it, but oddly enough, nobody wanted it. The piece was called "The P** Bar", and consisted of ten various different plastic bottles of the artists own urine. The Free Art Fair were very kindly splitting this piece up, giving an extra nine people a chance to own a piece of contemporary art by a highly respected artist.

This piece of art didn't seem to be such a huge hit in the queue. Some may say that the consensus among some was that he was taking, the uh, proverbial. It was at some point during the long, boring wait in the queue, that the idea was hit upon to make kind donations to this artwork. After all, the people at the back wanted something to take home with them as well. By the end of the day, there were 14 bottles, not the original 10. The organisers meanspiritedly decided to separate these from the 'originals'. Perhaps it was the fact that the pranksters had all signed their own artwork that gave it away...

I personally joined the queue early on the last day, along with my brother, who was keeping my place when we needed to get food/drinks/visit the loo. The idea of the organisers, that people would only ask for work they really wanted, suffered a setback when a well-meaning woman two persons away from me started a list. I was about 24 in the queue, and under the rules, would have had a slim chance of getting something I wanted. The list meant that suddenly everyone was boxing clever: the people at the front had exactly wanted, and evryone else just had whatever was left. This is where the organisers concept fell flat; they hadn't been banking on The List.

Eventually, it was my turn. I knew most of what was gone, and there were only two or three pieces left. I didn't know what, except for the notorious Bob and Roberta Smith. I sent my brother in first. His two 'guesses' were wrong.

I entered the room. I knew what I was going to do. I said one piece I genuinely liked but wasn't sure whether or not was available. It wasn't.

I took a deep breath. I didn't know or like what was left. All my favourite choices were gone.

It was nothing, or Bob and Roberta Smith.

I actually LIKED the idea of Bob & Roberta Smith. But I had no idea what I would do with a piece of work that was clearly made for a white walled gallery, and certainly not for my home.

Did I go home empty handed, or with something?

I didn't want to have queued up for hours for nothing.

So, in the spirit of at least going home with something I liked (as opposed to the last couple of paintings which I knew did nothing for me visually) I opted for a bottle of Bob & Roberta's finest.

Yes, I was the first person to ask for a bottle of urine. I have to say I had trouble picking which one. I opted for the plastic bottle I liked most, a pretty lemonade litre bottle with lemons on it.

On the way back, the guy behind me had been lucky enough to walk in when they were discussing what was left, and he had got a grey round Lee Johnson painting. I looked at it and wasn't disappointed. It was visually flat and uninspiring. I actually preferred the bottle of pee.

A freelance journalist took my picture and a few details, which she said she'd send to a few nationals and to the local press, but the TV crew had been told they weren't allowed to cover Bob & Roberta Smith as it might put people off their tea.

I have the bottle stored somewhere. I'm not sure what to do with it exactly. I can't quite bring myself to bring it home and put it on a shelf in the living room. Maybe I could get it box framed. But what about it being organic? Does it need some sort of refrigeration? Should I offer it to one of our subscriber galleries as a loan of a well known artists work and 'share' my precious piece of work???

All thoughts and suggestions are welcome on this.

Maybe I should do a watercolour with it and send it to the artist as appreciation.....?

So, in answer to the title of the post:

I went all the way to London, and all I got was this lousy bottle of pee.

Any ballet that boasts entire costume design by Jasper Conran is going to be visually stunning.

Add to that the performance was being put on by Birmingham Royal Ballet, and you knew you were on to a winner.

I am not a fountain of knowledge, or a regular attender of ballet. But since I have begun working for Audiences Central, and spreading my creative wings a little wider, I have discovered that I really enjoy performances by BRB. I was a keen salsa dancer a while ago, and just a small bit of knowledge helps me appreciate some of the intricacies of the dance form.

Edward II has long been presumed to have been a gay king. His father banished his childhood friend when they were deemed too 'close', and after his father's death, Edward welcomed him back, and he was given a more prominent position during his coronation than his own wife, the queen.

BRB perhaps exaggerated Edward openess with his gay lover (if, indeed, he was gay) and the costumes were certainly a bit risque in places (it would be a risky choice to take your grandmother too) but the dark production certainly would be one to appeal to certain audiences that would never watch a traditional ballet.

I loved watching this, and am hoping that BRB will be putting on more productions that are visually stunning and have such strong (and easily followed!) storylines.

I'd certainly go and see this again, and I don't like watching things twice.

October hosts World Mental Health Day, and is a month when there are often several exhibitions celebrating the creative works of individuals with mental health problems. These are not such a unique group: it is said 1 in 4 of us will suffer mental health problems at some point in our lives.

I have a personal interest in art that is inspired by or the product of mental health difficulties; the work is often fresh - raw but with the ability to touch the viewer, with a passion that is often lacking in contemporary art.

This month, work has been exhibited at Worcester University's Cotswold Gallery by some of the artists based at Shrub Hill Workshop, a fantastic facility that offers people with mental health difficulties a place to produce artwork. Jayne Gaze, the artist who works with Shrub Hill Workshop, also organizes a fantastic World Mental Health Day exhibition throughout several venues in worcester each year, which is always of an extremely high standard.

Chameleon Gallery also had a week long exhibition that featured the Dawn Jones prize, in memory of a young artist who committed suicide. Mental Health service users in Walsall are invited to exhibit work at the gallery, and work is cosen to win the prize. I was fortunate enough to be asked to exhibit some work at the exhibition, and showed the video of Michele, a woman with several mental health problems, alonside a written portrait, where people were invited to write their reactions to her into the work.

Personality Plus will also be having a one day only exhibition of work by persons with personality disorder to be shown at Tate Modern, and which will later go on a touring exhibition nationally. I have been fortunate enough to have provided the exhibition with some of my work, although I do not know exactly what will be shown at Tate Modern yet. I will post that later!

October is still midway and it is an excellent time to view vibrant and exciting work by persons who are often sidelined as being 'outside' the visual arts circle. Often, just a few enquiries or time spent googling can uncover gems that would otherwise go unnoticed.