Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Chris Marshall

Royal Philharmonic Society @royalphilsoc.bsky.social · 1d

The RPS Ambache Fund offers grants of up to £5,000 for UK music-makers looking to centre historic women composers in their programming, and connect audiences to their extraordinary music worth hearing.

Find out more and apply by 31 March: royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/rps_today/ne...

Just some of the many women composers through history whose music should be better known today: Johanna Müller-Hermann, Julie Candeille, Leokadiya Kashperova, Marie Grandval, Margaret Bonds, Yoshida Takako / Ester Mägi, Dorothy Howell, Elfrida Andrée, Maria von Paradis, Wilhelmine von Bayreuth, Doreen Carwithen / Undine Smith Moore, Pauline Viardot, Cécile Chaminade, Marianna Martines, Amy Beach, Helen Hopekirk

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University of Nottingham UCU branch @uonucu.bsky.social · 2d

Our students get it. Why doesn't the administration?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

University of Nottingham students fight 'insane' cull of courses

Traitors composer Sam Watts is among those against plans to cut University of Nottingham courses.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Ian Greaves @greavesian.bsky.social · 4d

Just up: a great contribution to CST's ongoing Defending the WAC series by James Jordan. Thoughts on Cartier, Dimbleby and the unknowns of archive research. cstonline.net/defending-th...

Defending the WAC: Filling the gaps which some never knew existed by James Jordan

In common with the other authors of this series of blogs, I am a regular user who knows first-hand the importance of the BBC’s Written Archives. When I first visited in 2006 it was to research a…

cstonline.net

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Professor Lisa Johnson (known as Lisa Colton) @lisacolton.bsky.social · 5d

c.org/qZcXBxHHGG Sign to show your anger and disappointment in the decisions taken at the University of Nottingham, where Music and Modern Languages are being cut.

Sign the Petition

Stop the suspension of undergraduate music courses at The University of Nottingham

c.org

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Chris Marshall @drchrismarshall.bsky.social · 5d

Is this a job? Where do I apply?

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QM_UCU @qmucu.bsky.social · 5d

Gonna need someone to check the dictionary definition of 'to pre-empt' because what else is this but pre-empting the decision of Council?

You'd hope those Council members don't appreciate having their hands tied like this. Because this is proper governance failure.

The courses will be suspended from 10 November, with the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service also set to be informed.

"Ahead of these proposals being put forward to the university's council later this month, we have taken the decision to suspend a small number of courses where demand is low or where they are not meeting the benchmark against a number of other criteria," a spokesperson said.

"While the university cannot pre-empt the decision by its council over the future of these courses, it is important it does not continue to recruit to courses which are proposed for closure."

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Prof Katherine Schofield 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇪🇺 @katherineschof8.bsky.social · 5d

Horrific, stupid news from @uniofnottingham.bsky.social — they are closing their music department. Apparently they all found out suddently in a meeting yesterday.

It is one of the best music departments in the country — solidarity with my colleagues and their students

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Music and modern languages courses suspended at University of Nottingham

In a statement the institution also says it is

www.bbc.co.uk

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Chris Marshall @drchrismarshall.bsky.social · 8d

Sounds so much more polite and authentic in French. Get well soon!

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Chris Marshall @drchrismarshall.bsky.social · 13d

Also hysterically funny in person. One of the most brilliant raconteurs I’ve met. He had an entire congregation (audience?) in stitches at a memorial service.

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Chris Marshall @drchrismarshall.bsky.social · 18d

Player was filing their nails during the rests and got caught short?

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Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy.bsky.social · 22d

Suggest you jump in on this poll.

—> xd.wayin.com/display/cont...?

And share…

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Jeannine Baker @nenieb.bsky.social · 24d

"The BBC has clanged their doors shut on those histories, those stories, those lives and ways of working that are revealed through the joint industry of the historian and the archivist." @helenwheatley.bsky.social on the devastating decision to limit access to BBC archives. tinyurl.com/y4tnyw9a

Defending the WAC: All the things I haven’t (yet) written by Helen Wheatley

People following the last few weeks of the Critical Studies in Television blog will have seen my brilliant colleagues discussing the essential work that they have been able to do thanks to the…

cstonline.net

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Erica Wagner @ericawgnr.bsky.social · 24d

See @vanessathorpe.bsky.social in @theobserveruk.bsky.social — a devastating story:

observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

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Chris Marshall @drchrismarshall.bsky.social · 29d

Now I want to know which orchestra he played with! Anyone?

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Chris Marshall @drchrismarshall.bsky.social · Sep 20

Tickets to the opera?

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Birmingham City University @mybcu.bsky.social · Sep 16

BCU and @royalbirmcons.bsky.social has been awarded £1.4 million to help preserve the sounds of England’s East Coast! 🏖️

Lecturer in Music, Dr Joanna Bullivant, has been succesful in UKRI's Future Leader Fellowship scheme.

www.bcu.ac.uk/news-events/...

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Chris Marshall @drchrismarshall.bsky.social · Sep 4

It’s hard to imagine a more glamorous venue than Chorleywood.

Reposted by Chris Marshall

Kate Dixon @katefdixon.bsky.social · Sep 4

"After the National Archives at Kew and probably the British Library, the BBC Written Archive Centre is the most significant repository of documents about British history over the last century” Important interview with Prof John Wyver @illuminations.bsky.social

🎧 podfollow.com/beebwatch

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Illuminations @illuminations.bsky.social · Aug 31

Absolutely delighted that Dan Briggs, son of the BBC's first official historian Asa Briggs, has written to The Observer supporting the need for on-request vetting to re-instated at the BBC Written Archives Centre (p.29; not I think online).
Letter's wording is in the .alt element.

#waccampaign

Letter text reads:

History written off

'I agree that the BBC’s decision, apparently a fait accompli, taken without prior consultation to refashion the BBC Written Archive Centre in Caversham (re Vanessa Thorpe’s article “Historians dismayed by ‘scandal’ of BBC cutting access to written archives”, News, last week), is very disappointing. It appears to run counter to the BBC‘s compact with the public, Our BBC,Our future, and arguably the broadcaster’s charter itself.
This would have deeply disturbed my father, Asa Briggs, the first official historian of the BBC who played a key role in setting up the archive. As Adam Sisman writes in his new biography, my father rescued countless papers, broadcasts and artefacts. The archive has since provided a valuable and rich seam of research material. The plan to step up the release of material in themed batches, rather than as now, respond to specific research enquiries clearly ‘dumbs down’ the value of the archive as an open and accessible resource.'

Dan Briggs
Lewes, Sussex

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Chris Marshall @drchrismarshall.bsky.social · Aug 27

And pretty much exclusively about film criticism.

Reposted by Chris Marshall

Janet Watson @janetskwatson.bsky.social · Aug 24

I’ve done quite a bit of work at Caversham that wouldn’t have been possible under this new system.
The BBC archives staff were skilled, knowledgeable, helpful, and beyond that, they were *kind,* which made things much easier for a researcher far from home and entirely unfamiliar with Reading.

Illuminations @illuminations.bsky.social · Aug 24

Our campaign for the continuation of independent access to the BBC Written Archive Centre is highlighted this morning by Vanessa Thorpe in The Observer. Her article, with excellent contributions from David Kynaston and Ian Greaves, outlines the issue with clarity.

observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Historians dismayed by ‘scandal’ of BBC cutting access to...

Critics say new limit to trove of information sounds knell for independent research

observer.co.uk

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Illuminations @illuminations.bsky.social · Aug 18

Calling historians and researchers. The BBC Written Archives Centre has changed its access rules without consultation. This means an end to proper independent research into the BBC's rich history. 178 have already signed the open letter. Please join the campaign:

tinyurl.com/bbcwaccampaign

Open letter BBC Written Archives - August 2025

Join the campaign to protect the future of independent research at the BBC Written Archives Centre The following text is an open letter expressing the concern of historians and researchers about chan...

tinyurl.com

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Reposted by Chris Marshall

Joseph Oldham @paranoidstylist.bsky.social · Aug 25

I have signed the open letter in support of continued independent access to the BBC Written Archive Centre. The BBC WAC is such a brilliant resource with such a helpful staff, and it has been so useful to my research in the past - indeed its materials are integral to my current book project.

Illuminations @illuminations.bsky.social · Aug 24

Our campaign for the continuation of independent access to the BBC Written Archive Centre is highlighted this morning by Vanessa Thorpe in The Observer. Her article, with excellent contributions from David Kynaston and Ian Greaves, outlines the issue with clarity.

observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Historians dismayed by ‘scandal’ of BBC cutting access to...

Critics say new limit to trove of information sounds knell for independent research

observer.co.uk

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Dr Tom May @dreamcargoes.bsky.social · Aug 24

I am one of the growing number of 400 signatories to this letter. It's deeply concerning that the BBC is limiting public access & exploratory academic research into its rich historical archives. The WAC was a bastion of the BBC's public service remit & must remain so!
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Historians dismayed by ‘scandal’ of BBC cutting access to...

Critics say new limit to trove of information sounds knell for independent research

observer.co.uk

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tudorfp.bsky.social @tudorfp.bsky.social · Aug 24

The BBC written archives were already the most restricted of the many I’ve researched in over the decades. But without them my research on the later career of #GustavHolst would have been seriously incomplete. Holst embraced the BBC in its earliest years, and vice versa. The BBC holds public records

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · Aug 24

This is not only a serious issue for historians and not only a serious issue for academics (although it is that). It's a development that's also deleterious for the GLAM sector, for example, and part of a much larger trend nationally and internationally to restrict and dismantle access to archives.

Historians dismayed by ‘scandal’ of BBC cutting access to...

Critics say new limit to trove of information sounds knell for independent research

observer.co.uk

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