09/11/2010 by admin.

The Government has helped broker a new deal between charities and music creators on the music licensing system.

From now on, a public venue, including those used by a charity or not-for-profit organisation, where music is played from records, CDs, the radio or television will now require a licence from both PPL and PRS for Music. These organisations collect and distribute royalties on behalf of copyright holders such as composers, lyricists, music publishers, record companies and musicians.

The new system will be fair for both musicians and charities. Those involved in creating music will be rewarded for their work while a package of measures have been agreed to protect charities from excessive costs.

In July 2008 the Government carried out a consultation into amending this legislation. In November last year the then Government responded to the consultation by saying it would reform the licensing system.

This was followed by more than 18 months of negotiations with PPL and charity representatives.

Since May this year it has been agreed that:

• Charities will be exempt from paying for a PPL licence for the first year giving them 12 months to prepare for the change
• The lowest tariff of £40 a year has been extended to cover more than 60 per cent of the buildings where voluntary groups meet instead of only 30 per cent of buildings
• The licence for community buildings has been extended to cover outdoor events like village fetes and carnivals
• The vast majority of charity shops will pay the lowest tariff of £54 a year
• The charity shop licence will cover back offices as well as the shop floor.

Charities will not face more red tape and bureaucracy. PPL and PRS for Music will create a single licensing system so organisations will only have to make one application.

Ministers have carefully examined the issues, looking at the results of the consultation and the months of negotiations between charities, not-for-profit organisations and PPL.

A statutory instrument ending the exemption was laid in Parliament today.

Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd said:

“We have worked hard to ensure that charities, particularly small organisations and charity shops, get extra protection and that the impact of any changes is minimised.

“It will be difficult to satisfy everyone but we have achieved a fairer balance between the need to reward musicians for their work and the need to protect charities from excessive costs and additional bureaucracy.

“In addition, we hope that the agreed delay in implementing these changes will give the whole sector time to prepare and will allow discussions to continue.”

Intellectual Property Minister Baroness Wilcox said:

“The major aspects of the new licensing system have been addressed. The new system creates a balance between musicians and charities.

“Charities have been fully consulted throughout this process. The new licensing arrangements are balanced, just, and fair.”

Charities and not-for-profit organisations will not begin paying until next year allowing time for further discussions.

A new way to address complaints will be created by PPL. If organisations believe they have been treated unfairly, they will be able to appeal to a new independent reviewer.

PPL will operate the same voluntary exceptions as PRS for Music - at family occasions such as weddings, religious services, on hospital wards and for medical therapy.

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25/08/2010 by admin.

The foul weather we’re currently having, has caused the cancellation of Sandown Illuminated Carnival tonight 25th August 2010.

What bad luck this is the second year in a row that this has happened. Please remember to keep hold of your costumes so that you can support our friends at Sandown Carnival Committee at their 5th November celebration which will now included the carnival procession.

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24/08/2010 by admin.

Our web admin and photographer have been busy working behind the scenes to get our photograph albums online. The latest include our visit to Sandown Main Carnival on 28th July 2010, Ryde Children’s Carnival 20th August 2010 and Ryde Main Carnival 21st August 2010.

Although the weather wasn’t particularly good on Friday for the Children’s parade the rain held off until all the entries had arrived at the finish in Quay Road.  The procession was well supported.

The Main Carnival on Saturday was hit by the bad weather and it started to rain as everyone was setting up , this didn’t stop the crowds supporting what was a wonderful evening.

The Carnival Learning Centre’s Europa project was brought to life by the Blue Touch Paper Carnival Group a local group of disabled people who were cheered as they walked along the route.

We had a number of Marching bands join us from the island, but we welcomed the Essex Marching band from Southend On Sea who brought their flag bearers who performed some spectacular flag spinning. All the major towns and villages arrived with their beautiful queen’s floats and the girls used their clear umbrellas to protect their dresses from the rain. The Ryde Carnival Float resplendent with  a glob, the Santa Maria atop and beautiful fans was complimented by our beautiful dancers.

There was a wide variety of pedestrian entries who depicted everything from Toy Story to Viking Long boats . The Carnival ended with a spectacular display from Mas Fusion Community Carnival Group who performed their “Flights of Fancy” to great roars of praise and clapping from the crowd, and finally the tail end float arrived with it’s child chimney sweep popping his head out of the top.

Ryde Carnival Association again were pleased to support local groups with our Small Grants scheme, the groups helped this year included Wight Strollers with their Bad Habits Float, Binstead Community Association and their very funny take on the Wizard of OZ, P.J’s Theater School who went GA-GA, The Downer Family with their wonderful Top Hat and Frills, the costumes of this group were yards of hand sewn plastic bags into beautiful dresses! Oakfield Primary School and their Passage to India, the Baxter Massive with their Birds of Paradise, Dover Park Primary School with their Creative Journey and finally an individual Queen Costume designed by Penny Verity which accompanied the Ryde Float.

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21/07/2010 by admin.

The Arts festival parade was held at the beginning of July this year and proved to be a spectaclar success.

The Parade started later than previous years as a test run for the event in 2011, when the parade starts the Island Games which are being hosted on the island, starting on 26th June and finishing on the 1st of July 2011.

For the first time in many years since Ryde Carnival association had stopped using the Simeon Street Recreation ground as a start point the various groups from both the island and mainland set up their tableaux’s in bright sun shine with a slight breeze. The Parade kicked off at 6pm with Raw Samba heading the parade along a packed Esplanade. The performers put on a fabulous show that delighted and entertained all ages.

With cheers and clapping from the crowds, it made the performers keep up their endless performing, which wound it’s way around the town, and then finishing back at Simeon Street Recreation Ground. It was wonderful to hear the comments from many of the audience who said that the parade was one of the best that they had seen in many a year.

A big thanks should go to all the performers, their artistic directors and the Carnival Learning Centre for putting on such a well organised carnival. I’m sure that we alll can’t wait for the Parade next year which should be one of the biggest the island has ever seen.

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13/02/2010 by admin.

There are serious concerns about Government’s decision to repeal exemptions set out in the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, which mean charitable groups and other not-for-profit organisations are not required to obtain a music licence from PPL (Phonographic Performance LTD) and  the Performing Rights Society (PRS) if they wish to play recorded music

The Government’s own figures suggest this change will cost voluntary and community organisations up to £20 million more a year. This is an incredible amount of money, which can only be met by funds earmarked for charitable purposes.

This is also likely to affect a broad array of community organisations: village halls, churches, care homes, charity shops, youth clubs, carnival groups and carnival associations, scouts and guides associations and bingo halls.

This is another stelth tax that has crept up, it is really important that as many people sign the petition asking the government to recondsider this as the implications are very serious for community groups right across the board.

The bigest effect these new regulations will have is on the running of the Ryde Arts Festival and its’ parade, Ryde Regatta, and the 3 Ryde Carnivals as well as the many church fetes that are held in the Ryde area. The costs of the licences could put a halt to these wonderful free public entertainments, which could have a knock on effect on the economics of our town.

You can sign the petition online here:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/dontstopthemusic/

You can also join the FaceBook group here
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=274770375866

You can read more information about the new regulations here:
http://www.ppluk.com/en/News–Events/Archived-News/PPL-and-PRS-for-Music-announce-joint-licensing-scheme/

http://www.ppluk.com/en/Music-Users/Information-for-Charities/

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12/02/2010 by admin.

CALLING MUSICIANS, DANCERS, CHOIRS, SINGERS, BRASS PLAYERS AND OTHER CREATIVE PEOPLE AND ORGANISATIONS TO TAKE PART IN AN EXCITING NEW PORTSMOUTH PARADE!
I am getting in touch to find out if you, your group/school would like to get involved in an exciting new project celebrating Latin American Carnivale at Gunwharf Quays in 2010!

We are planning to put together a weekend of events on 17-18 April 2010 drawing on the varied and creative individuals and organisations in Portsmouth and the South East region. We want you to join us for a spectacular Latin American inspired parade on 18th April.

As part of the parade, we are proposing that there will be a coordinated, participatory Afoxe inspired procession, celebrating and “blessing” the streets and the sea. This will be directed by Red Zebra . Their team of musicians and dancers will be available to work with you or your group to create a one off musical and performance piece to be played simultaneously through the streets! It will combine dance, song, percussion, brass and costume.

It is an ambitious and thrilling new creative project and we would love for you to take part. Entry is completely FREE (thanks to Gunwharf Quays) and we will support you and your group throughout the process.

HOW TO TAKE PART

To take part your group should be prepared for an artist to come in to your rehearsals approximately 3 times between now and the event to work with you on your piece. You and your group will then be invited to the Group Rehearsal (see below). The finale performance will take place in Gunwharf Quays on 18 April 2010.

We have a launch day for you to drop in and find out more!

Launch Day – Friday 5 March 2010 4-7pm in Gunwharf Quays. (Venue TBC.)
Workshops available to be booked between March 15 – March 31 (subject to Arts Council England funding)
Workshops also available April 14, 15, 16 (time and place tbc)
Rehearsals April 16 & 17 (time and place tbc)
Performance April 18 (time and place tbc)
Please call us to reserve a free workshop, at a time to suit you.

CONTACT

We hope you would love to come and take part in this exciting, one off community project. Please do get in touch at any time with any questions to Suzi Dent on takepartarts@yahoo.co.uk or call Suzi on 07958972827

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08/12/2009 by admin.

This year has been just a little difficult for some of the Carnival Committee, which has meant that although the photographs were taken on the Carnival dates, our photographer hadn’t been able to put up the Main, Illuminated and Troupe photographs until now. But at long last we have the albums live, so go and have a look at the fun we all got up to this summer in Ryde!

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14/08/2009 by admin.

This August Bank Holiday (30/31 August) thousands of people will take to the streets of London for the multi-cultural Notting Hill Carnival, the second largest street festival in the world after Rio.  But meanwhile, the UK’s oldest carnival parade whose rich history can be traced back to Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee of 1887, will take place in the delightful seaside town of Ryde on the Isle of Wight (19/22 August and 5 September).

Throughout the summer, Islanders stage over a dozen carnivals culminating in the last carnival of the season at the end of the summer holidays - the ultimate carnival at Ryde.   A fantastic spectacle featuring over 2000 performers and dozens of colourful floats with musical influences from Rio Samba, Trinidad Street Pan as well as local Isle of Wight musicians, the event is held over 3 days giving visitors plenty of opportunity to party as they watch the parades make their dazzling journey through the town and along the seafront.

Ryde Carnival is reputed to be the oldest established carnival is England. The first true event was held in 1888 but the real origins extend a year further back to Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee of 1887.    These days, while still maintaining a distinct Island character, the flamboyantly dressed dancers, creative carnival floats and giant costumed characters are more akin to Rio than Ryde.

There are three parades to choose from but the Illuminated Carnival is the most spectacular:

Children’s Carnival - Wednesday 19 August
Main Carnival – Saturday 22 August
Illuminated Carnival - Saturday 5 September

For start times and procession routes please visit www.rydecarnival.co.uk

In recent years, the Isle of Wight has developed strong ties with Notting Hill Carnival with many of the organisers visiting after the Bank Holiday either to spectate or take part in Ryde Carnival bringing their vibrancy and colour to an Island reminiscent of Notting Hill’s Caribbean carnival roots.

The Isle of Wight is extremely proud of its carnival heritage and was the first county in the UK to set up a Carnival Learning Centre dedicated to enhance Ryde and other Isle of Wight carnivals by bringing a distinctive new flavour to the existing carnival traditions.

Creative courses at the Isle of Wight Council-managed centre include learning how to make the flamboyant costumes, masks and headgear for the huge floats and parades.  Visitors can get involved in a wide range of one-off taster sessions and weekend workshops. Check the website www.thecarnivallearningcentre.org for latest information and prices.

It’s simple to get to the Isle of Wight, there are up to 350 ferry crossings a day from Portsmouth, Southampton, Lymington and Southsea.  Once you’re there it’s easy to get around, ferry routes connect directly with the Island’s road, rail and coach links.

For details on how to get to the Isle of Wight, where to stay and what to see and do,  visit www.islandbreaks.co.uk or telephone 01983 813813.

This article has been kindly supplied by Isle of Wight Council’s Tourism Division

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18/07/2009 by admin.

The Ryde Social Heritage Group has kindly agreed to allow Ryde Carnival Association to use their newsletter Volume 3, Number 4, October 2008 headed Ryde Carnival - The Origins.

The Ryde Social Heritage group have a much larger archive of the Ryde Carnival which is available to view during their Heritage Open Days. To read more fascinating history about Ryde or become a member of the group please visit www.rshg.org.uk Some additional text has been taken from our original history page and added, we will also be adding some historically interesting photographs.

Ryde Carnival Association is grateful to the RSHG for their support of the carnival website.

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15/07/2009 by admin.

The Ryde Arts Festival Parade took place today 11th July with as wonderful display , now in it’s 7th year it grows from strength to strength.

The parade is a showcase of all the hard work that local schools and community groups do to brighten up the streets of Ryde before the main carnival season kicks off next weekend. Schools and groups from Ryde and Newport were joined by Dot-to-Dot from Paulsgrove Portsmouth as well as Ryde House and the Isle of Wight College.

Despite the drizzle it was warm and spirits were kept high by the promise of good crowds. The carnival artists were not disappointed! Crowds lined the route from Dover Park , the High Street and Union Street.

New flags designed and produced by local artists in a course run by Sharon George of Mas Fusion for the Carnival Centre and the NCFE Level 3 students showcased their costumes for the first time. As usual the costumes were beautiful and covered so many different aspect of childhood games, from Dart boards to Nursery Rhymes an event not to be missed.

View the Ryde Arts Festival 2009  gallery here

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