Listen to Russell’s critique of our Governments’ drive to increase US style fundraising in the arts, her views on how part of the answer to the global financial collapse is to do less better and her belief that the times we live in require artists and arts leaders to be revolutionaries.

It has however been open for a few months already to find its feet, so I recently took the chance to talk with Brian Condon of Complexity Partners – the convenors who helped make the overall project happen – to find out about what it is, how people can get involved and what they’re learning already.

And if you want to follow the conversation about the centre on Twitter you can do so by watching the hashtag #c4cc

The day-long session was held at the Guardian’s London HQ and had an excellent format.  On one track you had the geeks working with various data sets provided for the day using their creativity to prototype new services and apps.  And on the other track you had people passionate about the cultural sector and technology (like me) in an unconference format talking about the issues of the area.

At the end of the day there was a showcase of what the developers had created and while I’d love to show them all, I include only a small selection.

You can read a fuller review of the day here (thank you Brian Kelly) and see the project list at the Rewired State site.  It worked really well and I hope that they hold another culture focussed event soon, especially since one of the co-convenors of RS is the infectiously passionate DCMS CIO Mark O’Neill.  I feel there is definitely scope to open the discussion wider in the cultural sector with much of the focus this time on collections and museums.

This is part 2 of my recent conversation with Deborah Dignam, curator of the recent Connected showcase of some of the UK’s leading practitioners of interactive performing arts.

In it we talk about how best to support new and emerging artforms and artists.

• In this interview Deborah speaks specifically about Duncan Speakman’s Subtlemob.
• And to find out more about the other artists who travelled to Tokyo, visit Connected UK.

You can find out more about Peter and what he is up to via his website www.petergregson.co.uk

And we’re sorry if the darkness of the video is offputting. We shot the video in Shoreditch House and halfway through our conversation they decided to pretty much put us in candelight. Romantic yes. Good for handheld video interviews no.

So rich was the conversation that we have split it into two parts.  In Part 1, Peter starts off by talking about his 2009 concert series Words on the Wall which incorporated Twitter in real-time alongside his live performance.

If you can’t wait till the next installment of this interview, you can always follow Peter on Twitter or read his blog

Ben Cameron (Doris Duke Foundation) and Clara Miller (Non Profit Finance Fund) recently came to the UK as part of MMM’s Funding Transition event.

In this fascinating interview, Ben and Clara talk more about their Leading for the Future programme and their understanding of innovation.  Essential viewing.  Even if we do say so ourselves.