AGENDA
The List has been voted Scottish Magazine of the Year by a panel of journalists and advertising agency representatives. The magazine came first in a new competition organised by .S‘eotmezlt'a which attracted 24 entrants. Each title was judged on six different criteria — presentation. standard of writing. standard of photography. quality of information. relevance to target audience and general impact.
‘Most magazines you read in a couple of goes but The List‘s appeal lasts.‘ said Mark Fincharn. media director of the Morgan Partnership. summing up the opinion of the judges.
The award follows closer on the heels of our celebratory 200th issue and adds another trophy to our collection. Last year. Tom Lappin was voted Scotland‘s best Arts and Entertainment writer and three years ago The List‘s innovative TV advertising campaign
Magazine of the Year!
swept the board at the Roses Advertising awards.
The List is an independent title which. since its launch in 1985. has built up a regular readership now standing at over 60.000.
The Big Issue, one of the most successful anti-homelessness initiatives of recent years, is coming to Scotland. The london magazine ‘gives homeless people the opportunity to help themselves’. As vendors, they keep 60 percent of the proceeds from sales, and also gain access to experience and training in editorial and production, a referral service to specialist counselling agencies, a housing and resettlement unit and an employment advisory service. Since its launch in September 1991 , TBI has been one of london’s fastest-growing titles, switching from monthly to fortnightly (and soon to weekly) publication. Some 140,000 copies of each issue are sold and around 2000 vendors are currently registered. To date sales have earned homeless people a total of over £1 million.
June 25 sees the launch of The Big Issue in Scotland, the first self- standing edition outside London - not exactly a cause for celebration, but certainly welcome news for Scotland’s growing population of homeless people. Retaining the original’s mix of news, arts coverage, campaigning articles and interviews plus extensive ‘word from the street’ contributions by homeless people themselves, the new magazine will contain primarily
3 Scottish material, though it will occasionally pick up a ‘star’ interview from london; it will also offer a similar range of back-up resources to
i vendors. Starting in Glasgow and
" Edinburgh, the magazine aims to
L--- __ 4The List 18 June—l July 1993
Big help for homeless TH E I3 IG
ISQE. '
expand operations to Dundee and Aberdeen as soon as possible.
At the core of the magazine’s approach is the opportunity it offers homeless people to earn an independent income; the resulting increase in self-esteem is perhaps even more important than the financial benefits. ‘lt’s not intended as a long-term income, but as a short- tenn lift out of the homelessness and poverty traps,’ says Scottish editor Tricia Hughes. ‘It’s a way for people to regain control over their lives, to earn their own money and decide themselves what to do with it.’ For hundreds of vendors, involvement with The Big Issue has helped to break the destructive downward spiral of homelessness and begging, enabling them to regain the confidence necessary to integrate themselves back into society’s mainstream.
Amy Isaac, director of Scottish Shelter, welcomes the magazine’s new launch. ‘We’re positively supportive of this initiative and will be taking a subscription, though of course we regret the need for it.’ tier one worry is that such successful self-help projects will be used as an excuse for government inaction. ‘We hope that the government and people generally will regard it as a short-tenn help rather than a long-term solution to the basic problem - lack of houses and iobs.’ (Sue Wilson)
The Big Issue in Scotland, 29-31 Duke Street, Glasgow, 041 552 2577 and 5a Picardy Place, Edinburgh, 031 555 1808.
I Glasgow licences: Trouble broke out in Glasgow on the first weekend of the new club licensing regime reported in issue 202 of The List. Michael MacCrimmon from The Sub Club says that a disturbance took place at
l l.40pm. ‘A large queue of people were trying to get in before the midnight curfew.‘ he said. ‘we refused entry to one punter and he pulled out a gas cannister which he used on the security men.‘ The situation was quickly controlled. but as a result of the incident people at the end of the queue had to be turned away. ‘We feel that if the curfew had not been imposed then this situation would never have come about.’ says MacCrimmon. There were also running battles in Sauchiehall Street involving gangs of youths and several other incidents occurred in the city centre.
‘All the clubs were quieter than usual.‘ said Chairman of the Glasgow Disco Operators Association. Ron McCulloch. who visited many city centre clubs on Saturday night. ‘The new law could adversely affect late night violence. one ofthe main things as well is that bar and restaurant workers are now not going to be able to go out after they finish work.‘ A step forward for the Glasgow club scene. or a giant leap backwards? Only the coming weeks and months will show if the new scheme is as successful as planned. (Joe Lampard)
I Cinema closure: It is with great sadness that we hear of the death of another Scottish cinema. The Caledonian in Livingston will close its safety curtain for the last time at the end of August. The three-screen cinema owned by CAC Leisure will be gutted
and. like so many cinemas before it. converted into a bingo hall. Mrs MacFarlane. who joined the cinema when it opened thirteen years ago as a ticket seller and is now manageress. said she was sad at the closure. but not surprised. as audiences have fallen drastically in recent times.
The Caledonian closure will leave West Lothian without a cinema. as the Regal in Bathgate will also close this autumn. The Poole family. who run the Roxy in Kelso. took on the lease on a temporary basis when the Regal was threatened with closure last year. However. they report that audiences are very poor and they do not expect to extend the lease beyond the summer. (TD)
I Fruity Jazz: Glasgow Jazz Festival will be a bit more fruity than normal this year. with the opening of a new venue in the refurbished Fruitrnarket on Albion Street. Structural amendments to the Victorian building are being carried out by the Council. although the original character of the space. with its iron columns and old fruitrnarket signs will be retained. according to Jim Smith. director of the Jazz Festival.
‘We have customised the building for the festival.‘ say Smith. ‘There are also plans to have the space as a sort of permanent temporary venue for special projects whether they are film. music or drama.‘ The Fruitrnarket will be a central venue for the Festival. as Bell Street and Candleriggs will both be closed during the weekends for street music. Several of the Festival‘s more intimate venues are also close by. and it will be open during the day with informal music during lunch time.
Jazz Festival listings begin on page 35, with full coverage next issue. (TD)
Sexles
Brian Jenkins is the subject of one of a new series of posters depicting positive images of people with disabilities. The strong photographic images result from collaboration between Artlink, Edinburgh’s outreach arts team, and a group of people with various disabilities. Funding from the District Council has enabled the images to be displayed on the advertising tripods along Princes Street. They are also the subject of an exhibition at the Collective Gallery in Cockbum Street. The images pose the question ‘What is disability?’ answering: Voiceless. Powerless, Excluded, Sexless, Invisible and Redundant before coming to the conclusion that “Your frame of mind is our disability’. ‘We wanted to get away from the definition of people by their disabling condition, which is what happens in advertising campaigns for charities,’ says Sarah Munro of Artllnk. ‘llor did we want to portray grinning people in wheelchairs with obvious disabilities. The idea is to get people talking, to engage in a public dialogue.’
(Thom Dibdln)
I— wratisnsitv