To: Foundry mailing list subscribers

There is a petition on the Number 10 website protesting against the
recently-introduced music licensing laws. It is the most subscribed to
petition on the site with nearly 80,000 signatures.

The petition closes TODAY, Monday 11 June 2007, at midnight. If you
have not done so already, please sign up.

The new law is having a debilitating effect on the grassroots
arts-music scene in the UK.

The Foundry is a gallery, art performance venue and pub. We are not a
late-night club, we close at 11pm. We are not loud, and we have no
neighbours. All events are unfunded unsponsored and free. Since the
introduction of the new licensing law in November 2005, music and sound
art activities at the Foundry have had to stop for no reason. Most of
the events we used to host have not found a new venue. The music side
of art is being suffocated by this legislation. From Tuesday-night
experimental live sound art to Friday-night DJS, most activities are
now subject to an unobtainable license. This is wrong and the
government should reduce the reach of this stupid law so that some
reasonable level of natural human expression and artistic experiment
can happen without recourse to authoritarian approval.

There are plenty of other laws already in place to deal with excessive
noise, nuisance and public safety (which the Foundry has never
contravened). Activities in the Foundry and countless other places
which have hitherto caused no problem to anyone are ceasing under
threat of criminal prosecution.

Most recently the police have started to demand name address date of
birth and phone number of each participating artist before approval of
those rare events we are possibly still allowed to put on. Were we to
invite a piano player to play a tune on our piano without this approval
we would be breaking a law that carries a penalty of £20,000 fine and
six months in prison and closure of the Foundry.

The URL for the petition:
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/licensing/

(it's worth signing up, for your trouble you'll get a souvenir email
from Tony Blair before he leaves the place)

Recent news item on BBC news website (features the Foundry)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6665529.stm

Details on the licensing law at the Foundry website:
http://www.foundry.tv/licence/index.html

if there's anyone you think will sign this petition and does not
already know about it, please pass this email on. CLOSING DATE FOR
SIGNING IS TODAY, MONDAY 11 JUNE 2007

Thanks for your attention. You never know, the government might even
listen!

[MellySingsDoom]

Originally Posted by sarramkrop

Most recently the police have started to demand name address date of
birth and phone number of each participating artist before approval of
those rare events we are possibly still allowed to put on.

All in the name of "preventing terrorism", I'm sure. This is a sad state of affairs, but this government had made it more than clear that it doesn't give the remotest shit about what we the little people think. Expect more of the same from Gordon Brown and co. too.

I've signed the petition anyway.

[Florya]

done - wankers.

Well done, guys.

[Katy]

Fucking ridiculous. The Foundry of all places getting into trouble. Is the Worm Lady really such a threat to national security and public decency? Or art students playing chopsticks? This makes me angry. Good for you spreading the word, sarramkrop. I am going to write to Tessa Jowell about it.