After a week of silence on basic questions, in response to a different
volunteer, the UK chapter has confirmed that it is supporting the
BritishBlackMusic.com event in Ghana with money and official
merchandising. The precise amount has not been specified.[1] It was
not clear to me that the event was in Ghana rather than the UK, until
another volunteer found an Eventbrite page with details. This was
apparently unknown to the UK Chapter as no mention was made of it when
promoting the event.[3]

In the light of the fact that Kwaku is making public presentations
officially supported by Wikimedia UK, I have raised Kwaku's COI issues
on the English Wikipedia noticeboard so that he can be advised by
project volunteers as to policy and best practice.[2] Since creating
his account on the English Wikipedia ten months ago, Kwaku has made a
total of 10 edits with several others being deleted, apparently due to
them promoting his organization, some remaining edits promote his
writing for Billboard.[4]

Kwaku was funded by Wikimedia UK last year with a full scholarship for
a weekend in Berlin to take part in a Wikimedia Conference, the amount
of the charity's money this cost has not been made public.

With regard to Jon Davies' email to this thread that BBM are supported
by Lottery Funding, this appears an exaggeration of the facts. I have
had a response from the Brent Archives, a named 2006 project partner,
who confirmed the project happened but were unable to produce a
report; they took no responsibility for the funds. After an interim
reply, am waiting on a full response from the Heritage Lottery Fund
(HLF). A HLF project was funded 8 years ago in 2006 with BTWSC named
as running the project, intended to produce a guide. There is no
evidence of any lottery funding for BTWSC since that date, the BBM
appears to have never been the recipient of lottery funding.

No evidence has been found that BTWSC or BBM are registered
organizations, consequently it is unlikely that financial accounts
have ever been published or put on record.

Note, I was privately emailed by Jon Davies a few days ago but no
additional information was provided at that time.

Link
1. https://wikimedia.org.uk/w/index.php?title=Water_cooler&diff=54770&oldid=54768
2. http://www.lottery.culture.gov.uk/GrantDetails.aspx?ID=YH-05-01416&DBID=HM
3. http://web.archive.org/web/20140327135842/http://www.eventbrite.com/e/talking-wikipedia-in-ghana-tickets-10971368659?aff=es2
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Conflict_of_interest/Noticeboard&curid=8634849&diff=601495199&oldid=601426585

On 20 March 2014 13:18, Fæ <faewik@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 20 March 2014 11:49, Fæ <faewik@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On 20 March 2014 11:31, Jon Davies <jon.davies@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:
>>> We felt that they were a suitable partner for an editathon.
> ...
>
> I have checked with Companies House. There are no registered companies
> that relate to:
> * British Black Music (run by Kwaku)
> * BtWsc or MusicWrite Plus (run by K Kaywrite)
>
> I have confirmed with the Department for Culture Media & Sport, that
> eight years ago (2006) a lottery grant of £35,000 was paid for the
> Brent Black Music History Project. This project was in partnership
> with Brent Archives. It is not yet clear which legal organization
> received the funds, was responsible for reporting on the project
> outcomes or publishing financial accounts for the monies. As an unpaid
> volunteer for Wikimedia UK with no authority, I have written to Brent
> Archives and the Heritage Lottery Fund for confirmation and any
> available reports.
>
> Fae
> --
> faewik@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae



--
faewik@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae

Personal and confidential, please do not circulate or re-quote.

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