Arts Council Funding Cuts

[oddoneout]

RM’s article is absolutely spot on. The only thing he misses is how Arts Council subsidy is part of and has helped create a vast army of arts bureaucrats to implement, monitor , control and , produce data on a vast realm of policies that have little to do with artistic excellence or creativity. When you look at the management structures of most arts organisations you pretty soon realise that Michelangelo would be asked either to take his pots elsewhere or paint the ( vast ) office ceiling - the colour to be decided by vote.

Meanwhile up and down the country events of quality and ambition happen(for how much longer is another matter) organised by a handful of active and committed individuals focused on the things that matter, rather than how many meetings a sub-committee needs to decide on the type of paperclip it should use.

[oddoneout]

From the companies' point of view, yes. I was talking about how the criteria next to the tick boxes are decided.

I was thinking that those tickbox criteria are also subject to a tickbox process - they have to include all the usual suspects and are constantly being augmented by "current thought".
It was the bane of my life towards the end of my time as a high school governor that policies had to enumerate all the current categories of what I believe are now called protected characteristics. Apart from the need for constant updating and the risk that someone could say "but I'm not mentioned on that list", it meant that focus inevitable moved away from pupils as individuals and towards them becoming entries in pigeonholes "for data purposes".
Such an approach will never see the whole picture and will miss links that benefit groups other than the target. For instance physical access isn't just about whether a wheelchair can get in and access facilities; enabling that to happen will also benefit all the others who might need and appreciate wider doors, level access etc but don't fall into the "right" tick box. You don't need to be autistic to struggle with too many sensory assaults, or to have registered hearing or sight impairments to find poorly designed audio material or lighting difficult.

[french frank]

If only it were a question of someone asking: what kinds of cultural activity are going on? how much will it cost to keep them going and foster further interest in them?

Exactly the question we were asking about Radio 3 - not "what sort of listener do we want to attract to the station, who should we be 'catering for'?" But what do we want Radio 3 to be broadcasting? Looking at orchestral music in Bristol, the vast majority seems to be local amateur orchestras and schools ensembles. Excellent (especially the latter), but where are the professional musicians, orchestras, ensembles? Spurred on by the ENO debate, I looked for opera in Bristol: WNO seems to be bringing one opera (The Magice Flute) and some sort of 'opera' performed by the WNO chorus. "Not much demand for opera in Bristol". Why?

[Ein Heldenleben]

Exactly the question we were asking about Radio 3 - not "what sort of listener do we want to attract to the station, who should we be 'catering for'?" But what do we want Radio 3 to be broadcasting? Looking at orchestral music in Bristol, the vast majority seems to be local amateur orchestras and schools ensembles. Excellent (especially the latter), but where are the professional musicians, orchestras, ensembles? Spurred on by the ENO debate, I looked for opera in Bristol: WNO seems to be bringing one opera (The Magice Flute) and some sort of 'opera' performed by the WNO chorus. "Not much demand for opera in Bristol". Why?

Possibly because it’s too near Cardiff . I have noticed year on year that ticket sales for WNO have been going down - this was pre lockdown. I even had a chat with one of their marketeers about it. They couldn’t understand why. I suspect it’s because they are just so many entertainment options now they are competing in a crowded market.Howver dance goes from strength to strength. I mentioned before the packed Ballet Rambert perf I went to in Plymouth. The music was entirely Lutoslawski - the audience largely under thirty and female.

[oddoneout]

I was looking for the ENO thread, but this probably a better place

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/20/opera-defund-top-companies-funds-politics-artists

Just as depressing as the subject itself is the ignorance and prejudice displayed in the comments. An ignorant (as in uninformed, not in the perjoritive sense) population is a vulnerable population.

[JasonPalmer]

BBC four would be a good place to broadcast eno productions, really need far more arts on BBC four, these top of the pops repeats are scraping the bottom of the barrel.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I was looking for the ENO thread, but this probably a better place

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/20/opera-defund-top-companies-funds-politics-artists

Just as depressing as the subject itself is the ignorance and prejudice displayed in the comments. An ignorant (as in uninformed, not in the perjoritive sense) population is a vulnerable population.

A very good piece.

[JasonPalmer]

I was looking for the ENO thread, but this probably a better place

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/20/opera-defund-top-companies-funds-politics-artists

Just as depressing as the subject itself is the ignorance and prejudice displayed in the comments. An ignorant (as in uninformed, not in the perjoritive sense) population is a vulnerable population.

Interesting article but I have seen eno and Covent Garden producions advertised on the tube.

[oddoneout]

Interesting article but I have seen eno and Covent Garden producions advertised on the tube.

London advertising for London venues. Her point is the advertising for productions outside the capital. In the article it was in Paris for something happening in the South of France. How many adverts in London transport hubs do you see for opera productions in, for example, Birmingham or Manchester? Let alone Scotland or Wales, for more equivalent distances, although not rail travel times or costs...

[RichardB]

A very good piece.

Yes it is. I would say that the world of opera needs to be brought up to date a little bit more than what's involved in the inclusion of conservative living composers such as George Benjamin, but of course the point here is that, in comparison to other European countries where opera is taken seriously, the UK is run by a combination of toffs and philistines for a combination of toffs and philistines (some of course are the same people!), which is a toxic mixture when it comes to connecting culture to its audience, actual and potential. "Opera on your tablet" - what the hell is that supposed to mean? Opera is an artform involving a live audience and a large number of coordinated participants from several different creative disciplines - and this is the other point, which Charlotte Higgins doesn't make in the article although I'm sure she would agree with: this involves the employment of hundreds of highly trained people, who are now going to be looking for jobs, when artistic production is actually one of the few professions not directly or indirectly threatened by automation, so that the cultural sector should be growing rather than shrinking. And not just for this reason but for reasons of inclusivity: the answer to the problem of some artform being perceived as elitist is not to remove funding from it in favour of some box-ticking exercise or other, but to add funding overall so that everything that deserves to be included is included. But obviously the shareholders in privatised energy companies are much more deserving.

Mind you, having attended an opera production in Aix-en-Provence I can say there are things about the place that Manchester and Birmingham can't really offer...

[JasonPalmer]

London productions often geared towards tourists in the capital hence London advertising.

[oddoneout]

Yes it is. I would say that the world of opera needs to be brought up to date a little bit more than what's involved in the inclusion of conservative living composers such as George Benjamin, but of course the point here is that, in comparison to other European countries where opera is taken seriously, the UK is run by a combination of toffs and philistines for a combination of toffs and philistines (some of course are the same people!), which is a toxic mixture when it comes to connecting culture to its audience, actual and potential. "Opera on your tablet" - what the hell is that supposed to mean? Opera is an artform involving a live audience and a large number of coordinated participants from several different creative disciplines - and this is the other point, which Charlotte Higgins doesn't make in the article although I'm sure she would agree with: this involves the employment of hundreds of highly trained people, who are now going to be looking for jobs, when artistic production is actually one of the few professions not directly or indirectly threatened by automation, so that the cultural sector should be growing rather than shrinking. And not just for this reason but for reasons of inclusivity: the answer to the problem of some artform being perceived as elitist is not to remove funding from it in favour of some box-ticking exercise or other, but to add funding overall so that everything that deserves to be included is included. But obviously the shareholders in privatised energy companies are much more deserving.

Mind you, having attended an opera production in Aix-en-Provence I can say there are things about the place that Manchester and Birmingham can't really offer...

Indeed, but to an extent that's inevitable since the South of France is very different from the Midlands or slightly North of, but that wasn't the comparison I was concerned with!
Your point about all the associated "trades" involved with getting an opera production to an audience is something that far too many people(including not a few who should know better) either choose to ignore or are just ignorant of. It's OK to prop up businesses with government grants - steel, car manufacturers - or subsidise inadequate wages through state benefits so that company bosses and shareholders can get paid - but not OK to provide some grant funding to support opera companies and the many jobs they provide.
Until recently the arts sector was a multi-billion pound part of the economy (probably still is but likely less so, but I don't have recent figures), but because either the whole concept of "the arts", or certain parts of it, are anathema to both those who control the purse strings and those who pull the puppet strings that fact is never mentioned.

[oddoneout]

London productions often geared towards tourists in the capital hence London advertising.

Doesn't have to be, indeed shouldn't be, to the exclusion of any mention of life outside London though?

[RichardB]

London productions often geared towards tourists in the capital hence London advertising.

If you were to read the article, as well as the posts people have made about it here, you might stand some chance of getting the point that's being made. You think that Paris has fewer tourists than London? Or that tourism in Aix-en-Provence needs assistance from posters in Paris advertising opera productions?

[RichardB]

because either the whole concept of "the arts", or certain parts of it, are anathema to both those who control the purse strings and those who pull the puppet strings that fact is never mentioned.

That's right. (Of course my comparison of the Midlands to Provence was somewhat tongue in cheek!) It's an inconvenient fact for those people. Let's hope the next government has a more enlightened attitude. I'm not particularly hopeful but it could hardly be worse.