The end of ENO?

[Old Grumpy]

The results of most of. these questionnaire surveys are often known in advance, irrespective of whether "you" fill them in "correctly" or not!

Does that remind you of somewhere else?

Yes. Northumberland in the early noughties. They had a very good 3 tier school system which suited the rural communities well. Northumberland County Council wanted to introduce the standard Primary/Secondary system and constructed a questionnaire to the populace. There was no option in the requests to reply the 3 tier system suits us and our children very well thankyou - leave it alone!

[Dave2002]

Loaded questionnaires reached new heights of absurdity over the last couple of years.Some around covid issues didn’t allow anything other than a confirmation of the required response, just milder or stronger.
All paid for by the tax payer. The lessons have clearly been well learned by the arts funders.

The results of most of. these questionnaire surveys are often known in advance, irrespective of whether "you" fill them in "correctly" or not!

Does that remind you of somewhere else?

[teamsaint]

The loaded questionnaire I've just been sent, in response to my letter suggesting that Sir Serota ought to resign, is another example of how these people operate. "Do you agree with the Arts Council's plan to reallocate funds away from London?" (scale answer of 1 through 5) and "Do you agree with moving the emphasis away from music funding, in favour of social and/or educational projects?" (same scale) invite a series of responses intended to make one look a bigoted grouch if one's answers don't toe the official line. My goodness, this serpentine organisation needs a thorough shake-out!

Loaded questionnaires reached new heights of absurdity over the last couple of years.Some around covid issues didn’t allow anything other than a confirmation of the required response, just milder or stronger.
All paid for by the tax payer. The lessons have clearly been well learned by the arts funders.

[oddoneout]

Something that I was pondering earlier. Do art galleries and museums have to go through these weird contortions with funding organisations to stay in business? As far as I can tell, you can walk into the National Gallery or the British Museum and, although they have changed a bit over the years, they aren't required to fundamentally change what they are to stay 'relevant'. For some reason, music is deemed a special case and it always has to justify itself or face the axe.

The simple answer is "yes". The fact that what you see on "the shop floor" doesn't seem different is because there is a great deal that goes on behind the scenes which you wouldn't likely see or have reason to know about. Activities involving specific groups may be at times or in areas away from the public areas., and outreach by definition tends to be offsite. Family and school activities may be part of that work but are often seen in the normal course of events so again you wouldn't know if they were "tickbox" or "regular"; that group of young people going round with clipboards or having discussions in a gallery might be on a regular 6th Form/college visit, or they might be doing research for an exhibition on disability to be staged on that site as part of a wider equalities project run by that gallery or museum.
If physical changes such as major stripping out and re-staging permanent displays require grant funding (whether ACE, Lottery Fund or whatever) then there will be hoops to go through showing how particular tickboxes will be filled in order to be considered for funding, but again you wouldn't have reason to see that in the end product. Nor might you be aware if funding has not been forthcoming - it will depend on the extent to which such funding keeps a given place afloat. The organisation I work in accesses lots of different types of grant funding, some for specific projects and some, such as the ACE National Portfolio designation for longer term support. The ACE funding is never taken for granted and there is always a Plan B; this year, for various reasons, that would have been something of a worst case scenario/disaster recovery but at least it was thought about and planned for. Thankfully it hasn't had to be implemented.
The likes of music suffer from being ephemeral and intangible I think; giving someone a life-enhancing(possibly life-changing) experience by attending a concert or similar is not seen as being just as important as a gender issues workshop or decolonialisation (that was colonic first time round...) of a gallery display. As such the ephemeral arts and all who work in such fields are seen as, at best capable of instant reform and reworking to suit a current agenda or, at worst, dispensable, in today's "cost of everything value of nothing" world.

[Dave2002]

Or Dorothy Parker’s variant involving ‘culture’…

Shouldn't that be in Weeder's Digest?

[Nick Armstrong]

Because it's the how, rather than the fact of relocation or re-allocation that is so often questionable, the framing of such questions deliberately puts the responder in a double-bind catch 22 of apparently dismissing proposals carte blanche, which would not be the case were the questions devised in more nuauced ways. But this is deliberate: the organisation can then say it has done its consultation exercise as promised, and here are the results.

Agreed - verging on the “Have you stopped beating your wife, yes or no?” model…

[Serial_Apologist]

The loaded questionnaire I've just been sent, in response to my letter suggesting that Sir Serota ought to resign, is another example of how these people operate. "Do you agree with the Arts Council's plan to reallocate funds away from London?" (scale answer of 1 through 5) and "Do you agree with moving the emphasis away from music funding, in favour of social and/or educational projects?" (same scale) invite a series of responses intended to make one look a bigoted grouch if one's answers don't toe the official line. My goodness, this serpentine organisation needs a thorough shake-out!

Because it's the how, rather than the fact of relocation or re-allocation that is so often questionable, the framing of such questions deliberately puts the responder in a double-bind catch 22 of apparently dismissing proposals carte blanche, which would not be the case were the questions devised in more nuauced ways. But this is deliberate: the organisation can then say it has done its consultation exercise as promised, and here are the results.

[Master Jacques]

Is this questionnaire downloadable online anywhere? I can't be the only forum member who'd like to fill it in.

I'm not sure, mopsus. I tried to pursue that, before posting about it; but the URL seems to have been tailored to my individual use, as a response to my letter, so providing that may not be any use.

It is certainly curious to ask for public input, after the deed is done. Looks to me as if they're preparing to say "... and we've had thousands of responses that agree with what we're doing".

[Darkbloom]

Something that I was pondering earlier. Do art galleries and museums have to go through these weird contortions with funding organisations to stay in business? As far as I can tell, you can walk into the National Gallery or the British Museum and, although they have changed a bit over the years, they aren't required to fundamentally change what they are to stay 'relevant'. For some reason, music is deemed a special case and it always has to justify itself or face the axe.

[mopsus]

Is this questionnaire downloadable online anywhere? I can't be the only forum member who'd like to fill it in.

[Master Jacques]

And those who try and sidestep the class aspect will invoke the irrelevance line - "it doesn't speak to the youth of today", "it has nothing to offer ordinary people", "people can't identify with it". It doesn't fool anyone(least of all the target demographic) and says a fair bit about the people spouting it - none of it good I reckon.

The loaded questionnaire I've just been sent, in response to my letter suggesting that Sir Serota ought to resign, is another example of how these people operate. "Do you agree with the Arts Council's plan to reallocate funds away from London?" (scale answer of 1 through 5) and "Do you agree with moving the emphasis away from music funding, in favour of social and/or educational projects?" (same scale) invite a series of responses intended to make one look a bigoted grouch if one's answers don't toe the official line. My goodness, this serpentine organisation needs a thorough shake-out!

[oddoneout]

Because people such as Serota and Henley know nothing about the lower classes, they assume that opera and orchestral music is "not for them", unless it's been dumbed down, mucked up, or wrapped in condescending tinsel. How false this is! I remember from my early Hallé-going days, as a teenager (but still able to just about afford a seat) I didn't know whether I'd be seated next to a Duke or a Dustman. We were all there for one reason - the MUSIC!

And those who try and sidestep the class aspect will invoke the irrelevance line - "it doesn't speak to the youth of today", "it has nothing to offer ordinary people", "people can't identify with it". It doesn't fool anyone(least of all the target demographic) and says a fair bit about the people spouting it - none of it good I reckon.

[Master Jacques]

Interesting about the RPO and Lowestoft. When the BSO come to Plymouth twice a year it sells out. When they go to (the supposedly more upmarket ) Exeter it generally doesn’t. When the Philharmonia came to Plymouth and did a live opera air concert following a week long tent -based digital exhibition on The Rite Of Spring they packed Armada Way . I think opera companies could do something similar even if it’s only greatest hits. Going back many years I was loosely involved in a TV / Radio classical music presentation on Plymouth Hoe . It benefited from massive marketing but there must have been 10,000 people there. It’s amazing when people actually get an opportunity to see live music and opera how much they like it. The tragedy is that they are put off by ridiculous pre-conceptions.

Because people such as Serota and Henley know nothing about the lower classes, they assume that opera and orchestral music is "not for them", unless it's been dumbed down, mucked up, or wrapped in condescending tinsel. How false this is! I remember from my early Hallé-going days, as a teenager (but still able to just about afford a seat) I didn't know whether I'd be seated next to a Duke or a Dustman. We were all there for one reason - the MUSIC!

[oddoneout]

Interesting about the RPO and Lowestoft. When the BSO come to Plymouth twice a year it sells out. When they go to (the supposedly more upmarket ) Exeter it generally doesn’t. When the Philharmonia came to Plymouth and did a live opera air concert following a week long tent -based digital exhibition on The Rite Of Spring they packed Armada Way . I think opera companies could do something similar even if it’s only greatest hits. Going back many years I was loosely involved in a TV / Radio classical music presentation on Plymouth Hoe . It benefited from massive marketing but there must have been 10,000 people there.

It’s amazing when people actually get an opportunity to see live music and opera how much they like it

. The tragedy is that they are put off by ridiculous pre-conceptions.

And it's interesting how many times hearing something from opera is mentioned as the light bulb "my way into classical music".
Taking the arts to where people are and feel comfortable has a lot to recommend it, as does offering the chance to see and hear on a "happened to be passing" (ie can get away if it doesn't appeal) basis. I think shopping centres need to be regarded as a resource to be exploited by more than the local Britain's Got Talent wannabes!

[Ein Heldenleben]

Interesting about the RPO and Lowestoft. When the BSO come to Plymouth twice a year it sells out. When they go to (the supposedly more upmarket ) Exeter it generally doesn’t. When the Philharmonia came to Plymouth and did a live opera air concert following a week long tent -based digital exhibition on The Rite Of Spring they packed Armada Way . I think opera companies could do something similar even if it’s only greatest hits. Going back many years I was loosely involved in a TV / Radio classical music presentation on Plymouth Hoe . It benefited from massive marketing but there must have been 10,000 people there. It’s amazing when people actually get an opportunity to see live music and opera how much they like it. The tragedy is that they are put off by ridiculous pre-conceptions.