How should state money for the arts be distributed? As it stands, the Arts Council is a barely respected bureaucracy slavishly shadowing the social policy of the day. What’s more, filling out forms for the Council’s often meagre funds is a dispiriting and frequently futile exercise with no long term guarantees. Should the arts be freed from the bureaucrats, and artists allowed to oversee distribution of their allotted money? If so, is a parliament of eminent artists the answer? Or would such an assembly turn into a Tower of Babel - a multi-disciplinary talking shop quickly collapsing under the weight of its own self-importance?
Proposing the motion is DAVID FARR, Artistic Director of the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, alongside National Theatre Associate Director TOM MORRIS.
Opposing the motion is RICHARD NOBLE, lecturer in Fine Art at Goldsmith’s College, alongside playwright ALISTAIR BEATON whose plays and films include Feelgood, A Very Social Secretary and The Trial of Tony Blair.
Young Vic Theatre
66 The Cut,
London SE1 8LZ
Nearest Tubes: Waterloo; Southwark
Entry £5 (£3 concessions).
To reserve tickets please call Young Vic Box Office: 020-7922 2922
or email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
| |
| Chair: | |
 | Patrick Marmion writer and critic; convenor, Soap Box debating forum |
How could anyone be chair of Arts Council England and avoid government interference?
John Tusa, The Times, 18 August 2008I'm calling for an "artists' parliament", a public chamber where artists debate the future of culture.
Mark Ravenhill, Guardian, 12 May 2008Why Arts Funding should say no to Instrumentalism
Claire Fox, Arts & Business, 4 July 2007My theatre company was to have celebrated its 20th anniversary next year. The Arts Council has put paid to that, making us victims of censorship.
Howard Barker, Guardian Theatre Blog, 5 June 2007
'What is a work of art?' is a simple question, but no one has yet found an answer to it, and perhaps finding a single answer is impossible
John Carey, Faber and Faber, 1 June 2006
To improve the opportunities available throughout England for people to engage with the arts and in particular to increase the number of people from priority groups who participate in the arts and attend arts events.
Department for Culture Media and Sport
