Sunday 3 April 2011

The Thespian Backlash Begins!

‘Indy’ story of the wholesale destruction:
Cultural institutions across the country have been "wiped off the map" by Arts Council England's funding cuts, announced yesterday.
Oh, my! It’s a massacre!
"The news goes beyond shocking and touches on the realms of the disgusting," said Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, discussing the Poetry Book Society's cuts. "This fatal cut is a national shame and a scandal and I urge everyone who cares about poetry to join the PBS as a matter of urgency."
Everyone who cares about poetry? Both of ‘em?

Topher Campbell (theatre director) on the ‘minorities hardest hit!’ aspect:
There is no doubt that given the coalition government's brutal cuts to the arts, the big cultural engines such as the Royal National Theatre, the Royal Court and the RSC will survive, albeit with reduced income.

The real damage of the cuts will be inflicted on smaller companies and individuals and those on the fringes with fragile balance sheets. This is where a lot of the companies created and run by black and minority ethnic (BME) artists and producers work.
Art that can't survive without government money isn't art at all, is it?
To me, diversity is like the high street. If we leave it to mainstream institutions to create work by BME people we will be left with a kind of chainstore arts world where everything looks and feels the same. However, if we support the funding of small companies that are BME-led we will also have the curiosity shops (the independent jewellers and furniture-makers if you like) that will make work that nobody else could.
With one significant difference, Topher. Those small independent shops aren't coming to the government with a begging bowl - they are selling things that people want to buy. Your 'small BME productiion teams' might consider doing the same...

David Edgar (playwright and president of the Writers' Guild) on the need to fight back against this ‘cultural apartheid’:
The arts need to prepare for the fightback now. The cuts have been so long heralded that they have taken on a patina of inevitability. In fact much can change, even during this parliament. Many councils will change colour, returning power to the party which imaginatively transformed declining post-industrial cities through cultural development in the last hard times.
I think he believes that 'Billy Elliot' and 'The Full Monty' were documentaries...
Meanwhile any potential post-2015 government will need to be pressed to see this retrenchment as reversible.
There's a warning for you, folks. Vote Labour, and the arts world will be rifling through your pockets again.

11 comments:

Zaphod said...

It's nice to read some good news occasionally. More please!

My best wishes to all of those arts organisations which survive without my financial support.

Furor Teutonicus said...

It would be interesting to know what alternative these people think there is.

All very good at saying "Not us, we are important", but none of them ever seems to suggest what SHOULD be cut, so there pathetic little book reading, pigmaent daubing, and stage prancing (Also known as "dance" and "ballet") clubs can "survive".

Furor Teutonicus said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Furor Teutonicus said...

"Thespian", You mean a two meter, in all directions, dungaree wearing, hobby welding, pit bull owning, docker boots wearing thing with no cock (but wishes it had) and a lisp?

Longrider said...

Cut harder, cut deeper.

Oldrightie said...

Julian Lloyd Webber said the arts were just fine, on that dwarf's show this morning!

arts for farts sake said...

He's right! Just to check I ran to my collection of Ordnance Survey maps and searched desperately for signs of Poetry Corners, Street Theatres, Living Statues, Abstract Art Communities and People's Mime Events... and could not find one.

Yes they have indeed been wiped off the map! So where do I go now to see young men breakdancing while listening to gangsta rap? Or admire displays of upside down garden sheds with blu-tacked signs on them?

My life has just got less exciting... and all I have now are useless maps that shows bridges and roads and rivers...

WV= infetic = risk of contracting disease from worn fetish clothing

Kevin B said...

"...and I urge everyone who cares about poetry to join the PBS as a matter of urgency... and pay a suitable subscription to replace the money that hard pressed taxpayers can no longer afford to (unwittingly) donate so that I can make a better living out of my hobby than they can working their guts out."

"Wait... No... That's not right.


"I urge everyone to join PBS and scweeam and scweam and hold their breath until they go blue 'til the evil bastards restore my fat wages. That'll show 'em."

alf stone said...

It's not all good news:

A TYNESIDE hip hop group are set to team up with a top US act after being given a cash boost to produce their latest album. The Verbal Terrorists, from Newcastle, will work with an esteemed American rap duo who will feature as special guest vocalists on the group’s new release. It comes after the politically-motivated group, originally from Fenham in the city’s West End, were awarded £1,000 funding to help them produce another album.

Now, the Terrorists, who aim to carry a political message and engage with disadvantaged young people through their lyrics, will work with New York-based double act, Dead Prez.

I can't find any mention of where the funding is coming from but I am pretty sure we will be paying for it one way or another.

JuliaM said...

"It's nice to read some good news occasionally. "

Then let's hope there is indeed more on the way! Certainly, the 'Guardian' will be the first to let us know...

"All very good at saying "Not us, we are important", but none of them ever seems to suggest what SHOULD be cut.."

Everyone else, just not them. They are SPECIAL...

"He's right! Just to check I ran to my collection of Ordnance Survey maps and searched desperately for signs of Poetry Corners, Street Theatres, Living Statues, Abstract Art Communities and People's Mime Events... and could not find one."

:D

"...I am pretty sure we will be paying for it one way or another."

That's the worry - that they will shift from main government direct grants to smaller council-administered ones.

Certainly, what they do isn't likely to be profitable.

Rob said...

I wonder what their political message might be. Free markets? Hmmm