January’s winter gloom was overshadowed by issues of politics and race in the arts.
The furore around the BFI ballerina that dominated headlines throughout January now seems to have subsided. But it’s raised a few interesting points: do you care about the politics of your artists? And do members of the BNP ever go to the Ballet?
But race was never out of the news with the Big Brother “Racism Row” making and breaking the reputations of Britain and a bunch of Z-grade celebrities attempting to reignite their careers. The Big Brother racism row not only made its way to all corners of the globe as a hot topic, but it infiltrated Government and the highest echelons of Channel 4 management.
While Jade Goody and co are springing into damage control mode in attempt to keep the flame of fame burning, regeneration is a term that’s being bandied about a lot lately in the arts. Everyone’s arts projects – especially ones that are applying for funding – are being said to be “regenerating” communities through the arts. Theatre, dance, filmmaking, visual arts – they’re all busy breathing new life into industrial towns, business areas, and shopping centres full of hoodies. Should we be sceptical: Is it just a re-invented justification for funding, and the arts trying to mark out a new place for themselves? Is it rhetoric, or are they really doing it? There’s no denying that the arts have a role to play in transforming communities but so does social and community investment of any kind – so what does it really mean? This is something we at Arts Hub are keen to explore, let us know what you think. Someone who is seen to be shirking their arts-commitment to regeneration is the National Theatre of Scotland, who look like abandoning plans to base the company in a deprived Glasgow housing scheme, Easterhouse, due to an apparent lack of space.
Another issue that has come to our attention is the eternal question whether the arts are getting enough funding. Lyn Garnder at the Guardian questions whether there is an “increasing trend to fund participatory projects and education work rather than art itself.” We’ll be watching with interest to see if this “trend” turns into anything more, but in the meantime, you can have your say below, or get involved with the second stage of the Arts Council England’s public inquiry. The aim of the arts debate is to explore what people really value about the arts, why they participate, what and how they consume, and of course, what their views are on public funding.
The BBC spent a lot of last month in the news with the announcement of the Licence Fee increase, and journalists at BBC threatening strike action over redundancies. Last month I was lucky enough to be taken on an insiders tour of the BBC newsroom. Although for security reasons I’m not allowed to write about it (since a bomb was let off outside the news offices a few years ago they’re being more than careful) I can tell you, it’s far more exciting watching TV being made, than watching TV. It’s surprising how much of the news is actually “live”. Even though most people can’t get inside the newsroom, you can still do a general tour of the BBC, and I’d really recommend getting yourself down to the iconic TV Centre (it really is huge, and yes, a rabbit warren has emerged from the flawed donut shape design) at White City before the newsroom moves closer to the city and the rest of the BBC hightail it to Salford.
January was a busy month for the arts in London. I saw Damien Hirst’s “Murderme collection” at the Serpentine Gallery and while some pieces were stand out – like Banksy’s naked Vietnamese girl fleeing a napalm attack while holding hands with Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald – I really didn’t understand a lot of it. Where do you store an artwork that is a full sized car with a mechanical waving arm in the driver’s seat when it’s not being exhibited? I couldn’t help but wonder what was behind Tracy Emin’s neon signs. And call me a philistine but I still don’t understand why it’s a good use of the earth’s resources to keep what looked like a blood splattered Eskimo on a platform of man made ice as “art”… though it did in turn make a good point about life, death and the environment.
I was picked on sitting in the unlucky front row watching Will Smith at Covent Garden Comedy Club. I laughed hard at the fabulous Muppet humour in Avenue Q at the Noel Coward Theatre. I felt the weight of art history and the pressing force of a Saturday afternoon crowd as if the whole of London was at Manet to Picasso at the National Gallery. I read the 2005 Whitbread winner The Accidental by Ali Smith, and liked its self-conscious commentary on the middle class. And I star spotted Nick Cave at Crazy Homies Mexican bar. Most reluctantly I became addicted to the guilty TV pleasure that is Ugly Betty.
What did you get up to? Let us know what’s captured your arts attention, what’s got your arts pulse racing, or what’s going on in your corner of the arts world.
