With a Royal garden party for the creative industries coming hot on the heels of cultural leaders’ participation in a trade mission to Saudi Arabia, Steven Hadley reflects on why the sector is happy to give legitimacy to imperialism and oppression.
In November 2023, following violent scenes in Dublin city centre, Irish singer-songwriter Imelda May penned a poem - You Don’t Get To Be Racist And Irish – in which she reflects on the historical oppression suffered by the Irish and highlights a shared history of "Land stolen/Spirits broken/Bodies crushed and swollen" and a sense of global solidarity with Black communities in the wake of #blacklivesmatter.
The sense of cognitive dissonance which May articulated raises a question which... more
22 May 2024
Opinion
With a Royal garden party for the creative industries coming hot on the heels of cultural leaders’ participation in a trade mission to Saudi Arabia, Steven Hadley reflects on why the sector is happy to give legitimacy to imperialism and oppression.
21 May 2024
Opinion
The challenges facing London’s cultural sector are legion, but they cannot be addressed in isolation. Southbank Centre's Artistic Director Mark Ball says we need to create an interconnected national ecology.
21 May 2024
Feature
While a great deal of effort has been focused, rightly, on the mental health and wellbeing of performing artists, Claire Cordeaux of the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM), says we should not neglect physical health.
20 May 2024
Feature
Tees Valley Combined Authority has launched a radical new programme for artists which could provide a groundbreaking model for other authorities, writes Charlie Kemp.
20 May 2024
Opinion
Representatives from across the cultural sector have written an open letter to Dame Mary Archer, who is due to chair the government's Public Body Review of Arts Council England.
15 May 2024
Feature
Long-term Heart of Glass collaborator Chrissie Tiller reflects on working with the Merseyside-based NPO and how, by building deeper relationships with communities, the arts can create fairer futures.
15 May 2024
Feature
Cultural policy makers have not focused much on census data in the past, but that data is a goldmine for researchers, says Mark Taylor.
14 May 2024
Feature
With her experience of working across multiple projects, Sarah Fortescue explores how the sector can deliver what they do best, in the best way possible?
14 May 2024
Feature
Covid has affected the UK theatre industry at all levels, with wide ranging impacts on the workforce, livelihoods, working practices and support networks. But, as James Rowson explains, early career workers have been particularly affected.
13 May 2024
Feature
After a recent appearance before Wales’s Culture Committee, Charlotte Faucher has been rethinking our new relationship with Europe.
09 May 2024
Feature
Evaluation reports in the cultural sector can be packed full of learning. Emma McDowell explores how we might unearth this existing knowledge.
09 May 2024
Feature
You may not have met a philanthropy advisor before, but it is a growing profession, so be ready. Emma Beeston, who’s been one for ten years, explains how they work and why they can be helpful for your organisation.
08 May 2024
Feature
Introducing an ambitious initiative at a time when subsidised arts organisations are being asked to do less seems like madness. But for Slung Low it is a natural next step in their exploration of where civic responsibility meets cultural capital, writes Rachel Perry.
07 May 2024
Feature
Northcott Theatre in Exeter has said it will advertise at least one creative role on every production. Creative Director Martin Berry explains the thinking behind it.
02 May 2024
Feature
In the first of our series looking at the role of philanthropy in arts funding, Caroline McCormick of the Cultural Philanthropy Foundation argues that the financial plight of our cultural institutions is undermining their huge impact.