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The Art Of Corruption
‘The bad news is that culture and creativity are being erased from the classroom, and that audiences for the arts are substantially white, middle class, affluent and well educated.’
Yesterday the BBC launched it’s ‘Get Creative’ campaign to encourage greater participation in the Arts of all kinds and broadcast a programme talking especially about the Arts, or lack of, in schools.
Ostensibly very worthy ideals but is there a very political underlying message to this when you realise the background to the project, what ‘sparked’ it, and who supports it and why?
Is there a message other than ‘Get Creative’ to this campaign launched in the run up to an election? Are we being peddled a Labour policy from 50 years ago?
The BBC tells us that:
“For those who take part, this activity becomes an essential part of their quality of life. Expressing yourself creatively enhances your skills, understanding, confidence and wellbeing – and taking part in creative activity collectively in a group strengthens communities.”
Today the Labour Party says ..
Labour promises more arts in school
Mr Miliband says he wants to put “policy for arts and culture and creativity at the heart of the next Labour government’s mission”.
He warned there was insufficient access to the arts in school, pointing to evidence from last week’s Warwick Commission on the Future of Cultural Values.
The report from Warwick University warned that creative subjects were at risk of being squeezed out of schools.
I’m certain it is just a coincidence that Labour launches its Arts policy for schools, usng the WU report as a basis as the BBC launches its ‘get Creative’ campaign…. just as the launch of the BBC/Guardian attack on tax evasion came within days of Miliband’s announcement of Labour’s own attack on tax havens.
However, in this programme at around 09:25 the presenter admits it is the declining number of children in the last five years doing Art at school (so linked to the Coalition’s education policies there) that ‘sparked a new BBC led Campaign ‘Get Creative’….where lies, he asks, the responsibility for nurturing the Arts? Do we need these top down approaches whether from the BBC or a new education policy from Government?
The programme references the ideas of Labour’s Jennie Lee way back in 1965. So you might guess where they are going with this.
Tony Hall, BBC Director General and afficonado of the Arts himself, has been instrumental in setting this up in conjunction with Warwick University, amongst others, which produced this report….which we are told…
….gives a clear message to society: that government and the cultural and creative industries need to work together to ensure that everyone has equal access to a rich cultural education and that conditions are in place for culture and creativity to play their part in our economic success.
A ‘clear message’….the State must be involved in the Arts and that of course means handing out the money.
Why the need for this campaign by the politically neutral BBC? It is sending a ‘clear message’ to voters and government….cuts to the Arts are bad, vote for the people who will fund the Arts and enhance your life.
Creativity and the arts are being squeezed out of schools, a major report has said.
Squeezed out of schools by the Coalition’s education policies and cuts….or so we are led to believe.
Yesterday R4 broadcast this programme which I referenced above:
Are artists owed a living? John Wilson hosts a public debate to mark the launch of the BBC’s Get Creative campaign and to open a national conversation exploring the relationship between the state and the arts.
The programme was supposedly a debate but essentially had one message…we need more Art and more funding from Government…Government cuts are damaging the Arts and without the Arts life is hardly worth a candle.
The pogramme admitted that the ‘get Creative’ campaign was intended to change Government policy on the Arts and that the present Arts’ funding shames the Coalition, it’s a tragedy, the Arts are dying we are told.
As an added extra we had the usual tirade against Middle Class or Upper Class artists…there are just too many of them…too much ‘Oxbridge’ thanks. Presumably Art is only authentic if ‘Working Class’….and of course it goes without saying, more non-white people needed….more ‘Diversity’.
The programme was highly political on its own without any connection to a BBC campaign launched to undermine and discredit Government Arts’ policy.
As said before the programme referenced the ‘vision’ of Labour’s Jennie Lee in 1965 as a possibly ideal way forward for the Arts and Government…as described by the Guardian..
Jennie Lee’s vision for the arts is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago
Fifty years on, we are still fighting for arts policy changes that Lee considered as crucial to our everyday lives and wellbeing as the NHS.
Last week, the Warwick Commission’s report on The Future of Cultural Value was published. The good news is that the arts are a significant contributor to the economy; the bad is that culture and creativity are being erased from the classroom, and that audiences for the arts are substantially white, middle class, affluent and well educated. Worryingly, there is a downward trend in participation.
Here’s what Tony Hall, director general of the BBC and a PHF trustee, said about Warwick University’s report:
“The Commission’s Report is a blueprint for the continued success of arts and culture in Britain. It’s written for everyone – right across our industry and in every walk of life – and I join with its authors in calling for all of those who have a part to play to give themselves permission to believe in a better future for the arts. Its conclusions will help us all deliver that vision.”
An entirely neutral BBC DG, head of the impartial BBC, just before an election, the day before the Labour Party launches its own promise about support for the Arts in schools, launches a campaign to support the Arts, especially in schools, and to promote the need for more State funding. Tony Hall was once Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House and someone who had a close working relationship with the Labour government in relation to the Arts….and when you look at who produced the Warwick University report it is just Tony Hall’s old mates….nearly every one from the Arts world.
Not saying this is at all political, or indeed in the BBC’s own interest, but this is what some of the ‘Stars’ who are supporting this BBC campaign said in 2011:
Entertainers warn over arts cuts
The 46 names from British film, TV and the stage say they feel compelled to ”speak out”.
In an open letter, they say that arts and culture across the UK are facing ”the biggest threat” in decades.
The letter states: ”Before the last election the Government promised to usher in a ‘golden age’ for the arts. The reality couldn’t be further from this.
”With the reductions announced in last year’s comprehensive spending review, the withdrawal of huge amounts of local authority support, the abolition of the UK Film Council and the financial pressures faced by the Arts Councils and the BBC, we are currently facing the biggest threat to funding the arts and culture have experienced in decades.”
The ”deep” cuts will not only hit film, regional theatre, the BBC and others, the letter adds, but audiences who experience the arts through the likes of outreach and education projects.
Source: http://biasedbbc.org/blog/2015/02/24/the-art-of-corruption/
