大象传媒

Do governments value the arts? Conductor Ben Gernon asks why artists and politicians make for strange bedfellows and explores the fireworks when these two worlds meet.

鈥淭he ****ing ballerinas can get to the back of the queue!鈥�

These are the rumoured words of a government advisor as politicians gathered in 2020 to discuss which industries should be supported through Covid.

Sitting in his home in Manchester, conductor Ben Gernon found these words ringing in his ears. He鈥檇 spent most of 2020 banned from going to work, and 鈥� like many freelancers in the arts 鈥� ineligible for government support. It made him begin to wonder if things have always been like this. Has there ever been a time in British history when the arts felt truly valued by those in power?

Diving into 60 years of colourful relationships between the arts and government, Ben unpacks the stories behind some of the most iconic, and sometimes cringeworthy, encounters between artists and politicians - from Tony Blair鈥檚 famous handshake with Noel Gallagher at 10 Downing Street in 1997, to the advent of the National Lottery, the Millennium Dome, the 2012 Olympics and beyond. Along the way, he finds out how we originally came to have a government position called Arts Minister 鈥� a role invented in 1964 鈥� and hears from those who鈥檝e done the job whether this department really is a 鈥淢inistry of Fun鈥�.

At the heart of Ben鈥檚 journey lie a handful of core questions. Why do the arts and politics make for such uneasy bedfellows? How do politicians quantify the value of culture? And is it possible for there to be a cohesive relationship between the State and the Arts?

Featuring Virginia Bottomley (former Secretary of State for National Heritage), Chris Smith (former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport), arts supremo and theatre director Kully Thiarai, arts leader and former Kenickie bassist Marie Nixon, and expert cultural historian Professor Robert Hewison.

Written and presented by Ben Gernon
Co-written and produced by Rosemary Baker

An Overcoat Media production for 大象传媒 Radio 4

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