October 16, 2025
Athens, GR 14 C
Expand search form
Blog

How short is an arm in the arts?

How short is an arm in the arts?

Richard Bratby, in a poignant analysis in The Critic of the slow suicide of Arts Council England, concludes with this important point: The arm’s-length principle is one aspect of the Arts Council that needs to be inviolable.

He blames its shortening chiefly on the last 14 years of Conservative-led government.

My perspective is a little longer. Chris Smith, Tony Blair’s first Culture Secretary, made it clear to the Arts Council that it was expected to promote social equality at least as much as artistic excellence.
Any pretence of independence vanished in 1997. Smith went on to head the Clore Leadership Programme, breeding a new generation of arts executivves who prioritised egalitarian and feelgood policies.

The next shortening came in 2008 when Labour’s Culture Secretary James Purnell (pictured) sent a senior official, Alan Davey, to be chief executive of the Arts Council, thereby turning the Council into a tawdry episode of Yes Minister. The length of an arm was cut to a fingernail.

The final, fatal chop came when Boris Johnson’s Culture Secretary, Nadine Dorries, issued a direct order to the ACE to move certain companies out of London.

That marked the death of the arm’s length principle, probably behyond hope olf resurrection. What the new Culture Secretary needs to consider is a different role for the armless ACE, if not its total abolition.

The post How short is an arm in the arts? appeared first on Slippedisc.

Previous Article

A titan of the piano turns 80

Next Article

So, Kamala Harris, do you know music?

You might be interested in …

LA Phil upgrades two more V-Ps

LA Phil upgrades two more V-Ps

They may have no chief conductor in sight, and no clear strategic goals, but for want of anything better to do the payroll-heavy LA Phil just keeps on promoting its own. We hear that Cynthia […]

Breaking: New chief conductor in Vienna

Breaking: New chief conductor in Vienna

It has just been announced that Markus Poschner will become chief conductor of the ORF Symphony from September 26. He succeeds Marin Alsop. Poschner, 54, is presently chief of the Bruckner Orchestra Linz. The post […]