Monday, 29 October 2018
If the critical contribution of culture to a city’s fabric is to be maintained, the contributions of national governments, donors and charitable foundations may need to extend beyond capital projects, argues Magnus Linklater.
Tuesday, 23 October 2018
We must pay attention to audience experience in all of its rich, divergent, fascinating complexity, rather than encouraging anti-expertise or simply capturing consensus, argues Kirsty Sedgman.
The growing use of lottery funding for the arts sector means the least well-off increasingly shoulder the cost of rich people’s pursuits. This is unfair and must be questioned, argues James Doeser.
Tom Payne ponders the future for National Theatre Wales, following a challenge from local playwrights – about a perceived low production rate and a lack of activity in Welsh – and a subsequent response from Artistic Director Kully Thiarai.
Monday, 22 October 2018
Berlin’s new €595m museum and events space, the Humboldt Forum, will open next year in the city’s reconstructed royal palace. Catherine Hickley meets its director to discuss the challenges of grappling with and displaying a colonial past.
Can the very young – those between three months and five years old – learn to love opera? Helena Williams reports from the Royal Opera House’s new workshop for toddlers, which aims to make the venue more accessible for people of all ages.
Thursday, 18 October 2018
Can a new immersive experience, which adapts to location, weather and time, put a reader at the heart of a story? Natalie Morris looks into the growing trend of ‘ambient literature’.
What lengths do actors have to go to survive in the industry? Eleanor Ross details how the rising cost of living and endemic poor pay is forcing artists to max out credit cards, live on rice and take up second jobs.
Wednesday, 17 October 2018
Ongoing climate change risks destroying vast swathes of cultural heritage. But there are valuable lessons to learn from how communities like those in Majuli, India, have designed heritage sites that can withstand volatile weather, write William Megarry, Jane Downes and Cathy Daly.
Greek arts leaders reflect on the impact of ten years of economic bailout in the country, and outline their visions for the future.
A study of the musicians playing in the world’s ‘20 greatest orchestras’ finds 69% are male, with the disparity particularly acute among bassoon players (86% male) double bassists (95%), and trombonists and tuba players (100% male). Oliver Staley and Amanda Shendruk report.
Monday, 15 October 2018
A competition where contestants perform a dance from a region that is not their own is helping to heal bitter divides in Mali. Sebastien Rieussec tells the story.
Friday, 12 October 2018
Ballet has always been damaging to women’s bodies and reserved its most long-term roles – choreography, teaching and artistic direction – for men. How can we change this, asks Ellen O’Connell.
Thursday, 11 October 2018
How are Generation Z’s dancers reacting to current social and political challenges? Lyndsey Winship meets four young choreographers creating increasingly political art.
Schools always need new ways of attracting and engaging learners – and arts subjects, with their ability to reach students who have given up, could be the answer, argues Jennifer Jackson.
Wednesday, 10 October 2018
We must move beyond the dangerous myth of the tortured artist and show creatives the support and humanity their work is calling for, argues Yashi Banymadhub.
Gentrification, rising rents and astronomical studio prices are catching up with creatives in Berlin and forcing them to consider the unthinkable: a move to the suburbs, writes Catherine Hickley.
Zimbabwe has never had a dedicated Government department for the arts. The country must start taking its creative sector seriously and paving the way for arts-led tourism, writes Fred Zindi.
Thursday, 04 October 2018
Bridget Minamore meets Arinzé Kene and Natasha Gordon, two black playwrights whose plays have been transferred to the West End, to discuss the changing landscape of theatre over the past 60 years.
We now talk less about whether work is good art – but whether it is good for us, good for culture, good for the world, writes Wesley Morris.