Who was it who said, “When can you tell a politician is lying?” and responded with the reply “When he opens his mouth.”?
While on the face of it, the recent announcement by the culture secretary James Purnell that the arts are to receive a boost of £20 million over the next three years, I note with some concern that both he and ACE chief executive Peter Hewitt refer to the Cultural Olympiad 2012 as receiving “some” of the money. Hewitt says: “The arts council priorities for excellence and innovation in the arts can now be made real in exciting and inspiring ways and we will work with the rest of the cultural sector to deliver a truly creative Cultural Olympiad.”
This sounds to me, or am I being cynical, that we will see very little of the increase being used to develop, innovate, sustain and promote traditional skills in British theatre, variety and light entertainment. Instead, there will be, no doubt, a pseudo flag-waving beano party hiding in the guise of British arts for the toffs at the Cultural Olympiad. For once, I hope I am proved wrong.
Dave Eager
Past Equity vice president
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