Regime change

If there’s one thing you can rely on at this time of year, it will be that everyone will be at one stage or another of a really horrible cold. My interview with Munira Mirza, the new arts supremo for London, is constantly interrupted by coughs, sneezes and gruff apologies on both sides. However, the energy level and excitement are high from the woman who has just published ‘Cultural Metropolis’, detailing the Mayor’s priorities for culture in the coming three years (AP183). But why did she want to become Director of Cultural Policy? “I took the job because I like Boris’s stance on arts and culture,” she says, commending his passion for the arts and his insistence on the importance of excellence and the arts for their own sake as a public good. She does point out that “this administration has people who are not Conservative in it,” and indeed she shares an office with Labour MP Kate Hoey, who has responsibility for sport. There is clear water – whether blue or not – between Ken’s London and Boris’s.

Changing strategies
Mirza believes in “giving credit where credit is due”, praising Livingstone’s creation of a Cultural Strategy Group to bring coherence to the vast diversity of size, shape and type of cultural organisations in the capital. However she claims there are “points of difference, for instance in the way that we would define ‘access’. The previous mayor was particularly concerned with access for ethnic groups, but we’d want to be broader than that and recognise that class as well as ethnicity is a major barrier to enjoying and experiencing the arts”. Spending on community festivals such as Chinese New Year and major carnivals will be reduced, but other, neglected areas, such as music education and provision in the outer London boroughs will receive more support.
For Mirza, this is a dream job: “I’ve spent a number of years writing about cultural policy and researching it,” she explains, “and it’s nice to have an opportunity to think about how we put these ideas into practice.” Before joining the Greater London Authority, she had just carried out a research project at the Tate under the auspices of the Cultural Leadership Programme, looking at internships and how they could be made more accessible to a wider range of people. She seems anxious not to cast herself as a diversity specialist, though she has walked that walk. “I’ve written broadly about cultural policy,” she concedes. “I think anybody who tried to do a job like this has to have a good understanding of the issues and complexities of a very multicultural, very diverse city. I probably spent a lot of time being very critical of diversity policy, and arguing for what I would see as a much more honest and realistic approach to difference and identity. I’m hoping that this will inform the kind of policies that we would want to pursue.”
Holistic hopes
There is a tremendous concentration in the new policy document on developing access to music education, which is clearly a passion for Mirza. Memories of the ILEA (Inner London Education Authority) Schools’ Symphony Orchestra have not faded from many hearts and minds, but the coherence and focus which ILEA was able to bring to music education in the city has long gone. Yet the level and quality of music activity is high, as Mirza discovered when a breakfast meeting, scheduled in October for about 10–15 people in music education, turned into a bunfight for about 50, clamouring for a solution to the current fragmentation and lack of co-ordination. London has no plans to fund musicians or music initiatives – not least because the sector has changed so radically in the past 20 years, with more and more organisations offering music education and outreach. “It’s not about trying to recreate ILEA, it’s all about working out what was successful about that model and how we could recreate it in the current environment,” says Mirza.
Another area which Boris clearly feels was neglected by his predecessor is the development of cultural opportunity and indeed cultural tourism in the outer boroughs – home to 60% of Londoners. The policy is, Mirza says, about political will. Not only will large London events and organisations be funded to work in the outer boroughs – to reach “as many Londoners as possible” – but also good work in the boroughs themselves will receive recognition and support. Gaps in provision, such as the patchy availability of top quality cinema, will be sought out and addressed. Other pressing, though less glamorous, issues include providing better coach parking in central London so that particularly the old and the young can gain access to the riches of their home city.
The Mayor’s elephant
Of course, the big topic is still the Olympics. Mirza points out that she only has responsibility for London: issues such as Scotland’s bid for repayment of Lottery money raided for the Games (AP183) are the DCMS’s problem. Her own enthusiasm for the Games rings out loud and clear, and is presumably something that made her the ideal candidate for the job. “I feel this is a fantastic opportunity,” she says. “Someone told me that every host country or host city has some cynicism, but it all seems to change when the torch relay begins. That’s when people get excited. We’re not naïve – obviously people have questions and challenge the value, the purpose of the Olympics… I’ve always thought that they were the greatest show on earth.” She acknowledges that the Games bring to the surface “some fears and anxieties about London as the centre of attention”, and explains that a major event in 2011 (which is also the fiftieth anniversary of the Festival of Britain) will aim to reduce the sense of disconnection between London and the regions by telling London’s story and telling “the story of Britain through London”. She enthuses about the Olympic Park – “the largest park to be built in Europe in 150 years” – and cautions against giving into cynicism. She also believes that “people in the cultural sector in London are genuinely enthusiastic and see it as a chance for them to shine. I think you’ll see some of the cynics start to change their minds as the Cultural Olympiad develops and starts to take shape.” That remains to be seen. Mirza’s white-hot certainty may be the shield that can protect London from catching any more colds.