Latest Opinion
From Olympians to musicians: What sport can teach the arts
Why are athletes praised for being elite, while the same epithet applied to musicians carries a connotation of being exclusionary? asks Michelle Robinson.
Developing AI policy for trustees and CEOs
Do your governance and leadership teams have a strategy for the use of AI? Or are your teams just experimenting without direction?…
Dynamic disaster? Lessons from the Oasis ticketing row
With headlines raging around Ticketmaster and Oasis, will there be fallout for arts organisations that price dynamically? Robin Ca…
Unrest, rest and action
Part of the point of art is the lens it offers us to look at the world in a different way, to converse with people and perspective…
A lost decade in culture
Asked to reflect on the effect of Conservative rule on culture, John Kampfner concludes it was a period of stunning missed opportu…
What have creative practices ever done for us?
Some humanities subjects have been declared obsolete and – by extension – useless areas of education and research. Mig…
Emerging arts leaders need more support
There is no need for alarm over an increase in churn of arts leaders, says Jodi Myers. But the sector should consider what support…
Let’s talk about excellence: A view from social arts practice
A key question for the new government has to be how to create the conditions for artists of all backgrounds to flourish, argues Pa…
Arts funding policy under the new government
In a period of fast change, financial pressures, despair about public service provision and political upheaval in the UK and abroa…
Labour’s first 100 days
A change of government! Hurray. A chance for a new approach to running the country, to tax and spend, reflecting the wants and nee…
Making the case for cultural devolution
All parties seem to agree that devolution is a good thing but the details about how culture will feature are scant. Anne Torreggia…
Orchestral music as an agent for change
In a radical reimagining of the classical music paradigm, Sarah Alexander shares the National Youth Orchestra’s model for en…
Don’t dance, because nobody’s watching
Dance is part of the national curriculum and schools are statutorily obliged to provide it. So why is a blind eye being turned to…
Sector finances revelations pose big questions
Following extensive research into the finances of arts organisations, Sarah Thelwall of MyCake reflects on the serious implication…
Uncomfortable truths
Arts organisations are committed to reaching marginalised young people through their creative practice. But what happens when youn…
Teacher professionalism and the arts
Regardless of the setting, every school deserves a teacher who is afforded the space and professional trust to teach an inspiring…
Are arts students a burden on the taxpayer?
The Higher Education sector is up in arms about proposed cuts to creative arts courses which, it says, will further damage the UK&…
Closing the ‘enrichment gap’
The erosion of opportunities to study the expressive arts in school has created a crisis in arts teaching, writes Sally Bacon.
You don’t get to work in the arts and support the monarchy
With a Royal garden party for the creative industries coming hot on the heels of cultural leaders’ participation in a trade…
An explosive level of jeopardy
The challenges facing London’s cultural sector are legion, but they cannot be addressed in isolation. Southbank Centre's…
Open letter to Dame Mary Archer
Representatives from across the cultural sector have written an open letter to Dame Mary Archer, who is due to chair the governmen…
Call for more joined-up thinking in music education
The decimation of arts education has hit the music sector particularly hard. Deborah Annetts of the Independent Society of Musicia…
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