Pain in the arts / John Tusa.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tusa, John, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Art and state--Great Britain.

Art and state.

Arts--Great Britain--Management.

Arts.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (398 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Distribution:

[London, England] : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.

Place of Publication:

London, England : I.B. Tauris, 2019.

Summary:

Over a distinguished career in cultural leadership, management and journalism spanning almost 30 years, John Tusa has amassed a unique experience of the arts world, the political controversies it faces and the battles it continues to fight. His new book is a fearless and passionate defense of the performing and visual arts at a time of increasing 'Pain in the Arts'. Tusa addresses the controversies in the arts that must be resolved so urgently today, including the ever-flowing arguments on whether they should be useful before they are excellent. He gives guidance on how the arts can survive in the downturn and explains why the case must always be made that they deserve special treatment. He writes an excoriating critique of the language of Whitehall bureaucracy and shows how crucial to the nation's health and wealth are the small regional arts projects alongside our big arts institutions like the Barbican or National Theatre. He also draws on his expertise as Chair of the Clore Leadership Programme to discuss those increasingly complex questions - practical, personal, professional - that today's and tomorrow's cultural leaders must face, including the qualities of character needed to succeed and what a revolution in arts leadership might achieve. The backdrop throughout is Tusa's personal story of discovery and love of the culture he strives to defend in hard times.

Contents:

Preface

Part One: Getting Things Done

Introduction to Part One

Ch 1 Pain in the Arts: Decline or Renewal

Ch 2 Surviving the Downturn

Ch 3 The Case for the Arts

Ch 4 Mind your Language - Alphabets of Abomination

Ch 5 Learning on the Job - A Personal Road to Responsibility

Ch 6 The Do's and Don'ts of Running the Arts

Ch 7 The Leader, the Manager - What's the Difference?

Ch 8 What do you Know? - Inside the Mind of a Leader

Ch 9 An Arts Policy for a Floating Utopia

Ch 10 Keeping Things Simple

Part Two:

Arguing for the Arts

Ch 11 Introduction to Part Two

Ch 12 'If Music is the Staff of Life, Play Up!': Who is Playing Whom?

Ch 13 The Great Arts Education Debate: Slam the Door on the Past - Betray the Future

Ch 14 A Special Case for Treatment: Special Pleading for the Arts

Ch 15 The Arts and Civil Society: Standing Up to the Stand Off-ish

Ch 16 The Arts and Humanities: Defending the Undefendable

Ch 17 An Agenda for the Future: Making the Arts Matter

Index.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

9780857723772

0857723774

9780755603657

0755603656

9780857734761

0857734768

OCLC:

881606945