
The the Labour Party and the Arts: a History
Bianchini Franco(Author)
Lawrence & Wishart Ltd (Publisher)
Book
Paperback/Softback
978-1-907103-80-3 (ISBN)
Description
Bianchini highlights the tension between Labour's traditional top-down approach of extending access to the arts, and its more radical, sporadic attempts at 'cultural democracy', which attempt to engage with popular imagination and culture. In a key chapter on the Greater London Council's cultural policies from 1981 to 1986, Bianchini shows how they challenged the model of arts policy-making that had been dominant since the establishment of the Arts Council in 1946. Their effects resonated for a long while after Thatcher abolished the authority and are still relevant to contemporary debates. Chapters in the book include discussions of: Labour cinema and propaganda; the establishment of municipal theatres; the Thatcher government's arts policies and the responses to them by Labour Shadow Arts Ministers; GLC cultural policy as a political strategy and its policy making and arts organising; the experiences of Labour Shadow Arts Ministers until 1992; and the impact of arts policies in a range of UK cities.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 138 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-907103-80-3 (9781907103803)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Franco Bianchini is Professor of Cultural Policy and Planning at Leeds Metropolitan University. He has written widely on cultural policy and urban planning, including, as co-author (with Jude Bloomfield), Planning for the Intercultural City (2004), and, as co-editor (with Godela Weiss-Sussex), Urban Mindscapes of Europe (2006).
Content
Chapter One: Labour and the arts 1918-39 Chapter Two: Labour and the arts 1939-70 Chapter Three: Labour and the arts 1970-86 Chapter Four: The GLC Experiment, 1981-86 Chapter Five: Key Features of Labour's Approach to Arts Policy at National and Local Level from the Abolition of the GLC in 1986 to the 1992 General Election Chapter Six: New Labour and arts policy