Plus Ça Change - Art on Mondays on BBC4

Be forewarned - this is a bit of a rant - PLUS Quite a lot of information about "Art on Monday Nights" on BBC Four

At a time when art programmes seem to be burgeoning and successful (or soon to be) on Sky Arts, Channel 4 and Channel 5, we are faced with a BBC which is producing archive only programmes on BBC4 which has, traditionally, been the art channel. (Of which more below - including 'Art on Monday Nights on BBC Four)

I wrote about the planned demise of BBC4 as an originator of art programmes back in March 2021 - as did others - see 

• What happens to art after the demise of BBC Four?
• Don’t let BBC4 become yet another dusty attic full of old shows | The Times
• BBC4’s commissioning remit slashed | Televisual

It's maybe even more pertinent now that Nadine Dorries (who I want to be very rude about but will instead ignore her) has "got her teeth" into The BBC Licence Fee. This is the woman who announces this will be the last licence fee settlement and then announces there will be a discussion and no decisions have been made as yet. Yet more political lies and dissembling??

A statement has been made by the Director General and the Chair of The BBC about the proposal for the Licence Fee Settlement - which has for of code for "more cuts to come' 

As a result recent news coverage includes some significant criticism - and I want to add to it!

• Art critics hit back at UK government plans to reform the BBC | The Art Newspaper (today)

As a film maker who does lots of work abroad I cannot stress enough how much admiration and warmth there is out there for the BBC. All round the world it's revered and envied. Except, it seems, by the yobs and vandals of our government. Is there anything they won't destroy?

— WALDEMAR JANUSZCZAK (@JANUSZCZAK) January 17, 2022

Art on Monday Nights on BBC4

What we're getting on BBC4 at the moment is what I'm calling "Art on Monday Nights" - which is basically a lot of REPEATS or compilations of REPEATS

So this was yesterday evening

The title of the first episode of Art of France "Plus Ça Change" was, in the circumstances, very pertinent!

Yesterday evening we had 

• The Impressionists - Painting and Revolution - a first rate series by critic Waldemar Januszczak first shown in 2011 (I could tell it was some time ago because he looked so young and thin!) - which I reviewed back in 2011 - see The Impressionists: Painting and Revolution - Gang of Four | Making A Mark (July 16th 2011)
• Art on The BBC - Episode 3 on Monet - a new compilation programme of excerpts from past programmes. 
• Art of France (Series 1) with Andrew Graham Dixon - first shown in 2017 and well worth watching again. READ my review BBCFour Art of France - with Andrew Graham-Dixon

• What do Artists do all day - Frank Bowling's Abstract World (2019)
• Whoever heard of a Black Artist? Britain's Hidden Art (first shown in July 2018)

Links you may need to be aware of (if not already) are

• Art on BBC Four (1966 - 2020) - a listing of all the programmes which were made by BBC4 in the past - to give you some sense of what has been lost due to the cuts already - NOT ALL OF WHICH ARE AVAILBLE VIA IPLAYER! So basically just a tease.
• BBC Four - Art on The BBC - the current offering which recaps past programmes referencing great artists and includes:
• The Great Salvador Dali
• Van Gogh - Life and Art
• Monet - The French Revolutionary
• Turner - Light and Landscape

The main problem with the BBC website is it doesn't have a way looking up ART programmes - as opposed to "Arts" - and this is what The BBC means by Arts, Culture and Media

The main issue is NOT that it's not worth looking again at programmes in the Archive - If they were good programmes the first time then they're definitely worth another look. 

BUT but access and choice both need to be improved

• they need to be available ALL THE TIME via iPlayer (i.e. we've already paid for these!)
• they need to contained in a list so that people can identify what's worth watching
• and the BBC STILL NEEDS TO MAKE NEW PROGRAMMES!!

The only bright spot on the horizon is that there seemed to be a significant lobby of MPs in the debate yesterday who recognised that certain aspects of The BBC should not be externalised - and the arts was one of them.