This isn't as much a blog post by me, as me alerting you to an interesting article in The Evening Standard on 30th January. It's a very interesting article which I think will resonate with a lot of people - and it's a RECOMMENDED READ from me.
How the capital's art world went broke on woke alerted me to a few things I didn't know before
The author JJ Charlesworth is an art critic, art magazine editor and writer with twenty-five years of experience in contemporary art, publishing and education. Since 2006 he has worked on the editorial staff of the London-based international art magazine ArtReview, where he is one of the editors. He says he has also lectured and taught extensively, tutoring at London’s Royal College of Art, the Royal Academy Schools and Central St Martins College
Below I summarise
- key points from what he has to say
- commentary from me - marked up as "ME"
So what does he have to say?
Here's some key points:
Major financial challenges
- major art institutions in London face major financial challenges
- the Tate and the Royal Academy of Arts have announced serious deficits (£11million and £2 million respectively)
Changing agendas do not bring in punters
Over the past few years art galleries have been pursuing programming agendas that don’t always resonate with audiences.
- culture wars (decolonisation / identity politics / Just Stop Oil etc etc) are not attractive to many exhibition visitors
- whereas major art galleries can host sell-out exhibitions for major "old favourite" artists from the past (e.g. Monet at the Courtauld; Van Gogh at the National Gallery in 2024)
