Debbonnaire: UK risks losing global reputation for Arts excellence.
Mary Stone: Arts Professional - 30th June 2025.
Former Shadow Culture Secretary Thangam Debbonaire delivered her maiden speech in the House of Lords during a debate on music education in which peers criticised government 'inaction' on the previous commitments to the arts and creative education.
Debbonaire used her maiden speech during a short debate on music education to make the 'a political case for the arts.' She also urged museums to be "honest about the stories behind their objects"and stressed that the arts can provide a good living for "people from all backgrounds".
Debbonaire as Shadow Culture Secretary curated the Creating Growth: Labours plans for the Arts, Culture and Creative Industries in 2024 and before Sunak had even announced the the next election. She introduced the glossy leaflet and managed to use the words, theatre, plays and drama, just once each in some thirty three pages. If there really is levelling up, then surely they shouldn't be talking about Music and the Arts in the 21st century. Should they?
It gets worse. In her maiden speech Debbonaire, spoke of how Opera...employs so many working class people...wait for it...from the chorus to the technicians. "It truly is a way to make your way in the arts." When we do get it wrong, oppor-tunities do become exclusive and we allow talent to go under developed.
She needs to have words with actor James McAvoy who said when interviewed on the Stephen Colbeck show in 2016.
"I do think its important to educate children artistically, because it is
the one thing that increases their chance of social mobility and if you
want kids to have a better life. Even if the don't leave their home town,
they can still go places through the arts".
Or perhaps with Sir Anthony Pappano, twenty two years at Covent Garden and now with the London Symphony Orchestra and on BBC's This Cultural Life he didn't hold back...
"Opera is now seen as elitist in many places, when previously Heads of State in Italy and Germany would be applauded by the audience for their attendance. In the UK, opera is viewed with suspicion
and it drives him nuts"
His advice for politicians, they need to be advocates for the Arts and its not just about the money, they should be pushing the message more. He is hugely dis-appointed and angry with the Arts Council and their belief that opera is not a growth industry.
Perhaps...Debbonaire, never got the memo?
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