The UK’s longest-serving Culture Minister, the Rt Hon Ed Vaizey MP, together with BBC Head of Arts Jonty Claypole, were among a prestigious list of speakers at “Beyond Value for Money”, a symposium on cultural value staged by the Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries. 

The symposium investigated to what extent broadcasting, the arts, and cultural education have a value that is more than financial, and whether “good value for money” is therefore a sufficient measure of the full value of what many of us do.

"It's the art, stupid!"

The BBC charter renewal was a hot topic of conversation, as were the intrinsic versus the instrumental values of the arts and education. Former BBC World Service and Barbican Centre managing director Sir John Tusa gave the opening address, arguing that providing value for money should be an instrument and not end, concluding: “It’s the art, stupid!”

BBC Trustee and former Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer argued that simply being distinctive was not the same as being excellent, while Independent TV and film executive David Elstein made a spirited case for the “race to the top” in subscription television.  

Other speakers at the day-long event included Georgina Born, OBE, Professor of Music, Oxford University and author of Rationalizing Culture and Uncertain Vision: Birt, Dyke and the Reinvention of the BBC; Lizzie Crump, Co-Director, The Cultural Learning Alliance; and John Holden, Associate and former Head of Culture at Demos, author of Cultural Value and the Crisis of Legitimacy;

The symposium convenor was CMCI Professor of Sociology Richard Howells, and the event was funded and supported by King’s College London’s Arts and Humanities Research Institute under their new World Service initiative.

The event was staged in the Council Room of King’s College London on Tuesday, December 13, 2016. Further details available from Professor Richard Howells richard.howells@kcl.ac.uk

A set of photographs of the speakers in action at “Beyond Value for Money” is available at: http://www.davidtett.com/kclbeyondvalueconference

This article was first published at https://lostincci.wordpress.com