Pennine
Productions -- details of
"Get Rid of that Constable, I Want a Hockney"
"Get Rid of that Constable, I Want a Hockney"
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Description:
Pennine
Productions -- details of "Get Rid of that Constable, I Want a Hockney" |
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| Network: | Radio 4 | |
Date: |
Monday, September 05, 2005 | |
Time: |
11:30 | |
Duration: |
30 | |
Presenter: |
Mark Whitaker | |
Producer: |
Mark Whitaker | |
Repeat date: |
Sunday, September 18, 2005 | |
Repeat time: |
23:30 | |
Description:
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Whenever a government minister resigns or gets the sack, or whenever a British Ambassador moves on, it's all hands on deck at an unmarked building somewhere near Tottenham Court Road. This is the HQ of the Government Art Collection (GAC), whose 6000 works - paintings, sculptures, photographs - adorn ministerial and ambassadorial walls in the UK and around the world. It has a heavyweight Advisory Committee (long chaired by John Tusa) on which sit the Directors of the Tate, National and National Portrait Galleries, and its aim is propagandist in the best sense - to show off British creativity. But to do that, on a severely limited budget, is no easy task. This programme shows the nitty-gritty of the GAC's work: What to buy, what not to buy, who decides, and what are the criteria ? When a new Minister moves in, what's the process? What are particular Embassies, at particular times, trying to say about Britain through the art on display? What are particular ministers saying about how they see their brief and their method of working by the art they choose? What about newly designed buildings like the new Home Office one -- who decides how to get the architecture / art balance right? What about the 20% of the collection which is in storage ? Should it be on display somewhere ? Mark Whitaker's programme includes interviews with Estelle Morris and David Lammy, and recordings at the once-a-year Open Day, and a major "re-hanging" of all the art in the politically-vital Ambassador's Residence in Washington. | |
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