Professor Lisa Jardine:
"Too much of what we are offered in the way of publicly funded art now has to be designed to be enjoyed with the minimum of effort. The 'quality of the visit' and 'visitor satisfaction' have become the measures of an attraction's success (and a condition of future funding). So nothing must trouble our tour of the gallery or trip to the ballet. Under pressure to please, our arts funding organisations risk becoming spoon-feeders of our leisure-time. Just sit back and enjoy. Re-branded as 'heritage', our day-trips to spectacular sites of beauty, visits to national museums, the opera and the ballet, become merely spectator sports. The 2012 Olympic Games will be just like our arts experiences - pleasant ways to spend a day out. Which conveniently allows the DCMS to run the claims to government financial support of the 'heritage industries' and the 'legacy games' seamlessly together."
From Radio 4's A Point Of view. Read it all or "listen again" here.
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