London’s South Bank makes another pointless appointment
NewsThe riverside arts centre, which can only afford to stay open five days a week, has named Mark Ball as its next Artistic Director.
Ball is presently Creative Director at Manchester International Festival, an event almost devoid of classical music.
The South Bank has been steadily relegating orchestral music to its margins.
This appointment bodes ill for the art form.
It is also unnecessary. The South Bank has far too many execs and too little practical commonsense.
Misan Harriman, Chair of the Southbank Centre, said: “Mark will bring a fresh perspective on how we deliver a cultural programme that appeals to the many audiences we serve, and I’m excited at how he will also bring new energy and innovation to the remarkable artistic community we work with. Lockdown has shown us how many people turned to culture, both online and outside, so we’re aware of huge potential as we explore new ways to bring arts to our communities. Mark’s commitment to a wide range of voices in the arts will be invaluable as we develop a modern, post-lockdown cultural institution, and a beating heart at the centre of the capital.”
ooo, luverly mission statement!
Exciting news! It has the potential to integrate “orchestral music” at the Southbank Centre into the cultural mainstream, instead of being a niche activity which no one outside its tiny world would ever go near.
A shame that we never got to see his programming at The Factory, MIF’s new year-round mega-venue, due to its many construction and fitting delays, and the pandemic.
“cultural mainstream”
What the h*ll is that? And how do you “integrate” the classical repertoire into it?
Prediction: anything non white will be deemed to be “cultural mainstream”, and the South Bank’s original purpose will have to take second place.
Watch the SBC’s committed audience fall away.
This appointment comes with a morass of meaningless corporate clichés from the SB Centre – who knew? ‘Fresh perspective…artistic community…beating heart….’ – Give me strength….
“Ball is presently Creative Director at Manchester International Festival, an event almost devoid of classical music.”
Or an event totally devoid of anything remotely cultural for that matter. He should do well on the South Bank as his career progresses from one cultural void to another. Meanwhile, we in Manchester have a £200m white elephant that might be ready in time for MIF 23 but more than likely not.
Britain has a knee-jerk tendency to dismiss every new project as a white elephant. However, I’ve looked at this project and have not been able to find any information on precisely how it will be used. It appears to be different just for the sake of being different, and at considerable expense.
It’s a very large shed with a modestly sized auditorium bolted on to the side. The size of the auditorium was reduced when it was decided that the orchestra pit was too small. What will it do that the Lowry cannot?
As far as I can tell, the local response has been somewhat cynical, so perhaps I’m not alone.
Multi-arts institution (cinema, art gallery, multi-purpose concert hall, two multi-purpose theatre/concert hall/performance spaces, library) appoints an artistic director – and SD thinks it’s “pointless”. Crumbs.
I’m afraid that says more about SD’s tunnel vision than anything else.
What is Southbank Centre’s obsession with appointing artistic directors from a theatre background, which is pretty much the only art form Southbank Centre doesn’t programme?
Top-heavy management is a real concern in many organisations. The BBC until recently was one of the worst offenders: far too many individuals supervising others, not doing anything creative themselves and sometimes making the most appalling decisions based on faulty judgement. If you visit the website of one of the London orchestras, you will see a total of 42 titled (some of them sounding very grand indeed like Head of People) positions. All well and good if they manage to create a first-class machine bringing in far more money than they actually spend. Sadly, that is rarely the case. Southbank has been pushed this way and that in the last two decades. The rot really set in with the appointment of Jude Kelly, who was busy with her own agendas which had nothing at all to do with classical music. Creating baby-buggy parks in the foyer was one of the wackiest things I have ever seen there. A podium for solo performers or small groups of musicians? Nah, who on earth would want to go to a palace of culture and listen to that? Until the right people are put in charge and not those who have the right connections or are politically “acceptable”, nothing – absolutely nothing – will change for the better.
How often do we read management-speak in everything – fresh perspective, mainstream, and going forwards!