As 2025 slides out of view, that Arts Council England review drops in with a bottle and some food for thought, including much talk of ‘excellence’. What say you, Ghost of Christmas Past Nicholas Garnham?
In fact we are left with the unavoidable conclusion that the term “excellence” within arts policy discourse can only be a code for exclusivity, for the hierarchy of forms and activities (where excellence is found) as opposed to the normal everyday cultural products produced by the cultural/creative industries and consumed by their paying publics.