The outgoing Chairman of Arts Council England and all around idiot savant Christopher Frayling (who has a Knighthood that we regard as irrelevant so it will not be used here we say) has used his final speech to prove how completely out of touch he really is.
The Stage is quoting him, and we’re not making this up, as saying;
“He also complained that some companies who are funded by ACE do not do enough to make it clear where money for their shows has come from.”
You know why companies don’t make it abundantly clear where the money comes from? Because it’s not about you you cretinous blow hard! Companies and individuals are the ones that make the work. They’re the ones that do the really hard bit, you know, making stuff up, rehearsing, honing, training and performing.
They’re the ones who get injured and have no medical treatment because ACE doesn’t think funding health insurance and research into injury and treatment is important.
Sitting on your ass in an office making up things to annoy applicants for funding about isn’t something you should really be looking to take a bow for.
It’s always particularly satisfying for people when they spend weeks dealing with the application process, waiting months for a decision only to be told you were unsuccessful and please do apply again because we might actually have a clue the next time and give you the money!
The ordeal of dealing with ACE to get funding should earn you some kind of medal.
To his credit he was moaning about the Cultural Olympiad, the boring bit of the Olympics before the really boring bit gets started, and how it has too many managers, not a single creative voice. You could also argue effectively that the Cultural Olympiad (CO) doesn’t have any creativity at all but that’s another issue.
When you read that the people who will be in charge of the Cultural Olympiad were the same ones in charge of opening the Millennium Dome you begin to realise why this particular buffoon is running for the hills now and leaving a big fat mess for Liz Forgan to clean up when she takes over.
No, we have no idea who she is either!