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Commentaries by the speakers and producers of Culture Wars

A drama out of a crisis: Claire Fox reviews a hard-hitting play about the Stephen Lawrence inquiry which doesn't give in to emotionalism

Agenda

What's wrong with cultural elitism?
Big truths, small truths
Empire of the emotions
The tyranny of relevance
Have we lost our nerve?

Music
Visual Arts
Literature
Media
Education
Topical Controversies

Keynotes

WHAT'S WRONG WITH CULTURAL ELITISM?

Speakers:

• Charles Rosen, distinguished American pianist and writer on music
• Sir John Mortimer, writer
• John Tusa, managing director, Barbican Centre
• Jude Kelly OBE, artistic director/chief executive, West Yorkshire Playhouse
• Nicholas Kenyon, controller, BBC Proms and Millennium Programmes

Chair: John Humphrys, Radio 4

Nobody wants to be called an elitist these days. There is a concern to replace hierarchies of artistic merit with a plural world in which there is no place for critical judgement. But does the ability to pass judgement on a work of art or literature really imply a supremacist agenda? Without criticism, how can there be improvement? By ascribing equal merit to all forms of self-expression, do we risk wasting human creativity and talent?

BIG TRUTHS, SMALL TRUTHS

Speakers:

• Norman Levitt, mathematician, Rutgers University and co-author of Higher Superstition: the academic left and its quarrels with science
• Professor Susan Greenfield, director of the Royal Institution and professor of pharmocology, Oxford University
• Melvyn Bragg, author and broadcaster
• Frank Furedi, writer and sociologist, University of Kent at Canterbury

Chair: Mick Hume, editor, LM

The one big truth these days is that there are no big truths. The world of ideas, even scientific ideas, has a growing aversion to anything which smacks of objectivity or 'grand narrative'. Four hundred years of rationality look to some like a grand self-delusion. But can the elevation of private or constructed truths mean anything more than a simple acceptance of our limitations?

EMPIRE OF THE EMOTIONS

Speakers:

• Paul Gross, biologist, University of Virginia and co-author of Higher Superstition: the academic left and its quarrels with science
• Dr David Starkey, historian, writer and broadcaster
• Mick Hume, editor, LM
• Professor Anthony O'Hear, Bradford University and director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy

Chair: Claire Fox, director, 'Culture Wars' and publisher, LM

Emotional rather than critical intelligence seems more highly prized today. The public outpouring of grief following the death of Princess Diana showed how much the world has changed. For many, the elevation of warm emotion over cold reason is a welcome relief from the stiffness of the past. But can civilisation and intelligence survive these shifting priorities?

THE TYRANNY OF RELEVANCE

Speakers:

• Maxwell L Anderson, director, Whitney Museum of American Art
• Charles Rosen, pianist and writer on music
• Nicholas de Jongh, theatre critic, London Evening Standard
• Kate Flint, cultural historian, Oxford University
• Cosmo Landesman, Sunday Times

Chair: Mark Ryan, director, 'Culture Wars'

Relevance, accessibility and inclusiveness--these are the vague pieties of our age. Yet how many of the great books, pieces of music or scientific theories could be described as 'relevant' to the everyday lives of the average man or woman of any age? In our fear of making people feel excluded, are we lowering what is great to the level of the humdrum? Are we in danger of impoverishing the human imagination?

HAVE WE LOST OUR NERVE?

Speakers:

• Ferdinand Mount, editor, Times Literary Supplement
• Chris Dunkley, TV correspondent at the Financial Times and former presenter of Radio 4's Feedback
• Janet Daley, Daily Telegraph and The Moral Maze
• David Lister, arts news editor, Independent

Chair: Frank Furedi, writer and sociologist, University of Kent at Canterbury

We live in the age of the child-centred home and the student-centred school, when politicians ask focus groups what they should believe in and TV executives ask the public what to broadcast. This could be an extension of democracy, or it could be a retreat from authority and a loss of nerve. What happens to culture when those with authority and expertise bow to those without?

Music

IS CLASSICAL MUSIC DEAD?

Producer: Mark Ryan, director, 'Culture Wars'

Speakers:

• Alexander Goehr, composer
• Charles Rosen, pianist and writer on music
• Roger Wright, controller, BBC Radio 3
• Geoffrey Wheatcroft, writer and critic
• Nicholas Spice, publisher, London Review of Books

Chair: Mark Ryan, director, 'Culture Wars'

The Royal Opera House, Radio 3 and many great orchestras are in turmoil. Yet more people listen to classical music today than ever before, to the point that it runs the risk of becoming part of our ambient furniture. Should composers strive to be avant garde, or to make classical music more meaningful to a potential audience?

POP GOES POLITICS

Producers: Gal d Tourn, music journalist; David Axe, Dreamweapon Productions and Theresa Clifford, cScape

Speakers:

• Anthony H Wilson, Granada TV and Factory Records Ltd
• David Sefton, head of artistic development, Royal Festival Hall
• Simon Napier-Bell, former manager of The Yardbirds, T-Rex, Japan and WHAM!
• Andrew Calcutt, lecturer and author of Arrested Development and White Noise

Chair: Alan Miller, Vibe Entertainment

Rock, punk, reggae, rap, house: pop music has long been condemned by conservatives as epitomising a 'dumbed down' culture for the young. Academics and music journalists on the other hand, have championed its popular asthetics. Now in the New Britain, New Fans have emerged in the corridors of power. Should popular music be dismissed, championed or ignored?

Visual Arts

GRIDLOCKED? CONTEMPORARY GRAPHIC DESIGN

Producers: Alex Cameron, Ice Design and David Cowlard, Urban Exposure

Speakers:

• Max Bruinsma, editor, Eye: International Journal of Graphic Design
• Malcolm Garrett, AMX Studios

Chair: David Cowlard, Urban Exposure

Graphic design is now at the cutting edge of innovation, as the 'new typography' seeks to break the rules of design as communication. But in the rush towards an exciting new concept of design, is there a danger that we become obsessed with image and lose sight of what it is we are trying to say?

ARCHITECTURE FOR THE PEOPLE

Producer: Vicky Richardson, senior reporter, RIBA Journal

Speakers:

• Zaha Hadid, world-renowned architect currently working on the Mind Zone in the Millennium Dome
• Jonathan Glancey, architecture correspondent, Guardian
• Penny Lewis, architecture correspondent, Scotsman and Project Scotland
• Tom Barker, managing director of DCA-b, a consultancy specialising in building innovation

Chair: Vicky Richardson, senior reporter, RIBA Journal

Even the most revered modern architects now emphasise the importance of community and inclusivity in their designs, whether it be for individual buildings or for Trafalgar Square. But where does the balance lie between innovation and giving the public what they want?

NEW ART FOR COOL BRITANNIA

Producer: JJ Charlesworth, artist and assistant editor, Caffeine artspaper

Speakers:

• Gilda Williams, writer and commissioning editor for contemporary art, Phaidon Press
• Terry Atkinson, lecturer in contemporary art, Leeds University and founder member of conceptual art group Art & Language
• Gavin Turk, artist
• Steve Rushton, editorial member, Everything magazine

Chair: JJ Charlesworth, artist and assistant editor, Caffeine artspaper

Never before has British art been so sought after, as artists such as Damien Hirst and the Chapman brothers become celebrities almost overnight. Is British art experiencing a renaissance, or does the youthful new art represent a deterioration in the quality of art itself?

WHAT DOES CONTEMPORARY ART MEAN TO YOU?

Producer: Aidan Campbell, author and critic

Speakers:

• David Lee, editor, Art Review
• Patrick Hughes, artist and author
• Robert Brown, contemporary art expert
• Emma Ridgway, recent graduate from Goldsmiths College

Chair: Aidan Campbell, author and critic

If feelings are the sole basis on which we judge art, is there any way of telling the good from the bad? Are we always fooling ourselves when we try to tell fine art from junk? If art appreciation really is just a matter of taste, who is to decide what gets exhibited?

Literature

IS THE BOOK DEAD?

Producer: Jason Burton, IT consultant

Speakers:

• Sadie Plant, author of Zeros and Ones
• Ken MacLeod, science fiction writer
• Honor Wilson Fletcher, public relations manager, Waterstone's
• Phil Mullan, Cyberia Internet Company
• Chris Locke, group internet manager

Chair: Jason Burton, IT consultant

There are sombre warnings that the internet will kill the printed word, and with it our literary culture. Yet people are reading more than before. Some say that media such as the internet have shortened our attention span still further, others that they have made us more knowledgeable than ever. Where is the truth in all this?

NARNIA TO BYKER GROVE: CHILDREN'S LITERATURE AND TELEVISION TODAY

Producer: Wendy Earle, Families for Freedom

Speakers:

• Anne Fine, award-winning children's novelist
• Helen Cresswell, award-winning children's writer
• Michael Forte, controller of children's and young people's programmes, Carlton Television
• Kimberley Reynolds, director, National Centre for Research in Children's Literature
• Alan Horrox, Tetra Films

Chair: Wendy Earle, Families for Freedom

Nearly 8000 children's books are published in this country every year. Whole TV channels are devoted to children. But how well are children served by all this 'input'? Does modern children's literature and television stimulate or stunt their imaginations?

BLOWING APART THE CANON?

Producers: Jennie Bristow, journalist and Irene Miller

Speakers:

• Marilyn Butler, rector, Exeter College, Oxford University
• John Walsh, assistant editor of the Independent and director of the Cheltenham Literary Festival
• Francis King, author and critic
• Mike Phillips, novelist

Chair: Jennie Bristow, journalist

Should the work of a black woman writer be privileged over that of a Dead White European Male? Should writers be included in the literary canon because of what 'voices' they represent, rather than for the quality of their work? Or is the rejection of a 'grand narrative' in literature a way of avoiding the tricky question of quality?

FROM AUTOBIOGRAPHY TO CONFESSION

Producers: Irene Miller and Jennie Bristow, journalist

Speakers:

• AL Kennedy, novelist
• Lisa Appignanesi, novelist and writer
• Kate Flint, cultural historian, Oxford University

Chair: Frank Furedi, writer and sociologist, University of Kent at Canterbury

From newspaper columns to best-selling books, confessional writing is all the rage. If the classic autobiography recorded the individual's achievements and public persona, confessional writing is a record usually of the individual's failings and private obsessions. This could be an exciting new realm of creative writing or it could be an exercise in self-obsession.

Attendees at this session will be invited to a wine reception for Lisa Appignanesi, courtesy of Chatto & Windus.

MODERNISING SHAKESPEARE

Producer: Sandy Starr, Sarcophaguys Theatre Company

Speakers:

• John Barton, associate director, Royal Shakespeare Company
• Tim Supple, artistic director, Young Vic
• John Adler, author on Shakespearean interpretation
• Tara Hendry, actress, star of Shakespeare's Women or When I Love Thee Not
• Diane Dubois, playwright, author of March 15

Chair: Wystan Mayes, journalist

Theatre directors have always adapted Shakespeare to suit contemporary circumstances. But how far should updating go? Modernising costumes is one thing; but are we now 'correcting' and streamlining the language? Can we draw a clear line between adaptation and corruption?

(This debate will begin with a performance by the Northern Theatre Company of excerpts from the play March 15 by Diane Dubois, a multimedia adaptation of Julius Caesar commissioned to make Shakespeare appealing to schoolchildren.)

This session is supported by the ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

IN CONVERSATION

Author Mike Phillips discusses literature, book festivals and the state of contemporary writing with 'Culture Wars' director Mark Ryan.

Media

VICTIM TV

Producer: Brendan O'Neill, journalist

Speakers:

• Stephen Whittle, director, Broadcasting Standards Commission
• Alkarim Jivani, TV editor, Time Out
• Mick Hume, editor, LM
• Stephen Colwell, series producer, My Titanic

Chair: Tessa Mayes, TV journalist

From Jerry Springer to Panorama, television today seems obsessed with touching the emotions of 'ordinary people' and giving a voice to the victim. This could be a welcome departure from the paternalistic past--or it could be a licence to lower broadcasting standards.

DOCUMENTING WHAT?

Producer: Claire Fox, director, 'Culture Wars' and publisher, LM

Speakers:

• Paul Watson, documentary filmmaker, creator of The Family, The Dinner Party and White Lives
• Steve Hewlett, Carlton TV
• Peter Dale, commissioning editor of documentaries, Channel 4
• Bernard Clark, leading investigative TV journalist

Chair: Claire Fox, director, 'Culture Wars' and publisher, LM

The popularity of docusoaps and fly-on-the-wall has provided documentary makers with new funds and primetime scheduling. But how will investigative films fare in a climate where entertainment value seems to be the new criterion for judging documentaries?

THE NEW NEWS

Producer: Emily Young, assistant producer, CNBC Europe

Speakers:

• Kate Adie, chief news correspondent, BBC Newsgathering
• David Lloyd, head of news, current affairs and business, Channel 4
• Stephen Perkins, Independent Television Commission
• Mark Easton, former presenter, 5News; now home and social affairs editor, Channel 4 News
• Adrian Smith, executive producer, CNBC

Chair: Mick Hume, editor, LM

Tony Blair says he prefers GMTV to the Today programme. 5News has revolutionised news content and delivery and Newsnight and Channel 4 News have followed. These changes are driven by the need to capture new viewers and cater to audience taste. But should changing news values be set by focus groups or by changes in the real world?

TABLOIDING THE BROADSHEETS

Producer: Jenny Davey, journalist

Speakers:

• Michael Gove, comment editor, The Times
• Bob Satchwell, director, Guild of Editors
• Tim Gopsill, editor, Journalist

Chair: Jenny Davey, journalist

Pretty girls on page three, gossip on the stars, and an obsession with celebrity tittle tattle--and that's just our leading broadsheets! Today's broadsheets appear to relegate 'highbrow' news coverage while bulking-up on opinion pieces and gossip columns. This session will look at the changing focus of today's news agenda and the future of Britain's broadsheets.

WHERE'S THE FOREIGN COVERAGE?

Producer: Para Teare, coordinator, Genderwatch

Speakers:

• John Simpson, world affairs editor, BBC
• George Alagiah, BBC world affairs correspondent
• Kevin Toolis, Guardian writer and documentary filmmaker
• Greg Philo, director, Glasgow Media Group
• Gill Barnes, documentary filmmaker

Chair: Paddy Coulter, director, International Broadcasting Trust

'Compassion fatigue' is blamed for the low ratings of foreign news; documentaries are more likely to deal with wildlife than people. But who really dumbed down foreign coverage: the viewers or the programme makers?

IN CONVERSATION

John Simpson, world affairs editor at the BBC, talks to Mick Hume, editor of LM, about the changing face of news.

Attendees at this session will be invited to a wine reception courtesy of Macmillan

IN CONVERSATION

Documentary maker Paul Watson talks to Claire Fox, publisher of LM, about his work and the state of documentary making today.

IN CONVERSATION

TV journalist Bernard Clark talks to James Heartfield about whether the crisis in documentary making is a problem of ethics or economics.

Education

HISTORY: FROM FACTS TO EMPATHY

Producer: Louise Fahey, history teacher

Speakers:

• Nicholas Tate, chief executive, Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
• Professor Chris Wrigley, modern history, Nottingham University and chairman of the Historical Association
• Professor SJ Kleinberg, head of the department of American studies and history, Brunel University

Chair: Louise Fahey, history teacher

The national curriculum now downplays many great issues of constitutional and political history as too remote to be relevant to children's experience today. Perhaps our children are spending too much time empathising with people from the past and too little time learning what happened when and why.

TEACHING SCIENCE OR FEAR OF SCIENCE?

Producer: David Perks, science teacher

Speakers:

• Professor Lewis Wolpert, University College London
• Professor Richard Gregory, experimental psychology, Bristol University
• Professor Joan Solomon, science education, Open University
• Jonathan Osborne, researcher in public understanding of science, King's College, London

Chair: David Perks, science teacher

Risk assessment and environmental responsibility are now well-established in the national curriculum, and the teaching of science itself has become increasingly concerned with imparting a sense of its dangers rather than its value to humanity. It cannot be easy for young people to love science while at the same time being taught to fear it.

THE FORWARD MARCH OF CULTURAL STUDIES

Producer: Dr Graham Barnfield, editor of culture matters: communications, media and communities

Speakers:

• Professor Francis Mulhern, Middlesex University, author of Metaculture
• Professor Anthony Easthope, Manchester Metropolitan University, author of Englishness and National Culture
• Professor Cora Kaplan, Southampton University
• James Heartfield, author of Need and Desire in the Post-Material Economy

Chair: Dr Graham Barnfield, editor of Culture Matters: communications, media and communities

Cultural studies, media studies and related disciplines have come of age. They have unsettled old orthodoxies while becoming orthodoxies themselves. Have the methods of cultural studies democratised the curriculum or emasculated it?

THE IDEA OF THE UNIVERSITY

Producers: Toby Marshall, lecturer in media studies and Graham Lee, philosophy undergraduate

Speakers:

• Professor Kenneth Minogue, London School of Economics
• Professor Alan Smithers, University of Liverpool
• Frank Furedi, writer and sociologist, University of Kent at Canterbury

Chair: Professor Laurie Taylor, Radio 4

Ever greater numbers go to university and degree courses range from philosophy to golf studies. Does this call into question the concept of higher education as the site of knowledge? And if academics are to be judged by their teaching skills rather than their research, what exactly is the role of academia?

A NATION OF ILLITERATES?

Producer: Toby Marshall, lecturer in media studies

Speakers:

• Melanie Phillips, columnist at the Sunday Times and author of All Must Have Prizes
• Ruth Miskin, headteacher, Kobi Nazrul Primary School
• Bethan Marshall, lecturer in education, King's College, London
• Geraldine Everett, Professional Association of Teachers

Chair: Toby Marshall, lecturer in media studies

It is alleged that standards of literacy have been in decline for many years. The government's response is the National Literacy Strategy, which aims to guarantee every child a minimal standard of reading and writing. But is the emphasis on the ABCs too narrow? Are we getting obsessed with basic literacy while losing sight of the ideal of a liberal education?

ACCESS TO WHAT?

Producers: Toby Marshall, lecturer in media studies and Graham Lee, philosophy undergraduate

Speakers:

• Professor James Tooley, University of Newcastle
• Stephen Rowland, director, Higher Education Research Centre, University of Sheffield
• Professor Jerry Palmer, London Guildhall University
• Jennie Bristow, journalist

Chair: Alan Hudson, Christchurch College, Canterbury

New universities often gain plaudits for accessibility and excellence, while Oxbridge is attacked for elitism and poor standards. Do the former polytechnics really match the traditional universities, or have we simply changed our standards as to what constitutes a good higher education?

TOMORROW'S DOCTORS: CARING MORE, CURING LESS?

Producer: Liz Frayn, junior doctor

Speakers:

• Dr Michael Fitzpatrick, GP and medical journalist
• Dr Thurstan Brewin, oncologist and author of Relating to the Relatives
• Dr James Willis, GP and author of The Paradox of Progress

Chair: Liz Frayn, junior doctor

The new emphasis in the medical curriculum is on communication skills. Will this lead to a downgrading of scientific skills? Should medical students learn as much about how to talk to patients as they do about anatomy? What standard of treatment can we expect from tomorrow's doctors if the emphasis is on caring rather than curing?

FEMINISING KNOWLEDGE

Producer: Peter Martin, St John's College, Cambridge University

Speakers:

• Dr Maureen Cooper, lecturer in chemistry, University of Stirling
• Dr Flis Henwood, senior lecturer in innovation studies, University of East London
• Professor Gordon Graham, Regius Professor of moral philosophy, University of Aberdeen

Chair: Ann Furedi, director of communications, BPAS

Today's educational theorists suggest that objective measures and rationality are part of a masculine, elitist conception of knowledge. Does the new 'feminised' view of knowledge mark an advance in our understanding of intelligence, or an abandonment of standards justified in the language of egalitarianism?

Topical Controversies

THE ARTS COUNCIL--ACCESS AND EXCELLENCE

Producer: Jane Upton

Speakers:

• Hilary Strong, director, Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Arts Council member
• Jude Kelly OBE, artistic director/chief executive, West Yorkshire Playhouse
• Nicola Thorold, director, Independent Theatre Council
• Pauline Hadaway development officer, Community Arts Forum, Belfast

Chair: Jane Upton

The new Arts Council looks set to emphasise inclusiveness and accessibility over the perceived elitism of the past. Can these new values coexist with the idea of excellence and the promotion of high culture?

IN CONVERSATION

Peter Hewitt, chief executive of the Arts Council, talks to Mark Ryan about the arts as we move towards the new millennium.

WHO'S AFRAID OF REASON?

Producer: Toby Andrew, statistician, St Thomas's Hospital

Speakers:

• Professors Paul Gross and Norman Levitt, co-authors of Higher Superstition
• James Heartfield, books editor, LM

Chair: Kenan Malik, journalist and author

After the Sokal hoax, can we identify what is driving the mistrust of rationality? Why is it that those most associated with radical change are often the most hostile to a belief in objective truth?

INTERPRETING MUSEUMS

Producer: Ian Walker, assistant curator, Total Access Project

Speakers:

• Dr Robert Anderson, director, British Museum
• Maxwell L Anderson, director, Whitney Museum of American Art
• Timothy Mason, director, Museums and Galleries Commission
• Professor Susan Pearce, head of museum studies, Leicester University
• Margaret Richardson, curator, Sir John Soane's Museum

Chair: Ian Walker, assistant curator, Total Access Project

Many museums and galleries now emphasise interpretive methods to help visitors cope with what they see. But might too much spoon-feeding of visitors deprive them of challenging experiences and aesthetic stimulation? Have museums lost faith in their collections to stand without external support and in their curators to curate?

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: SAVIOUR OF THE ARTS?

Producer: Norman Lewis, director, GAP2001

Speakers:

• Professor Rand Steiger, composer and professor, University of California and conductor, California EAR Unit
• Professor Vibeke Sorenson, chair of the division of animation and digital arts, University of Southern California
• Don Foresta, director, Laboratoire de Langage Electronique, Ecole Nationale Superiere d'Arts, Paris
• James Woudhysen, professor of innovation, De Montfort University

Chair: Norman Lewis, director, GAP2001

It is said that information technology has fundamentally changed the basic working materials of the arts, adding identity and play to traditional parameters of time and space. But are these claims about IT justified?

SCIENCE FOR THE PEOPLE OR THE PEOPLE'S SCIENCE?

Producer: Toby Andrew, statistician, St Thomas's Hospital

Speakers:

• Professor Norman Levitt, mathematician, Rutgers University
• Professor Grahame Bulfield, director, Roslin Institute
• Professor Steven Fuller, University of Durham, author of Science

Chair: Toby Andrew, statistician, St Thomas's Hospital

With popular suspicion of science rising, scientists feel under pressure to be more humble, promise less and pay more attention to lay expertise and public fears. But there may be a danger that instead of building trust and enriching our understanding, we only damage the authority of science still further.

IN CONVERSATION

Two years after Dolly Professor Grahame Bulfield of the Roslin Institute talks to Toby Andrew about the possibilities for scientific research.

VICTIM-FRIENDLY JUSTICE

Producer: Josephine Hussey, convenor, Freedom and Law

Speakers:

• Helen Reeves, director, Victim Support
• Rajiv Mendon, barrister, Lawrence inquiry
• Sarah Maguire, barrister
• Jon Holbrook, barrister

Chair: Marcel Berlins, legal journalist and author

Many now say that the criminal justice system ignores and marginalises the victim while putting cold justice at the centre of proceedings. The government seems to agree that the legal process should become more victim-centred. But is this sacrificing the rights of the defendant and due process for an emotional attachment to the victim?

How to get to Riverside Studios, Crisp Road, Hammersmith, London W6 9RL

Please note that Hammersmith Bridge is closed to traffic, apart from buses, motorcycles and pedestrians. There is no parking at Riverside Studios.

By road: find the Hammersmith Broadway roundabout. Turn left at Labbatts's Apollo into Queen Caroline Street, then turn left into Crisp Road.

By bus to Hammersmith Broadway: 94, 9, 27, 33, 72, 91, 209, 220, 283, 10, H91, 266, 267, 391, R69.

By tube to Hammersmith: District line, Piccadilly line and Hammersmith and City line.