"Part of normal life"
I was pleased to be able to be at the first night of the new season at Covent Garden. I enjoyed seeing for the first time Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride in a very strong setting for a powerful tragedy and it was great to see the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment performing at Covent Garden.
Again I was privileged to meet many of those who work backstage after the production and to get a clearer sense of the challenges of staging the whole Ring Cycle alongside the Gluck, with the demand for rehearsal time and performances requiring hard work by many enthusiastic people. I enjoyed speaking to Pat Pursey, Nick Havell and John Turner among the many I met.
Last week I also chaired my first meeting of the Culture and Creativity Advisory Forum. This spirit-sapping title in fact covers a highly important group: the thirty or so cultural leaders from across the UK who now regularly meet to thrash out the objectives of the Cultural Olympiad which, for me, will be an absolutely key part of ensuring that 2012 is more than just a few weeks of glorious sport. Bill Morris leads the cultural team from LOCOG and he impressed me once again with his talent for grasping the grand sweep of things. He also reminded us that, God willing, 2012 itself will also be the year we celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Something tells me London – and the UK - will be the best place in the world to be in five short years time.
I’ve been trying over the last few weeks to meet members of the media that cover DCMS issues. The relationship between the press and Government is not – nor should ever be – too cosy. Scepticism and rigorous investigation are good things and, for me, they are an important part of a free and open democratic society. So a cup of tea in my office with The Sunday Times’s Richard Brooks on Tuesday gave me a welcome chance to catch up on the culture media’s preoccupations. Richard is an articulate advocate for the arts in this country and was quick to challenge me that, apart from Culture Ministers, other members of the Government seemed – to him, at least – almost embarrassed to be seen enjoying the arts. It’s an interesting point but not really true, I think. I mentioned to him that Harriet Harman, Patricia Hewitt and I often go to the opera together, as do most of my Government colleagues. It’s part of normal life for people who are fortunate enough – as we are – to be working in a city, and in an era, that is seeing a real cultural revolution of excellence and excitement. Long may it continue.