Is This A Good Use Of £215,000?

[Deskdiary]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8870099/Drag-artist-Le-Gateau-Chocolat-handed-215k-coronavirus-culture-fund.html

[TrevorThePug]

No and I don’t think I can ever unsee that orange body suit.

He must have submitted one hell of a grant application though.

[weecalf]

In a cold and grey .....another little baby child is born in the gateau .That the best I can do .

[TrevorThePug]

Plays on Brighton pier as the cold wind blows
He’s the gateaux (he’s the gateaux)

[AuntPollyGrey]

More spotted dick that chocolate gateaux to be honest -and no its a ridiculous waste of money. They should be using that money to fund free school meals.

[Ken4155]

Arts Council England are given these funds in order to allocate them to diverse arts projects, not hungry children, hospices, etc. Add in the fact that Brighton is the LGBTQ+ capital of England, and it's no surprise that this particular grant has been given.
To quote the article, "...Le Gateau Chocolat will put on a number of shows, which would involve employing a range of freelancers to produce and deliver work." In other words, this money will be used to employ others to help them through the pandemic. And if that does happen, then it is a good use of £215,000. If it doesn't, then it's not. Only time will tell.

[andy-hughes]

Ken - // Arts Council England are given these funds in order to allocate them to diverse arts projects, not hungry children, hospices, etc. Add in the fact that Brighton is the LGBTQ+ capital of England, and it's no surprise that this particular grant has been given.
To quote the article, "...Le Gateau Chocolat will put on a number of shows, which would involve employing a range of freelancers to produce and deliver work." In other words, this money will be used to employ others to help them through the pandemic. And if that does happen, then it is a good use of £215,000. If it doesn't, then it's not. Only time will tell. //

There you go, letting some proper background and context get in the way of a good old-fashioned Middle England knee-jerk reaction!!

You'll never make a tabloid journalist (to your eternal credit!!!).

[andy-hughes]

APG - // More spotted dick that chocolate gateaux to be honest -and no its a ridiculous waste of money. They should be using that money to fund free school meals. //

As I have reasoned, the need for one does not negate the need for the other, that's an easy, but incorrect assumption to make.

[Canary42]

Just think, for 100,000 times that much you could get a Test & Trace system which doesn't work.

[AuntPollyGrey]

andy-hughes // As I have reasoned, the need for one does not negate the need for the other, that's an easy, but incorrect assumption to make.//

I think most people can survive without seeing a drag act to be honest Andy. There is a need for free school meals (debatable yes) there is absolutely no need for a drag act, no one will suffer if he (she) just melted into the background and had to get a proper job.

[rowanwitch]

I have known a few drag queens in my time who would have wet themselves if they'd heard they were classed as art, others who felt they were performance artists like any other. I generally had more laughs with the former..... Now bringers of laughter that IS worth paying for in these difficult times.

[TrevorThePug]

“I think most people can survive without seeing a drag act to be honest ”

Agreed. It’s one form of entertainment that I just don’t appreciate, although my friend Jack and his dad doing it in Sydney was a riot!

[Bazile]

//I think most people can survive without seeing a drag act to be honest Andy. //

Good grief .
Danny la Rue must be turning ,somewhere

[TrevorThePug]

Bazille, even Paul O'Grady got fed up of Lily.

[andy-hughes]

APG - // andy-hughes // As I have reasoned, the need for one does not negate the need for the other, that's an easy, but incorrect assumption to make.//

I think most people can survive without seeing a drag act to be honest Andy. There is a need for free school meals (debatable yes) there is absolutely no need for a drag act, no one will suffer if he (she) just melted into the background and had to get a proper job. //

It's not about being able to 'survive without a drag act ...' - the entire world can 'survive' if no piece of music, theatre or art was ever produced or seen again.

But it's not just about 'surviving', it's about art as a concept and its importance to the human race as a species.

You can single out any and every example of art simply because you don't like it, and suggest that it's not 'necessary', but as I have said, it's not about what one person sees as 'necessary', because that is not how art and culture are judged.

I believe you are falling for the lazy journalism of The Mail - let's hol;d up this arbitrary example of 'waste', and it will fly because it's a drag act and he's black, and both those send the Mail's Middle England readership into paroxysms of fury at the best of times, but that doesn't make it right.

I went to the Victoria Theatre here in Stoke, the first professional theatre-in-the-round to see a live show which they are putting on to see if socially distanced live theatre can be made to work.

There is no doubt that the performance was financed by arts grants - two hundred people a night is not a profit - but the Mail would no more hold that up as an example of 'waste' than fly to the moon.

Art cannot and should not be judged on the basis of how many people think it is worthwhile, if it is, then that means that something like The Chippendales is more valid artistically than any Chekov play, because they put more bums on seats.

That's not how culture is judged, it never has been, and it shouldn't be starting now, just because the Mail feels like blowing up the skirts of its readership with some Pavlovian response to something it looks down its pompous nose at.

[andy-hughes]

rowanwitch - // Now bringers of laughter that IS worth paying for in these difficult times. //

Agree - but that doesn't mean ditching every single piece of performance that doesn't leave its audience rolling in the aisles - does it.

[pixie374]

I agree, andy. I would be very upset if only pop music survived, due to being banal and inoffensive. Arts are for entertainment, pleasure, rather than just businesses.

[david small]

Obscene, disgusting, a sad indictment of our abandonment of morals. Neither entertaining nor instructive, except to learn to keep away.
Pass the sick bag.....

[andy-hughes]

david small - // Neither entertaining nor instructive ... //

Not to you obviously, it may be either or both to others.

[webbo3]

Andy-Hughes @ 9:36
\\If we start discriminating against entertainment simply because it is something which causes an adverse reaction, where do we draw the line?//

"entertainment"

[Mamyalynne]

This company has fulfilled the criteria required by The Arts Council to get this grant based on their knowledge of the company and their plans to employ freelancers in future projects - it is not something I would personally watch.

Maybe people would be best employed tackling the Arts Council and their decision making process.