Lear Settings

Since the 1980s significant shifts in British government culture policies have shaped the way British artists approach their work and audiences. Access to art has been driven by consumer choice, digital technology, National Lottery funding, multiculturalism and diversity; expectations of interactivity have reached unprecedented heights; and the expression of cultural and artistic democracy may now be recognised as a major defining aspect of 21st-century British national identity.

 

Hull Sinfonietta, a spin-off organisation of the University of Hull, has, since 2004, aimed to push the boundaries of artistic expression within the cultural context that was established during the noughties. Lear Settings, its flagship work, is a multi-stage animated music-film project (2004-2009) that was produced in association with the government-led programme Creative Partnerships (2002-2011) and was one of the primary ways in which the Sinfonietta responded to the new cultural context established by Blair's educational reforms, the 'Education, education, education' manifesto and subsequent shifts in arts policy. This paper reflects on the work explored in the project, addressing issues such as: democratic authorship and ownership of 'high art', articulating the concept of difference (challenging assumptions about sound and identity, race and 'other') and flexible models for education and group-learning contexts.

 

[The film is available for private view via the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm1bHCLsIT8]