The value of art 'has become mysterious', to quote the critic John Berger. Artists, commentators and voices from the BBC Sound Archive consider Berger's question: 'where does this value come from?'

Including extracts from:
The Moral Maze, Radio 4
Private Passions, Radio 3 (featuring Keir Starmer)
Favourite Things, BBC TV (featuring Margaret Thatcher)
Coronation Street, Granada Television
Desert Island Discs, Radio 4 (featuring Maria Balshaw)
Headliners with Nihal Arthanayake, BBC Sounds (featuring Stewart Lee)
Harry & Paul, Tiger Aspect Productions
Yes Minister, BBC TV
Lord Keynes, Home Service, The Arts Council: Its Policy and Hopes

With readings by the poet Dorothy Spencer and the writer Carl Cattermole, including statistics from the Campaign for the Arts/University of Warwick, the Panic! Survey and an Industria inquiry based on Artist Leaks.

First broadcast 7th December 2025
Produced by Alan Hall
Archive Producer: Phoebe McIndoe

Art Class

audio storyteller using this space for growth; sharing doodles, shorts, class assignments, challenge submissions, pieces of WIPs; listening
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We make documentaries and audio art for radio, podcasts and public spaces.

At the heart of what we do is a belief in the imaginative possibilities of radio. Sounds that can reconfigure the world around you, move you through inner landscapes, sink into your dreams.

We are an intentionally small company that considers carefully the creative, social and political aspects of the work we put out into the world.

Falling Tree has two full-time Directors – Eleanor McDowall and Alan Hall – and we work with freelancers across our projects, including the core Short Cuts production team of Alia Cassam, Axel Kacoutié and Andrea Rangecroft.

We are one of the founding signatories of the Equality in Audio pact. 

You can listen to hundreds of our documentaries in the free, online Falling Tree archive.

Art Class

Falling Tree Productions