After a hiatus - and due to popular demand - Suite (212) returned as a podcast in March 2020, hosted exclusively by Juliet Jacques but still looking at the arts in their social, cultural, political and historical contexts. More on why Juliet revived Suite (212) can be found in this interview with TANK magazine, describing the need for better cultural coverage in the wake of Labour's defeat in the 2019 General Election: https://tankmagazine.com/tank/2020/04/suite-212-with-juliet-jacques/

If you like the show, please subscribe at https://www.patreon.com/suite212 - Patreons get links to everything referenced in these shows and the Suite (212) Sessions, as well as Juliet's archived articles, links to other works of interest and more.

Series 3 (2020-2021)

{podcast} politics

Jeremy Corbyn

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In February 2020, 74 universities affiliated to the UCU (University and College Union) began 14 days of industrial action, launching ‘Four Fights’ over casualisation of labour, unsafe workloads, falling pay, and gender and ethnicity pay gaps. The strikes became national news, supported by staff and students alike, with vibrant picket lines at many “art schools” across the country speaking out against exorbitant tuition fees, massive pay gaps between vice chancellors and lecturers, the punitive and racist Prevent programme introduced to stop student ‘radicalisation’, the digitalisation of courses and much more.

Juliet Jacques – herself a visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art, where 90% of staff are casualised – spoke to artist and researcher Dr Annie Goh, a lecturer in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins and an Associate Lecturer in Sound Arts at London College of Communication, and Kyran Joughin, lecturer in film and critical practice at Wimbledon College of Art (part of the University of the Arts London) about the recent strikes, how the coronavirus crisis might lead to further digitalisation and casualisation, and how staff and students might organise against it. They also discussed the legacy of Thatcher’s assault on the idea of cultural democracy, the marketisation of education and privatisation of knowledge under the New Labour government, and the student protests after the Liberal Democrats broke their promise to abolish tuition fees on joining the Conservative-led coalition in 2010.

As usual, a full list of references from this episode is available to subscribers – please visit https://www.patreon.com/suite212 to sign up for as little as $3 per month.

Suite (212) Extra

Four Fights: The UCU and the Art Schools on Strike

The Covid-19 crisis has caused unprecedented challenges for the art world. The lockdown has blown a hole in the finances of large metropolitan institutions and smaller provincial galleries alike, with knock-on effects for staff and artists. It is causing arts organisations to rethink their relationships with local communities and with the internet, and to consider how exhibitions and other functions might work in the age of social distancing, with a likely fall in visitors and revenue when they eventually decide to reopen.

Joining Juliet to discuss this are Stefan Kalmár, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, and Helen Stalker, CEO and Director of the Turnpike Gallery in Leigh, Lancashire. They talked about the origins of the two institutions in the age of cultural democracy, and how they navigated the challenges of austerity and Brexit; their funding models, and expectations of what might change in the wake of the 2019 General Election; how they handled lockdown, including when and why they closed, how they managed their staff and artists, and how much support they’ve received from the Arts Council and elsewhere; when they might reopen, how they might deal with social distancing, how this might change their practice, and whether any crisis-induced changes might be for the good.

A full list of references for the programme, with links, can be found via our Patreon at www.patreon.com/suite212, and are available to $3 subscribers.

The Covid-19 Crisis and the Art Institutions

During Jeremy Corbyn’s time as Labour leader, much attention was part to the economic vision that the party developed for the United Kingdom, but less to his personal interest in the arts, and how that shaped both Labour’s cultural policy, and their programme as a whole. In this interview, Juliet talks to Jeremy about his interest in the socialist cultures that formed around the 20th century Labour Party and the Popular United government in Chile, the arts policies the party developed under his leadership, the concept of cultural democracy and his determination to unlock the creative potential of the UK’s young people, #Grime4Corbyn and Culture for Labour in the 2017 and 2019 election campaigns, what the reaction to his fondness for James Joyce’s Ulysses says about the British media, how socially engaged artists might react to the 2019 election defeat and the job losses amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, and plenty more.

A full list of references for the programme can be found via our Patreon at www.patreon.com/suite212, and is available to $3 subscribers.

Suite (212) - series 3

The Arts for All: An interview with Jeremy Corbyn

Often called “Europe’s last dictator”, Aleksandr Lukashenko has been President of Belarus since 1994, frequently holding dubious elections and referenda to give his regime the veneer of democracy. Protests after the most recent contest in August, in which writers and artists were prominent, brought international attention back to Lukashenko’s governance, but the Belarus Free Theatre have been making work at home and abroad about oppression and censorship in the country for the last fifteen years. This month on Resonance 104.4fm, Juliet spoke to the Theatre’s co-founder Natalia Kaliada, in exile in London, and Svetlana Sugako, the Theatre’s co-manager in Minsk, about their work, the regime and the recent protests.

Please note: this episode was recorded via Skype, with Svetlana in Belarus, so apologies for the occasional lapses in sound quality.  A full list of references for the programme can be found via our Patreon at www.patreon.com/suite212, and is available to $3 subscribers – our theme music is 'Aus' by Fennesz.

Power and Protest: An interview with the Belarus Free Theatre

Established in 1965, the Greater London Council hosted one of the United Kingdom’s most radical experiments in cultural policy after Ken Livingstone and the Labour left took control of it in 1981. This month, Juliet talks to academic Hazel Atashroo and Red Metropolis author Owen Hatherley about the entrance of the “post-1968 generation” into the GLC, and their approach to the arts: their interest in cultural democracy and challenging the Arts Council’s model of centralised funding; the Ethnic Arts and Community Arts sub-committees, and their critics; their use of post-punk aesthetics and their hip hop festival; their engagement with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and other radical movements. They discuss the reasons for the GLC’s abolition in 1986, the media campaign against “the Loony Left” and Thatcher’s assault on local authorities; its influence on New Labour’s cultural policies and foundation of the Greater London Assembly in 2000; and what can be learned from the GLC’s approach to the arts in the 21st century.

Cultural Capital: The Greater London Council's arts policies, 1981-86

Suite (212) is a radio programme, broadcast on Resonance 104.4fm, and podcast that explores the arts in their social, political, cultural and historical contexts, hosted by Juliet Jacques. We take an inter-disciplinary approach, with an emphasis on innovative, underground or avant-garde work. Sometimes, panels discuss cultural politics; sometimes, we focus on a new publication or exhibition, or a specific individual or group whose work we admire.