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BBC announces new arts coverage strategy
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 26 March 2014
BBC Director General Tony Hall announced a new strategy for arts and music coverage across the BBC yesterday. This included the creation of two new jobs, Director Of Arts and Director Of Music, the former going to Jonty Claypole and the latter to current Radio 2 / 6 Music boss Bob Shennan. In a gallant attempt at some joined up thinking, the two new appointees will respectively oversee arts and music coverage across the BBC’s TV, radio, iPlayer and other online platforms.
Most of yesterday’s announcement focussed on the new BBC Arts unit, with a further announcement on the all new BBC Music division later in the year. However, a number of projects falling under the arts side of the new programming initiative will involve classical music, including coverage of the 80th anniversary of Glyndebourne, and a new animated children’s film, ‘Mimi And The Mountain Dragon’, featuring music composed by Rachel Portman.
Hall said: “I want BBC Arts – and BBC Music – to sit proudly alongside BBC News. The arts are for everyone – and, from now on, BBC Arts will be at the very heart of what we do. We’ll be joining up arts on the BBC like never before – across television, radio and digital. And, we’ll be working more closely with our country’s great artists, performers and cultural institutions”.
It was also separately announced yesterday that National Theatre Director Nicholas Hytner will join the BBC Executive Board as a Non-Executive Director on 1 Apr.
