麻豆社

Last year was a record-breaking year for poetry sales. In the age of smartphone 鈥榙oom scrolling鈥�, that might seem surprising. But the boom is in part due to social media. The bestseller is the Scottish poet Donna Ashworth, who has been described as "a cheerleader of Instapoetry". Her verse is short, direct and shared online. She has both brought poetry to a new audience and prompted a backlash. According to the cultural commentator James Marriott, 鈥淭he sales of such books say as much about a public appetite for poetry as the sales of 鈥淟ive Laugh Love鈥� signs do.鈥� But if poetry is, according to Robert Frost, 鈥渨hen an emotion has found its thought, and the thought has found words鈥�, then who is to say what 鈥渃ounts鈥� as poetry or any other form of art?

Meanwhile, Arts Council England, it is claimed, has lost the confidence of the classical music world. ACE has been criticised for its 鈥淟et鈥檚 Create鈥� strategy, which aims to ensure access to the arts for all. John Gilhooly, the artistic director of Wigmore Hall, says this has led to the council 鈥渏udging community events and the great artists of the world by the same criteria鈥�. The tension between so-called 鈥榟igh art鈥� and popular culture is as old as the hills. Is it wrong to assert that some works of art are more culturally valuable than others? Or should art be judged on how it is perceived, appreciated and valued by its audience? After all, what gives art value? Does cultural elitism damage or protect art?

Chair: Michael Buerk
Producer: Dan Tierney
Assistant producer: Peter Everett
Editor: Tim Pemberton

Panel:
Ash Sarkar
Anne McElvoy
Mona Siddiqui
Tim Stanley.

Witnesses:
James Marriott
Henry Normal
J. J. Charlesworth
Barbara Eifler