Arts First

Arts First

Arts First challenges the contemporary view of the arts as tools for social change; highlights how freedom of expression is compromised by political activism and institutional cowardice; explores what is unique and special about the arts; and celebrates new artistic achievement and courage in the face of today’s challenges. Arts First is produced by the Academy of Ideas Arts. and Society Forum. artsfirst.substack.com

  1. 1 MAY

    Ensemble OrQuesta: Small Opera with Big Ideas

    In this episode we turn our attention to opera, particular at life away from the major institutions. Beyond the large companies there’s a plethora of small independent opera companies, festivals and ensembles, often working in intimate venues and with limited resources. Today we explore some of that world through the work of one such company, Ensemble OrQuesta, a leading independent opera company operating in London and the South East. Our guest is Marcio da Silva, Ensemble OrQuesta’s founder and Artistic Director. Marcio is a opera singer, performer, musician, conductor, chorus master, artistic and musical director, composer and educator. We first encountered Marcio and his company a couple of years ago at Grimeborn, the annual fringe Opera Festival in East London, where they were performing their ‘chamber-scale’ production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. Alongside Ensemble OrQuesta, Marcio is involved in a number of related projects, including the Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra and Hastings Philharmonic Choir, the EO Opera Academy and the conducting courses Marcio also runs. His work then spans performance, training and mentoring, bringing together professionals, students and emerging performers. We are also joined by Elisabetta Gasparoni, a linguist specialising in Italian language and literature, founder of the Aesthetic Study Group, and a long-time supporter of Arts First. Elisabetta has organised and spoken at discussions on opera and the arts. Marcio talks about his own background and the development of Ensemble OrQuesta. We discuss the importance of mentoring and training new performers, and more broadly the challenges of trying to sustain both classical and operatic musical traditions. We touch on how the smaller opera companies relate to one another. Are they competing for audiences and resources, or working within a network of like-minded artists? And what about audiences themselves - who comes to these productions, and how do companies reach them? We discuss the practicalities and difficulties of working on a small scale. We talk about Baroque opera, Ensemble OrQuesta’s specialism. Does Baroque opera lend itself especially well to smaller venues and more ‘minimalist’ productions? Does Marcio see Baroque opera a niche, or an opportunity to introduce audiences to something different? This is an audio episode. We had a few difficulties with video this time around, but we do have some video footate from the interview that we may release in the form of a shorter episode in the near future. We hope you enjoy the show. Links Marcio da Silva: Ensemble OrQuesta Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra Hastings Philharmonic Choir Grimeborn Opera Festival You can hear more from Elisabetta Gasparoni on opera at the Battle of Idea website. If you would like to find out more about Elisabetta’s work, please get in touch at artsfirstpodcast@gmail.com Events Marcio is conducting Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra Saturday 2 May MOZART: Overture 'Il re pastore', Clarinet Concerto in A majorSerenata Notturna, Symphony No 41 'Jupiter' More information and tickets here. Ensemble OrQuesta will be performing at the Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone in June and Grimeborn in Dalston August. Get full access to Arts First at artsfirst.substack.com/subscribe

    42 min

  2. 3 APR

    New Contemporaries 2026

    Today we dive into the world of contemporary art, focusing on the New Contemporaries exhibition, currently on show at the South London Gallery. We’re joined by two good friends of the show: artist Rachel Jordan and curator, writer, and campaigner Manik Govinda. New Contemporaries is a long-running institution within the UK art scene. It began in 1949 as Young Contemporaries, an annual exhibition established to showcase new work by emerging artists. Today, it organises a nationally touring exhibition, with works selected by leading figures from across the art world. This year’s show opens in South London before travelling to Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art later in April. Listeners may remember that last year’s exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts drew media attention, with protests outside the gallery relating to its sponsorship. We’ll return to some of that context later - but first, the art itself. We first visited the exhibition at the South London Gallery, before settling in the garden over a beer, a coffee, and cake to share our initial impressions. A few days later, we reconvened online for a more considered and in-depth conversation. For those unfamiliar with it, the South London Gallery sits on Peckham Road, close to Camberwell College of Arts. Founded in the 19th century by philanthropist William Rossiter, it was established to ‘bring art to the people of South London’, and today presents a wide-ranging programme of exhibitions by both established and emerging artists. We’re grateful to the gallery for allowing us to photograph and film. Art choices - Rachel Painting: Ally Fallo - In My Beginning Is My End, 2025. Oil on Canvas. 130cm x 100cm Photograph: Timon Benson - Compression, 2023. Film: Viviana Almas - Solus Art choices - Manick Alia Gargum, This was a Mosque, 2024 Varvara Uhlik, Slide, 2025. Mild steel, 90 x 200 x 40cm Video: Gregor Petrikovič, Sincerely, Victor Pike, 2024. Duration, 12 mins, 22 seconds Get full access to Arts First at artsfirst.substack.com/subscribe

    41 min

  3. 27 MAR

    Has the National Trust abandoned its historic role?

    In recent years the National Trust, Britain’s largest heritage organisation, has faced growing criticism for shifting its focus. Once dedicated to preserving historic houses, gardens and landscapes for their architectural, artistic and historical value, the Trust has increasingly emphasised ‘decolonisation’, ‘social justice’ campaigns and reinterpretations centred on Britain’s links to slavery and colonialism. Critics argue that this approach reflects a loss of confidence in the Trust’s original purpose: stewarding the nation’s built heritage and presenting it on its own terms. Reports and public statements have spoken of “repurposing” historic houses, moving beyond the “outdated mansion experience,” and prioritising contemporary relevance over the buildings’ intrinsic qualities. At the same time, selective historical framing and changes to displays have raised concerns about the erosion of authentic engagement with the past. A particularly stark example is the Trust’s handling of Clandon Park, a Grade I-listed Palladian house that was gutted by fire in 2015. Initially expected to be restored, the property is now the subject of approved plans to conserve it largely as a fire-damaged shell rather than reinstate its celebrated interiors. The scheme includes modern interventions such as viewing platforms and a new roof terrace, using insurance funds that many argue should have supported full restoration. The decision has been pushed through with minimal scrutiny — approved by Guildford Borough Council in March 2025 despite widespread objections — and has highlighted broader concerns about how the Trust interprets heritage significance and overrides member opinion. This episode examines what is at stake for Britain’s country houses and the wider heritage sector. Has the National Trust abandoned its historic role as custodian of the nation’s cultural inheritance? What does genuine stewardship of heritage require today? And why does the confident transmission of history and beauty matter more than ever? Joining Niall and Wendy are three guests with deep knowledge of the issues: Cornelia van der Poll, chair of the campaign group Restore Trust; architectural critic and lecturer Calvin Po; and educator and campaigner Dr Alka Sehgal Cuthbert, director of Don’t Divide Us. The discussion explores the origins of the current controversies, the importance of beauty and historical imagination, parallels with earlier cultural upheavals, and practical ways forward—including the role of membership, education, traditional craft skills, and alternative models of heritage management such as Historic Houses. Guest Biographies Cornelia van der Poll is a co-founder and current chair of Restore Trust, the campaign group formed in 2020 to encourage the National Trust to return to its core mission of caring for historic houses and landscapes. She is a former lecturer in ancient Greek at the University of Oxford. Calvin Po: is a designer, researcher, writer and educator based in London. He lectures at the Architectural Association School of Architecture and writes on architecture for publications including The Critic and The Spectator. His perspective is informed by both his experience of the British Empire’s final outpost and a deep appreciation of Britain’s architectural heritage. Dr Alka Sehgal-Cuthbert is an educator, academic, author and director of the campaign group Don’t Divide Us, which advocates for a common-sense approach to race and against the politicisation of education and culture. She stood for election to the National Trust council in 2024 and is a founding supporter of Arts First. She has written and spoken widely on the importance of historical and aesthetic education. Get full access to Arts First at artsfirst.substack.com/subscribe

    43 min

  4. 4 MAR

    Tiffany Jenkins on art and the evolution of private life.

    Cultural historian, Dr Tiffany Jenkins’ new and highly acclaimed book, Strangers and Intimates: the rise and fall of private life provides the focus for this episode. It is a thoughtful, well-researched, nuanced, very readable account of how the right to privacy for the individual and family emerged over the past 500 yrs or so, as a central social value and something to aspire to and defend, and how that right is gradually being eroded by cultural changes. Although the book is not about art, making only occasional references to artworks, as I read it I could see that art, in its historic course, might reflect the changes in ideas about privacy that Tiffany explores. For example, I recently watched the recent film Hamnet (Dir Chloé Zhao, 2025), which suggested that Shakespeare’s Hamlet was inspired by his son’s early death. Towards the end of the film, it struck me that Shakespeare by giving public expression to a deeply private sense of loss and grief provided an early theatrical example of what Tiffany’s book examines. So I asked Tiffany if she’d be interested in identifying works of art that illustrate her thesis … and thus an idea was born. And I was very excited by the list of works Tiffany wanted to talk about because I knew they would provide a fascinating way of exploring the motifs within her excellent book. The BBC Radio 4 programme, Desert Island Discs, inspired the structure of the episode although it is shaped by the narrative in Strangers and Intimates, instead of Tiffany’s biography. Her chosen works are: Johannes Vermeer, Girl Reading a Letter, exemplifying interiority and the inner life, which became increasingly important emerging from the Reformation in the 17th Century onwards. Samuel Richardson’s novel Pamela (1740) and Dr Samuel Johnson’s Diaries in the mid-in the 18th Century, reflecting the emergence of the public and private as separate spheres of life. In the 19th Century, Mary Cassatt, The Child’s Bath (1893) reflected the growing importance of privacy as a sphere of warmth and intimacy while Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper (1892), revealed the tensions and dangers that such a high valuation of privacy might pose to women. Egon Schiele’s self-portraits in the early 20th Century revealed a growing preoccupation with psychology and a desire to reveal or externalise the ‘authentic self’, the psychological man — expression of angst. Later in the century, Nan Goldin’s, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (1973&1986), in its performative self-examination through candid photographic documentary, reveals important shifts in how private life is displayed and consumed. Sophie Calle (b1953) created works that highlighted the undermining and loss of privacy as the 20th century proceeded, with the blurring of voyeurism with artistic practice. See Frieze magazine here. Vincenzo Latronico’s novella, Perfection (2022) seems to reflect a sense that privacy can no longer exist nor is it desirable. The episode ends by contrasting the depiction of intimacy in Rembrandt’s Isaac and Rebecca (or The Jewish Bride, 1665-69) with Sally Rooney’s Normal People (2018). Get full access to Arts First at artsfirst.substack.com/subscribe

    51 min

  5. 13 FEB

    Reflecting on Arts First

    Arts First is now well into its second year and has created over 40 episodes (including our four-part Christmas Carols extravaganza). What started out as an experiment with an uncertain future has developed a bit of a rhythm of production and is very much part of our, its creators’, lives. We’ve enjoyed the process of deciding what to talk about and who to talk to, and of recording and creating the episodes which generally turn out better than expected, mostly because the people we have roped into our plans have such interesting and insightful things to say. In this episode we take a bit of time, the three of us, to review where we are at and where we want to go with the podcast. Our conversations with people from various walks of life, from long standing friends to people we have only just reached out to, have confirmed that we are lucky to be able to draw on the experience and expertise of a great range of people. Although there are a lot of arts podcasts out there, they tend to specialise in a particular art form. We have been deliberately eclectic in our approach. We don’t have a ‘big plan’ but we do want to talk about the issues that we feel matter. We may seem quite eclectic to listeners, but the guiding themes of our episodes are freedom of expression in the arts and the idea of art for arts sake. We don’t focus on one particular art form, and are keen to look at how these issues are played out across the arts. We believe that the instrumentalisation and politicisation of the arts over recent decades has done them no good, and possibly some harm. We also wonder if there is a tendency in the art world to ‘dehistoricise’ art — even within the discipline of art history. We are worried that art schools have ceased to really care about developing artists as artists with a commitment to free expression, instead seeking to shape ideological agendas around DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), climate catastrophism and other contemporary preoccupations. So we want to explore how/how much these trends have undermined freedom of expression, and hence creativity, and presented artists with new challenges. Arts First is London-based but we are keen to look at issues in the arts from around the UK and across the globe. So far we have featured episodes from Glasgow, Nottingham, Salford, Warrington, Bishop Auckland and elsewhere. Friends who have offered suggestions are welcomed with open arms! (So far we haven’t reached beyond our national borders yet, but we are open to suggestions.) We have talked to a few artists who have faced cancellation because they don’t follow what seems to be the dominant ‘line’ in the arts sector: their support for Israel or critiques of transgenderist and Islamist ideologies, have got them into trouble so we have been keen to give them a chance to talk about their experiences. And we are always keen to talk to artists, and people working in the arts, about how they develop their art and their careers in the arts. Introducing the creators. Wendy Earle. I grew up loving the arts. I particularly enjoy going to art galleries, the theatre, opera and concerts. I am also a keen traveller, and wherever I go, I prioritise visiting galleries, and if possible attending local musical and theatrical events. I organise an annual series of London Gallery tours which are led by the artist Dido Powell, which take a close up and informative look at visual art. All of this feeds into my thinking about the arts and the reason why I initiated, with Niall, the Arts First podcast. The freedom to enjoy the arts, and to create new work, is essential to a good society. Niall Crowley. I discovered art history, hanging out after school, aged 11 or 12, in the FE college library where my mom worked as the cleaner. It was here for the first time I encountered Modern Art, the Renaissance, El Greco, Leonardo, Stanley Spencer, David Hockney. After school, I took an art foundation, and then messed around in design and print for a few years. Meanwhile I developed a passion for inter-war art, architecture, music and history. Later, bored with work, I decided to return to university, study Design History and ‘retrain’ as an academic. I left with a decent degree but a little disappointed with the direction of the course, and returned back into the world of work. Despite, or perhaps because of its limitations the course did leave me with many unanswered questions. So getting involved in Arts First has been a great opportunity to pick up where I left off, and for me, many of the nascent trends back then, such as the politicisation of the arts, have become mainstream today. My other passion would be music - 60s and 70s soul, jazz-funk, gospel, Brazilian jazz, opera, and classical. I’ve sung in a couple of amateur choirs and opera companies. Dr Michael Owens Mick to my friends. I’m a London-based researcher, writer and lecturer, focusing on urban change and the life of cities, reflecting my career background is in urban planning and development. I now teach undergraduate programmes for American university students studying abroad in London. My Doctoral thesis (2018) is an ethnographic study of London’s bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games. I sing in a choir. Get full access to Arts First at artsfirst.substack.com/subscribe

    30 min

  6. 24/12/2025

    Part IV. Carols, Commuters and Conversations

    This is officially Part IV but they’re not in any chronological order, so after part one it doesn’t matter too much where you begin. When we set out on putting this episode together, we knew wanted to interview friends and colleagues and find out what Christmas carols mean to them, now or growing up, and if they have any favourites. We start off with a conversation between Mick and an old colleague, David Adam, who you may remember from our episode on the Paris Olympics opening earlier this year. David kindly agreed to join us to talk about his very talented musical family and the impressive-sounding family carol concert they are staging for themselves and their loved ones this Christmas. Then we catch up with some dear friends at a very merry Christmas carols party somewhere in north London. It’s an annual and very informal gathering where we eat, drink catch up before Christmas day and sing a few carols together. Thank you again for everyone who took the time to speak to us and share their thoughts and their memories. The music for this section was recorded at Waterloo Station where Mick just happened to stumble upon the London Philharmonic Orchestra entertaining commuters. And he also recorded a wonderful choir performing at Vauxhall station but we didn’t get their name. And we eavesdrop on our friends singing along at our annual Christmas carols party. Get full access to Arts First at artsfirst.substack.com/subscribe

    32 min

  7. 24/12/2025

    Part III: Carols and Churches. Hark! The congregations sing!

    In the previous episode of this series, we explored Christmas carols as folk music – songs that were shaped by communities, passed on by ear, and rooted in everyday life. In this episode, we turn to what happened next: how Christianity and the churches drew on those folk traditions, gradually bringing carols into worship, theology, and the rhythms of the liturgical year. What began outside the church walls was eventually drawn within them. Today, we are interested in what Christmas carols mean in this religious context – how they function in worship, how they are sung, and how they shape the experience of Christmas for congregations and choirs. To explore this, we hear from three guests: Alice Pettit, the Vicar of St Andrew’s Church in Ham; Margaret Haig, who runs the Orthodox Christian choir, Mosaic; and Mervi Mattilla, Service Manager at the Finnish Church in Rotherhithe. Together, they provide insight into the living role of carols in Christian worship today. We begin with Alice Pettit. Michael Owens spoke with Alice in the middle of Advent, so she was, understandably, quite busy at the time. Parts III to IV all now available on our Substack, Apple Podcasts and Spotify. See Mosaic choir YouTube channel here. Get full access to Arts First at artsfirst.substack.com/subscribe

    35 min

  8. 23/12/2025

    Part II. The Popular Roots of the Christmas Carol

    In the first part of our Christmas carols special, we explored how the origins of carol singing are believed to lie in folk music. While we often associate Christmas carols primarily with church services today, it may be that historically the relationship worked the other way around: carolling began as a popular community practice that was only later incorporated into a Christian context. To help untangle this history, we are digging deeper into these folk roots. In this episode, we speak with two guests embedded in the world of folk music. First, Mick speaks to Emma Waghorn, leader of the Kingston-upon-Thames folk choir, Pielarks. Next, Mick chats with Jeff Dent. In 2005, Jeff co-founded Traditional Carols in London, a project where friends meet annually to sing in London pubs. Jeff shares how he was inspired by the traditional caroling villages around Sheffield. Throughout the episode, we’ll hear clips of Pielarks and various pub sessions. It is a striking reminder that caroling has a historic place in noisy, public spaces, and it’s a pleasure to hear how these singers cut through the crowd to capture the public’s attention. We begin with Emma Waghorn. Links Pielarks choir Video intro to Pielarks Traditional Carols in London Article by Jeff Dent Get full access to Arts First at artsfirst.substack.com/subscribe

    33 min
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About

Arts First challenges the contemporary view of the arts as tools for social change; highlights how freedom of expression is compromised by political activism and institutional cowardice; explores what is unique and special about the arts; and celebrates new artistic achievement and courage in the face of today’s challenges. Arts First is produced by the Academy of Ideas Arts. and Society Forum. artsfirst.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Arts First
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    44
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Arts First
  • Show Website
    Arts First

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