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

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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.