LSE: Public lectures and events

Speaker(s): James Lingwood, Alex Sainsbury | In light of government funding cuts and the continuing air of austerity, alternative donor streams are crucial for many arts initiatives. With Britain’s traditional funding outlets increasingly pressured, private sources of philanthropy and unusual models of patronage are heralded to support artistic endeavour. This panel will debate the advantages and perils of this changing cultural landscape of state and private support. James Lingwood is co-director of Artangel (@Artangel). Over the past two decades, Artangel has built a worldwide reputation for producing extraordinary new art projects in unusual places. Alex Sainsbury is director, curator and funder of Raven Row (@Raven__Row), a non-profit art gallery which opened in Spitalfields in 2009. He has also set up Glass-House Trust, a grant-making charity that has initiated various projects, most recently MayDay Rooms, a social resource holding historical material linked to social movements and experimental culture. As Head of Culture for the Mayor of London for over a decade, Justine Simons has played a central role in the cultural revitalization of London - with Mayors from both sides of the political spectrum. She leads London’s Cultural Policy and shapes the City Hall’s Investment Strategy for the Creative Industries which covers film, fashion and design. Justine also oversees City Hall’s work in music, theatre, visual arts and art in the public realm, as well as being chair of the World Cities Culture Forum. Just economics and politics? Think again. While LSE does not teach arts or music, there is a vibrant cultural side to the School - from weekly free music concerts in the Shaw Library, and an LSE orchestra and choir with their own professional conductors, various film, art and photographic student societies, the annual LSE photo prize competition, the LSE Literary Festival and artist-in-residence projects. For more information please view the LSE Arts and Music website.