Dr Munira Mirza

Dr Munira Mirza, Deputy Mayor for Education and Culture for London, and the author of ‘The Politics of Culture: The Case for Universalism’ (2011) has done a podcast for the Spitalfields Festival website. It can be listened to here. 

Her argument is as follows:

– London has incredible cultural life

– It brings economic benefit, notably through attracting tourism

– It is not just big institutions but also small-scale and experimental

– ‘Can’t assume funding will be there’

– There is a need to safeguard culture against dangers, those dangers being:

1) Economic growth and high land values mean that artists are priced out of living in many areas of London

2) Regulation /licensing: there is a tendency by the boroughs to over-control.

3) Free expression can be under threat from nervousness in the face of actual and potential censorship.