Useful Art, Embodying Ruskin, National Theatre for Northern Ireland? Unicorn Store

Published: April 9, 2019, 7:55 p.m.

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Alistair Hudson, Director of the Whitworth in Manchester and Charles Esche, Director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven have been awarded a Transformative Grant to rethink their respective art institutions. They join Front Row to discuss how the concept of useful art has the power to remake museums and galleries fit for the 21st century.

England has one, Scotland has one, Wales has two, but Northern Ireland has none \\u2013 we\\u2019re talking National Theatres. N\\xf3ir\\xedn McKinney, Director of Arts Development at Arts Council of Northern Ireland, reflects on the desire for a National Theatre of Northern Ireland, and why it has yet to be fulfilled.

The bicentenary of the birth of celebrated art critic John Ruskin is being marked by events and exhibitions across the country, but one art historian has gone further than most in bringing Ruskin\\u2019s work to life for a modern audience. Dr Paul O\\u2019Keefe has been performing Ruskin\\u2019s lectures in character for two decades. He explains why a bad wig turned out to be the perfect prop for his transformation and what he\\u2019s learnt from portraying Ruskin as he gives his lectures.

After winning the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Room, and before starring in the recent superhero adventure Captain Marvel, Brie Larson decided to make her directorial debut with the film Unicorn Store about a failed arts student who while struggling to make her way in the corporate world receives a curious invitation to a Unicorn store. Annabel Grundy, Major Programmes Manager at the Broadway Cinema in Nottingham reviews.

Presenter: John Wilson\\nProducer: Ekene Akalawu

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