Arts First
The podcast that stands for freedom of expression in the arts, and art for art's sake.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
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- Sep 13, 2026
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- Jul 17, 2026
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What’s behind the crisis in museum collections? (opens the original)
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I really enjoyed this discussion with Nat Edwards, Leeds-based Director General and Master of the Armouries, Ella Nixon, an academic, curator, and writer, specialising in regional art collections and women’s art; and Lawrence Goldman, Executive Editor of History Reclaimed. After I presented the themes of the discussion as I outline below, they offered fascinating insights into the challenges facing museums today with regard to the collections. I do hope you enjoy this discussion as much as I did
Reconstructing the world’s first public opera house (opens the original)
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Mention the words ‘Venice’ and ‘opera’ together and for most of us that would bring to mind La Fenice, the city’s world-famous opera house, which first opened in the 1790s. But the history of opera in Venice goes back much further, beginning with a small, largely forgotten playhouse called Teatro San Cassiano.More significantly, it was in fact the world’s first public opera house. Until Teatro San Cassiano opened in 1637, opera had remained a private spectacle, reserved for the aristocracy and p
Episode 50 - The Odyssey in film (opens the original)
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In our 50th episode we take a bit of a roundabout look at the Odyssey on film. We discuss some of the creative challenges and opportunities faced by filmmakers who choose to take on this epic poem that inspired Classical Greece, but predated it by many centuries.Of course, its influence casts a very long shadow over Western art and culture down the ages, and its origins – most likely in oral, semi-improvised song/storytelling – have intrigued academics and historians for centuries.As the focus o
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