The Critics’ Circle, the UK’s only professional association of critics of drama, music, film, dance, and visual arts and the oldest organisation of its kind anywhere in the world, celebrates its centenary this year with high profile events open to the media and public audiences. We’ve got the official announcement over the events, and talks happening for their 100-year celebrations!
27 April – 11am to 4pm: Victoria and Albert Museum (free event in the Lydia & Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre) presents ‘The Art of Criticism’, a public event hosted by two of the UK’s most popular broadcasters, Paul Gambaccini and Mariella Frostrup. ‘The Art of Criticism’ promises to be a day of lively discussion and debate with questions and answers flowing freely between the audience and the day’s guest panels about what makes a critic, what the job entails, what its significance is in the world of music, dance, theatre, film and visual art and what the future holds.
Paul Gambaccini will host the morning panel – ‘Meet the Critics’ – with three critics from each section of the arts discussing their roles and answering questions from the audience.
Mariella Frostrup will host the afternoon session – ‘The Art of Criticism Now and the Future’ – which will take the form of a roundtable discussion.
Critics taking part include Libby Purves (The Times, Chief Theatre Critic), Barry Norman (Film Critic and Broadcaster), Sarah Crompton (The Daily Telegraph, Arts Editor in Chief), Fiona Mountford (Evening Standard, Theatre Critic), Donald Hutera (The Times, Dance Critic), Larushka Ivan-Zadeh (Metro, Film Critic), Jason Solomons (Observer, Film Critic and Broadcaster), Claire Allfree (Metro, Books & Theatre Editor), Erica Jeal (Opera, Deputy Editor), Marina Vaizey (The Guardian, Art Critic and Author), Corinne Julius (Evening Standard, Art and Design), and more. www.vam.ac.uk/whatson/event/2428/the-art-of-criticism
19 April – 2 May: Barbican Cinema hosts ‘The Films That Changed My Life’, a season of outstanding films from around the world which have been chosen by members of the Critics’ Circle film section. Each critic will personally introduce his or her personal favourite film and share with audiences the significance of that particular film on their lives and what inspired them to choose it over the thousands of films they’ve viewed over the course of their careers.
Distinguished guest presenters include David Gritten (Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers), SirNicholas Kenyon (Kosintsev’s Hamlet), Larushka Ivan-Zadeh (Derek Jarman’s The Garden), Sukhdev Sandhu (Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows), Peter Bradshaw (Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull), Jonathan Romney (Celine and Julie Go Boating), Kim Newman (Nathan Juran’s East of Sudan and First Men in the Moon), Kate Muir (Powell and Pressburger’s I Know Where I’m Going!), Jenny McCartney (Roy Baker’s A Night to Remember), Wendy Ide (Preston Sturges’s The Lady Eve), Dave Calhoun (Lindsay Anderson’s If…), Derek Malcolm (Anand Gandhi’s Ship of Theseus), Philip French (John Sturges’s Bad Day at Black Rock), and Jason Solomons (Woody Allen’s Annie Hall). www.barbican.org.uk
10-25 June: As part of the centenary focus, the Critics’ Circle is also supporting Critics’ Secrets at London’s Mall Galleries from 10-25 June, an exhibition of work by artists, craft makers or architects selected by 25 art critics offering a unique opportunity for the public to discover undervalued talents. All the works are for sale and admission is free. www.mallgalleries.org.uk.
As part of its centenary celebrations the Critics’ Circle has also asked its members to vote for 20 people who have contributed most to their area of the arts and from the past hundred years – 100 for the Hundred.
The Critics’ Circle has a world-renowned membership of more than 400 writers whose experience and unprecedented knowledge reach an ever increasing global readership. The Circle’s aims are to promote the art of criticism, to uphold its integrity in practice, to foster and safeguard members’ professional interests and to engage positively and professionally with the rapid advancement of digital media.
