I was thrilled to be hosting the Awards Ceremony of the Northampton Film Festival on Saturday, and although I'm no Jimmy Kimmel (maybe that's not a bad thing), I was invited to say a few words to open the event. This is an extract from my speech, and I hope it sums up why I am such an advocate of maintaining funding to the arts:
With the Arts losing funding every year, I think it’s important to say a couple of words on why Filmmaking is so important.
I have a long history in producing community theatre, and have recently opened a studio which produces both livestreams and documentaries – but I reside day-to-day in the field of mental health. And regularly I get asked to comment on various issues and topics in this field, and just regularly I feel more and more demoralised when the only “listen again” to my “wise words” is my dad, and they get lost in the ether of the doomscrolling or “more important things in general”.
And some are indeed very important – like the post office scandal which took place between 1999-2015 with over 900 sub postmasters being prosecuted for theft. There was a Deloitte investigation in 2015, and a number of cases brought over the years, notably from 2017 to date, BUT were we talking about it then?
The Stats from Prolific North said:
The first investigation of the case was published in a 2009 Computer Weekly by Rebecca Thomson, and since then, Computer Weekly has published around 350 stories about Horizon.
Data published recently in The Sun shows that:
- The Times published 383 stories
- Daily Mail 343
- The Daily Telegraph published 234
- The Sunday Times published 152
- the Daily Express published 127
- The Sun published 101.
As well as that, there were three Panorama investigations of the affair, the first in 2015, there have been numerous radio and TV investigations, from Radio 4 to Inside Out to S4C Welsh-language current affairs programme Taro Naw.
The documentary in 2020 brought more interest in this incredible and unjust miscarriage of justice which has huge implications for all of us at the very least in terms of our faith in the system...
...but WOW – when the 4 part dramatization Mr Bates V’s The Post Office hit our screens at the start of 2024, not only did we ALL know about it, talk about it, but action was finally taken. It only took 10 years and a film to make something happen.
If you ever question are the arts – and especially films - worth it – you have your answer…9.2 million viewers worth on first screening...and morally right action being done.
Dr Audrey Tang is a chartered psychologist and award-winning business author and charity founder. She runs Wellbeing Media Studio, hosts Mental Health Matters on e360tv, and produces Skits and Quibbles: the arts and wellness show - giving upcoming performers the chance to shine - on the same network via her studio. She delivers training and keynotes in the area of wellbeing in leadership and organisations, and shimmies her stuff on the dance floor every Wednesday teaching Burlesque.
To donate to CLICK ARTS FOUNDATION reg charity 1203549 and find out more: https://www.clickartsfoundation.org.uk/howtosupport.html