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Fury as £120 million arts festival to celebrate Brexit becomes a “pro-Remain fiasco” amidst reports that workers refused to participate when the UK’s exit from the EU was discussed. ‘
A £120 million arts festival promoting the benefits of Brexit has failed.
Some detractors will not even participate if Brexit is discussed.
It was intended to be a year-long celebration of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.
According to critics, a £120 million arts festival promoting the positives of Brexit has been a failure, with some artists refusing to participate if the UK’s exit from the EU is addressed.
In 2018, the then-prime minister Theresa May announced the taxpayer-funded celebrations and pledged a “year-long festival of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”
However, they were turned into Unboxed, an eight-month “festival of innovation” comprised of ten nationwide events.
Critics assert that the £120 million arts event Unboxed, which was intended to promote the positives of Brexit, has been a failure, with some participants refusing to even attend if the UK’s exit from the EU is discussed.
Some personnel at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport, which is responsible for the event that began in May, feel that it is “virtually empty of place,” according to sources there.
One person noted, “It ran completely counter to the intended plan.”
According to a story in The House, the festival’s chief creative officer, Martin Green, questioned officials, ‘Can I confirm that this is not a Brexit festival?’
… You don’t want any type of jingoistic jamboree?’
Paisley Abbey was illuminated during a photocall for 59 Productions’ ‘About Us’ installation as part of the UNBOXED festival.
And folk musician Donald Shaw, who directed an Unboxed event, told the magazine that the festival’s whole senior crew demanded that Brexit not be included as part of their contracts.
“It was a red line in our contracts with Unboxed,” he claimed, adding, “We were aiming to commission European musicians; it was a European-wide endeavor.”
We took the opposite route. Even to the point where some Tory MPs were apparently unhappy with us.’