It's Awards Time!

Quick! Before it is the New Year! The Vile Arts presents...

the vile arts awards for 2014.

Having got distracted and never completed my Fibonacci sequence listing of theatre events, I thought I would make up some specious categories and pretend that people might be able to use them on their funding applications.

The Ancient and Modern Award
goes to Matthew Whiteside, for his project to bring back the viola d'amore (spelling provided by M. Whiteside) and compose a work for the baroque favourite and electronics. The album will be released in 2015.

The Hot Guys in the Scud Award
And it's Slope that gets this one, specifically for the interlude in London. I still feel deeply insecure about my physicality now.

The Pantomime Award
For consistent breaking of the barrier between stage and audience: Dominic Hill for The Libertine, which had a stage upon the stage and the protagonist was back stage on stage. Beat that, Barrowman!

Butoh Award
Congratulations to Paul Michael Henry, who is on a crusade to bring back butoh to Glasgow. Workshops, solo performances, arranging a festival. He does the lot, and as a fan of the only art-form that cuts to the chase of the human condition, I approve.

The Mañana Award
Once again, this goes to Gareth K Vile, who may or may not do another list of awards, depending on his ability to get up before midday.

Creative Scotland Community Arts Award (part 3)

It's important to note that Creative Scotland's awards includes a category for Community Arts. This is a far from uncontested area - author Mark Ravenhill had a brief swipe at the emphasis on outreach over art - and frequently disappears beneath the cultural radar, due to its smaller scale and different set of outcomes: the emphasis on the journey of the participants rather than the quality of a final performance makes critical interpretation difficult.

Funding community arts is a later addition to the portfolio of organisations like The Arts Council: it is often characterised as a feature of New Labour's 'instrumentalism', which stresses the need for art to have a social impact. When the UK first systematised funding after World War II, the emphasis was on supporting the "high arts" - ballet, opera et al - in the hope of broadening access and encouraging excellence. Once New Labour accepted Thatcherite ideals, it linked funding to the potential for social change and inclusion. 

In the past decade, there has been an explosion in the number of arts organisations that are interested in community building, and the actual arts are used as a way develop new interest groups, encourage personal development and possibly expand audiences. Whatever the political implications, it is tough to critically assess these projects in the same way as the latest script from Mark Ravenhill, so the activity of these groups can be marginalised.

In short, it is encouraging that Community Arts are being recognised in these awards. The three candidates are a snapshot of the diversity of issues that community arts address, although it is far from definitive.

Elderflowers – Run by health charity Hearts and Minds, this project used performing arts to overcome issues faced by elderly people with dementia.


Nothing About Us Without Us Is For Us – The brainchild of artists TS Beall and Matt Baker, the public art event used obsolete technology to hurl communications across the River Clyde in Govan. 

This was part of Glasgow International Art Festival, suggesting that even the high arts - GI is full of conceptual visual art - are including community projects. That's unsurprising in Glasgow, since the idea of Social Sculpture has been important for the past twenty years.


The Zombie Project – Gave kids from the Ferguslie Park area of Paisley the chance to write, direct and star in their own zombie film and comic project.

Creative Scotland Awards part 2: my victory speech

When Creative Scotland announced that one of their awards was for an Arts' Ambassador, I immediately set to work. My acceptance speech took me a few hours, because I had so much to say about how my contribution to the arts was vital to its on-going health, and quite a few anecdotes that ended with the line - "needless to say, I had the last laugh..."

It turns out that Mr Criticulous didn't make the short-list. Fortunately, I am as gracious in defeat as victory. I thought I'd give everyone the chance to read the speech... just imagine me in my grubby black suit, badly shaved and my hat pulled over my unwashed hair: striding to the podium and holding aloft my trophy...

"I'd like to thank everyone who has come here tonight: I know you've been forced to sit through a delicious meal and hear from some of the greats in Scottish Arts, but now the main course has arrived. Gareth K Vile, also known as Mr Criticulous - and a variety of other aliases that even my parents aren't able to name - the great ambassador not just of the arts, not just of Scotland, but of criticism itself.

While it was obvious that this award would end up in my hands, I'd like to take a moment to remember the plucky outsiders who were nominated alongside me. Allowing them to bask in my reflected glory seems only fair.

First of all - The National Theatre of Scotland. It has been a real pleasure, during my time as a critic, to watch the NTS grow in strength. In this year, when they embrace a new artistic director, The NTS continues with its commitment to expanding audiences and making theatre that is experimental - think of Lifeguard at the Govanhill Baths, which combined Adrian Howell's intimate performance with community development - and popular, like Appointment with the Wickerman. 

Apart from providing my radio show and blog with a stream of interesting guests, The NTS has managed, despite the diversity of its output, to find an articulate, coherent voice . Eschewing a house style, they nevertheless have an identity that is recognisable. The writing of David Greig has helped with this and works like Glasgow Girls, The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, Black Watch represent the combination of the populist and the challenging. 

The NTS is restless, always looking for new ways to reach out: their policy, of being artist led, has allowed them to support a new generation as well as the veterans. And frankly, being a national theatre is a minefield - Scotland itself has enough diverse groups that "staging the nation" was always going to be a challenge. Yet, like me, the NTS has never lost its belief that it can speak to the world.

Donald Shaw has presided over Celtic Connections during a period when it has moved from a wee fill-in during a quiet season to a showcase of folk from around the world. Rather than be insular, he emphasises the "Connections" and brings musicians from around the world who would never make it this far north.

Again, CC has given me plenty of guests for the Radio Show, and defines my playlist from November until the end of January. It has never lost its inclusiveness - plenty of chances to learn as well as listen. In a time when national identity is a major question for Scots,  Celtic Connections brings the world to Glasgow, showing off the city's eclecticism. It is more than a question of letting Glasgow see the richness of music around the world - there's no tokenism in the programme: it reminds the world how switched on and smart Glasgow audiences can be.

The third nominee is Patrick Doyle. Glasgow has some world class composers - James MacMillan springs to mine, Matthew Whiteside, so many more even ignoring my weekly contribution to sound art through the Vile Arts Radio Hour. Yet Doyle is out on the international stage: his scores have enhanced  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Sense and Sensibility, Hamlet, and Disney/Pixar’s Brave.

I liked him best when he used to turn up on a Saturday morning on ITV, but his alliance with Kenneth Brannagh took him to the silver screen. His score for Thor is my favourite, as it supports the comic book fantasy of the story with lush, evocative composition. 

I suppose what all three of this nominations do is remind us that Scotland isn't just making work for local appreciation: as a nation, it punches above its weight and adds to the sum of international creativity. The borders may be up for debate, the relationship with England in discussion: yet Scottish art carries an identity that makes it part of the global heritage."

Creative Scotland Awards (Part 1)

If I had paid a bit more attention, I'd probably be able to comment on how the selection process for Creative Scotland's inaugural rewards had operated - and make a stab at guessing how the format dictated the outcomes. At the moment, all I have is The Daily Record being involved, and something I heard about the panel - who took the votes and made up the short-list - being all men. Until I get round to doing some research, I'll just list the awards and add my own comments on the artists.

The Best Visual Award is an easy place to start, thanks to my original Young Critics' Sessions: made up of visual art students, they taught me a great deal about what was going on beyond the stage. Of the nominations, I am backing Karla Black: her installation in GOMA was a highlight of the Glasgow International and her use of sawdust was monumental and strangely touching. 

However, I do know something about the other candidates. The Harry Papadopoulos/Street Level Gallery: What Presence! Exhibition captured the bands of my childhood in classic rock'n'roll black'n'white: it felt nostalgia, as so many of the rebellious young rockers in it have become well-kent faces in the art establishment: the retrospective of George Wyllie I haven't managed to see yet,  but it's garnering rave reviews from my friends on Facebook.

Elph – and I admit that I was not aware of him - is a  graffiti artist. Further research is required.

I doubt my opinions on the Music Award would be much help to anyone, but my choices - The Said Ensemble, for putting contemporary classical music into bars, Tut Vu Vu for having Raydale Dower in the line-up and Curses for introducing me to very slow r'n'b probably only reveal how out of touch I am. The actual three choice -  Admiral Fallow, Frightened Rabbit, Rachel Sermanni are examples, to me at any rate, that the folk-tinged revival is looking popular and healthy. I might be pushing it to suggest Frightened Rabbit are folk.

The Scottish Film & TV Award is a tough one for me to judge: I don't watch TV as I am too busy making sure I am a face on every scene that happens around the city - an unwanted and unwashed face, but I do my best. Fortunately, Glasgow Film Festival is one of the choices, a programme that I not only intended but have watched grow  from a bijoux winter oasis into an international force.

 I'll back this to win, simply because I haven't seen the other two contenders  (Ken Loach's The Angels’ Share and The Perfect Fit about the making of the perfect ballet show) and I have complete respect for the GFF's emphasis on getting people into the cinema to see something other than blockbusters.

Thank God for the Theatre Award: this is my turf. Further than the Furthest Thing was a popular choice at the CATS earlier this year - the script is already appearing in translations around the world and the set was spectacular. It's no surprise to see both Pass The Spoon and Whatever Gets You Through The Night  on the short-list: both products of The Creative Spark funding, they have that fashionable cross-platform thing going on, and were both greeted with critical and popular acclaim. 

I am not going to pick a favourite here. To be honest, I've been picking the things I knew best in each category and I have actually written about all of these choice, and interviewed the creators. Nicholas Bone (Pass The Spoon) and Cora Bisset (Whatever) have both been good enough to come on the Radio Hour, so I'd like this one to be a draw.

Well, that's the easy categories out of the way. I'll hit up the Community Awards and all later - it is taking ages to find websites to link all these nominees. I'll say that there are no massive surprises here - even the things I have no idea about represent trends that are working through the arts. I'm interested to see how GFF can be judged against individual films - even I apply different parameters to assess the impact of a festival against an art work. 

I think the research might be a good idea.