Spotlight on Arts – Acting, Access and the Cultural Value of Everyday Stories
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This week’s Spotlight on Arts episode continues our exploration of the realities facing creative practitioners working outside the headline circuits of major cultural institutions. John Coster and Rob Watson are joined again by Ken Ogborn—better known to many as Ken the Actor—for a conversation that begins with performance but extends into broader reflections on cultural access, public service infrastructure, and the lived experience of working within the grassroots arts sector.
Ken shares insights from his current work in local theatre, where the process of rehearsing and embodying a role—such as Macbeth or a character in Romeo and Juliet—demands far more time and emotional investment than most audiences typically realise. The discussion moves quickly beyond the stage, however, to ask why it is that this kind of cultural participation remains so precarious and undervalued. Ken draws attention to what he calls the “consumption problem”—the disjuncture between the one-hour experience of watching a play and the sixty-plus hours required to produce it. In that gap lies a wider story about how we understand the purpose of culture in society, and the mechanisms through which it is supported—or not.
As Rob points out, many of the assumptions underpinning cultural policy at national and local levels treat creative work as if it were simply another deliverable in an efficiency-driven marketplace. But this mindset ignores the deeper, slower, and often intangible ways that the arts shape our shared civic lives. Whether it’s a teenager grasping the meaning of a Shakespeare monologue for the first time, or an ESOL learner using documentary photography to describe their world in a new way, the real value of culture isn’t measured in clicks, box office takings, or content schedules. It’s measured in how people make sense of their lives and connect with one another.
The conversation turns, inevitably, to the issue of access. For Ken, it is clear that transport is one of the most overlooked barriers to participation. If people can’t get to performances, rehearsals, exhibitions, or education centres—and if they can’t do so reliably and affordably—then culture remains closed off, no matter how inclusive it claims to be. His proposal for a Creative Industries Travel Card speaks to this fundamental need, not only as a practical fix but as a challenge to the profit-driven logic that shapes so many public services today. Ken’s suggestion resonates with a foundational economy perspective, which places transport, education, and culture on equal footing as services essential to a healthy society.
The group reflect on Leicester’s aspirations as a global city and the tension between official strategies for cultural development—such as City of Culture bids—and the lived realities of practitioners who are building meaningful cultural experiences from the ground up. Examples are shared, like the city of Sibiu in Romania, which has developed a globally respected theatre festival by grounding it in local commitment and long-term investment. But the real question posed by the episode is not about comparisons; it’s about whether we are willing to sustain creative initiatives with the patience and humility they require.
Ken’s closing reflections bring this home. To make something worthwhile in a place like Leicester, we don’t need another glossy strategy document. We need continuity, local collaboration, and a recognition that failure is part of the creative process. If culture is to be a common good, then it must be rooted in everyday life, supported with care, and built from relationships that last longer than a funding cycle.
Spotlight on Arts continues to be a space where these realities can be voiced—not as complaints, but as contributions to a deeper and more honest understanding of what culture is, why it matters, and how we might protect and grow it in the places where we live.
