In Conversation With Denise Fahmy

Direct from her recent win at a Leeds Employment Tribunal, we are very excited to welcome Denise Fahmy to this episode of ‘That’s Debatable’. Denise worked at Arts Council England for 15 years but, as you will hear, was subjected to some quite appalling harassment from other council employees when she spoke up for LGB Alliance during an internal staff meeting. After discussing what happened to her, Denise goes on to talk about how the side-lining of gender critical content doesn’t always lead to overt cancellation, but instead causes a general chill in which gender critical output is simply missing from arts shortlists and events. Combined with weak organisational leadership, this frostiness explains why art funding decisions often fail to be impartial and can be so influenced by ideological employee groups. We also explore the general state of the arts in the current woke cultural environment. Denise offers fascinating and measured insight into the arts world including the rise of the art curator, who now operates as the gatekeeper between creator and end consumer. We also wonder whether some interesting art may arise from contemplation of cancel culture itself, a planned July staged reading of the recent Mermaids vs LGB Alliance court battle being a case in point: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mermaids-vs-the-alliance-a-staged-reading-tickets-666999352017