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A view from the wings - from the Strokes and the soaps to Bauhaus and Bach
11:06 UK time, Thursday, 24 May 2012
This is my report on the great, the good and the glamorous meeting the Queen at a reception to mark the Diamond Jubilee.
Sir Derek Jacobi, Dame Vivienne Westwood and David Hockney were among the 850 luminaries at one of the most glittering gatherings of actors, writers and artists the UK has seen.
10:21 UK time, Saturday, 19 May 2012
Sacha Baron Cohen avoids the limelight - he prefers to let his comic creations do the talking. So I'm surprised to be offered an interview with the man himself. What's the catch?
"Which university did you go to?" asks Sacha Baron Cohen.
12:20 UK time, Monday, 14 May 2012
Will added analysis to:
There are some bold initiatives within the BFI's five-year strategy, albeit without specific targets.
The most striking are the plans to put more British films in UK cinemas; to promote more variety in cinemas; and to make British films more successful abroad.
15:41 UK time, Friday, 11 May 2012
Will added analysis to:
Will Britain's largest sculpture become one of the country's most popular visitor attractions? Maybe.
The panoramic vista is spectacular and it's great to have a fresh perspective on London. But I find the views from the London Eye more memorable and the experience more entertaining.
18:15 UK time, Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Director Michael Apted says it was a "horrible error" to have only four females in a cast of 14 when making the original selection for the 7 Up documentary in 1964.
He made the comment at a screening of 56 Up, the eighth episode in the long-running social documentary series.
12:04 UK time, Thursday, 3 May 2012
Will added analysis to:
The reason for the record-breaking auction price achieved by The Scream is a simple case of market economics in an age of global capitalism: demand for Grade A art far outstrips supply.
In a world of jittery stock markets and double-dip recessions, top-end artworks have become a reliable and highly desirable investment for the world's super-rich.
18:03 UK time, Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Will added analysis to:
The Turner Prize shortlist is interesting by default. If the quartet of shortlisted artists are dull or simply not very good, as has been the case on occasion in the recent past, their presence tells us that British contemporary art is in the doldrums. Not so this year.
The selection of Spartacus Chetwynd is significant. Artists that have a performance aspect to their work have appeared on the shortlist before - Gilbert & George and Mark Lecky for instance - but it is the first time an artist whose practice is centred on performance has been shortlisted.
14:41 UK time, Tuesday, 1 May 2012
The Olympics celebrates sport as a unifying force, but as London 2012 approaches British culture is also in the spotlight thanks to the Cultural Olympiad.
And from Tuesday the arts will be more accessible to the public when The Space, a new online platform, is launched by Arts Council England and the BBC.
10:36 UK time, Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Here's my report on the World Shakespeare Festival which is marking his 448th birthday with an ambitious programme, performing 37 of his plays in 37 different languages.
Globe to Globe will feature productions, including King Lear performed in Belarusian, Hamlet in Lithuanian and Othello re-interpreted through hip-hop. It is part of the wider London 2012 Festival which ties in with the summer Olympics.
10:29 UK time, Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Here's my report on the first authorised film about Bob Marley's life that has had its global premiere in the Jamaican capital, Kingston.
Directed by Kevin Macdonald, the film looks at how Marley's mixed race made him feel like an outsider until he found music and religion.
18:22 UK time, Friday, 20 April 2012
Your business is booming. You are rich. You're beginning to feel uncomfortably well off: it's time to share your good fortune. You love the arts and decide to give £1m to the Royal Ballet: a fine institution and a charity to boot.
This is money you have yet to pay tax on. As a high-earner, you pay at a rate of 50%, which means a £1m gift costs you personally about £500,000 - the other half is taken from your tax bill.
01:16 UK time, Saturday, 31 March 2012
"You'll need to hire the room for much longer," I tell my producer.
"Why?" she asks.
02:57 UK time, Friday, 23 March 2012
Will added analysis to:
Theories abound as to why art venues across the world have become increasingly popular. They range from art being the new religion in a secular age, to the rise of mass-participation event culture in response to the fracturing of communities in our digital world.
They're reasonable points, which probably have had some positive affect on attendances. But not to the extent we have witnessed over the past decade. After all, great art has always had pulling power - there's nothing new in that.
12:40 UK time, Friday, 2 March 2012
Here's my report on the latest addition to the national collection - Diana and Callisto, by the Renaissance master Titian.
It has been bought for the British people by the National Galleries in London and Edinburgh, after a £45m ($71.7m) deal was agreed with its owner, the Duke of Sutherland. Diana and Callisto is a companion piece to Diana and Actaeon; that was purchased from the duke for £50m in 2009, following a national fundraising campaign.
11:30 UK time, Friday, 24 February 2012
Will added analysis to:
Munch exposed Scandinavia's dark, troubled soul long before The Killing, Steig Larson and Henning Mankell's Wallander grabbed the noir headlines.
His homeland, Norway, traumatised him. One day out walking, the sun went down and the sky "turned as red as blood". His companions walked on, leaving Munch alone with his vivid imagination. He was stuck, trembling with fear, feeling "as if all nature were filled with one mighty unending shriek".
08:48 UK time, Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Here's my report from the Brit Awards where singer Adele has capped a year of global success with two prizes at this year's ceremony in London.
The star added the Brits for best British female and British album to the six Grammy Awards she won last weekend - but was beaten to the award for best British single by former X Factor boy band One Direction.
18:26 UK time, Friday, 10 February 2012
I admit it; I was a little taken aback when the Queen strolled by. I ought not to have been. After all I was in her house. But still, it was odd: surreal.
Then again, that's Buckingham Palace for you. George IV's opulent makeover of his father's central London residence into a lavish palace fit for a Prince Regent is at once full of magnificent things whilst being brazenly over the top. It is also fascinating, and every object within it tells the story of its royal residents.
15:27 UK time, Monday, 6 February 2012
I was on the Today programme this morning to talk about Lucian Freud with Martin Gayford, who was painted by Freud. You can listen to the discussion here.
An exhibition of Freud's portraits opens at the National Portrait Gallery on Thursday, the first major exhibition since the painter's death in July 2011.
14:29 UK time, Monday, 6 February 2012
Here's my report for the Today programme about the current vogue for farce.
Michael Frayn's revived Noises Off has been playing to full houses at the Old Vic. It's now become their first production to transfer to the West End.
11:45 UK time, Thursday, 2 February 2012
Will added analysis to:
Mike Kelley made surreal installations, frequently featuring strange videos, burnt-out camper vans, and teddies.
He seemed to inhabit the same world as [film-maker] David Lynch, creating high-concept surrealism with a macabre twist.
Will has been BBC arts editor since 2009.
Before that, he was a director at the Tate Gallery for seven years, where he was responsible for the award-winning Tate Online, the UK's most popular art website, and Tate Etc, the UK's highest circulation art magazine.
He was voted one of the world's top 50 creative thinkers by the New York-based Creativity Magazine.
In 2009 Will wrote and performed a sell-out one-man show at the Edinburgh Fringe called, Double Art History.
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